The reigning World Champions are always among the favorites to repeat four years later. Since 2010, however, the previous victors have all stumbled and fallen at the first hurdle, going out in the group stage in what has come to be known as the champions curse.
Each example has been as baffling as the last, but France has finally put an end to the curse by clinching a spot in the knockout round with a 2-1 win over Denmark.
Every four years the World Cup brings together the world’s best players and Qatar 2022 will not be an exception.
On the attacking front, the exotic winter tournament brings us a combination of new talent, legendary strikers, generational wingers and a pair of GOATs.
In celebration of the World Cup being so close, we rank the forwards who are most likely to make an impact at Qatar.
Argentina and Brazil can breathe a sigh of relief after Lionel Messi and Neymar ended the last PSG game before the World Cup without a scratch.
Both stars played 75 minutes in a 5-0 rout of Auxerre before getting subbed off, and PSG coach Cristophe Galtier allowed them to abandon the game before the final whistle so they could travel and join their respective national teams.
NYON - Holders Real Madrid will face English Premier League side Liverpool once again in the Champions League last 16 — a repeat of last season's final — while Paris St Germain will take on German champions Bayern Munich.
Madrid edged Liverpool in a tense final in May thanks to a Vinícius Júnior strike.
It was another memorable UEFA Champions League group stage with England, Germany and Portugal flexing their collective might while Spain suffered some historically bad performances. The Champions League last 16 draw date is now set for Monday, Nov.
Argentina is shaking right now.
La Albiceleste is one of the many teams that have been flooded with injuries ahead of the start of the World Cup on Nov. 20.
Important players like Paulo Dybala, Angel Di María, Leandro Paredes and most recently Giovani Lo Celso have all picked up knocks in the weeks leading up to the final squad list for the tournament.
Neymar had another top-tier performance in PSG’s Ligue 1 match and win against Troyes this Saturday.
A comeback topped off with a goal and assist for the former Barcelona man.
PARIS — Lionel Messi grabbed a goal and assist to inspire Paris Saint-Germain to a 4-3 comeback victory over Troyes on Saturday as the Ligue 1 table-toppers extended their lead to five points.
Troyes had stunned the crowd at the Parc des Princes when Mama Balde volleyed home in just the third minute but PSG midfielder Carlos Soler equalized after a superb pass from Neymar as the two teams went into the break at 1-1.
Maccabi Haifa's 30-year-old American goalkeeper Josh Cohen was the toast of Europe on Oct. 11 when making five saves en route to a clean sheet during his side's incredible upset of Juventus in the Champions League.
His mission Tuesday? Do it again, but this time against Lionel Messi, Neymar, Kylian Mbappé and PSG at the Parc des Princes in Paris.
This time Cohen faced five shots in the first-half alone and could only watch in agony as four of them found the back of the net.
Cohen couldn't do anything about Messi's opener in the 19th minute.
There was a time, with his contract willfully running down last season, when it looked like a Kylian Mbappé Real Madrid transfer was a foregone conclusion. The World Cup winner had already accomplished everything imaginable in French football at the age of 23 (five league titles, five cup triumphs and three Player of the Year awards), and the realization of Mbappé's childhood dream of playing at the Santiago Bernabéu was promised by Florentino Pérez himself.