It’s Rivalry Week in MLS once again, which means there are some pretty tasty matchups brewing this weekend, perhaps the last weekend that won’t be dominated by American football until next season.
Union Berlin made its Bundesliga debut on Sunday afternoon, and not even a 4-0 beatdown from rivals RB Leipzig could dampen the mood at the Alte Försterei in East Berlin.
El Clasico is a match like no other. The passion, love and hate between Real Madrid and Barcelona fans is unrivaled and the two clubs define Spanish football.
But what if a Barcelona fan had to say something nice about Real Madrid? Could he do it?
That was the task assigned to Will for our latest edition of Rival Reviews with World Soccer Shop.
What’s the difference between Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi? It’s the time-honored question that’ll be debated long after both you and I are altered into cosmic dust, although I’ve personally maintained that the difference between the two is the empanadas they’d serve at a social gathering.
Manchester United and Liverpool have dominated English football for decades. Liverpool was the dominant team for years, only for Sir Alex Ferguson to lead the charge to overtake the Reds as the winningest club in England.
The rivalry runs deep between the country’s two most successful clubs; the North West Derby dwarfs all other derbies in the soccer-mad nation.
Arsenal has had a much more eventful transfer window than fans anticipated. Initially given a transfer budget of just $54 million, it seemed as though the Gunners would continue their tradition of promising fans a lot but offering them very little in terms of actual signings.
As Arsenal and Manchester United’s recent dominance of the FA Community Shield shows (the two clubs had combined to win the event on five of the past six occasions prior to today’s match), England’s annual curtain-raiser is a sign of very little to come in the season ahead.
The Arsenal-Tottenham rivalry is among the fiercest in Europe, so if you go at someone from the other side, expect some retaliation.
One Spurs fan went after Mesut Özil and his tendency to go missing in matches, but the German playmaker hit back. Hard.
In another fiery edition of “El Trafico,” Zlatan Ibrahimović played spoiler again by netting a perfect hat trick in a 3-2 win against Los Angeles FC, which has yet to beat its crosstown rival in four meetings now.
Ibrahimović told ESPN on Thursday that he was a superior player to LAFC’s Carlos Vela despite the latter’s impressive start to the season. He backed it up with Friday’s performance.
Tomorrow night at 9:00 p.m. CT on ESPN, the LA Galaxy hosts Los Angeles FC in the fourth edition of El Tráfico. The early days of the Los Angeles Derby have been largely dominated by two players: LAFC’s Carlos Vela is the rivalry's top scorer with four to his name, but the Galaxy’s Zlatan Ibrahimović is right behind him with three, including that unforgettable brace on his MLS debut.