Comebacks

Daryl Dike played the full 90 minutes of a game for the first time on Saturday since Orlando City’s playoff defeat to Nashville on Nov. 24, 2021. Various injuries have sidelined the 22-year-old talent for roughly a season and a half.

West Brom came back from two goals down to defeat Luton Town 3-2 on Saturday. Dike’s team couldn’t have gotten off to a worse start after conceding twice in the opening 10 minutes. The Oklahoma-native got the Baggies back into it with a goal in the 39th minute.

MANCHESTER — In-form Marcus Rashford scored a late winner as Manchester United came from behind to beat rivals Manchester City 2-1 on Saturday, dragging Erik ten Hag's rejuvenated side back into the Premier League title race sooner than anyone expected.

England forward Rashford completed the turnaround eight minutes from time to score for the seventh successive match in all competitions, the first United player to do so since Cristiano Ronaldo in 2008.

With Leeds United just two points above the Premier League relegation zone nearing the campaign's halfway point, an FA Cup exit to EFL Championship side Cardiff City on Sunday would've certainly left Jesse Marsch's job security on the brink.

It looked pretty hopeless at halftime after Jaden Philogene and Sheyi Ojo scored to give Cardiff a 2-0 advantage while the 6,000 Leeds supporters who'd made their way to Wales booed their players and manager off the pitch.

Brazil’s loss is a reminder that life is not fair.

Making the right decisions does not guarantee success. Like some sort of natural disaster, Croatia has taken that which is entirely good and reduced it to rubble. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. Despite their best effort and the world’s wishes, Brazil has been sent home prematurely from Qatar after losing on penalties.

In front of a partisan crowd of 9,531 at WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary, NC, the second-ranked North Carolina Tar Heels stormed to a 2-0 lead over the top-ranked UCLA Bruins in the 2022 NCAA Women's College Cup Final on Monday night.

After a goalless first half, Avery Patterson opened the scoring for UNC with a header off Emily Colton's cross in the 59th minute.

South Korea secured a spot in the Round of 16 of the World Cup on Friday with an incredible last-minute goal against Portugal to win 2-1. The South Korean victory paired with Uruguay defeating Ghana 2-0 meant that the Asian underdogs advanced due to the tiebreaker of having more goals scored than Uruguay.

Unpredictability is inherent in soccer, and major international tournaments seem to always throw up a heaping of craziness. The gulf between reality and previous perceptions reminds anyone who claims to know soccer that they don’t, and if we were truly as smart as we claim to be, we’d stop trying to predict results. Just embrace the unpredictability and the chaos and enjoy these moments. 

Serbia and Cameroon arguably played the best game of the 2022 World Cup on Monday with a six-goal thriller that ended 3-3. The game also saw a Serbia tiki-taka goal that honestly looked like it could have been scored by that legendary 2010 Spain squad.

The Eagles of Serbia were soaring after scoring two goals in first-half stoppage time to take a 2-1 lead. Playing with supreme confidence, Serbia scored one of the prettiest team goals of the tournament in the 53rd minute.

Look at this string of passes from the Serbs.