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Toulon Tournament: Match 4: Brazil-Guatemala
It’s no secret that on paper, Brazil are the strongest team in the 2019 edition of the Toulon Tournament. While Portugal and France’s young starlets are still trying to get regular minutes at their clubs, the majority of Brazil’s U-22 team has already established an impressive reputation at the senior level. This team is so…
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Toulon Tournament: Match 3: France-Qatar
If you had tuned into this match without having any prior background information, you’d have thought that the French side were the 22-year-olds on the cusp of their prime, while the Qatari side were the precocious teenagers making their way up from academy-level football. In fact, it was the opposite. Despite being five years their…
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Toulon Tournament: Match 2: Portugal-Chile
In a far more even-handed affair than the opening match, Portugal and Chile contested for all three points during the second match of the first day of the Toulon Tournament. Chile scored early with a lovely header from Mathías Pinto, and they held onto the lead to preserve a 1-0 victory. Perhaps the two most hyped…
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Tactical Analysis: Liverpool vs. Chelsea
Last Sunday, Liverpool and Chelsea matched up for a pivotal match, one that would have dire implications for Liverpool’s title chances and Chelsea’s top four hopes. This game was an absolute cracker, with elements of absolutely everything that make a football match great – good defensive organisation, superb attacking play, missed chances, last-ditch tackles, slaloming…
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Tactical Analysis: Bayern Munich vs. Borussia Dortmund
Last weekend’s Der Klassiker was billed as a battle between an emerging force and an aging power, with Lucien Favre’s youthful BVB taking on Niko Kovač’s rejuvenated Bayern in a top-of-the-table clash that had serious ramifications for the Bundesliga championship. Coming into the match, the Black-and-Yellows held a two-point lead over the reigning champions, and…
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Liverpool’s 4-3-3 vs. Liverpool’s 4-2-3-1
Liverpool’s 4-2-3-1 is a defence-first system that’s typically utilized against teams that Jürgen Klopp feels Liverpool have a clear quality advantage against. It’s designed to increase the compactness of the team from the moment the ball is lost. The essence of the system is the strong central spine. The two key elements within the system…
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What’s next for Atlético?
It’s not breaking news that Atlético Madrid’s season has been (very) underwhelming; ten points behind Barcelona in the race for the league, knocked out of Europe after one of the Colchoneros’ worst matches since Diego Simeone arrived in 2011, and ridiculed by Girona at home in the Round of 16 in the Copa del Rey,…
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‘Boszball’ and what Julian Brandt and Kai Havertz’s rise means for Joachim Löw and Germany
There are intriguing parallels which can be drawn between Bayer Leverkusen and Manchester United’s breathtaking renaissance post the turn of the year. Handcuffed by their managers’ mundane approaches, hackneyed responses to pointed concerns and an overwhelmingly apparent underutilization of electrifying attacking talent at their disposal – here we had two clubs who found themselves in…
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How Tuchel Out-Coached Solskjaer at Old Trafford
Line-ups With Paris Saint-Germain missing their star playmaker Neymar, and with Edinson Cavani withdrawing to injury after the Bordeaux match last weekend, Thomas Tuchel put out a makeshift side at Old Trafford for the first leg of their Round of 16 tie with Manchester United. The team alternated between a back three and a back…
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Analyzing Sergio Ramos’ Heroic Performance Against Ajax
With Marcelo and Raphaël Varane both out, and with Ajax putting Madrid’s resolve to the test early on in their quest to retake the Champions League, Sergio Ramos stepped up with a captain’s performance to put Real Madrid within touching distance of the quarterfinals. Alessandro Costacurta, one of the greatest defenders in history, praised Ramos’…
