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Soccer

3 takeaways from Wednesday's Champions League action

Jason Cairnduff / Reuters

The good, the good, and the ugly.

Three Premier League clubs took the pitch as part of Wednesday’s Champions League agenda, and, while two of them manufactured strong performances, it was the same old story for the other.

Liverpool rues missed chances once again

Liverpool entered the interval with a 2-1 lead over Sevilla, but, as if something was in the air at Anfield, it just felt like one of those games where the Reds would succumb to an equaliser and regret squandering first-half opportunities.

Sure enough, Sevilla found an equaliser out of nothing. After nobody bothered to challenge Luis Muriel in the 72nd minute, the Colombian forward flicked the ball towards Joaquin Correa, who, unmarked, slotted it past Simon Mignolet. It was deja vu for Reds supporters, whose minds instantly hit rewind in order to reminisce over Roberto Firmino’s failure to convert a penalty kick.

But it would unfair to single out Firmino’s miss. Liverpool was lively in attack throughout the majority of the game and outshot Sevilla 11-2 in shots off target and 7-3 in shots on target. When your defence is about as stable as four drunk giraffes standing atop of one another, you can’t afford to be wasteful.

Just like the first matchday of the Premier League, when Liverpool conceded a 93rd-minute equaliser at Watford, a combination of missed chances and awful defending cost the Reds two points. This time, however, it happened on home soil.

Manchester City can absolutely dream of European success

Don’t listen to Pep Guardiola. Before Manchester City’s invasion of Feyenoord Rotterdam, the Catalan manager said: “I don’t know now if we’re able to compete for the titles because we’re in the process of growing. We are not dreaming.” Perhaps he was being humble. Perhaps he was setting himself up for the possibility of failure. Either way, the Citizens can dream of conquering Europe.

City was nothing short of excellent at Feyenoord. The Citizens, who reportedly spent £220.5 million during the summer transfer window, showed what money can buy with a 4-0 victory. They required all of two minutes to open the scoring, as John Stones tallied his first of two goals, and, by the final whistle, they had equalled their biggest-ever win in the Champions League.

The result will also do wonders for City’s confidence on the road. The Citizens had won none of their last six away games in the Champions League, allowing 14 goals in the process.

City will inevitably come across tougher obstacles, but, until that happens, its supporters can set the bar as high as they want.

Tottenham should feel good about playing at Wembley Stadium

Entering Tottenham Hotspur’s match versus Borussia Dortmund, Spurs had yet to tally three points at Wembley Stadium, falling to Chelsea and earning a draw against Burnley after a season in which they struggled to adjust to playing at the iconic ground. But any suggestions of a prolonged curse can be confined to the Premier League.

Tottenham was worth three points in its 3-1 triumph over Dortmund. Although Der BVB outplayed Spurs at certain times in the first half, the English club was ultimately the better team at Wembley and even had luck going in its favour, as the visitor had two goals disallowed – one by Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and another by Christian Pulisic.

Harry Kane was as efficient as ever, scoring two goals with his left foot. In a group that also boasts Real Madrid, the English striker will be relied upon for advancing to the knockout phase.

(Photos courtesy: Action Images)

NFL

Source: OBJ's Week 2 status 'up in the air'

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — The New York Giants believe there is a “good chance” wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. will play Monday night against the Detroit Lions, but the decision is still “up in the air,” a source told ESPN’s Adam Schefter.

The team will know more about Beckham’s status after Sunday, the source said.

Beckham, who missed the Giants’ opener last Sunday night against the Dallas Cowboys, was officially listed as questionable for the second straight week with an ankle injury. He was a limited participant in practice Thursday and Friday, his first two practices since getting hurt on a hit by Cleveland Browns cornerback Briean Boddy-Calhoun four weeks ago.

Odell Beckham Jr. is expected to be a game-time decision on Monday night. AP Photo/Ron Schwane

“The biggest thing is, you don’t want to put a player out there that is going to do any harm to himself or injure himself any more than he is,” Giants coach Ben McAdoo said Saturday. “It is an injury. It’s a tough injury. He’s fighting through it and doing everything he can to get back, but we’re going to be smart with him.”

The Giants didn’t practice Saturday. Instead they spent the afternoon at the team facility taking care of their bodies before a workout Sunday at about 85 percent.

Beckham is expected to be a game-time decision Monday night.

Right tackle Bobby Hart (ankle) is also questionable, while linebacker Keenan Robinson (concussion) was ruled out for the second straight week.

Hart, Robinson and Beckham were all limited during Friday’s practice. Beckham ran some routes against air but was more involved than the previous day. He also did some running and skipping during warmups and made an impressive one-handed, left-handed grab in the back of the end zone during an offensive drill.

“He looked good. Looked like he’s improving,” wide receiver Roger Lewis said.

It’s progress after Beckham did not practice and worked on the side with trainers most of last week. He admittedly wasn’t close to playing against the Cowboys.

This week there appears to be more optimism.

“He responded well to treatment,” McAdoo said after practice Friday. “He responded well to his work [Thursday]. Got a little bit more [Friday], but he’s still limited.”

Beckham said Thursday that he was dealing with a 6-8 week injury. But that timetable could vary or change depending on the individual.

The Pro Bowl receiver has spent endless hours at the facility and at home treating and rehabbing the injury. Beckham said Thursday he “felt good” and was itching to get back on the field.

The Giants’ offense could use Beckham after struggling in a 19-3 loss to the Cowboys in Week 1. Wide receiver Brandon Marshall caught one pass (in the final moments) for 10 yards. Quarterback Eli Manning threw for just 33 yards in a first half where the offense produced a grand total of two first downs.

Beckham led the Giants in receiving each of the past three years. He had 101 receptions for 1,367 yards and 10 touchdowns last season.

Soccer

Anti-Mourinho: Manchester City's 'PlayStation football' can stun Europe

Jose Mourinho grew irritated by Manchester United’s second-half display against FC Basel on Tuesday. Despite having long-ball magnet Marouane Fellaini on the pitch from 19 minutes in, the United ranks wanted to entertain with intricate artistry, much to the displeasure of their Portuguese manager (despite a straightforward 3-0 win).

“We stopped playing seriously, we stopped making the right decisions on the pitch. We could have put ourselves in trouble,” Mourinho said post-match.

“Fantasy football, PlayStation football, tricks … I don’t like it. You gamble a little bit. Probably the players thought the game was under control at 2-0, but football is football. You have to respect the opponent.”

Mourinho’s version of respecting the opponent is risk aversion; football of such pragmatism that, when the Fellaini-fronted Plan B is wheeled out, can resemble Stan Cullis’ long-ball tactics at Wolverhampton Wanderers in the mid-20th century. Manchester City, meanwhile, revels in an approach akin to controller-hogging, frantic-button-bashing brilliance.

(Photo courtesy: Action Images)

It felt like those in blue had an option each time they found themselves in a tight spot during Wednesday’s 4-0 evisceration of Feyenoord. Guardiola’s obsessive division of the pitch into zones means there’s always at least one player available for a pass because he knows where to be. Kevin De Bruyne continues to be invited to gamble, whipping in crosses and stabbing perfectly weighted through balls into the paths of the frontmen. Bernardo Silva, the player most resembling a creation in the FIFA game franchise, twists and turns like a pesky housefly.

There is a ruthlessness to City but, unlike with United, there is also a clear desire to look pretty while crushing the opponent. Producing a display like the one against Feyenoord – a team that beat Europa League finalist Ajax to the Eredivisie title in 2016-17, and defeated Manchester United 1-0 at the same venue a year earlier – is highly impressive.

For those fans who toured the wilting third-tier grounds in the late 1990s, if the club can keep up outings like this – one of City’s most convincing performances since the Abu Dhabi United Group swelled the bank balance in 2008 – this European excursion could yield a success that would’ve seemed too whimsical even for virtual reality back then.

What’s really made things click for Guardiola is the addition of Benjamin Mendy and Kyle Walker. The fluid attack is already hard to decipher while Sergio Aguero drops and Gabriel Jesus drifts, but when the full-backs charge up the park – kicking up chalk with a width that makes the pitch bigger for their teammates – it’s difficult to remember what life was like in the 2016-17 term, when fan favourite Pablo Zabaleta and his elderly comrades roused their aching limbs into a flank foray.

The common criticism of this team is that it’s very much a computerised entity. Some of City’s play may resemble stuff that was only conceivable in video games, but Guardiola’s wallet in the transfer windows has granted spends that were only possible when cheating in Football Manager.

Unfortunately for the romanticists, however, City is becoming machine-like. When one player pushes, another one pulls. Guardiola’s system is bearing fruit.

The Spaniard will hit the reset button when City travels to Watford in Saturday’s Premier League fixtures, and returns to continental action with a visit from Shakhtar Donetsk on Sept. 26.

NFL

They go 'way back,' and now Drew Brees, Tom Brady will make history together

METAIRIE, La. — Drew Brees and Tom Brady have combined for more than 140,000 passing yards and 1,000 touchdown passes, including the playoffs, during a combined 35 NFL seasons.

They’ve faced each other four times (advantage Brees, 3-1). They’ve won six Super Bowl rings (advantage Brady, 5-1). They’ve caught up with each other during multiple joint practice sessions, preseason games and Pro Bowls.

Yet when asked for some of his most lasting impressions of Brady over the past two decades, Brees still went back to their first meeting. In college.

“I’m gonna go way back,” said Brees, whose New Orleans Saints will host Brady’s New England Patriots on Sunday in the first-ever matchup of two quarterbacks with at least 400 career touchdown passes and the first meeting between two quarterbacks with at least 10 Pro Bowl selections, according to Elias Sports Bureau research.

“We played against each other in college in 1999, at Michigan,” said Brees, who played at Purdue and remains the all-time passing yardage and touchdown leader in Big Ten history. “And that was at a point where the coaching staff there was having [Brady] share time with Drew Henson. Drew Henson was the highly touted freshman who I think had already been drafted in the first round by the Yankees. …

Drew Brees and Tom Brady will make history on Sunday in the first matchup of two quarterbacks with at least 400 career touchdown passes. Jim Rogash/Getty Images

“For me, standing on the sideline across from him, to me it was obviously Brady’s team. And yet he had to share time with this freshman. And yet, man, his approach and his discipline during that time … he played at such a high level, but he just worried about what he controlled.

“But I think that that probably shaped and molded a lot about him. A little bit of a chip on his shoulder, which has obviously served him well. And just a mental discipline and a mental toughness that’s unmatched.”

Brady’s Wolverines trounced Brees’ Boilermakers, 38-12, on a rainy afternoon that was also a slopfest for Purdue’s offense. There were so many dropped passes that Purdue coach Joe Tiller cracked, “I’d sue for lack of support.”

Brees got his revenge years later, when he threw for a perfect passer rating of 158.3 in New Orleans’ rout of the Patriots in their last meeting inside the Superdome in 2009, en route to a 13-0 start and a Super Bowl win.

Brady then returned the favor in 2013, with a game-winning TD pass in the final five seconds in New England that spoiled New Orleans’ 5-0 start.

But Brady still couldn’t help but rib Brees about the college meeting last year when they practiced together in similar rainy conditions in New England.

“We played ’em, maybe my senior year in the Big House, and we beat ’em,” Brady said again proudly this week when asked about their long history together. “He was really in a fun offense to watch. Joe Tiller was a great [coach]. My roommate [when I first got to the Patriots] actually played with Drew — Dave Nugent — and he had so many great things to say about him. And I just loved watching Drew play even back then. And what he’s done in the NFL and how prolific he’s been and how incredible their offenses have been, it’s really incredible.

“I have so much respect for him and everything he’s accomplished, everything that he brings to the table at the quarterback position.”

“If I can use ‘we’ in the sense of me and him, I’d say we probably both have the mindset that we want to change the norm for what is possible in regards to how long a guy can play and the level that they can play at.”

Drew Brees

Saints coach Sean Payton was the New York Giants’ offensive coordinator when both Brady and Brees came out of the college, and he admits he missed the mark (along with all 31 other teams). Brady was drafted 199th overall in 2000 and Brees was drafted 32nd overall in 2001.

“I remember the evaluation of both players very well. … And look, if any one of us had a crystal ball, you’d be taking them in the first three picks of any draft,” said Payton, who was asked what he thought of Brady before he infamously fell to the sixth round. “He was tough. Lloyd Carr, who was coach [at Michigan], if I recall, told me he’s the toughest player he ever coached. So you saw a little of that grit and toughness. He was a good leader. He had a strong arm. Those were some of the things.

“Listen, [former Giants general manager] Ernie Accorsi would have my evaluation. It’s in New York somewhere.”

When asked what he admires about the 38-year-old Brees as a fellow quarterback who probably appreciates the subtle tricks of the trade more than most, the 40-year-old Brady said, “Well, everything.”

“I mean, he has ultimate control of the game,” Brady said. “He’s so savvy. I think he uses all the tools that he has at his disposal. He does a great job with the snap count, formations, motions, play-action. They do a great job of moving the pocket and moving him around. He can make all the throws. He knows how to look guys off. He knows how to throw guys open. He’s got everything it takes. I think that’s why he’s thrown for 5,000 yards five times.

“That offense has been one of the top offenses in the league since he got there. He pulls the trigger and his teammates have got a lot of confidence in him, and when they get it going, they’re tough to slow down. They’ve got a great rhythm to their offense and especially at home.”

Brees will never catch Brady when it comes to championships.

And Brady will probably never catch Brees on the all-time passing yardage or TD lists.

Brees is already ahead of Brady on both lists, despite being 19 months younger. Brees (66,402 yards and 466 TD passes) is 5,538 yards and 73 touchdowns behind Peyton Manning for first place all time. Brett Favre ranks second in both categories. Brees ranks third in both categories. And Brady (61,849, 456) is fourth in both categories.

Brady and Brees have one other thing in common. They both seem determined to keep playing well into their 40s — and possibly break the NFL record for the oldest starting quarterback at age 45.

Steve DeBerg, Vinny Testaverde and Warren Moon all started games at age 44.

“If I can use ‘we’ in the sense of me and him, I’d say we probably both have the mindset that we want to change the norm for what is possible in regards to how long a guy can play and the level that they can play at,” Brees said. “Listen, there’s a lot that goes into that. You gotta take great care of yourself. You have to have some good things happen around you in order for that to happen. But I know for me, and I’m sure he can tell you the same for himself, you build a team around you of people that continue to help you be in the best position to succeed in regards to what you do for your diet and your rest habits and your recovery, your training and everything else. …

“It doesn’t look like he’s stopping anytime soon. I don’t know if there is a guy more diligent or disciplined in his regards to his recovery and his preparation and his mindset. One of the greatest of all time, if not the greatest. Certainly the championships will tell you the greatest. I’ve got a ton of respect for him. I’ve been playing against him since college and have a lot of respect and admiration for him.”

When Brady was asked if he figures that no matter how long he plays, Brees will just play one day longer, he said, “It’s possible.”

“I mean, I know how much he loves the game and how committed he is,” Brady said. “So, I mean, if anybody can do it, he can.”

ESPN Patriots reporter Mike Reiss contributed to this report.

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