Monday 12/11

Franklin Munoz
December 11, 2023

☃️ 🎁⚽️ Happy Pre-UCL Monday Team! The last time we saw Will Ferrell on a stage leading the party was in that iconic scene in Old School as Frank The Tank. Over the weekend, he brought that same energy as he lead LAFC chants with supporters of the club getting ready for the MLS Cup Final. Unlucky for Will Ferrell and those LAFC supporters however as they lost the final to Columbus Crew 2-1, giving Columbus its first MLS Championship.

Giveaway: Wake up and smell the coffee. Just in time for the Holidays, our next giveaway will be a $30 gift card for our favorite coffee brand- Kickoff Coffee. As always, each friend that you refer to subscribe to the newsletter is an entry to our raffle. Best of luck!

Club Soccer
The New Contenders

Via EuroSport and Girona FC

🆕⚔️ New contenders in Europe. This season, no team seems to be safe. The top teams that we have gotten so used to seeing at the top of the table, are finally showing signs of weakness. One could say that it all started with an off schedule Winter World Cup in 2022, and since then, top players have had very little rest which in turn has opened up the field for new contenders to rise.

🌍 Aston Villa in England. While Aston Villa may not be in first place in the Premier League, they have had some impressive performances this season that have lead to them being firmly in third place, just one point behind Arsenal and two behind Liverpool who are in first place. Unai Emery has built a strong squad with Aston Villa, and have recently racked up wins against Tottenham, Manchester City and Arsenal proving that they have a legitimate claim to the title this year as their strong form continues.

🌍 A New #1 in Spain. Girona FC was first promoted to Spain’s first division in 2017 and only remained in the league for 2 years before they were relegated in 2019. But in 2022, the team stormed back into the league with a strong campaign that saw them finish the season in 10th place. One year later, and Girona are confidently sitting in first place, coming off a huge 4-2 win at Barcelona, where they showed their fighting spirit and outplayed Xavi’s men.

🌎 Bayer are four points in the clear in Germany. Bayer Leverkusen are being lead by Liverpool and Real Madrid legend, Xabi Alonso. This past off season, Alonso reinforced the squad by bringing on quality players such as Granit Xhaka, Alex Grimaldo and Victor Boniface. The team has been praised for their elegant possession style play while outworking opponents whenever they lost the ball to win it right back. The team is also able to spread the wealth when it comes to scoring goals, having 11 different goalscorers in the season so far.

Goals Of The Weekend🕸️

▶ Beautiful team play to setup second goal for Columbus Crew in MLS final

▶ Back heel goal to win the game? You gotta love that. Luis Muriel for Atalanta against AC Milan.

▶ Inter Milan captain, Lautaro Martinez, scores 14th goal of the season in style

▶ An assist so special it earns a spot on the list: Son assists Richarlison for Spurs

Weekend Round Up

Premier League

via FotMob

La Liga

via FotMob

Bundesliga

via FotMob

MLS

via FotMob

Serie A

via FotMob

Women’s
2027 World Cup

via Campaign

27 Women’s World Cup

💌 📮 U got mail! Bidding to host the 2027 World Cup has officially opened! FIFA has received three bids to host, including a joint bid from Germany, Belgium, and Netherlands, who announced their interest back in October 2020. The remaining bids came from Brazil and a joint submission from Mexico and United States. The race has been trimmed down to a three-horse race, as South Africa had previously been named as a prospective host however withdrew their bid in efforts to focus on the 2031 tournament. Not to mention, US and Mexico, in addition with Canada, are already co-hosting the men’s World Cup in 2026. FIFA will organize on-site inspection visits to bidding countries in February. The final bid will be decided at FIFA congress in Bangkok on May 17, 2024.

🔙 ⏪️ Looking back, Spain beat England in the most recent World Cup (2023), which was co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand. Albeit the time-zone, the tournament proved to be a total success jammed pack with thrilling matches and electrifying goals. Of course, who can forget waking up at 5am to catch the match with the fellas at the pub. The United States independently hosted the tourney in 1999 and 2003, while Germany hosted in 2011.