Clubs across Europe have fallen head over heels for Boca Juniors’ left-back, Valentín Barco.
It’s not hard to see why, writes @ronanmann: he’s a modern star in the making and the player Argentina have spent decades waiting for.
I wrote something about Uzbekistan, how they've shaped up tactically under new manager Fabio Cannavaro, and why I think they might cause a few surprises in their debut World Cup campaign, which kicks off tomorrow against Colombia:
https://t.co/bZ2V2EVcp1
Interesting to see teams going aggressive across the board w/ rotation (pulisic, son, schick?, dzeko?) despite added GD incentive w/ 3rd place teams
presumably due to the heat/extra knockout game but still seems a little unusual
interesting format in the u17 world cup KO stage - teams are ranked based on group performance and seeded accordingly, instead of the permutation system at 24 team tournaments (+ the 2026 wc).
seems more fair + incentivizes teams not to throw in the towel in dead rubber games
Third corner, 9th minute - Ødegaard checks short again, Newcastle stick tighter to him after prior corners, Madueke goes direct to one of the late runners in the box, who has time to turn and options with the ball at his feet in the box
Second corner, 8th minute - very similar routine, setting up an overload near the corner while targets occupy their markers at the back post to create space in Eze's zone
A couple of interesting trends in Bodø/Glimt's UCL run so far (data per Fotmob):
- Their xG numbers barely differ between home and away games, but home games see opposition xG drop from both open play and set pieces
- Really wide range of possession % numbers