Everyone’s focus was understandably on the Men’s World Cup final this weekend, but there was a lot more going on in the world of football as always. So, here is our weekly column recapping some of the action, including the good, the bad and the ugly.

By Neel Shelat

🏆 World Cup: Argentina 3-3 France AET (4-2 on pens)

You’ll never see a World Cup final quite like this again.

Argentina and France battled it out in an epic climax to the 2022 FIFA World Cup, which was ultimately decided by a penalty shoot-out.

Before that, it was La Albiceleste who started the game on top. After a dominant first-half display, they went into the half-time break with a two-goal lead thanks to Lionel Messi’s penalty and Ángel Di María’s finish, while France couldn’t even fashion a single shooting opportunity. They continued to look terribly flat as the second half kicked off, but with just over 10 minutes left to play, the drama properly began.

Les Blues were rather gifted a penalty which Kylian Mbappé gladly converted, and just over a minute and a half later, he scored again with a brilliant first-time volley from the edge of the box, even though he was off balance. The 23-year-old striker very much struck out of the blue, taking the game to extra time.

There were many missed chances in that half an hour, but crucially, two goals were scored. Messi struck first in the 108th minute by turning in a rather scrappy rebound, but just as Argentina thought they were within touching distance of the World Cup trophy, France were awarded another penalty. Mbappé took it again, and scored again, extending the match to a shoot-out.

Led by Messi, the Argentines, who had recently experienced such a situation against the Netherlands in the quarter-finals, were faultless from the spot. Mbappé did find the back of the net from 12 yards out for the third time on the night, but the two players after him missed, with Kingsley Coman’s effort saved by Emiliano Martínez and Aurélien Tchouaméni sending his shot wide. So, Gonzalo Montiel stepped up to take a potentially decisive kick, and he won it for Argentina.

La Albiceleste celebrated their first World Cup title since 1986 when a certain Diego Maradona was the star of the show. This time, the Golden Ball went to one Lionel Messi, who can finally claim to have won every major trophy he has competed for in his glistening career.

He had previously said that this would be his last World Cup, although he gave mixed signals after getting his hands on the trophy. If this was the last time he has taken to the pitch on the biggest stage, though, he has enjoyed a fairytale ending, as have his millions of supporters.

🇦🇺 Australia: Melbourne City A-A Melbourne Victoria

Two weeks ago, Australian football was experiencing one of its greatest highs as the Socceroos qualified for the World Cup knockouts for just the second time in their history. They bowed out in the Round of 16 against Argentina, but only after putting up a spirited fight.

Some even called that the start of a golden era for Australian football, and understandably so since things were looking quite positive at the time. A lot has changed since then, though, largely thanks to the APL’s decision to hold the A-League Grand Finals in Sydney for the next three years.

That decision was unanimously opposed by fans of all sides across the Men’s and Women’s top flights alongside many clubs, broadcasters and some players as well. The APL did not budge under this pressure, so a number of fan groups decided to protest by staging walkouts in the 20th minute of this weekend’s matches.

Things went pretty smoothly until the Melbourne derby on Saturday. In this match, flares were thrown onto the pitch around the 20th minute, but one of those that came from the Victory supporters landed close to City goalkeeper Tom Glover. He picked it up and lobbed it away, but back towards the stand with the fans. That sparked an angry reaction from a few supporters, who stormed onto the pitch and assaulted Glover.

The players quickly left the pitch, including Glover who suffered a cut across his face and a likely concussion. After a little bit of waiting, the fans in the rest of the stands heard the decision they were all expecting – the match was abandoned.

Even under these circumstances, the fans who came onto the pitch acted in a way that absolutely cannot be justified, and in the process, soured what otherwise have been peaceful and poignant protests. Only time can tell where Australian football goes from here, but it seems that it has taken more steps backwards than forward this month.

🏆 UEFA Women’s Champions League: PSG 2-1 Real Madrid

The Men’s World Cup semi-finals put us in the unique position of getting Women’s Champions League action on a Friday night, so we will gladly cover that in this column.

Group A had the most pivotal match of the day, as Paris Saint-Germain took on Real Madrid. The hosts had a two-point advantage over the visitors going into the match, where they were essentially directly competing for the second spot in the group. That was because Chelsea sealed progression to the knockouts with a routine win over Vllaznia in the early kick-off, effectively winning the group in the process.

PSG’s final group match was against the WSL champions, so Real Madrid could count on a favour from them. Therefore, they might have taken a draw from this game, but a loss would spell the end of their Champions League campaign.

For such a high-stakes affair, the game got off to an absolute flyer as the woodwork was struck at both ends in the first 10 minutes. It was the French side who took the lead a little later, as Élisa de Almeida scored following a corner. That rather took the sting out of Madrid’s performance, as their attacking threat waned thereafter.

The second goal of the game was scored 15 minutes into the second half, when Kadidiatou Diani converted a penalty that was rather gifted by a needless sliding challenge from Olga Carmona. Las Blancas finally began to show some urgency in their attacks a little later after a raft of changes, but they could only pull one back through Athenea del Castillo in the 81st minute.

That proved to be a case of too little too late, so Real Madrid suffered their first group stage exit in what was their second Champions League campaign. Of course, that means PSG are through, but only as runners-up, unless they manage to win by a significant goal margin at Stamford Bridge next week.

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Scotland: Aberdeen 0-1 Celtic

The Scottish Premiership returned to action with Rangers playing Hibernian on Thursday in what was Michael Beale’s first competitive match in charge of the club. The rest of the fixtures for matchday 17 were scheduled for Saturday, although a couple had to be postponed due to pitch damage caused by cold weather.

Rangers’ crosstown rivals Celtic were in action, though, as they made the trip to Aberdeen. They were faced with a staunch 5-3-2 block from the Dons, who defended with eight players behind the ball even when it was close to the edge of their box. Of course, that meant that the home side could barely fashion a shot at goal, but they did frustrate their opponents.

Celtic kept a whopping 80% of possession in the match and attempted 33 shots, but since Aberdeen always had so many bodies in the box, the majority of those came from outside it. It was clear that Ange Postecoglu’s side were going to need a shot to go in from distance if they were to come away with all three points, and eventually, with three minutes of normal time left to play, captain Callum McGregor found the bottom corner from the edge of the box.

That was Celtic’s 200th goal under Postecoglu, their first-ever non-European manager. Their title bid is looking good at the moment, as this win restored a nine-point lead at the top of the table.

🇭🇳 Honduras: Olimpia 2-0 Montagua (agg. 3-0)

Next we go to Honduras, where the second leg of the Liga Nacional 2022/23 Apertura final was played on Saturday night. The match featured the country’s most successful club Olimpia, who faced the most recent Clausura winners and the second-most successful club in the nation, Motagua.

The two sides do not like each other much, not least because they are both based in the Honduran capital Tegucigalpa where they share the Estadio Nacional. Their encounters are known as the Honduran Superclásico, or the Clasico Capitalino (Capital Derby).

Olimpia took a one-goal lead into this game from the first leg in Comayagua thanks to a stoppage-time penalty. This title decider was held in La Ceiba in front of a packed Estadio Ceibeño, where the crowd watched the Lions score from a corner on the stroke of half-time before going on to seal the result in the 69th minute.

With that, Olimpia lifted the Liga Nacional trophy for the 41st time in their history, which means their tally is now is over two times greater than Motagua’s 20.

🇬🇹 Guatemala: Antigua Guatemala 0-0 Cobán Imperial (agg. 0-1)

We are staying in Central America for our last match of the week, crossing the border from Honduras to Guatemala. The top-flight league here is also called the Liga Nacional, and it too crowned a champion in the second leg of the Apertura final this weekend.

This was set to be a special final, as both of Guatemala’s most successful clubs were not a part of it. Municipal and Comunicaciones, both based in the capital Guatemala City, have 31 titles each in the professional era – as many as all of the other sides combined. They were on opposite sides of the play-off bracket, but both were eliminated in the semi-finals.

Instead, Antigua Guatemala and Cobán Imperial, who finished first and second in the table, were vying for the title. Both sides had previously lifted the title, with Antigua having done so four times in the last decade, whereas Cobán had only done so once back in 2004. After that, they spent 8 seasons from 2007/08 to 2014/15 in the lower tiers of Guatemalan football but returned to the Liga Nacional in the summer of 2015.

Now, they have reconquered the summit of the top flight. There was just one goal scored in about three hours of football across the two legs of the final, so Robin Betancourth’s name will live long in Cobán Imperial’s history. They are the oldest team currently playing in Guatemala’s Liga Nacional, so there are few fans of Guatemalan football who will begrudge their success. Cobán will hope to continue competing for the foreseeable future, especially when they celebrate their 100-year anniversary in 2024.

Cover Image from IMAGO

We are well and truly in the business end of the 2022 FIFA World Cup as the quarter-finals were played this weekend, but elsewhere, there was lots of interesting club football action too. There were some major top-of-the-table clashes in some of the biggest leagues in Women’s football, as well as a couple of interesting matches in men’s leagues that we will cover in this edition of Last Weekend.

By Neel Shelat

🏆 World Cup: Morocco 1-0 Portugal

Saturday night saw a historic World Cup match played, as Morocco became the first African and first Arab nation to qualify for the semi-finals of the tournament. They did so with a win over Portugal after a tense game.

Walid Regragui’s side have impressed many throughout the tournament thanks to their disciplined defending in a 4-1-4-1 block, which is how they were able to restrict Portugal’s attacking threat, despite ceding almost three-quarters of possession. Crucially, they took the lead just before half-time through Youssef En-Nesyri, who leapt high to meet Yahia Attiyat Allah’s cross ahead of Diogo Costa and sent it into an empty net.

The second half saw Portugal pile on the pressure, as they sent on a number of additional attackers including Cristiano Ronaldo and Rafael Leão. Morocco switched to a 5-4-1 formation after the hour-mark as they dug deep to defend. Things were getting tenser and tenser by the minute, especially in stoppage-time after Walid Cheddira got sent off for the Atlas Lions, but they held firm, did not concede too many clear-cut chances, and came away with a clean sheet.

That meant Morocco won their first World Cup quarter-final, and Regragui, who had already entered uncharted territory for an African manager, is going even further. They will face Croatia on Wednesday for a spot in the final. Meanwhile, Portugal and Cristiano Ronaldo head home, the latter likely ending his World Cup career without a trophy or even a knockout goal.

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 England: Manchester City 1-1 Manchester United

After England’s elimination from the World Cup at the hands of France on Saturday night, the country’s attention turned to Manchester on Sunday afternoon, where City and United were playing the first derby of the Women’s Super League season.

There was more than just bragging rights on the line in this game. Since their promotion to the WSL, Manchester United have finished fourth and behind their local rivals in each of their three top-flight seasons, but they went into this game sat third with a three-point lead over City. Their aim was to open up the gap even further with a first-ever league victory in this fixture.

A crowd of over 44,000 – a record for the home side and the second-biggest number in WSL history – came to the Etihad Stadium to watch this game, and they were not left disappointed. Both sides looked threatening early on, but United seemed to have an edge. They were rewarded for their efforts in the 27th minute when Leah Galton played a one-two with Ella Toone and sent her shot through the legs of a defender en route to the back of the net.

City seemed to tail off thereafter and did not look much better after the half-time break either, but they managed to equalise just before the hour-mark as Chloe Kelly’s cross beat the first defender and bounced back up for Laura Coombs, who headed it in from close range. That was the spark they needed to get right back to life, so we were treated to a thrilling thirty minutes at the end of the match with frantic action on both sides of the pitch. Neither team could grab a winner, though, and ultimately it must be said that a draw was a fair result.

🇮🇹 Italy: Roma 2-4 Juventus

We told you about the big Serie A Femminile match between the top two this weekend in the previous edition of the column, and we were not left disappointed.

Roma, who had a six-point lead at the top of the table before this game, are seeking to win their first-ever league title this season and end Juventus’ streak of five consecutive championships. They were carrying an eight-match winning run in the league into this game, having dropped points on just one occasion all season – to you’ve guessed it – Juventus.

They raced to an early lead thanks to Annamaria Serturini’s goal less than two minutes after kick-off but were quickly pegged back by Lineth Beerensteyn. Juventus went on to take the lead in the 38th minute through Cristiana Girelli, preserving it until half-time.

The game was back level early on in the second half as Andressa Alves turned in the rebound after Valentina Giacinti struck the post. Beerensteyn proved to be the difference-maker for the Bianconere yet again as she dazzled a defender with her footwork before sending her finish into the bottom corner in the 67th minute. A set-piece goal from Julia Grossa sealed the result later on, as Juventus cut their deficit to the league leaders down to three points.

🇫🇷 France: Lyon 0-1 PSG

Much like Italy, France watched the two Division 1 Féminine title contenders square off on Sunday. Before kick-off, defending champions Lyon had two more points than Paris Saint-Germain, who were the team that ended their 14-season domination of the French top-flight back in 2020/21.

PSG are now looking for their second league title this season and were doing well to keep step with Lyon by being the only unbeaten side in the division apart from the title holders. Both of those records were under real threat in this game, which got tenser with every passing minute.

Lyon and PSG were both able to get into promising positions throughout the match, but creating clear-cut chances was a different matter where neither could succeed. So, there were no goals in the first half and none in the first 40 minutes of the second period too. The decisive moment came 87 minutes in, as the first contact from a PSG corner delivered to the near post looped up to the far post, where Kadidiatou Diani was waiting to turn it in.

Of course, that was enough for the Parisians to come away with all three points, which enabled them to leapfrog Lyon and jump up to the summit of the table, where they will remain at the turn of the year.

Lyon, on the other hand, have tasted defeat at home for the first time in 95 matches, a streak that extended all the way back to January 2014.

🇦🇺 Australia: Central Coast Mariners 1-2 Newcastle Jets

In Australia, the Men’s A-League returned to action after the World Cup break. The headlines from the action included Melbourne City’s first competitive match after the departure of Patrick Kisnorbo, as well as a new chapter in the league’s oldest derby.

The Central Coast Mariners and Newcastle Jets were among the founding members of the A-League, being the only two non-capital clubs initially. Based just over 80 kilometres apart in the state of New South Wales, their proximity and similarities led to the rise of a rivalry known as the F3 derby, named after the motorway that connects the two cities.

The F3 freeway is now known as the M1 motorway, but the name of the derby has not changed. There is a new introduction to this rivalry this season, though, as the overall winner at the end of each campaign will be receiving the F3 Derby Trophy, a lump of concrete from the motorway itself:

And it is the Newcastle Jets who have the advantage after the first game in 2022/23, as they came away with a narrow away win. Trent Buhagiar opened the scoring for the visitors 12 minutes in, Australian international Jason Cummings equalised early on in the second half, but just over 10 minutes later, the decisive goal was scored by Beka Mikeltadze following a corner.

Both teams have endured disappointing starts to the season and still have single-digit points tallies after six matches, so they will be hoping to turn things around this summer.

🇨🇴 Colombia: Deportivo Pereira 0-0 Independiente Medellín (1-1 agg, 4-3 pens)

For the first time ever, we have been forced to bend the rules of the column a little bit, because there was an unmissable result in Colombia in midweek.

The 2022 Clausura final of the top-flight league pitted six-time winners Independiente Medellín against Deportivo Pereira. The first leg was held last Sunday and ended 1-1, so it was all to play for on Wednesday night at the Estadio Hernán Ramírez Villegas, the home of Deportivo Pereira.

Deportivo Pereira fans were out in full voice, and unsurprisingly so too since this was the closest they had ever come to a top-flight league title in their 78-year history. In fact, they did not even have a major trophy to speak of, having lost their first-ever final of the Copa Colombia in 2021.

That might make you think that Deportivo Pereira have been building towards glory for a while now, but their recent history has been full of setbacks. They were playing in the second division a decade ago at this time, but in late 2013, the department of sports of the government of Colombia withdrew their sporting license amid financial and administrative issues among other things. The club was declared bankrupt, but efforts to revive it initially did not succeed and there even were talks of a potential dissolution.

Eventually, their issues were resolved and they were back in professional action for the 2014 season, but achieving promotion remained a tough task. After a number of narrow misses, they finally succeeded in 2019. Winning the top-flight title still was their fans would not have even dreamed of, but an impressive league campaign in 2022 saw them qualify for their first-ever championship finals.

They made it to the final ahead of the likes of Millionarios, Atlético Junior and Independiente Santa Fe, and the rest, as they say, is history. There was nothing to separate the two sides after 180 minutes across two legs, so the title went down to penalties. Independiente Medellín went first and failed to score their first two attempts while Deportivo Pereira missed their first, but remained faultless thereafter to win the league.

It was a historic night for Deportivo Pereira which will live long in the memory of their fans and, indeed, those who follow Colombian football.

Cover Image from IMAGO

It has been quite a busy weekend in the world of football. The 2022 World Cup’s knockout stage has gotten underway so some huge fixtures are being played at a daily rate, while normal service has continued in the world of women’s football. We will be covering some of that and more in this edition of Last Weekend.

By Neel Shelat

🏆 World Cup: Argentina 2-1 Australia

Lionel Messi began what is most likely his final World Cup knockout run as Argentina faced Australia, who had surprised many by reaching this stage. This was just their second-ever appearance in the Men’s World Cup knockouts and they had lost their only previous game, so it would have taken an exceptionally historic performance from them to advance.

In fairness, the Socceroos started the game off quite well and were able to keep Argentina at an arm’s length, although Lionel Scaloni’s side looked a little disjointed again as their attack had to be shuffled around in the absence of Ángel Di María. It was clear that this game would take a moment of individual brilliance to open it up, and of course, only one man was going to provide it.

Lionel Messi opened the scoring in the 38th minute with a pinpoint finish to the bottom corner after playing a role in the build-up and making a run into the box. In his 1000th senior appearance, he finally got his first-ever World Cup knockout goal. The 35-year-old’s overall performance was inspired too, as he attempted six shots and created four chances for his teammates.

Argentina did score again through Julián Álvarez in the second half, but that goal was created by a goalkeeper error when the ball was at his feet. It then looked like La Albiceleste would cruise home to a comfortable win, but a deflected Craig Goodwin shot that beat Emiliano Martínez for an own goal in the 77th minute set up a grandstand finish. Argentina managed to hold on, though, moving on to the quarter-finals where they will be facing Netherlands.

🇪🇸 Spain: Barcelona 2-1 Real Sociedad

Elsewhere in the world, women’s football has remained in full swing, so let us catch up with some of the action in Europe’s top leagues, starting with Spain.

On Saturday, Real Sociedad had to make the trip to league leaders and defending champions Barcelona, who had a 100% record in all competitions this season and had beaten Sociedad home and away with an aggregate score of 17-2 last season. Their players certainly would not have been looking forward to this.

But they would have been slightly pleased to learn that Barcelona were resting a few of their key players, even though their task was still incredibly tough. For their part, Erreala looked quite impressive as they matched their opponents in the first half and created some good chances too. Their lack of clinical finishing was disappointing, but on the stroke of half-time, Jade Le Guilly found the bottom corner from the edge of the box to give Sociedad a lead that was certainly deserved.

This was the first time Barcelona were trailing this season in all competitions, so they made four substitutions at half-time. Marta Torrejón was among those who started and stayed on the pitch for the second half, and just after the hour-mark, she scored following a corner. It was all Barcelona thereafter as they searched for a winner to keep their perfect record going. Eventually, it came from another corner in the 89th minute, with substitute Lucy Bronze getting on the scoresheet.

So, Real Sociedad joined a long list of teams that have failed to take anything in terms of points from a visit to Barcelona this season, but they can take a lot of heart from their performance.

🇩🇪 Germany: Wolfsburg 5-0 Eintracht Frankfurt

Over in the Bundesliga, the only two teams who were unbeaten before this weekend faced off on Saturday. Defending champions Wolfsburg, who were at the top of the table, hosted Eintracht Frankfurt, who dropped to third after Bayern Munich’s win over Hoffenheim.

Dutch attacking midfielder Jill Roord took just five minutes to put the hosts in front, and they largely controlled proceedings thereafter. A few minutes before the half-time break, Roord’s second goal of the match and striker Ewa Pajor’s eighth goal of the season put Wolfsburg in a commanding position. Roord completed her hat-trick in the second half, and a late own goal from Sara Doorsoun added further gloss to the scoreline.

This result extended Wolfsburg’s lead at the top of the table to five points, while Roord shot up the scoring charts to become the third player from her side in the league’s top five.

When the goals are coming at such a consistent rate from different sources, that usually bodes pretty well for a title charge.

🇮🇹 Italy: Inter 0-2 Juventus

The Derby d’Italia was the headline fixture in Italy this weekend, and the two contestants were occupying the podium positions going into the fixture. Their reactions to that would have been very different, though, as Inter were looking to qualify for Europe for the first time, while Juventus were at risk of losing the title for the first time in their history.

Le Bianconere were trailing Roma by six points heading into the weekend, so they couldn’t really afford any more slip-ups. They were matched by Inter in what was a very even game where both sides created presentable chances to score the opening goal, but it was the visitors who were eventually able to convert. A quickfire double from Barbara Bonansea and Arianna Caruso early on in the second half proved to be the difference between the two teams.

So, Inter suffered just their second defeat of the league season but are now winless in five matches, which is a disappointing run after a very good start to the season. Juventus, meanwhile, are unbeaten in their last five matches in all competitions, a streak they will be keen to preserve when they face Roma next week.

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 England: Leicester City 0-8 Chelsea

It was top versus bottom in the Women’s Super League in England this weekend, as pointless Leicester City hosted Chelsea.

It was all one-way traffic from the start as the defending champions went straight for the kill. Guro Reiten opened the scoring four minutes in, and then she went on an assist mission. She set up four of her teammates by half-time to give Chelsea a five-goal lead, with the last of the goals coming right on the 45th minute when Reiten played an exquisite outside-of-the-boot pass curving around the opposition back line into the path of Sam Kerr.

There was more to come in the second half as Jessie Flemming and Fran Kirby completed their braces, between which Bethany England came off the bench and got on the scoresheet as well. So, after putting nine and seven past Leicester in their last two meetings, Chelsea settled on eight this time.

This result restores the Blues’ three-point lead at the top of the table, and although they have played a game more than Manchester United and Arsenal, this big scoreline has given them the edge on goal difference. Leicester, meanwhile, remain rooted to the bottom of the table, and relegation seems to be inevitable for them now. 

🇷🇴 Romania: Farul Constanța 8-0 Botoșani

The Romanian Liga I is among the handful of European top-flight leagues that is not stopping for the World Cup, and there is quite an interesting story brewing at the top of the table.

League-leaders Farul Constanța thrashed Botoșani by an eight-goal margin as well to go four points clear at the top. They have, however, played one more match than second-placed CFR Cluj, the side that has won the last five titles in Romania.

If you look at Farul Constanța’s title history, their records will say that they were the team that won the 2016/17 title – the last one before Cluj’s streak began. However, the team it was awarded to was called Viitorul Constanța, which is now defunct having merged with Farul in 2021.

The story is that in 2016, Farul were declared bankrupt and effectively had to be folded as a club. That was quite something for the fans of a then 96-year-old club to take, so they decided to form what effectively became a proxy team called ‘Suporter Spirit Club Farul Constanța’ that started life in the lowest tier.

The club earned a couple of back-to-back promotions and climbed up to the second tier in 2018, but a hostile takeover attempt and the resultant issues seemingly slowed down their progress. Things were resolved by the winter, but Farul failed to win promotion in the subsequent two seasons as well.

Then came another twist in 2021, as Romanian football legend Gheorghe Hagi, who had started his playing career with Farul, announced that Viitorul Constanța, the club he had formed in 2009 and was managing at the time, would merge with Farul under the latter’s banner. That meant Farul took Viitorul’s place in the top flight, finishing fifth at the end of the season.

This year, with Hagi at the helm, they have launched a serious title charge and are looking to lift the first-ever top-flight league trophy with Farul’s name engraved on it. There is a long way to go yet, but things are looking good at the moment.

Cover Image from IMAGO