There will be plenty on the line when longtime rivals Real Salt Lake and Houston Dynamo FC square off Saturday in a late-season Western Conference match in Texas. RSL holds a 14-13-11 edge over Houston in the all-time regular season series. The sides have met twice this year, with RSL winning 3-2 at home on July 3 in MLS play and Houston victorious 3-0 in the Group stage of the Leagues Cup on Aug. 4. RSL hasn't won a match in Houston since August 2018. The Dynamo (11-8-8, 41 points) begin the weekend in seventh place in the West, one point ahead of the Portland Timbers and a point behind the Vancouver Whitecaps in the crowded bottom middle of the conference table with seven matches to play. Four points separate fourth place from eighth in the West. Houston has earned points in two of its three matches since returning from the Leagues Cup. After losing at home to Toronto FC on Aug. 24, the Dynamo won at Los Angeles FC on Aug. 31 before drawing as the hosts in the rematch last Saturday. Ibrahim Aliyu leads the Dynamo with six goals, while Amine Bassi paces the side with seven assists. Houston has conceded just 31 goals this season, best in the West and third-fewest in the league. Even though he's not among the team's scoring leaders, midfielder Hector Herrera is the Dynamo's heart and soul. "Hector is a huge part of the last year and a half's growth of this club," Houston coach Ben Olsen said. "When I say, ‘We go as Hector goes,' it's true. We're at our best when he's on the field, when he's touching the ball because of his ability to find relationships on the field." RSL (13-6-8, 47 points) is third in the West, one point below LAFC and three clear of the fourth-place Colorado Rapids with seven matches remaining. The Claret and Cobalt is 1-1-0 since returning to MLS play after the Leagues Cup and is just 1-3-1 in its past five regular season matches. RSL returns from the two-week international break, with its most recent outing a 2-0 home victory over the New England Revolution on Aug. 31. Anderson Julio and Philip Quinton scored for RSL. "When you have 11 guys working hard for each other on both sides of the ball, their quality shines through," RSL coach Pablo Mastroeni said. "These moments are really important for the group, especially down the stretch because every game gets tighter and every team is vying for the same objective of making the playoffs. Words are cheap, but it is the actions behind the words that make it real or not." Cristian Arango leads RSL with 17 goals, which is second in MLS behind D.C. United's Christian Benteke's 18 tallies. Diego Luna has distributed a team-high 12 assists. Arango is not expected to play Saturday as he battles a hamstring injury. –Field Level Media
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Newcastle are set to welcome Tottenham Hotspur at St. James Park on Sunday, in a crunch Premier League duel between two teams competing very directly for a place in the top four at the end of the season. For the hosts, it will be the 31st match of the campaign; 32nd for the visitors.
Newcastle United
It s been a very long time since the black-and-whites from the north-east of England looked this good in the English top flight. Indeed, they played in the Championship as recently as 2016/17, but since returning to the Premier League the following summer, they established themselves as a proper mid-table side; never really worried about relegation, or European qualification.
However, the club s ambitions have risen significantly a…
Picking up a thumping 3-0 win at the Amex on Tuesday night, Manchester United find themselves in the midst of a real purple patch and many around Old Trafford feel that the former champions are finally turning a real corner.
Firmly still in the top-four chase and still firing in both the Europa League and the FA Cup, the mood around the red half of Manchester appears to be on the rise and the future for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer seems to be bright.
With their win against Brighton earlier in the week extending their unbeaten run to 15 matches across all competitions, only German champions Bayern Munich with 25 contests on the bounce hold a longer streak without defeat among all sides in Europe s big-five leagues.
Receiving a string of praise from the likes of former U…
Jose Antonio Reyes will be remembered as a Sevilla great who ignored the easy choices to leave a legacy of success and love.
The Spain international s boyhood club Sevilla announced on Saturday that the winger had died at the age of 35 following a traffic collision.
We couldn t be confirming worse news, they wrote, as the reality of the club losing one of its most famous and beloved sons set in.
Across a successful 20-year career that began in the modest surroundings of Sevilla s reserves, Reyes made 686 appearances in club football, taking him from Spain to England, Portugal and China.
We couldn t be confirming worse news. Beloved Sevilla star José Antonio Reyes has died in a traffic collision. Rest in peace.
— Sevilla FC (@SevillaFC_ENG) …
It was certainly a glorious evening for Liverpool as they put four goals past Manchester United at Old Trafford on Thursday, conceding two in return. Not many would have expected it, not even among the Liverpool supporters, given the respective states of affairs regarding the two teams and their recent exploits.
What s more, this was Jurgen Klopp s first triumph as the Liverpool boss at the home of their greatest rivals. They had not managed it since 2014, when two penalties converted by Steven Gerrard and a skillful finish by Luis Suarez gave Brendan Rodgers Liverpool a 0-3 win against David Moyes Manchester United.
On the other hand, this match held little competitive importance for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and his men. Manchester City are already the new Premier League c…
Cristiano Ronaldo would have hoped to have scored his 100th Portugal goal against Belgium on Friday.
The Juventus superstar is on 99 international strikes and is set to become just the second male player to reach a century, quickly closing on Ali Daei s record tally of 109 for Iran.
But amid the coronavirus pandemic, Portugal s March internationals have been cancelled.
Ronaldo will have to wait until later in the year at the earliest to bring up another career landmark, unable to take on either Belgium or Croatia.
There are plenty of highlights from his previous 99 Portugal goals, though, and we have selected five of the best.
Love this feeling
— Cristiano Ronaldo (@Cristiano)
Denmark v Portugal (October 11, 2011)
Ronaldo…
Real Madrid s stranglehold on the Champions League came to an unceremonious and humiliating end against Ajax on Tuesday.
A stunned and angry Santiago Bernabeu watched on in disbelief as the Eredivisie side thumped the three-time defending champions 4-1 to secure a remarkable 5-3 aggregate triumph.
It marked the first time Madrid have been knocked out in the last 16 since the 2009-10 season, while not since 2012-13 have the previous season s winners failed to make the last eight (Chelsea were knocked out in the group stages).
Santiago Solari s short reign as head coach is now in a perilous position with the shambolic surrender following back-to-back Clasico defeats to Barcelona that ended their Copa del Rey and LaLiga title ambitions.
The Spanish press ha…
Juan Mata has agreed a new one-year contract with Manchester United after his previous deal at Old Trafford expired.
Mata, who joined United from Chelsea in January 2014, had just become a free agent, although Ole Gunnar Solskjaer confirmed talks were planned at the end of the 2020-21 season.
A fresh agreement will keep the 33-year-old at Old Trafford for another 12 months.
Mata has scored 51 goals and supplied 41 assists for United in 273 matches in all competitions.
The former Spain international was restricted to only 18 appearances, 10 starts and 860 minutes last term, although he was absent from United s matchday squad for seven and a half weeks following the death of his mother in March.
Mata returned for the run-in and scored United s winne…
Diego Simeone insisted Kieran Trippier is an important player to Atletico Madrid but suggested the right-back may leave the club amid talk of a move to Newcastle.
Eddie Howe s side head into their first transfer window following the Saudi Arabian-backed takeover in October, with Newcastle reportedly submitting a formal bid to make Trippier the first signing of their new era.
The experienced Trippier has repeatedly been linked with a mid-season switch to Newcastle, having impressed during his stint in the Spanish capital, and has also previously been suggested as a target of Manchester United, Arsenal and Everton.
Trippier, who joined the reigning LaLiga champions from Tottenham in July 2019, has managed 67 top-flight appearances for Atletico, while Howe has pre…
Saturday s 6-0 win over Watford in the FA Cup final at Wembley made Manchester City the first men s team in history to complete a clean sweep of English football s major honours in the same season.
Raheem Sterling dispatched the decisive penalty in the shoot-out against Chelsea after February s EFL Cup final at the same venue finished goalless, while City edged out Liverpool in an epic Premier League title race by beating Brighton and Hove Albion 4-1 last weekend.
Sterling and Gabriel Jesus then both scored twice on Saturday as City completed the treble, adding to a superb career body of work for manager Pep Guardiola.
But where does this City rank among the other finest teams since the Premier League rebrand of 1992-93 heralded the multi-million-pound era?
Former Tottenham striker Teddy Sheringham has praised the understanding of Harry Kane and Son Heung-Min as the duo close in on a Premier League record.
Kane and Son have directly combined for 35 goals in the English top flight since the South Korea international s move from Bayer Leverkusen in August 2015.
The Spurs pair, who successfully linked up again in last weekend s win at Newcastle United, are now just one behind the leading tally of 36 set by Chelsea s Frank Lampard and Didier Drogba ahead of a London derby with West Ham United on Sunday.
And Sheringham, who scored 124 goals in 277 appearances across two spells for Spurs, is hopeful Kane and Son can continue to link up in such devastating fashion.
In an exclusive interview, the 55-year-old told S…