Angelo's Soccer Talk

On August 4th, 2018, my second-to-last post on this blog was titled "What is Real Madrid waiting for?", and yet, here I still am waiting. "To say it's a sinking ship is an overstatement, but to call this summer a disappointment so far is reasonable."  That was my final statement on August 4th, a desperate gasp for hope after a dismal summer. Looking back, overstatement was a pretty accurate word. In less than 9 months, Real's European dominance ended, they disappeared in La Liga, and had their Copa del Rey cut short at the hands of Barcelona. Additionally, a recent string of poor results against Barcelona (three times), Ajax, and other smaller Spanish teams have left behind a garbage fire in Madrid. What is wrong with Real Madrid? Their defense is hopeless, the attack lacks all form of creativity and substance, Sergio Ramos fails to be the captain Real needs him to be, the three-man midfield appears a couple of steps slower, Marcelo has disappea...

The Champions League trophy, currently held by Real Madrid once again The 2018-2019 Champions League draw was held on August 30th, 2018 in Monaco. Like always, it was an eventful ceremony, and it left us with very exciting and interesting groups to watch for over the next year. It also sets up plenty of fun story lines to watch out for throughout the year, and plenty of interesting questions left to answer below: Which is the most exciting group? By far the most exciting group on paper looks like Group B. You have arguably the greatest team in the world in Barcelona, along with a young and exciting Tottenham and two solid and possibly surprising teams like PSV and Inter Milan. Barcelona will look to win the group like they usually do, while Tottenham will try to make history this year and break out of their pattern of disappointing Champions Leagues. I was really looking forward to watching Inter Milan back in the elite European competitions, but I don't see them making...

On July 10th, Real Madrid was left with a gaping, Cristiano Ronaldo-sized hole in their team. They lost their greatest player and their global icon of the last decade, and while they made 117 MILLION euros in the transfer, we have yet to see what comes out of it. It's been a slow summer for Real Madrid, and it leaves this team in an odd position for the upcoming season. Their attack is now left with an open "50-goal per season" gap that needs to be filled somehow. Their only striker currently is an aging Benzema, and he's aging pretty fast. Bale is injury-prone and inconsistent, he can't become the superstar that we all expected at some point. His career at Madrid has stalled and his future is in question. They need an extra star-level player in the attack. That's not to say that their current team isn't bad or doomed, the players and pieces they own are enough to make any team jealous. Modric, while being 32 years of age, was the best player this...

I've come to the conclusion that I, a semi-decent Fortnite player, am forever doomed to the never-ending abyss of failure in the game.  When I call myself decent, I am trying to say that while I'm not GREAT at Fortnite, I'm also not BAD the game either, you get me? If I was to give myself a letter grade to myself as a player, I would give myself like a B- on a good day, and probably a C on a bad day. * Okay if you are reading this then by now you are probably asking yourself why you are even reading this at all. Well I'm not even so sure why I'm writing this in the first place anyways, so just stick around and finish reading the post, maybe I'll go somewhere with this :) * I've been playing Fortnite since late December, just ahead of the curve before it became the mainstream empire it is today. Since then, I have only gotten one Solo win, a handful of Duo wins, and around a solid 15 Squad wins. My accomplishments in Fortnite aren't all that imp...

This World Cup will go down in history as one of the most exciting World Cups in history. Filled with goals and legendary moments, these five games stood out from the crowd and kept us on the edge of our seats. These games were all filled with passion and a unpredictable spirit that kept us wanting for more. Japan vs Belgium (3-2) In reality, I was fully planning on missing this game. I didn't really expect much excitement from this match at all. But I was fortunately WRONG. This game was a classic, the Samurai held their ground against Belgium. Their tactics and structure kept Belgium off the ball for most of the game. Japan passed the ball and built up play, and went on a two-goal blitz in four minutes. Once Japan went up 2-0 in the 52nd minute, it seemed almost impossible for them to come back from the deficit. Until Belgium went scored two goals of their own in five minutes. This incredible Belgium comeback ended in a 94th minute goal, a beautiful counter-attack that le...

This World Cup was filled with GOLAZOS and crazy breath-taking goals. From the group stage to the Final, there were plenty of work-of-art goals. So, I've decided to create a tournament, 16 of the best goals this world cup, and voting decides who moves on.  (1) Pavard's volley VS. (16) Modric's dagger  (2) Nacho's half-volley VS. (15) Kolarov's free kick  (3) Cheryshev's quarter-final screamer VS. (14) Merten's volley  (4) Coutinho's bend-it-like-Beckham VS. (13) Messi's individual greatness  (5) Perisic's WC Final goal VS. (12) Cheryshev's GOLAZO  (6) Ronaldo's LIFE SAVING free kick VS. (11) Quintero below-the-wall free kick  (7) Di Maria's banger VS. (10) Quaresma's "tres dedos" shot  (8) Kroos' last-minute screamer VS. (9) Januzaj's magic feet This tournament will go over the next few days on my Instagram page: @ag_soccertalk Your voting w...