Category: Football (soccer)

Digital Football Review Roundup!

This one goes out to my fellow gamers and football fanatics! Below are short takes with links to the full reviews of both Pro Evolution Soccer 19 by Konami and FIFA 19 by Electronic Arts. Both reviews were published on Gamecrate.

PES19ReviewHeader

Writing about sports video games eventually evolves into an exercise of avoiding sounding like a broken record. The scenario depends on what the new, annual replacement brings to the table. Five years after my first review of a Pro Evolution Soccer title for this website, the scenario now teeters a bit into the negative side of things than the positive as Konami have delivered another solid entry but with fewer extras that gamers have come to expect from sports titles.

Review: Pro Evolution Soccer 19 & the power of football without many extras

FIFA19ReviewHeader

The Champions League is here! I’m not simply referring to the annual return of the Union of European Football Associations’ insanely popular football (nee: soccer) tournament. Electronic Arts has committed a huge coup with FIFA 19 as it’s the first title in the franchise to feature the European tournament in fully-licensed glory, along with the Europa League and the Super Cup. The inclusion marks another step forward for the franchise in EA’s quest to create the total digital football experience.

Review: In FIFA 19, champions, and a franchise, rise

Who Are The ‘Real L.A.’ Soccer Fans? – A Look At The Growing Rivalry Of Galaxy vs. LAFC

I invite everyone to read my latest futbol article in L.A. Taco about “El Trafico,” the rivalry between the LA Galaxy and LAFC.

vela
Carlos Vela of LAFC heads in the first goal of a 2 – 2 draw against the Galaxy.

Story link: www.lataco.com/who-are-the-real-l-a-soccer-fans-a-look-at-the-growing-rivalry-of-galaxy-vs-lafc/

An excerpt:

This tug of war over the identity of the real Los Angeles is exactly what gives both teams the hallmark of being from L.A., according to Christopher Hawthorne, Chief Design Officer for the city of Los Angeles, who spoke to L.A. Taco about this subject in an interview.

“The real L.A. is a place where the boundaries between city and county, center and edge, urban and suburban, dense and low-rise, surface and interior, and even public and private, tend to be blurrier or tougher to parse than they are elsewhere,” Hawthorne told L.A. Taco.

“Which I guess is a way of saying that what’s quintessentially L.A. about our soccer teams is the way their rivalry is framed by these larger questions or anxieties about authenticity, and what does and doesn’t qualify in the American context as a ‘real’ city.”

Manchester City In Pomona, CA

Two months ago, City Football Group announced its new partnership with Goals Soccer Centers in the US and Canada. The companies made the announcement at GSC’s 5-a-sde training facility in Pomona, CA in the middle of Manchester City’s pre-season tour of the USA with the help of a few players bedecked in the team’s new home and away kits. Yaya Toure, Leroy Sane, Nicolas Otamendi, and new signing Danilo fresh off the plane from Real Madrid. A handful of the local kids who train and play at the facility were lucky enough to play a scrimmage with the four pros for a few minutes.

man_city_goals_003 man_city_goals_005

man_city_goals_007

man_city_goals_010

man_city_goals_014

man_city_goals_015

man_city_goals_016

man_city_goals_018

man_city_goals_020

Copa Centroamericana Final Match Day Recap

uncaf_copa_centroamericana_logo

The 2017 Copa Centroamericana kicked off this past Friday, January 13th. The biannual tournament pits Central American national teams against each other in a short tournament to name a regional champion as well as to select four national teams to the proceeding CONCACAF Gold Cup tournament.

Guatemala was not involved in this year’s tournament as the country’s football federation remains banned due to “political interference.” As such, this year’s tournament will follow a round-robin format from Jan. 13th – Jan. 22nd. The team with the most points at the end of the five match days will raise the tournament trophy.

Match Day 1 results can be found here.

Match Day 2 results can be found here.

Match Day 3 results can be found here.

Match Day 4 results can be found here.

Belize 0 – 1 Honduras

El Salvador 1 – 0 Nicaragua

Panama 1 – 0 Costa Rica

Honduras’ victory over Belize sealed their fourth Copa Centroamericana title since the tournament began in 1991.

screenshot-22

Copa Centroamericana Match Day 3 Recap

uncaf_copa_centroamericana_logo

The 2017 Copa Centroamericana kicked off this past Friday, January 13th. The biannual tournament pits Central American national teams against each other in a short tournament to name a regional champion as well as to select four national teams to the proceeding CONCACAF Gold Cup tournament.

Guatemala was not involved in this year’s tournament as the country’s football federation remains banned due to “political interference.” As such, this year’s tournament will follow a round-robin format from Jan. 13th – Jan. 22nd. The team with the most points at the end of the five match days will raise the tournament trophy.

Match Day 1 results can be found here.

Match Day 2 results can be found here.

El Salvador 3 – 1 Belize

Costa Rica 0 – 0 Nicaragua

Panama 0 – 1 Honduras

Match Day 4 is tomorrow, January 20th, on Univision Deportes and live via CONCACAF’s official Facebook page.

Copa Centroamericana Match Day 2 Recap

uncaf_copa_centroamericana_logo

The 2017 Copa Centroamericana kicked off this past Friday, January 13th. The biannual tournament pits Central American national teams against each other in a short tournament to name a regional champion as well as to select four national teams to the proceeding CONCACAF Gold Cup tournament.

Guatemala was not involved in this year’s tournament as the country’s football federation remains banned due to “political interference.” As such, this year’s tournament will follow a round-robin format from Jan. 13th – Jan. 22nd. The team with the most points at the end of the five match days will raise the tournament trophy.

Match Day 1 results can be found here.

Belize 0 – 3 Costa Rica

El Salvador 1 – 2 Honduras

Panama 2 – 1 Nicaragua

Match Day 3 is tomorrow, January 17th, on Univision Deportes and live via CONCACAF’s official Facebook page.

Copa Centroamericana Match Day 1 Recap

The 2017 Copa Centroamericana kicked off this past Friday, January 13th. The biannual tournament pits Central American national teams against each other in a short tournament to name a regional champion as well as to select four national teams to the proceeding CONCACAF Gold Cup tournament.

Guatemala was not involved in this year’s tournament as the country’s football federation remains banned due to “political interference.” As such, this year’s tournament will follow a round-robin format from Jan. 13th – Jan. 22nd. The team with the most points at the end of the five match days will raise the tournament trophy.

Honduras 2 – 1 Nicaragua

Costa Rica 0 – 0 El Salvador

Panama 0 – 0 Belize

Honduras is the current leader with 3 points as the only team that won on opening day.

Match Day 2 is today, January 15th, on Univision Deportes.