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Comparing World Cup teams to Premier League sides; pick a club

By Joe Prince-WrightJul 15, 2014, 10:54 AM EDT
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With the 2014 World Cup over and just a month until the 2014-15 Premier League season begins, we got a bit creative.

If you loved watching the tournament down in Brazil this summer and want to adopt a PL team for the upcoming season, here’s a quick guide on which teams to follow.

[ SCHEDULE: 2014-15 PL season ]

PST’s Nick Mendola had a go midway through the World Cup and now it’s all done and dusted, below is a list of which nations can be compared to the 20 PL teams.

Remember, you can watch every single PL game live on NBC Sports and NBC this season as well as online or on the app via NBC Sports Live Extra.

August 15th can’t come soon enough!

| Top 10 goals | PST’s best XI | Story of the WC | Top 10 moments | Grades |

COMPARING THE 20 PREMIER LEAGUE TEAMS TO WORLD CUP SIDES

USA: Dependable. Commited and they already have an American in Geoff Cameron. = Stoke City

Germany: Stacked with talent and both have won the biggest titles available to them. = Chelsea

Argentina: Both wear Sky Blue, plus the Citizens have three Argentines on the books.  = Manchester City

Netherlands: They play sexy soccer and are always there or there abouts. Talented. = Arsenal

Brazil: The heavyweights historically but both are going through transition. = Manchester United

Spain: Love to play attractive soccer but both teams came up short when it mattered. = Liverpool

Chile: High-pressing, fun to watch and always pushing the top teams all the way. = Everton

Colombia: Teams who possess plenty of young talent, neutrals love to watch both. = Southampton

Belgium: Star-studded talent who are robust, good going forward and have plenty of options. = Tottenham

France: ‘Le Toon’ have a huge number of French stars, both are on the cusp of a breakout. = Newcastle

Costa Rica: The surprise package, Palace shocked everyone last season, Los Ticos this summer. = Palace

Mexico: The type of team you hate playing against. Tough tackling. Grinders. = Sunderland

Ecuador: Regimented and on their day, can be lethal. Topsy-turvy teams who are unpredictable. = Hull City

Uruguay: Attractive style of play, don’t let up too many goals but never score that many either. = Swansea

Australia: The hardest-working team out here. Low on quality, high on effort. Proud. = Leicester City

Bosnia: Upstarts who are just getting established. Nobody really knows what to expect. = Burnley

Switzerland: Some would argue watching paint dry is more riveting, but capable of shocks. = Aston Villa

Ivory Coast: A real mix of experience and youth, both tend to underwhelm after promising plenty. = QPR

England: Solid. Rigid. Lack of creativity. What you see is what you get from these two. = West Brom

Croatia: You will have the bruises to prove it when you play these guys. Tough. = West Ham

VIDEO: Martial scores for Man United v. Club Brugge

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By Joe Prince-WrightFeb 20, 2020, 2:09 PM EST
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Anthony Martial scored once again for Man United and his goal in the Europa League Round of 32 first leg against Club Brugge was a beauty.

The Frenchman is standing tall in the absence of Marcus Rashford through injury as he has now scored in back-to-back games away from home.

Martial, 24, made the most of a slight defensive mistake from Club Brugge as he powered towards goal and kept his cool to slot home, while he also hit the post in the first half after Simon Mignolet got a slight touch on his curling effort.

When he’s on form he’s a joy to watch and after his towering header against Chelsea on Monday, Martial has done it again a few days later in Belgium. It is the third time this season he has scored in back-to-back games and he has now scored 14 goals in 30 appearances for the Red Devils, his best return since he scored 17 in his opening season at United in 2015-16.

Here is Martial’s goal at Club Brugge, as United need him to kick on and take this tally for the season to at least 20 goals if they are going to be successful.

LIVE, Europa League: Arsenal, Man United, Wolves in action

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By Joe Prince-WrightFeb 20, 2020, 12:56 PM EST
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The knockout rounds of the 2019-20 UEFA Europa League campaign is here and three Premier League teams are in action on Thursday.

Everything is set up for an epic day of first legs in the Round of 32.

[ LIVE: Europa League scores  ]

Arsenal travel to Olympiakos who dropped down from the Champions League, while Wolves host La Liga strugglers Espanyol and Man United travel to Club Brugge who exited the UCL at the group stage after some impressive displays.

With a Champions League spot for next season up for grabs for the Europa League winners, there is always a little extra spice in this tournament from here on out, especially as plenty of giants have dropped out of the Champions League and joined the Europa League for the Round of 32.

Glasgow Celtic and Rangers both face tricky tests as Steven Gerrard‘s side face Braga and Neil Lennon’s Celtic head to Copenhagen.

Elsewhere there are plenty of mouthwatering ties at Jesse Marsch’s RB Salzburg drop into the Europa League and travel to Eintracht Frankfurt. Antonio Conte‘s Inter Milan head to Ludogorets, while Ajax travel to Getafe after narrowly missing out on reaching the Champions League last 16.

Below is the schedule in full for Thursday’s games, while you can click on the link above to follow all the action as it happens.

Full Europa League schedule

12:55 p.m. ET
Club Brugge v. Manchester United
Ludogorets v. Inter Milan
Copenhagen v. Celtic
Eintracht Frankfurt v. RB Salzburg
CFR Cluj v. Sevilla
Sporting Lisbon v. Istanbul Basaksehir
Shakhtar Donetsk v. Benfica
Getafe v. Ajax

3 p.m. ET
Rangers v. Braga
Wolves v. Espanyol
Olympiacos v. Arsenal
Bayer Leverkusen v. FC Porto
AZ Alkmaar v. LASK
Roma v. Gent
APOEL Nicosia v. FC Basel
Wolfsburg v. Malmo

VIDEO: Henry’s Montreal debut ends with dramatic collapse

By Joe Prince-WrightFeb 20, 2020, 12:14 PM EST
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Thierry Henry’s first game in charge of the Montreal Impact started well but ended in a dramatic collapse. The legendary Frenchman probably has CCL fever right about now.

[ MORE: All of PST’s MLS coverage ] 

Montreal drew 2-2 at Deportivo Saprissa in the first leg of their CONCACAF Champions League last 16 game on Wednesday as Orji Okwonkwo and Romell Quioto put them 2-0 up inside the first 22 minutes but Saprissa struck twice in the final 10 minutes to draw level. Both of Montreal’s goalscorers went off injured and after a tough preseason a late collapse

Johan Venegas pulled one back for the Costa Rican side in the 80th minute and Ariel Rodriguez equalized in the 90th minute to set up an intriguing second leg at the Olympic Stadium next Wednesday as the winner will face the Seattle Sounders or C.D. Olimpia in the quarterfinals.

Henry’s first official game in charge of the Major League Soccer franchise will have taught him a lot about his team and in truth they were pretty lucky to grab a draw as Saprissa outshot them 22-7 and had 72 percent of the possession.

Via MLSsoccer.com, the Arsenal and France legend was happy with the spirit his young side showed after a tough offseason which saw them lose four of their five preseason games amid plenty of turnover in the squad.

“We tried to compete, it was always going to be a difficult second half, but overall, I cannot say anything to my team,” Henry said. “Obviously there are some things that we need to work on, on how we conceded the goals, but you could see how it was difficult at times to cover each other. But at the end of the day, as a coach, when you see your team fighting like that up until the end you can only be proud. Obviously there’s some stuff that we can work on, don’t get it twisted, but I have to be proud about how they played. Especially how we arrived there in the situation that we are in.”

Going away to Costa Rica to play an experience team like Saprissa was never going to be easy and Henry’s side are at least level for the return game but Montreal’s squad is looking pretty young and replacing the creativity and goals of Ignacio Piatti is going to be tough.

Check out the highlights of the dramatic Saprissa comeback in the video above.

Premier League player Power Rankings

By Joe Prince-WrightFeb 20, 2020, 10:39 AM EST
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Our latest Premier League player Power Rankings are here and there are some familiar faces sticking around the upper echelons.

[ MORE: Premier League schedule ] 

Stars from Premier League giants Liverpool, Man United, Arsenal and Tottenham dominate our power rankings after some impressive performances and there are plenty of new entries and plenty of players from the same teams as these rankings are based on the seven games played over the last seven days due to the second half of the Premier League’s winter break kicking in.

[ MORE: Club Power Rankings ] 

Remember: this is a list of the top 20 performing players right now in the Premier League. If they didn’t play in the last matchweek, they aren’t getting in this list!

Let us know in the comments section below if you agree with the selections.

1. Heung-Min Son (Tottenham) – Up 2
2. Virgil Van Dijk (Liverpool) – Up 2
3. Jordan Henderson (Liverpool) – Up 2
4. Dani Ceballos (Arsenal) – New entry
5. Bukayo Saka (Arsenal) – New entry
6. Aaron Wan-Bissaka (Man United) – New entry
7. Richarlison (Everton) – Up 8
8. Harry Maguire (Man United) – New entry
9. Jack Grealish (Aston Villa) – New entry
10. Sadio Mane (Liverpool) – New entry
11. Kevin De Bruyne (Man City) – New entry
12. Roberto Firmino (Liverpool) –  Down 11
13. Nicolas Pepe (Arsenal) – New entry
14. Mohamed Salah (Liverpool) – Down 3
15. Hugo Lloris (Tottenham) – Down 7
16. Bruno Fernandes (Man United) – New entry
17. Nick Pope (Burnley) – Even
18. Steven Bergwijn (Tottenham) – Down 5
19. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Arsenal) – New entry
20. Pepe Reina (Aston Villa) – New entry