Worried about football's global appeal to the younger generation? Fearful the Champions League has lost its lustre beyond the core of 'legacy' (urgh!) fans in its traditional markets?
Perhaps what you need is a dazzlingly skilful 22-year-old becoming the first player from the United States to score in the semi-finals of Europe's top competition, while generally wreaking havoc every time he has the ball.
Florentino Perez must have loved Christian Pulisic taking his Real Madrid apart. The Chelsea forward made the 13-time winners of the competition Perez sought to torpedo last week look more non-league than Super League.
Pulisic was at the heart of an utterly dominant opening for Chelsea – themselves foolhardy signatories to the not-so-brave new world last week – nodding down for his beleaguered attacking colleague Timo Werner to volley too close to Thibaut Courtois between the Madrid posts.
Shortly afterwards, Pulisic took matters into his own hands, darting across a static Los Blancos backline to collect Antonio Rudiger's raking pass. His first touch was poor, but everything else from that point was perfection.
Madrid's defenders scattered and then cowered towards their goalmouth. Werner found himself demoted from strike partner to spectator at The Christian Pulisic Show. The American rounded Courtois and took aim high into the net.
Just after that, Nacho should have been booked for bringing down the goalscorer, with Eder Militao having also escaped censure for clobbering through the same player. Pulisic was everywhere.
If Perez was worried about addled young minds missing all this, no problem. It all happened inside the first 15 minutes. Plenty of time to watch, absorb, enjoy and then stick Fortnite on.
Amid his compilation of violent brain vomits last week, Perez suggested football matches should be shorter to appeal to fans more than 50 years his junior – a demographic with whom he appears to feel he is completely in tune.
Of course, it's an awful idea. And it is hard to think of many teams who would suffer more in a world of fast food football than the aging Real Madrid team he no longer has the bank balance to reupholster.
Zinedine Zidane opted to match Chelsea's shape, only to find a reinforced five-man backline somehow riddled with holes as Pulisic and Werner made merry early on.
Much is made of the esteemed midfield trio of Casemiro, Toni Kroos and Luka Modric having a combined age of 95. As N'Golo Kante jackhammered around them, each one of them looked about 95.
Collectively, they needed 20 minutes or so to click into gear. Even then, they negotiated the rain-lashed terrain of Valdebebas tentatively.
The one exception was Karim Benzema, Madrid's talismanic centre-forward who nodded and licked his lips with menace during the pre-game anthem, before basically playing Chelsea on his own for a good while.
At a time when Madrid's superstars have moved on from either the club or their peak playing days, Benzema stands tall week after week.
Against the run of play, he had his 71st Champions League goal, drawing level with Madrid great Raul in fourth on the all-time list. Inside a crowded penalty area, he controlled the ball with his forehead before swivelling to detonate an unstoppable volley.
Benzema's goal was one that beautifully combined the cerebral and the visceral and would have been at home in any of Madrid's previous great eras in this competition, eras that are connected to the present by such moments of brilliance.
Goals like Benzema's shimmer brighter through their link to past context. A great Real Madrid goal in a European Cup semi-final really means something.
From that moment, Chelsea's more nimble operators became engaged in an arm wrestle that was more to Madrid's liking. Even when Thomas Tuchel introduced Kai Havertz, Reece James and Hakim Ziyech in a triple change after the hour, the hosts remained upright on weary limbs.
Having seen his team be so inept in the initial exchanges, Zidane was able to play with Chelsea's tensions and emotions by sending on Eden Hazard.
It remained 1-1, a result most teams would be delighted to take into a home second leg. But Madrid do funny things in this tournament. They defy logic to find reserves that should have long run dry. They are propelled by purpose and history.
Above all the others, simply wanting to take his team away from the Champions League might have been Florentino Perez's most stupid idea of all.
St. Benedict’s College defeats Fatima College 3-1 in SSFL top-of-the-table clash
St. Benedict’s College secured a 3-1 win over Fatima College in a top-of-the-table clash in Secondary Schools Football League (SSFL) Premiership action at the Mahaica Sporting Complex.
Goals from Captain Derrel Garcia in the 42nd and 59th minutes and a third from Ethan Trotman in the 80th secured the win and allowed them to move to 19 points from seven matches, three ahead of Fatima who have a game in hand.
Micaiah Leach gave Fatima the lead in the 30th minute.
Elsewhere, Arima North Secondary defeated San Juan North 2-1 at Bourg Mulatrasse. Micha’el John gave Arima the lead in the 42nd minute before Lindell Sween got the equalizer for San Juan North just a minute later.
Jahmarley Caleb got the winner for Arima North ten minutes from full time. The win moved Arima North up to fourth in the table with 14 points from eight games while San Juan remain in ninth with nine points from their eight outings.
A Kristian James 66th minute goal gave St. Mary’s College a 1-0 win over East Mucurapo Secondary at Mucurapo Road.
Presentation College got the biggest win of the day, a 5-0 victory over Speyside High at Mannie Ramjohn Stadium.
Thanks to goals from Vaughn Clement, Cody Cooper, Isaiah Jacob, Caleb Boyce and Duhrell Young, Presentation are now third in the table with 16 points from seven games. Speyside have four points from just five games to lie second from bottom at 15th.
Hosts Signal Hill Secondary suffered a 1-2 defeat at the hands of Queen’s Royal College. Kyle James got the goal for Signal Hill while the QRC goals came from Teshaun Franklin and an own goal from Raevion Marshall.
QRC are fifth in the standings with 13 points from eight games while Signal Hill are 11th with eight points from seven games.
In the day’s other games, St. Anthony College beat Miracle Ministries Pentecostal High School 3-1 at Westmoorings while a 12th minute Sumba Cudjoe strike gave St. Augustine Secondary a 1-0 win over Trinity College East at Trincity.
Calabar edge STATHS 1-0 to assume pole position in Zone D of Manning Cup; reigning champions Clarendon College among winners in dCup
Calabar High School regained pole position in Zone D of the Inter-secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA)/Digicel Manning Cup following a 1-0 win over St Andrew Technical (STATHS) in a top-of-the-table clash at their Red Hills Road base on Saturday.
Jaheim Rankine got the all-important strike in the 34th minute to extend their unbeaten run across five matches and push Calabar up to 16 points, same as STATHS, who were relegated to second with a slightly inferior goal difference. Haile Selassie (nine points), Camperdown (seven points), Vauxhall (six points) and Kingston Technical (zero point) complete the standings.
Winning coach Andrew Price welcomed the character shown by his team on this occasion to overturn their first leg loss, as players occupied unfamiliar position.
“The players are resilient; we played today without two of frontline central defenders so we had to patch up the team today and people played in positions that they don’t normally play in. But we have a system that we have been playing for the entire season and once people fit into the system, then the team will play well and they showed some depth and character today to get the three points against a very good STATHS team,” Price said.
“I think we needed to be a bit more clinical in front of goal, but our strength is our defensive structure; we have only conceded two goals so far in the entire Manning Cup, which shows that we are very sound defensively, and we want to keep it that way. We are developing a football culture here at the school and we are going to continue to work diligently to ensure that we get some success along the line,” he added.
STATHS started more purposefully and created a few half chances in the early exchanges as the teams battled heavy underfoot conditions due to afternoon showers.
The Bumper Hall-based team should have broken the deadlock approaching the 20th minute mark but Ajetai Marshall muffed his effort from close range.
Calabar got into their rhythm and went close to finding the lead at the half-hour mark, but Rankin’s left-footed shot from a distance was parried by Jaheem Williams in goal for STATHS.
It is often said if you fail to succeed try again, and Rankine did just that to put Calabar in front as he released an even more delightful strike from about 30 yards out that had Williams beaten all ends up.
Calabar went close to doubling their advantage in 41st, but Williams got down well to his right on this occasion to steer Jayden Perry’s left-footed shot from outside the 18-yard box wide.
With the score unchanged at the break, STATHS made a push for the equaliser but failed to create any meaningful chances, and frustration inevitably set in, resulting in Alexavier Gooden being sent off for a second yellow in the 54th.
The numerical advantage created a few openings for Calabar, the best of which came in the 61st Rankine, who rounded the goalkeeper but selfishly went for shot from a tight angle instead of floating a cross in for Perry.
As the game approached its end, substitute Christiano Brown thought he stole a point for STATHS when she slid one through the goalkeeper’s legs, but the goal was belatedly flagged for an offside.
That left Head coach Phillip Williams disgusted as he called out the officiating as the worst part of the encounter.
“It is unfortunate that ISSA has invested so much and the schools have invested so much and the poor officiating just takes away from the game. I think that was the worst thing today; both teams played some decent football but the officiating needs to be better.
“I think what we didn’t do today was score, we have a style of football that we play and we played that today even when we went down a man but referees need to be better in Jamaica, they are very poor,” a disappointed Williams said.
Saturday’s Manning Cup Results
Calabar 1, STATHS 0
Dunoon Park 0, Eltham 0
Ardenne High 0, Hydel High 8
Ascot High 0, Jamaica College 5
Excelsior High 15, Pembroke Hall 0
Holy Trinity 0, St George’s College 5
Camperdown 0, Vauxhall 0
Saturday’s daCosta Cup Results
Munro 0, Maggotty 0
Manchester 1, Belair 0
Glenmuir 4, Old Harbour 0
Ocho Rios 8, Ferncourt 1
Anchovy 1, Green Island 2
McGrath 0, Dinthill 0
Maldon High 4, St James 1
Irwin High 1, Cornwall College 4
Green Pond 5, Herbert Morrison 2
Grange Hill 0, Godfrey Stewart 1
Mannings 6, Little London 0
Muschett 0, Cedric Titus 13
Spot Valley 0, William Knibb 0
Happy Grove 2, Morant Bay 0
Tacius Golding 0, Charlemont 3
Cross Keys 1, DeCarteret College 5
Newell 0, Lacovia 1
B.B Coke 1, STETHS 3
Claude McKay 0, Clarendon College 7
Central 2, Edwin Allen 1
Knockalva 0, Frome Tech 8
Cambridge 1, Rusea’s High 3
Toronto FC 0-1 Inter Miami: Campana's stoppage-time strike keeps visitors on track for MLS record
Leonardo Campana scored the winner in stoppage time to keep Inter Miami on course to beat the regular-season points record in MLS as they defeated Toronto 1-0.
With Miami having secured the Supporters' Shield by beating the Columbus Crew in midweek, Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez were benched for Saturday's trip north of the border.
But the duo came on to help Gerardo Martino's team to a victory that moved them up to 71 points with one game remaining.
The points record of 73 was set by the New England Revolution in 2021, and it is the Revs who visit Miami in the final regular-season game later in October.
Toronto got off to the better start as Kobe Franklin latched onto the end of Jonathan Osario's cross to shoot from a tight angle but saw his effort saved.
Despite further chances for Richie Laryea and Prince Osei Owusu, Toronto struggled to find a breakthrough, and substitute Suarez proved decisive as he delivered a first-time cross into the centre of the box, which Campana controlled and duly fired home a 93rd-minute winner.
The defeat dealt Toronto a blow to their ambitions of obtaining a playoff spot this season, opening the door for the Philadelphia Union, D.C. United and Nashville SC behind them in the Eastern Conference.
Data Debrief: Miami's stopping power
For Miami, the focus on adding an MLS record to their first Supporters' Shield triumph has seemingly helped keep them going this term. They have scored 15 goals in the last 15 minutes of the second half this season; only the Colorado Rapids and Portland Timbers have scored more such goals in the league in 2024.
On the other hand, Toronto have conceded 23 goals in the last 15 minutes of the second half - no team has conceded more in MLS this term.
Toronto have taken just one point from the last 15 on offer, and their slump has come at the worst possible time.
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