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Jonathan Cook’s World Game Wrap-Up

Posted on | Posted by Jonathan Cook

Wrexham earn FA Cup sequel

Non-league Wrexham were denied a place in the fifth-round of the FA Cup by a stoppage time goal from Sheffield United’s John Egan.

Owned by Hollywood stars Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, Wrexham played their part in a blockbuster of a match that ended 3-3 against the Premier League-chasing Blades.

Behind after just two minutes, the National League outfit, who are more than 70 places below Sheffield United on England’s football pyramid, turned around the match to lead 2-1, then 3-2, before Egan rammed home the equaliser.

As is usually the case with Hollywood scripts, it’s hard to imagine the sequel being better than the original when the teams meet in the replay.

Mitoma increases Klopp pain

Just when Jurgen Klopp thought things couldn’t get any worse, up popped Kaoru Mitoma to send Liverpool crashing out of the FA Cup.

Ninth on the Premier League table, Liverpool were banking on the FA Cup to bring rare joy in an otherwise miserable season by their standards.

But after taking the lead through Harvey Elliott, Lewis Dunk’s deflection drew Brighton level before halftime and Mitoma sealed victory in stoppage time.

Schoolboy denied glory

Sunderland teenager Chris Rigg went within a whisker of having an incredible story to tell his classmates at school on Monday morning.

At just 15 years of age, Rigg came off the bench in an FA Cup tie against Premier League Fulham that was level at 1-1. Just minutes after his introduction, the youngster lashed home what he thought was a Sunderland winner only to be denied by offside in the build-up to his goal.

Rigg, who was making just a second appearance for Sunderland, trains with the club twice a week to work around school commitments.

Spurs and United find form

Casemiro and Heung-min Son fired home doubles as Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur emphasised their Premier League superiority in FA Cup victories over Championship opponents.

Brazil midfielder Casemiro was the architect of United’s 3-1 win over Reading, who had Andy Carroll sent off in the second half, while just 50km north of Old Trafford, Son was helping Spurs register a 3-0 win over Preston North End.

New Spurs loanee, Arnaut Danjuma, who has joined from Villarreal, scored Tottenham’s third goal on his debut appearance.

Dyche tipped for Everton task

Sean Dyche’s gravelly voice seems set to return to the Premier League but for how long?

Dyche is expected to take on the Everton job, vacated by Frank Lampard last week, and will inherit a team in crisis.

Everton are second bottom in the Premier League and Dyche, who was Burnley manager for 10 years before he was sacked nine months ago, has a fight on his hands to keep the Toffees in England’s top division.

Despite being only two points from safety, Everton have won just one of their past 12 Premier League matches.

Glory ride continues

Two goals from David Williams earned Perth Glory a come-from-behind draw against Wellington Phoenix in New Zealand.

After looking dead and buried with two wins and a draw from their first nine games of the season, Glory are now unbeaten in their past five games.

The run of three wins and two draws has put Ruben Zadkovich’s side into finals contention, although they are just two points clear of second-from-bottom Western United on a congested A-League table.

A-League delivers goals galore

If it’s goals you’re after, the A-League was the competition to follow during an incredible weekend of action.

Starting with Sydney FC’s 2-1 win over Melbourne Victory on Australia Day, the goals just kept coming.

Newcastle Jets’ 4-0 thumping of Brisbane Roar on Friday was then followed by three 2-2 draws on Saturday – Phoenix v Glory, Macarthur v Western United and Central Coast v Wanderers.

By the time Jamie Maclaren had completed the scoring in league leader Melbourne City’s 3-3 draw with Adelaide United on Sunday, the round had produced an average 4.2 goals per game across six matches.

Pedri unwraps milestone gift

Pedri won’t score an easier goal than the tap-in that secured Barcelona a 1-0 win in his 100th appearance for the club.

It was like a gift from the football Gods as Girona goalkeeper Paulo Gazzaniga palmed a shot into Pedri’s path and he had the easiest of tasks to roll it into the unguarded net.

The win moved Barcelona five points ahead of rivals Real Madrid, who were held to a goalless draw by Real Sociedad.

Union close in on Bayern

Just four seasons after their rise to Germany’s Bundesliga for the first time, Union Berlin are starting to dream of a first title.

You don’t have to pay too much attention to German football to know that Bayern Munich are top of the table. But since the Bundesliga resumed after the World Cup and winter break, Union have moved to within just a point of Germany’s most successful club.

Bayern have drawn all three of their matches since returning to action this month, while Union Berlin have won three. Goals from Paul Seguin and Danilho Doekhi secured their latest win against city rivals Hertha Berlin.

Napoli pull further clear

AC Milan dropped to fifth place in Italy’s Serie A after an embarrassing 5-2 defeat at home to struggling Sassuolo.

The result was good news for league leaders Napoli, who are now 13 points clear at the top after a 2-1 win over Roma.

Inter Milan are second after coming from behind to beat rock-bottom Cremonese.

David Okereke scored Cremonese’s opener after just 11 minutes before Inter Milan’s leading scorer Lautaro Martinez scored twice to seal a 2-1 win.




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