Mohamed Salah wins PFA Player of the Year Award

There were only two contenders for this season’s PFA Player of the Year award. The newly crowned champions’ Kevin De Bruyne and the current top goal scorer and record breaking Liverpool forward, Mohamed Salah. The two players have been outstanding for the greatest parts of this season. De Bruyne received praise from the likes of Gary Neville, Jamie Carragher, Thierry Henry, and Jamie Redknapp for his brilliant passing ability and work rate. The pundits have since drawn comparison of him to the greatest midfielders to have ever played in the Premier League. They call him a hybrid of Paul Scholes and David Beckham in one player who has been crucial to Manchester City’s success this season as they won the Premier League and the League Cup. The Citizens were rooting for him to win the award of the best player this season but they were disappointed to hear that their midfield general could not walk away with the award. Mo Salah, of Liverpool arguably deserved it more after coming into a different league and hitting everyone by surprise with 31 league goals already, equalling the record set Suarez, Shearer and Henry in a 38 game season. The Egyptian player has enjoyed a dream start to his life in England also helping his club reach the semifinals of the UEFA Champions League.

Leroy Sane also won the PFA Young Player of the Year award for his outstanding contribution this season. It was quite a shock not to see him in the team of the year for this season because he was arguably the best creator on the wings in the 2017/18 season. Guardiola really has a talent in the 22-year-old German and will hope to build on this season to push for more titles.

England Women win 2-0 against Bonsia Women

England are now in pole position to qualify for the 2019 World Cup in France. England boss Phil Neville, had enjoyed success in other competitions after signing on as the new boss but was patiently waiting for his first win in the World Cup qualifiers after last week’s draw. England dominated the match against Bosnia and Herzegovina Women. As they ended the match with 80% possession and had 21 shots in total as compared to Bosnia’s 20% possession and 1 shot in the whole match. These stats however did not work to the advantage of England in the first half as they failed to score. Greenwood picked up a second yellow card and was given marching orders on the 47th minute. England went on to score even with a player short as Tony Duggan who plays for Barcelona, converted Mel Lawley’s cross. This is her 20th goal in her international career. Bosnia also lost a player as their captain Amira Spahic was sent off on the 59th minute. Jodie Taylor scored the second from the penalty spot to make it 2-0 for England after Mead was brought down in the box. This win for England means that they have moved to the top of the group with a two point advantage ahead of Wales in Group A.

England Women vs Wales Women ends in a goalless draw

Phil Neville took over his first Qualifications tournament as the England boss and saw them draw against the leaders of the group. The two teams are vying for top spot in the World Cup qualifiers with only one team getting a guaranteed position at the 2019 World Cup Finals in France. Wales had the first attack of the match on the 8th minute as Rachel Rowe met the ball on the volley and Telford was there to parry the ball to safety. A minute later, the England defense was tested again from a corner kick and Lucy Bronze cleared the ball which looked like it had crossed the line. England had little in the match until Jordan Nobbs took a shot from 25 yards out. The ball looked destined for goal until Wales keeper, Laura O’Sullivan met it and pushed it onto the bar before it went out on the 33rd minute. The first half did not produce much after that and the teams went for a break at 0-0. Ellen Drive also tested the Wales goalkeeper on the 71st minute with a thunderous strike but the keeper was having none of it. Laura O’Sullivan was the clear man of the match with some fantastic saves to keep the Lionesses at bay.

Are we seeing a wave of many teams starting to take Women’s football as seriously as they should?

This report might come off as a surprise to many that Manchester United, one of the biggest football clubs, had not registered a Women’s team up to this point after scraping it altogether in 2005. However, that is out of the way now as the club have decided to register to join the Women’s League 2 in the upcoming season. This decision has probably resulted from continuous criticism from respected people in the footballing world with Former United player and current Lioness’ boss Phil Neville stating that he would have a conversation with them about it. Manchester United chairman Ed Woodward has said that “The Women’s side should be built with the same image as the male’s team.” If their application is successful, the women’s side will be based at the Cliff training ground in Salford. Besides this decision being long overdue, what are your thoughts?