What will Pep Guardiola's next 1000 games look like?
Pep Guardiola has achieved a lot in his 1,000 matches as a manager. With Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Manchester City he won 40 trophies (including three Community Shields, because why not count them?), but even that doesn't quantify how Guardiola defined an era (or two) of the sport.
And he's working again to create a zeitgeist. In his 1,000th match in the dugout on Sunday, Guardiola watched his City side demolish Liverpool in a manner that suggests the 54-year-old's next great team is already in the works.
While many of the best football teams of 2025 are entirely press-focused, Guardiola wants his Manchester City team to find solutions with the ball. Against Liverpool, he fielded three natural creators (Ryan Cerchi, Phil Foden and Bernardo Silva) to play centrally, while Jeremy Doku was also inside, overloading the center and dribbling to his heart's content. Premier League The champions couldn't handle it.
As if that wasn't enough for Liverpool, Nico O'Reilly was given the freedom to go forward and take up positions that confused Liverpool's Conor Bradley, while Erling Haaland Erling Haaland did something. Even without Rodri, City were in complete control of the game in midfield. It was a full performance.
Capacity in the Premier League is at a 15-year low. Long throws are up 100% and route 1 football is back. However, Guardiola is trying to get ahead of the situation. He anticipates the next tactical evolution and is committed to ensuring his Manchester City team leads it.
Did the CPL Championship match have the craziest conditions for a final?
Sunday's Canadian Premier League final couldn't have looked more Canadian if it tried. Atlético Ottawa's overtime victory over Cavalry, played in -8°C (17.6°F) temperatures and blizzard conditions, was more like a Winter Olympics event than a football match. Goalkeepers who cleared the penalty boxes of snow with shovels every 15 minutes could have been sweepers in curling.
David Rodriguez's “icicle kick” was the only practical way to score a goal without having to roll the ball through a foot of snow on the ground. Although the match went viral, giving the CPL the most exposure in its seven-year history, the conditions turned the championship game into something of a farce. Was Ottawa really the better team or did the snow just fall in their favor? Was it really fair to crown a champion this way?
No other final has ever been held under such conditions. The 2018 Copa Libertadores final was postponed when heavy rain flooded the pitch at La Bombonera stadium. 2013 MLS The Cup between Sporting and Real Salt Lake City was the coldest match in league history, played at 22F (-6C). None of this compares to the snowy scene in Ottawa on Sunday.
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Can Lionel Messi win the MLS Cup on his own?
Lionel Messi's 2025 Major League Soccer season has been outstanding. Even historical. Not that anyone cares (of course they don't) John Mueller). Although Messi might make them worry. They will surely remember if Messi is going to win the MLS Cup on his own, which is now possible after he scored five goals in just three first-round games against Nashville, including two in Game 3, to knock them out.
There were 10 other Inter Miami players on the field, but it didn't really matter. Messi took control of the series in such a way that, of course, FC Cincinnati was secretly hoping the 38-year-old would return from international duty and Argentina would suffer a slight upset in the conference semi-finals. This may be the only way to stop Messi right now in MLS.
Over the past two seasons, Inter Miami has done a great job of getting in their own way when it matters most. Last year's shock first round exit to Atlanta United was widely remembered for Brad Guzan standing on his head (and getting stuck in goal), when in fact Inter Miami's vulnerability in defensive transitions was an equally big reason for their failure.
In this year's League Cup final against the Seattle Sounders, Inter Miami failed again. They failed to strike their opponents until they did so literally after regulation time, when the match had already been lost and fist fights had begun. Luis Suarez spat at Saunders' head of security to limit head loss.
If it's not Suarez losing his cool, it's Jordi Alba playing with the positional sense of a dog chasing a Frisbee. Or 37-year-old Sergio Busquets, lacking the mobility of 27-year-old Sergio Busquets. There are many reasons why Inter Miami won't win their first MLS Cup, but there's a bigger reason why they might: Messi saw it all and decided to do it all himself.
