1. Mo Salah and Liverpool made the best of the situation
Mo Salah could have left Liverpool last summer after winning a second Premier League title. The club could have accepted a staggering offer from Saudi Arabia. Salah could have left for the African Cup of Nations and never played at Anfield again. In hindsight, departing in the summer transfer window when his previous contract expired was the best option. Nobody can blame Liverpool or Salah for agreeing to an extension though. It just hasn't worked out the way they hoped.
By announcing that he will leave at the end of the season, Salah gets the farewell he deserves and can leave on good terms. Maybe there's an FA Cup or Champions League to celebrate. Liverpool will miss out on a huge transfer fee, but handling the exit of a legend is never easy. They need to move forward, Salah wants to move on. While the ending isn't perfect for anyone, it's the best solution to what has become a very complex and emotional situation.
2. The British Isles had a brutal, brutal day
Ireland, Northern Ireland and Wales all entered Thursday's UEFA playoff semifinals full of hope. A trip to the World Cup was just two wins away. Having to go to Italy without key players, Northern Ireland knew the odds were against them. Wales got Bosnia-Herzegovina at home while Ireland visited Czechia. Surely one of them would find a way to at least advance to the final playoff round. It was not meant to be.
Ireland and Wales both took the lead. The former was up 2-0 23 minutes in. The latter was ahead with five minutes left. Both then held an advantage in their penalty shootouts before ultimately coming up short. Watching all three lose is tough enough for those who wanted another nation from the British Isles represented in the U.S. this summer. The way it happened made it that much more painful. It's hard to come much closer to winning without actually being victorious than Ireland and Wales did.
3. A troubling trend continued for the USMNT
This set of friendlies carries a special significance for the U.S. men’s national team. They are the last chance for the “A” team players to deliver a result before the World Cup squad is named. November’s wins over Paraguay and Uruguay meant the team ended 2025 in a much better spot than they started it. There is one little problem with using those victories to project how the U.S. will do this summer though.
Christian Pulisic wasn’t on the field for either of them. Neither was Weston McKennie. Tyler Adams, Chris Richards and Antonee Robinson weren’t either. That is half of Mauricio Pochettino’s projected starting outfield players and quite possibly the five most important players on the team. Pulisic, McKennie and Robinson were all about there for Saturday’s 5-2 defeat against Belgium. When this team does win, it does so without its best players.
4. Orlando City got their man
There was a point where it looked like it might not happen after all, but Orlando City finally got the Antoine Griezmann deal finalized. He has already scored 13 goals across all competitions despite playing a reduced role for Atlético Madrid, so the production is still there. Griezmann’s arrival will help take the attention off Orlando's rough start too. It's an important statement of intent for a club whose rival employs Lionel Messi.
While not exactly the same type of player, Emil Forsberg provides an interesting comparison for Griezmann. Both came to Major League Soccer after long, accomplished careers at big-time European clubs. Forsberg, like Griezmann, wasn't a regular starter by the end of his time at RB Leipzig. The Swedish international is not grabbing all the headlines, but he produced 22 goal involvements last season and led the New York Red Bulls to an MLS Cup. Griezmann is more than capable of doing something similar.
5. The only strange part about Igor Tudor’s departure was the timing
While it's certainly not all his fault, it was hard to justify Igor Tudor continuing as Tottenham manager after the loss to Nottingham Forest. This international break is the club's last chance to reset. Nothing that takes place between last weekend's defeat and the trip to Sunderland on April 12 was going to change that reality. If Tudor wasn't going to finish the season, that decision might as well have been made within 48 hours of the game ending.
It came seven days later instead. That is seven less days for Spurs to install a succession plan and seven less days for a new manager to prepare for this massive undertaking. Parting ways in the middle of the international break is just odd when so much is at stake. The decision itself makes sense. The Forest defeat undid any progress that had been made. Relegation is becoming an increasingly real threat, and Tudor did not seem capable of preventing it.