The Cup to End All Cups... Literally.

Ladies and gentleman, boys and girls. The moment you've all been waiting for is finally here... the Confederation Cup, bastard cousin of the World Cup, is upon us.

The Most Exciting, Fantastic Cup Thing Ever

This less attractive, less popular international men's football competition is often used as a trial run for the World Cup's host country. And thank god for that. Because it also serves as a tasty morsel for us soccer starved fans who can only handle one summer without an international tournament every four years. If Johnny Nic is writing a whole piece about it, you know it's going to be good.
This year it is Russia who will gladly take the opportunity for a competitive international game as they attempt to win the World Cup without anything approaching a run of form. The last time Russia were touted as outside favourites for a tournament was at Euro 2012 when Andrei Arshavin was at the height of his powers. After hammering the Czech Republic 4-1, they managed to nose dive with a 1-1 draw to co-hosts Poland and crashed out with a 1-0 loss to Greece.

Gentlemen, Start your Engines

This year, the Sbornaya managed a historical victory over football giants New Zealand, the Oceania champions, with a 2-0 scoreline. Elsewhere Chile, South American champions, eased past the African champions Cameroon by the same scoreline. With European champions Portugal failing to beat the American champions Mexico, all eyes will be on the mighty Asian champions (Australia) facing the underdogs and current World Cup holders, Germany.

Hold Onto Your Hats...

OK so this hype is being met with all the sarcasm that it is rightly due but it can't be argued that we won't tune into watch the Confederations Cup games. After all, the greatest players in the world are still going to attend, even if Messi's Argentina won't be there and Ronaldo's mind might be elsewhere. Ladies and gents, a cup will still be presented at the end of this tournament and by God I'll be there to witness it, even if said cup is being raised by Chile's captain and Manchester City's third choice goalkeeper. We can only live in hope.

Mourinho Does Best Trump Impression - Builds Wall

Manchester United held Liverpool to a nil all draw at Anfield on Monday night to record their first clean sheet in five matches.
Liverpool dominated large parts of the match but were unable to unlock a Man United side that were setup to preserve a clean sheet. Even so, De Gea was still called upon to produce two outstanding saves to keep the scores level.

With Ashley Young starting his first game for United since January against the same opposition, United at times played with a back six. Young and Rashford operated as wingbacks while Blind and Valencia came centrally to support Smalling and Bailly. With two full backs to contend with, the Liverpool wingers kept moving the ball centrally, forcing most of their play through the middle. There they came up against the exceptional Ander Herrera. Doing his best Claude Makélélé impression, Herrera gave a sterling display in the number 6 role to nullify Liverpool's potent attack.

Pogba and Fellaini completed the midfield three with Rooney again relegated to the bench. Producing  such a disciplined performance proved that United, as they had against Leicester, can cope with the loss of their captain. Leaving Rooney out against teams like Leicester and Malta could be considered resting the player, but neglecting to include him in this game was a big statement. Having scored the winner in the last fixture between these two sides, the Manchester United and England captain has been reduced to an impact role, helping to close out a game rather than snatch a victory.

Unlike United's recent matches, this was a classic Mourinho-esque defensive performance, more akin to his Chelsea sides that won the Premier League. In contrast, this was far from a typical showing from Klopp's Liverpool. After wiping the floor with Hull and a solid display against Chelsea, Liverpool seemed devoid of creativity and lacked ideas to unlock the United defence. This was akin to their game against Swansea, where a late penalty ensured they ground out a result against the well-drilled Welsh team. They missed the guile of Georginio Wijnaldum and the work rate of Adam Lallana, so often their saviour in recent games. Too often, Sadio Mané found himself collecting the ball in central positions as Liverpool's full backs overlapped their wingers. This played into United's 6 man back line and, bar a few scares, prevented Liverpool from getting close enough to truly threaten.

Considering their poor away form this year, Mourinho will undoubtly be the happier of the two managers. Klopp on the other hand, will be hoping to bounce back quickly and ensure this result doesn't derail a promising start to Liverpool's season.