Joa's Journal
By Joa Maciel
PSG: PSG can definitely be compared to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in many ways, I see PSG as the European version of the Bucs kind of how there is also a UK version of The Office. Both teams have the best player in the world in their rosters in Tom Brady and Lionel Messi (Sorry Ronaldo fans) along side one of the best offenses in the sports with PSG having Mbappe and Neymar and Tampa having Mike Evans and Chris Godwin and oh yeah those teams have some tough grit and grind defenders in players like Sergio Ramos and LaVonte David. It’s almost like one team was completely inspired by the other. Liverpool: Another easy comparison to make is Liverpool with the Kansas City Chiefs. Both are coached by two lovable geniuses that completely turned the franchise around in Jurgen Klopp and Andy Reid, both have two magicians in Mo Salah and Patrick Mahomes and the superstars are paired up with beasts like Daniel Firmino, Sadio Mané, Tyreke Hill and Travis Kelce. Both teams also won with the power of great scouting and player development. Manchester City- This one is simple, City is the Golden State Warriors. Both got a extremely rich new ownership in the same year and started winning. They created a winning culture that makes players want to play for them and they have been the most successful team in recent years in their respected leagues with City winning 5 titles in 10 years and The Warriors winning 3 in the last 10. Man United- Staying in Manchester and heading to the historic Old Trafford, we have the Manchester United Red Devils also known to me as the Los Angeles Lakers of Soccer. Two of the most historic franchises in their sports with Man U having the most amount of Premier League titles and the Lakers having the most amount of NBA titles but now they have one of the best players in the world in Ronaldo and LeBron along with a strong cast of players like Jadon Sancho, Bruno Fernandes, Anthony Davis and Russell Westbrook yet they still are finding ways to struggle. We’ll see if both teams can pick it up. Bayern Munich- World wide brand, a team that prides themselves in having a winning culture and on defense and arguably the best team in their sport during the early 2010s, Bayern Munich is the European version of the Miami Heat. Arsenal- Arsenal was a juggernaut in the 80s and 90s winning various Premier League titles including their undefeated season in 03-04 but now they seem to disappoint every single year. However, their fan base still talks about their titles like it happened yesterday kind of like a team in America known as “America’s team”. Barcelona- Barcelona is the New England Patriots, both had one of the best coaches in the history of the game with Pep Guardiola and Bill Belichick, they had the best player in the world in Messi and Tom Brady leave them and they have been having up and down moments ever since. The only thing they have different from each other is that the Patriots potential is on their defense with players like Hightower and JC Jackson and Barcelona’s potential is on their offense with players like Dembelé, Memphis Depay and Fati. Real Madrid- Real Madrid is like the Celtics in the 60s until the 80s but better. Real Madrid has always been good every decade they had the Galanticos era, they had David Beckham, they had Cristiano Ronaldo and now they have one of the brightest stars in Soccer in Vinicius Jr as much as some time I hate them, I gotta give credit to where credit is due, Real Madrid are always the real deal. Atlético Madrid- Atlético Madrid is definitely the Los Angeles Clippers of soccer, they have a great core of stars in Suarez and Griezmann. However, no matter how good they are, they will always be the little brother to Real Madrid like the Clippers are the little brother to the Lakers. Leicester City- Let me tell everybody about the greatest underdog story in all of sports, the 2016 Leicester City. Leicester started out in the third division of English Football climbed their way all the way to the Premier League just like how the St Louis Cardinals made the playoffs with a 1.3% chance of making it and in their second year in the Premier League, they won it all just like how the Atlanta Braves surprised everybody this year except the odds of Leicester winning in 2016 was 5000-1 and yet they did with their amazing chemistry, they didn’t even over spend on their players the team was just very in sync. Tottenham- Philly, I owe you one for making some fans mad over my predictions in my last journal (which I was right about by the way) so I will introduce you guys to Tottenham. Tottenham is a team very similar to the Philadelphia Eagles, they are both historic franchises with a extremely traditional, passionate and to some aggressive fan base. However, both teams also have the same luck of getting far within their leagues but letting the title slip away, The Eagles broke that curse with themselves in 2018, Tottenham got close in 2019 of breaking the curse and winning the Champions League but they lost to Liverpool in the finals. We’ll see if Tottenham can break the curse. Chelsea- The pride of London, the beloved blues and my favorite team in all of soccer, Chelsea. Chelsea is a team with a lot of recent history since Russian owner Roman Abramovich bought the club in 2003 and Chelsea has been attracting stars ever since, we are talking about Didier Drogba, Frank Lampard, John Terry and now N’Golo Kanté, they have won all 5 of their Premier League titles within the last 20 years and won their two Champions League title in the last 10 years with 2021 being their most recent champions league title. This Chelsea roster is completely balanced having stars from top to bottom kind of like the Los Angeles Rams with players on defense like Thiago Silva and Antonio Rudiger and an explosive offense of Romelu Lukaku, Mason Mount, Timo Werner and Pennsylvania’s own, Christian Pulisic. Oh and Chelsea also has the best defensive midfielder in soccer in N’Golo Kanté.