Angels Links: Chelsea and Arsenal play to a draw... again

Chelsea and Arsenal draw yet again in semifinal 1st leg of Carabao Cup

Boy, these two teams just love to draw, don’t they? Chelsea and Arsenal played out to their 4th draw of the season, this one a particularly dull affair in the first leg of the Carabao Cup semifinal. For the most part, Chelsea created more chances, but neither team covered themselves in glory. Alvaro Morata continues to misfire up front for the Blues, while Alexis Sanchez missed out entirely. Star players are usually rested in the Carabao Cup, but with the Alexis transfer rumors, perhaps there is more to the story. These two teams will face off again in the second leg of the semifinal, and let’s all hope that is a better game than this one was.

Christian Pulisic gives interesting interview to ESPN

Christian Pulisic gave an interview to ESPN’s Raphael Honigstein while at Borussia Dortmund’s winter training camp. It has some interesting points, and some opinions that are striking to hear, if ultimately not surprising. Pulisic talked about how he won’t get over the pain of missing the World Cup until he is playing in one, and also how he thinks American fans expect too much of him.

England to use the “Rooney Rule” from now on in coaching and staff searches

The English FA has announced that in future hiring situations they will adopt use of the “Rooney Rule,” which is an NFL mandate that teams interview at least one minority candidate before making a coaching hire. This was part of an announcement of a sweeping changes that the English FA will make with regards to a lot of their policies. The English FA is still reeling from the Mark Sampson and Eni Aluko fiasco on the Women’s National Team, where Aluko accused Sampson of repeated racist treatment, but he was cleared on several occasions by the FA, before being fired for an unrelated (and unpublicized) incident. While you can debate how successful the “Rooney Rule” actually is in terms of allowing for more minorities to get jobs in coaching and executive positions, its nice to see the English FA trying to move in the right direction.

After trading Sacha Kljestan, where do the New York Red Bulls go from here?

The New York Red Bulls traded away their captain and arguably best player for the second year in a row. The Red Bulls had made the playoffs in each of those years, though ultimately falling short of where they wanted to be. Still, that is usually the argument for keeping a team together. For a team that pays in a major market, they seem to be operating like a small market team. Sam Stejskal of FourFourTwo breaks down what is the end game for the New York Red Bulls.

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