Angels Links: RIP Davide Astori

Fiorentina captain Davide Astori passed away at age 31, Serie A cancels its games on Sunday

There was shocking and depressing news out of Italy on Sunday, as it was announced that Davide Astori of Fiorentina died in his sleep on Saturday night. He was 31 years old. Out of respect, Serie A postponed not only Fiorentina’s game, but all games in Serie A that were scheduled on Sunday. We here at Angels on Parade offer our condolences to Astori’s family and his teammates.

Young American Timothy Weah makes debut for PSG

Despite the failure of the senior team to qualify for the World Cup, some Americans at home and abroad are still developing well. One lesser known player who will probably become more popular very soon is Timothy Weah. Son of Liberia and AC Milan legend George Weah, Timothy has been a stand out player for the U.S. youth teams, and over the weekend he made his debut at just 19 for Paris-Saint Germain in their 2-0 win over Troyes. Weah played the last 10 minutes or so, and acquitted himself well, even almost scoring. Because of all of PSG’s attacking talent Weah may not feature for them much in the near future, but for him to make his debut with them is a big deal.

Lionel Messi fires Barcelona to victory and eight-point lead over Atletico Madrid

Despite Real Madrid’s awful league season and huge point gap with Barcelona, Barça were only five points ahead of 2nd place Atletico Madrid going into Sunday. Barca pushed that gap to eight points on Sunday, winning 1-0 over Atleti via a brilliant free kick by none other than Lionel Messi. The goal was Messi’s 600th goal for club and country, a truly staggering number. This was also the first time in Messi’s career where he has scored a free kick goal in three straight La Liga games. Though the league isn’t wrapped up just yet, this was a big step for Barcelona to regaining the La Liga crown.

USWNT ties France 1-1 in second game of the She Believes Cup

A few days after their opening win over Germany in the She Believes Cup, the USWNT were only able to draw 1-1 with France on Sunday. The short turnaround time between games as well as the hard conditions of the first game in Columbus led to speculation that the U.S. might rotate the squad significantly. They did not, replacing only two players of the starting 11 from the first game. This would factor in later, as the U.S. noticeably tired in midfield, and this gave France some quality chances. The U.S. actually took the lead in the game, a scrappy goal poked in by Mallory Pugh, but France came back soon after and equalized. France actually had the better of the chances in the second half, and it will be interesting to see how the U.S. performs in the last game of the tournament vs. England.

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