August went and September came this week, and so did the end of the most lavish transfer window ever, and a new batch of World Cup qualifying matches.
This is the Top Five best things in the world of soccer for the last week of August:
1. PSG wins the transfer window, but…
…it may be short lived. UEFA has already began looking into the French team’s grandiose aquisitions with a formal investigation already in progess to determine if PSG stayed within Financial Fair Play regulations.
For now, PSG is the undoubted king of the 2017 summer transfer window. Nasser Al-Khelaifi not only pulled off the heist of the century by prying Neymar from Barcelon, and shattering Paul Pogba’s record for most expensive transfer. They followed it with a deadline-day deal to bring Kylian Mbappe, arguably the game’s most promising superstar, to the French capital and away from Monaco, the team that dethroned them in Ligue 1.
Paris Saint-Germain springboarded from rich pretender to bona-fide European contender.
2. Barcelona swings and misses, and then misses again, and again…and again.
Barcelona boasted one of soccer’s best attacking trios in history: the vaunted MSN of Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez, and Neymar. One third of that equation left at the snap of a finger for Paris to become “the man,” leaving the Catalonian brass -and the fans- more stunned than Conor McGregor in a boxing ring.
The most damming aspect was the decadent state of sporting affairs at Camp Nou. Barca’s recent transfer record has mostly been an array of underwhelming acquisitions. But this summer, Barca decayed into a club that reeked of desperation, spending 105 million on 20-year-old Ousmane Demebele, going on an endless pursute of Philippe Coutinho, and reportedly wielding offers left and right for players like Paulo Dybala, Dani Parejo, and even Riyad Mahrez at the 11th hour.
And the worst may be yet to come, as Lionel Messi’s extension remains unsigned, only months away from the end of his current deal.
3. Cristiano beats Pelé in style
Cristiano Ronaldo cannot stop breaking records in 2017.
On Thursday, CR7 whipped out another hat trick in World Cup qualifier action against Faroe Islands. Ronaldo reached 78 goals, surpassing Pelé to become the joint-fifth-highest goal scorer of all time in international competition.
He started his historic afternoon, and Portugal’s 5-1 win, with a slick bicycly kick finish for the goal of the week.
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4. Netherlands hits code orange
The clock is ticking for Dick Advocaat and the Netherlands to climb about of the abyss or complete another fiasco by failing to qualify for the 2018 World Cup, after missing out on the 24-team Euro 2016.
The August-September FIFA matchday kicked off in the worst possible fashion, delivering an uninspiring performance in Saint-Denis and being steamrolled by France, 4-0. The Oranje did manage to rebound and defeat Bulgaria in a packed Amsterdam Arena, 3-1, but the damage caused by an awful start of the campaign may have become too much to overcome.
Three points separate them from second-place Sweden with two final matches remaining to be played in October, including a difficult visit to Belarus and a home finale against the Swedes.
The Netherlands is on the brink of sinking to an all-time low.
5. Luxembourg’s French revolution
136th-ranked Luxembourg entered Stadium Municipal in Toulouse unable to beat or draw against France for the last 103 years. The Bleus had come off its total domination of the Netherlands, 4-0, just days earlier.
Yet on Sunday, the Red Lions pulled off the upset of the qualifiers with an incredible 0-0 draw with a team featuring the likes of Pogba, Griezmann, Mbappe, Lemar, Kante, etc. 37-year-old goalkeeper Jonathan Joubert was the star of the match, saving eight shots from a French team that finished with 32 total shots, while midfielder Gerson Rodrigues almost did the impossible by hitting the post with 12 minutes left.
Joubert, Rodrigues, and the indomitable Red Lions of Luxembourg made history with their own little Bastille in Toulouse.