GOAL MTL

Montreal gets immersed in soccer culture, Canada’s women qualify & more

PLUS looking ahead to upcoming World Cups and looking back at Europe’s big trades this summer.

Believe it or not, it’s August and that doesn’t mean that the summer is over since it’s been Hot, Hot, Hot in la belle province. What it means is that all the football in Europe is about to start in a few days.

Montreal is in full-swing festival season with something happening almost every day since the start of F1 madness. One festival close to my heart is set to go down Sunday, Aug. 7 at the beautiful McGill Stadium in the heart of downtown Montreal. GOAL Initiatives Friendly Football Festival is a free event, with Montreal bars, restaurants, hospitality industry and other local businesses taking part to rally the community to offer financial support to Heart Shaped Hands, Black Players for Change in the MLS and Soccer Quebec. (Read more about GOAL MTL 2022.)

GOAL MTL, Aug. 7, 2022

Returning now to European football: The pro leagues in Germany, France, Spain, Italy and England, to name a few, have all started early in 2022 because in the middle of the year, (Nov. 18, to be specific,) the 2022 World Cup will kick off, and for the first time ever said leagues will all take a one-month break in the middle of their season until it all concludes Dec. 18.

(Please Santa Claus, all I want for Christmas is a team Canada vs. team England final.)

During this brief summer holiday, many moves have been made by these European clubs to make themselves stronger for this very interesting season ahead.

Money, Money, Money, as always, has been shifted all over the world and the biggest moves at the time of this magazine’s deadline are:

PAULO DYBALA to ROMA

MATTHIJS DE LIGT to FC BAYERN

ROBERT LEWANDOWSKI to BARCA

KALIDOU KOULIBALY to CHELSEA FC

RAPHINHA to BARCA

CHRISTIAN ERIKSEN to MANCHESTER UNITED 

RAHEEM STERLING to CHELSEA FC  

PAUL POGBA to JUVENTUS

ANGEL DI MARIA to JUVENTUS

GABRIEL JESUS to ARSENAL FC

KALVIN PHILLIPS to MANCHESTER CITY

DARWIN NUNEZ to LIVERPOOL FC

ERLING HAALAND to MANCHESTER CITY 

RICHARLISON to SPURS

ROMELU LUKAKU to INTER MILAN

ANTONIO RUDIGER to REAL MADRID

And that’s just to name a few, with the window still wide open for deals to be made. I can’t wait to see how all these shifts create new rivalries and exciting match-ups in this new season ahead.

Gareth Bale goes to L.A.

Now it’s time to get into football on this side of the pond. Big moves saw British footballer Gareth Bale move over to the Los Angeles Football Club, while Canadian MLS club Toronto FC made some gigantic moves as well with the signings of Federico Bernardeschi and Lorenzo Insigne, that both started playing for TFC at the end of July. Great international vibes!

The 2022 MLS All-Star week will be Aug. 8–10 in Minneapolis and we’ll see some of the best and brightest that the MLS has to offer on show. This year will have the MLS ALL STARS versus LIGA MX ALL STARS available to watch on TSN or TVA Aug. 10 in the p.m., depending on where you are. MLS is working very hard to connect on a regular basis with the Mexican Football League in an attempt to broaden its viewership.

Canada qualifies for the FIFA Women’s World Cup

Now for the BEST NEWS from July: The Canadian women’s national team won 1–0 over Panama, which led them to qualify for the FIFA Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand in 2023! Once again, it’s been proven how strong and consistent this team is in all major world competitions.

“There is no pressure when you are making a dream come true.”

—Neymar

This article was originally published in the August 2022 issue of Cult MTL.

Check out The 1st Half podcast (about soccer and football culture in Montreal and beyond) here.


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