Germany

There’s definitely a little bit of jealousy when it comes to thinking about the quality of player that Canada possesses here, but on the whole, it’s incredible seeing 18-year-old Alphonso Davies training alongside Arjen Robben and Thomas Müller at Bayern’s legendary Säbener Strasse training facility.

We try to keep up with all things Christian Pulisic and Chucky Lozano here at The18, and the CONCACAF reporting bond will only grow stronger with Davies in Bavaria. 

Weston McKennie is no longer the only 20-year-old American playing for Schalke.

Haji Wright, a Los Angeles native and a few months older than McKennie, made his Schalke debut on Saturday, coming on as an 88th-minute substitute as Die Knappen routed 10-man Nurnberg 5-2. 

Germany’s inexplicably poor calendar year came to a close today with another bad result — Die Mannschaft drew with the Netherlands 2-2 in Gelsenkirchen after holding a two-goal lead through the 84th minute. 

What’s more, although Germany already knew it’d be playing in UEFA Nations League B after suffering relegation this time around, the final match of the campaign represented an opportunity to deprive the Dutch of a spot in the Nations League Finals, however, Virgil van Dijk’s 91st-minute equalizer sends the Oranje to Portugal next summer.

It’s not been a great month for Ronaldinho’s PR team. Back in October, it was reported that the Brazilian legend would have his role as an ambassador for FC Barcelona significantly reduced — including his presence at Legends games — due to his political backing of Brazil’s President-elect, Jair Bolsonaro.

We haven’t seen Christian Pulisic in a USMNT jersey since the 3-0 victory over Bolivia back on May 28, when we were given a tantalizing look at the attacking combination play between himself, Tim Weah and Josh Sargent. 

While soccer fans around the globe were disappointed by the postponement of the first leg of the Copa Libertadores final on Saturday, fans were treated to a 3-2 thriller between rivals Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich in Germany. 

And few of the Bayern board members got as wet as the Bombonera pitch after Paco Alcacer’s thrilling winner for Dortmund.

There are only a handful of players on the planet who can consistently alter games with their combination of vision, creativity and passing technique, but it should come as no surprise that they all ply their trade at Europe’s most feared attacking sides: Manchester City’s Kevin De Bruyne and David Silva, Barcelona’s Lionel Messi and Ivan Rakitic, PSG’s Neymar and Marco Verratti, Bayern Munich’s Thiago Alcantara and James Rodriguez. 

Borussia Dortmund is through to the DFB-Pokal Round of 16 after defeating second-division side Union Berlin 3-2 Wednesday. 20-year-old American Christian Pulisic scored the opener, assisted on Max Philipp’s second and then earned the penalty that Marco Reus converted for Dortmund’s third. 

We can only speak for ourselves here at The18, but we’d grown a little terrified of late, and we’re not talking about the culmination of binging The Haunting of Hill House ’til Halloween night.