It feels good to finally say it: It’s been a good weekend for the USMNT. On Friday, three-time World Cup veteran Brian McBride was appointed General Manager of the USMNT. He’ll use his 17 years of professional playing experience — including 14 with the national team — to help develop and manage the player pool while also shifting the culture within the men’s program.
There’s no more compelling story than when a player like Jamie Vardy goes from being released by his club at the age of 16 to suddenly tearing up the Premier League at the age of 28, but the Leicester City striker’s path is a fit-for-Hollywood tale rather than the norm. The truth is that football is now a mega-industry and the reach of its tentacles knows no bounds — in the search for the world’s next great talent, no rock is left unturned and no YouTube highlight video is left unproduced.
An FA Cup Third Round Merseyside derby between Liverpool and Everton was decided by a wonder goal from 18-year-old Reds midfielder Curtis Jones on Sunday. Although Liverpool had the support of Anfield behind them, Jürgen Klopp fielded a much younger and less experienced side than his counterpart Carlo Ancelotti.
Bayern Munich enters the German winter break on the backend of a chaotic start to the season, one which cost manager Niko Kovač his job at the beginning of November. However, despite starting the month of December sitting seventh in the Bundesliga, Bayern has now won three straight by an aggregate scoreline of 11-2 to climb back to third in the table, just four points behind leaders RB Leipzig.
On Friday, Kylian Mbappé celebrated his 21st birthday. On Saturday, it was Mbappé who was providing the gifts with two glorious goals during PSG’s 4-1 win over Amiens SC and a signed book for a young pitch-invader.
Bored with dominating Ligue 1 with his natural hair color, Mbappé debuted a new color against Amiens while Neymar went with a clip-on Padawan braid. It was Neymar who provided the assist on Mbappé’s opener, and the Brazilian would add a goal of his own to double PSG’s advantage. Mbappé would make it three in the 65th minute by smashing one in at the near post.
If he continues like this, Martin Ødegaard will be playing for Real Madrid next season. It’s been nearly five years since he made his first and only LaLiga appearance for Los Blancos at the age of 16 years and 157 days, but now aged 21, Ødegaard is finally shining in Spain’s top division while on loan at high-flying Real Sociedad.
Mahia Macías is a 7-year-old girl from Montevideo, Uruguay, who just wants to play football, but where she comes from, there aren’t nearly as many teams for girls. However, since she’s still young enough to play on the boys side, she’s become the first girl to play in the youth league of Club Nacional de Football, Uruguay’s most successful team apart from Peñarol.
Recently named the USMNT Young Male Player of the Year, Sergiño Dest has had quite an impressive 2019-20 season already. He's logged major minutes for Ajax in the Eredivisie and chose to represent the USMNT over the Netherlands (still trying to figure out why, to be honest).
It’s been a good week for PSG phenom Kylian Mbappé. Despite his tender age of 20, Mbappé finished in the top 10 of Ballon d’Or voting for the third straight year on Monday. On Wednesday, he scored in PSG’s 2-0 victory over Nantes. On Saturday, he scored an outrageous backheel goal and recorded an assist in PSG’s 3-1 victory over Montpellier.
Just another day at the office for PSG sensation Kylian Mbappé on Wednesday. The 20-year-old scored his sixth goal in nine Ligue 1 games to keep PSG’s lead over second-place Marseille at five points. He also performed a shifty elastico and was asked by an opposing player to exchange shirts at halftime.
After finishing sixth in 2019 Ballon d’Or voting on Monday, the prodigy delighted fans inside the Parc des Princes by looking very much like El Fenomeno with this trick.