Tackles

United States men’s national team defender Chris Richards had a heart-in-mouth moment on Wednesday when he was shown the first red card of his career. Thankfully for the 23-year-old the red card was immediately rescinded.

During Crystal Palace’s 2-1 defeat to Chelsea the American defender — who plays a defensive midfielder role for Palace — took one for the team and committed a foul to halt a counterattack.

In the 73rd minute Noni Madueke had successfully dribbled past Richards and the USMNT player tried to pull on the Chelsea forward’s shirt to slow him down. 

Star United States men’s national team midfielder Weston McKennie won’t be available for Monday’s return leg Concacaf Nations League quarterfinal game in Trinidad and Tobago, announced the team. The McKennie injury is due to a knee issue.

Weston McKennie injury

Weston McKennie has departed camp to
recover from an aggravated left knee tendinopothy » https://t.co/dpUoJMgnLy

A friendly match between Women's World Cup-bound teams Ireland and Colombia was abandoned after becoming overly physical, the Football Association of Ireland (FAI) said on Friday.

The game in Brisbane, Australia, which was played behind closed doors, was called off after 20 minutes.

"The game, which was held in Meakin Park, Brisbane, became overly physical and it was decided, following consultation with the match officials, to end the game," the FAI said in a statement.

Fulham defeated Leeds United 2-1 on Saturday in the highly anticipated USMNT showdown between the duos of Weston McKennie and Brenden Aaronson vs. Tim Ream and Antonee Robinson.

The American quartet sat down for a humorous interview ahead of Saturday’s game with the four players laughing and joking around.

For Saturday's 90 minutes the love was lost as the two duos fought for three points at Craven Cottage. 

With one victory, Leeds United climbed from 18th and relegation to the comfortable heights of 13th on Tuesday night at Elland Road. But with nine matches still to play and the gap between Leeds and 20th-place Southampton just six points, there's still a lot of post-Jesse Marsch ball to come this campaign.

Leeds got strong performances out of Luis Sinisterra, Jack Harrison and Marc Roca in a 2-1 victory over Nottingham Forest while there was also special praise for Weston McKennie alongside Roca in the team's two-man midfield.

Christian Pulisic had to be substituted out in the first half of Chelsea’s 1-0 Premier League defeat to Manchester City on Thursday after picking up an injury. The Pulisic injury happened in the 16th minute when John Stones put in a perfect tackle to deny the American a clean shot on goal.

Pulisic tried to continue playing but was replaced by Carney Chukwuemeka in the 22nd minute.