Europe

This was the first week of the new Serie A season. Things seemed to go according to plan. Juventus won. Fiorentina played like a bunch of hastily assembled strangers. Napoli played free flowing, attractive football and almost undid itself in the end. Everything went according to plan. So, there’s not really a result that stands out from the rest in terms of demanding the attention. But that’s because there’s a new game in town.

While we don’t know if Neymar will some day win the Ballon d’Or with Paris Saint-Germain, we can say with confidence that he’s dramatically increased his chances of winning the FIFA Puskas Award by joining the Ligue 1 side.

PSG scored six goals against Toulouse on Sunday, and they were all pretty exceptional.

THIS IS JUST ABSURD NEYMAR.

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Chelsea got their title defense back on track with a massive 2-1 victory over Tottenham in their temporary Wembley home on Sunday. Wing-back Marcos Alonso scored the first ever Premier League goal at Wembley with a sweetly struck free kick, and with a 1-1 draw looking likely, he swept forward to score the winner in the 88th. 

Alonso’s piece of brilliance in the 24th minute was the highlight of an enthralling opening 45 minutes between two of England’s best sides.  

With a 1-0 victory over Newcastle United, Huddersfield Town rose to second place in the Premier League table, sitting behind Manchester United on goal difference alone. We’re only two weeks into the season, but the Terriers are off to an almighty flyer in the top division.

German-American coach David Wagner and his squad are Invincibles.  

This week’s result isn’t as eye-catching as their 3-0 win over Crystal Palace, but Huddersfield looked exceptionally more qualified for life in the Premier League than fellow newcomers Newcastle.

Christian Pulisic may be The Truth, but someone needs to tell him the truth about his goal celebration. We can’t figure out what the hell he’s doing. Maybe someone else can, but we can't.

Before you get bent out of shape and start screaming at us, accusing us of being un-American, hold your horses. We know Christian Pulisic is great. We're with you. He's certainly one of the top American soccer players of all time. There's a chance he's the best American ever. Like, better than Abe Lincoln. Seriously, we feel you, @FearTheWall.

Last week, Jonjo Shelvey revealed himself to be the thinking man of the Premier League when he stomped on Dele Alli's ankle in plain sight of the referee, presumably after running the idea by his good friend Potato Brain. It was a true display of intellect, the likes of which we thought we would never see again.

Oh happy day, we were wrong.

After FIFA’s strangely inept trials of the Video Assistant Referee system at both the 2016 Club World Cup and 2017 Confederations Cup, it looks as though Germany will once again prove to be an ever-reliable fountainhead for efficiency and mastery, now with regards to using replay technology in football.

VAR decisions have been overly long, miscommunicated and occasionally downright baffling, but before the start of the new Bundesliga season, the German DFB made it clear that they didn't envision these issues plaguing their own use of the system.

For many, there can only be one winner in the race for the FIFA women’s player of the year award in 2017, and that’s Australia’s Sam Kerr. The 23-year-old attacker led Perth Glory to the final of Australia’s W-League while finishing second in goals, she finished top scorer at the Tournament of Nations as Australia defeated hosts United States and she’s scored 11 goals for Sky Blue FC in NWSL play.