Game Recaps

Ricardo Pepi got his second start for Augsburg on Saturday as the struggling Bundesliga side tried to keep up with the superior Bayer Leverkusen. 

The young American is no stranger to a struggling team as FC Dallas lost 15 of its 34 games last season, but Pepi also hasn’t had to deal with a relegation battle. Saturday wasn’t an ideal second start for the club as Leverkusen thoroughly thumped the underdogs 5-1 and Pepi was taken off in the 57th minute.

Here’s the Pepi report as I tracked every move and involvement the striker had.

Sam Kerr broke Tim Cahill’s Australia all-time scoring record and then kept scoring during an 18-0 destruction of Indonesia to open the 2022 AFC Women’s Asian Cup on Friday in Mumbai. Kerr finished with five goals to move to 54 strikes for the Matildas, four more than Cahill. 

Barcelona has crashed out of the Copa del Rey in the Round of 16 for the first time in 12 years after Athletic Bilbao won in extra time 3-2 on Thursday. This was revenge for Athletic after losing in the final to Barcelona 4-0 last season.

The game got off to a thrilling start when rising star Nico Williams burned Jordi Alba down the right wing before sending in a dangerous cross. Iker Muniain picked up Nico’s ball to score a beautiful goal to send San Mamés wild.

DOUALA, Cameroon - Nicolas Pépé scored a superb solo goal as Ivory Coast thumped Algeria 3-1 to send the defending champions crashing out of the Africa Cup of Nations finals on Thursday following a disastrous Group E campaign.

Algeria's 35-game unbeaten run was ended by Equatorial Guinea in a stunning upset in their last match, and they were outplayed again by the impressive Ivorians, who might have had more goals with better finishing.

LIMBE, Cameroon - Sierra Leone’s veteran striker Kei Kamara missed a late penalty to scupper their chances of reaching the next round of the Africa Cup of Nations as they lost 1-0 to Equatorial Guinea on Thursday.

Pablo Ganet’s 38th-minute strike ensured Equatorial Guinea finished second in Group E and progressed, but Sierra Leone might have gone through as one of the best third-placed finishers if they had forced a draw.

They were awarded a last-minute penalty, but Kamara’s effort was saved by Equatorial Guinea’s 20-year-old goalkeeper Jesús Owono.

The Super Eagles of Nigeria are now favorites at the Africa Cup of Nations after defeating Guinea-Bissau 2-0 on Wednesday to become the only team to make it through the group stage in Cameroon with a perfect record. 

The form of Leicester City striker Kelechi Iheanacho has sent a message across Africa — he scored the match-winner against Egypt and provided a beautiful assist on Wednesday's opening goal — but the player to watch has been Nantes winger Moses Simon.

Alexia Putellas is the greatest player in the world after winning FIFA’s Best Women’s Player of 2021, the Ballon d’Or and a bountiful amount of trophies. After being inexplicably snubbed from FIFA’s FIFPRO World XI squad, she flexed on her doubters with a game-winning goal in the Supercopa de España Femenina semifinal vs. Real Madrid to win 1-0.