Game Recaps

The U.S. Open Cup just gave us another showing of why all American clubs should continue competing against each other. Cough, cough, MLS.

This week saw the return of the fan-favorite Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup with teams from the USL League One/Two, NISA and MLS Next Pro competing in the first round of the tournament.

Christian Pulisic scored for a fourth game in-a-row with AC Milan as he found the back of the net against Verona in the Rossoneri’s 3-1 Serie A victory on Sunday.

This is becoming a weekly occurrence for us at The18 to cover a Pulisic goal. We absolutely love it. He now has 12 goals this season which breaks his record in one season of 11 set in 2019-20 with Chelsea.

Milan visited Verona, 15th in Serie A, and took care of business climbing to second in the league table with the win.

DORTMUND — Jadon Sancho and Marco Reus were on target as Borussia Dortmund secured a nervous 2-0 win over PSV Eindhoven on Wednesday and a Champions League last-eight place for the first time in three years with a 3-1 aggregate victory.

Luuk de Jong could have sent the game into extra time when he was left free in front of goal but instead of tapping in, he sent the ball wildly over the bar in stoppage time.

Luuk de Jong miss vs Dortmund

Pachuca 6, Union 0

Salomon Rondon's hat trick powered the hosts to a rout of Philadelphia in Pachuca, Mexico, sending Pachuca to a 6-0 aggregate victory.

Following a scoreless draw last week in Chester, Pa., Rondon opened the scoring with a seventh-minute penalty kick. He doubled the lead in first-half stoppage time when he exchanged quick passes with Erick Sanchez and fired home a left-footed shot from 12 yards out.

LONDON — Arsenal survived a penalty shootout to scrape past Porto and reach the quarter-finals of the Champions League for the first time in 14 years after a tense last-16 duel had ended 1-1 on aggregate on Tuesday.

Porto, who won the opening leg 1-0, proved stubborn opposition for the Premier League leaders and Arsenal fans must have feared another night of European heartache.

But Martin Odegaard, Kai Havertz, Bukayo Saka and Declan Rice all tucked away their spot kicks with clinical precision.

The United States women’s national team are champions. In the team’s first major tournament since the 2023 Women’s World Cup disappointment, the USWNT proved they’re the best team in the Americas defeating Brazil 1-0 on Sunday in the Concacaf W Gold Cup final.

Lindsey Horan scored the game’s lone goal in a battle between the top teams of North and South America.

Liverpool and Manchester City provided an exciting top-of-the-table Premier League clash in their 1-1 draw at Anfield this Sunday.

The last-ever league matchup between managers Jurgen Klopp and Pep Guardiola — one of the most iconic managerial rivalries in Premier League history — sent both home with a result worthy of their history, leaving much of what's to come for the title race this season in the air.

Luis Suarez's header in the fifth minute of second-half stoppage time lifted Inter Miami to a 2-2 draw with host Nashville SC on Thursday in the first leg of CONCACAF Champions Cup round-of-16 series.

Jacob Shaffelburg scored twice for Nashville, while Lionel Messi delivered a goal for Miami.

The two-match, total-goal series will conclude Wednesday in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. The winner will advance to oppose either Monterrey or FC Cincinnati in the quarterfinals.

If you’ve already seen the Christian Pulisic goal from Thursday’s Europa League game between AC Milan and Slavia Praha, then you know we’re being sarcastic with our headline. 

Pulisic scored Milan’s fourth goal in a 4-2 victory at San Siro, but we’ll admit he may or may not have stolen a goal from Rafael Leão.

In the 85th minute Pulisic was involved in the build-up of what turned out to be a dazzling run and clever finish from Leão. Pulisic then helped it over the line at the last moment.

The internet is quick with the memes and joke videos.