Germany

If there were a book, this would be one of the oldest tricks in it. The Cristoph Kramer goal vs Wolfsburg on Friday wasn’t anything new or special, it was just a reminder to players everywhere to never switch off during match, even for a moment.

Kramer and Borussia Monchengladbach were hosting Wolfsburg in a Friday night contest in the Bundesliga with the home side already in front with goals from Lars Stindl and Raffael. Near the end of the half, Monchengladbach was given a free kick outside the Wolfsburg 18-yard box. 

Fans of the Bundesliga and Mexico will remember fondly two seasons ago when Javier "Chicharito" Hernandez signed with Bayer Leverkusen from Manchester United and took Germany by storm, scoring 26 goals in all competitions, 17 in the league.

Marco Fabian also arrived in Germany that season, transferring during the winter window from Chivas Guadalajara to Eintracht Frankfurt. Chicharito is no longer in the Bundesliga, but Fabian still is, and he scored against Chicharito's old club when Frankfurt met Leverkusen on Saturday.

Was it meant to be a cross?

Probably.

Do we care?

No.

Does Christian Pulisic care?

Also no.

The American international opened the scoring for Borussia Dortmund against Stuttgart Sunday with this very silly thing:

It may have been a cross, but he'll take it! 

With Bayern Munich attacker James Rodriguez returning to Spain to play Sevilla in the Champions League this week, the Spanish media turned its attention to the Real Madrid loanee with a staple of the country’s football coverage: unsubstantiated transfer rumors.

The rumor wasn’t all that juicy, just that Bayern will certainly move to make his loan permanent this summer by activating a clause that was included in the initial two-year loan contract signed last July.

Monday night football is a huge part of American sports culture, a showcase evening where the sports world focuses on whatever subpar matchup the NFL has decided everyone must watch. MNF games typically have some of the biggest TV audiences of the year, regardless of who is playing. Monday night football in Germany, on the other hand, hasn’t caught on yet, as the latest Bundesliga protests have put on full display.

Germany, it seems, is the Garfield of Europe — they hate Mondays.

According to the latest rumors from Sky Sports, Real Madrid president Florentino Perez is interested in signing Christian Pulisic from Borussia Dortmund this summer for around $100 million as he “sees the value in having the poster boy for football in America at his disposal.” 

Is the move all that far-fetched? No.

The USWNT, the world's top-ranked side, defeated Germany, second-ranked, 1-0 to begin SheBelieves Cup play Thursday night, Megan Rapinoe scoring the game's lone goal off an assist from Alex Morgan.

The weather outside was weather — cold, wet (a nice wintery mix of rain/snow) and windy. Why the SheBelieves Cup decided to stage two matches in the midwest during the winter is an awfully good question, but the USWNT and Germany played out a high-energy, although somewhat limited, match — the opener for both nations at this round-robin tournament. 

Just at the beginning of the second half during Monday's Eintracht Frankfurt-RB Leipzig contest, Eintracht Frankfurt fans expressed their displeasure with Monday matches by covering the field in tennis balls and a goal in streamers, hurled from the stands.

Zyen Jones, a 17-year-old forward, is set to become the latest American to move to Germany in search of playing time he can’t find in the U.S. Jones, who went on trial with Schalke in January, will move from Atlanta United’s academy to Schalke’s U-19 team when he turns 18 in August. 

Last October, Borussia Dortmund and German international Marco Reus delivered a heartbreaking statement when speaking with GQ, saying that he “would give all (his) money away” to be free of injuries and return to fitness after his latest setback, a devastating ruptured cruciate ligament in the 2017 DFB-Pokal Final.