Phenoms

Before handing out today’s main prize — the 2018 Ballon d’Or — France Football presented the first-ever awarding of the Kopa Trophy, the accolade given to the best performing player under the age of 21. 

This weekend was full of official transfer business for two of the USMNT’s brightest stars: It’s been long-anticipated, but New York Red Bulls midfielder Tyler Adams, 19, will officially join Bundesliga side RB Leipzig when the January transfer window opens, and Christian Pulisic, 20, was the subject of an official transfer approach from Premier League club Chelsea.

We’re not saying this is the metaphorical equivalent of Ronaldinho assisting Lionel Messi for his first league goal back in October 2004, but Messi’s feed for Carles Aleñá’s first LaLiga goal today was pretty special. 

Here at The18, we pride ourselves on a wealth of scandalously useless information. We’re the ones who brought you “The Funniest Names In Soccer,” complete with Kevin Lasagna, Bongo Christ, Fabian Assman, Danger Fourpence and Yago Pikachu, to name just a few.

Paris Saint-Germain defeated Liverpool 2-1 at the Parc des Princes on Wednesday to put itself in a great position to qualify for the Champions League Round of 16. Liverpool, meanwhile, must now defeat Napoli at Anfield on Dec. 11 to have any chance of progressing. 

In the end, Liverpool’s vaunted attack only generated one shot on target, and PSG’s attacking trident of Neymar, Kylian Mbappé and Edinson Cavani thoroughly outshone Mohamed Salah, Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mané on the night.

There’s definitely a little bit of jealousy when it comes to thinking about the quality of player that Canada possesses here, but on the whole, it’s incredible seeing 18-year-old Alphonso Davies training alongside Arjen Robben and Thomas Müller at Bayern’s legendary Säbener Strasse training facility.

We try to keep up with all things Christian Pulisic and Chucky Lozano here at The18, and the CONCACAF reporting bond will only grow stronger with Davies in Bavaria.