USA

If the USWNT’s two October friendlies were supposed to be feel-good send-offs for Carli Lloyd, no one told Yoon Young-Guel and South Korea. 

Yoon made eight saves to earn a 0-0 draw against the U.S., ending the USWNT’s 22-game home winning streak on Thursday at Children’s Mercy Park in Kansas City, Kansas. The last time the U.S. failed to win on home soil was Oct. 6, 2019, a 1-1 draw to this same South Korea side, a match that ended the USWNT’s 17-game winning streak that included winning the 2019 Women’s World Cup.

Fort Worth native Bryan Reynolds made his first career start for AS Roma on Thursday. It wasn’t a match to remember. 

Reynolds, a right back who moved to Italy from FC Dallas over the summer, was part of the worst defensive performance in José Mourinho’s 1,008-match career in a stunning 6-1 defeat to Bodø/Glimt in the Europa Conference League. Never before had Mourinho, a man often accused of playing boring, defensive football, allowed six goals in a match.

Luka Stojanović drove home the tie-breaking goal in the third minute of stoppage time, and the visiting Chicago Fire stunned reeling FC Cincinnati with a 4-3 victory on Wednesday night.

Just two minutes after Cincinnati's Tyler Blackett clipped in a cross amid traffic to tie the match at 3-3, Stojanović drilled a laser from outside of the top of the box that just cleared the arm of leaping FCC goalkeeper Przemysław Tytoń. It's just the second road victory of the season for Chicago (8-16-7, 31 points), which like Cincinnati, has already been eliminated from playoff contention.

Chelsea defeated Swedish opposition Malmö in the Champions League on Wednesday 4-0 in the pouring London rain but suffered a pair of injuries as Romelu Lukaku and Timo Werner both left the game early. The Lukaku and Werner injuries took place in the first half.

Lukaku was substituted out after his ankle was caught in a challenge by a Malmö defender. Later on, Werner was sprinting for a ball over the top and pulled up grabbing at his hamstring.

If European football wasn’t as familiar with American manager Jesse Marsch as it should’ve been, it sure as hell is now. On Tuesday, the RB Leipzig boss masterminded a stirring performance at the Parc des Princes that had the German side deservedly ahead 2-1 with just over 20 minutes to play. 

But a terrible mistake from American midfielder Tyler Adams allowed Lionel Messi to equalize before a rash challenge in the area gifted PSG another from the spot.   

There’s nothing quite like a Europa League match at 8:30 a.m. on a Tuesday between two Americans, I guess. Though not on the normal Thursday night timing, Celtic’s match with Ferencváros brought the same eccentricity you expect from a Europa League game. 

A heavy workload for Chelsea's international players may have contributed to their lack of freshness on the pitch in recent games, manager Thomas Tuchel said on Tuesday, but the German backed them to rise to the challenge of competing on all fronts.

Pulisic Injury Update

Tuchel added Christian Pulisic remains unavailable through injury. The American forward has not featured for Chelsea since the opening day of the season against Crystal Palace after suffering an ankle injury during the international break.

The National Women's Soccer League named 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup chief executive Marla Messing as its interim CEO on Monday, after allegations of sexual misconduct engulfed the league.