USMNT

The Reggae Boyz knew they would be without some of the big names like Leon Bailey (Aston Villa), Michael Hector (Fulham), Amari’i Bell (Luton Town) and Cory Burke (Philadelphia Union) heading into the second window of Concacaf World Cup qualifying. However, another bombshell was dropped on Wednesday when Michail Antonio, the Premier League’s third highest goal scorer this season, announced he was withdrawing from Jamaica’s next three games.

By now you’ve probably heard the story. 19-year-old Santiago Muñoz, who was born in El Paso, Texas, and grew up just south of the border in Ciudad Juárez, has joined Newcastle United in a jaw-dropping parallel with the famous 2005 film Goal! The Dream Begins.

Daryl Dike's header in the 97th minute lifted Orlando City SC to a thrilling 2-1 victory over D.C. United in a battle of Eastern Conference contenders on Saturday night at Exploria Stadium in Orlando, Fla.

Dike's header from the center of the box beat D.C. United keeper Bill Hamid into the top right corner on an assist from Chris Mueller following a corner kick. It was Dike's seventh goal of the campaign.

The USMNT has another weapon in the making. Joe Scally is only 18 years old and has become a consistent and valuable starter for Bundesliga side Borussia Monchengladbach. On Saturday Scally opened his Bundesliga scoring account against Wolfsburg in stoppage time to secure a 3-1 victory.

Joe Scally Goal Vs Wolfsburg

Gianluca Busio scored his first ever Serie A goal for Venezia on Friday with a 92nd-minute dagger to deny Cagliari its first win of the season. The Busio goal vs Cagliari wasn’t the prettiest, but hey, they all count the same.

GIANLUCA BUSIO SCORES HIS FIRST GOAL OF THE SEASON TO EQUALIZE FOR VENEZIA! pic.twitter.com/lBu9P7Wpwc

“Why is Pulisic not playing?” will be a question frequently asked in the coming weeks as the USMNT prepares for the second window of World Cup qualifying.

On Wednesday, head coach Gregg Berhalter released the 27-man roster that will represent the United States in October’s qualifying games against Jamaica, Panama and Costa Rica. Christian Pulisic and Gio Reyna’s names weren’t on the list.

I heard once, I can’t remember from where, that the greatest measure of your time remaining on this planet was in how many more World Cups you could reasonably expect to witness before death. Instead of saying “I am 30,” you could say “I hope to see 12 more World Cups.”

That struck me as a reasonable philosophy. 

Birthdays start to come and go with an increasing desire to make less of what starts to seem like a doomsday countdown, but the World Cup — with its quadrennial rarity — stands out as a month-long celebration of the best of our outward reality.  

BARCELONA - Goals from Memphis Depay, Luuk de Jong and the returning Ansu Fati helped Barcelona claim a much-needed 3-0 home victory over Levante in LaLiga on Sunday.

The victory, Barça's first in their last four games in all competitions, moved the Catalans up to fifth in the table with 12 points from six games, five behind league leaders Real Madrid, who have played one more.

The 18-year-old Fati, who came on as an 81st-minute substitute before scoring Barça's third goal, was making his first appearance since suffering a serious knee injury last November.

Real Madrid hosted Mallorca on Wednesday night, and it was a special (and extremely rare) occasion for American fans of LaLiga as USMNT striker Matthew Hoppe earned a start at the Santiago Bernabéu.