Germany

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.

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. 

It’s rare one shares a pitch with Nigel de Jong and doesn’t come out with something bleeding, broken or bruised. Somehow, Germany referee Deniz Aytekin managed to survive offering the Dutch bad boy some candy before snarfing it down himself during a DFB Pokal match between Mainz and Eintracht Frankfurt on Wednesday. 

Bayern Munich has opened an 18-point lead at the top of the Bundesliga after registering its eighth straight league victory with a 2-0 result against Mainz on Saturday, and it was Colombian attacker James Rodriguez again proving the side’s talisman with his second goal in three matches.