Goals

Borussia Dortmund maintained its nine-point advantage at the top of the Bundesliga following a 2-1 win over Werder Bremen on Saturday, and not even the 83rd minute introduction of Josh Sargent could disrupt BVB’s continued run of excellence.

That excellence has been highlighted by the play of Paco Alcacer, who scored Dortmund’s opener in the 19th minute after this extremely well-worked set piece (also, VAR is a great thing). 

Raphael Guerreiro and Marco Reus stood over the ball, and Guerreiro ran over it once before sneakily returning and delivering with his left foot.

The 2018 Liga MX Femenil Apertura Final commenced Tuesday with the first leg between Club América and Tigres at the Estadio Azteca. Given the poor state of the Azteca pitch and since the men’s Liga MX final pits América versus Cruz Azul (both tenants of the Azteca) on Dec. 13 and Dec. 16, the Femenil final was given the shaft — the game was played on a Tuesday with a 4 p.m. kickoff. 

There is often a fine line between clever play and good sportsmanship. Ellie Carpenter toed it with her Australian W-League goal on Thursday. 

Canberra United was seeking the first goal of the match in the second half against last-place Western Sydney when WSW goalkeeper Jada Mathyssen-Whyman came out of her box to kick the ball away from United striker Rhoda Mulaudzi.

Hatem Ben Arfa — football’s notorious l’enfant terrible — is now 31. If you’re thinking “Hey, there’s a name I haven’t heard in a while,” it’s because he took an entire year off while collecting $12.3 million. Much like how he burned his bridges at Lyon, Marseille, Newcastle United and Hull City, he found himself ostracized during the final year of his contract at PSG.

Caleb Ekuban is a 24-year-old Italian striker who has already played for seven different clubs. Currently owned by Leeds United by on loan with Turkish Süper Lig club Trabzonspor, Ekuban scored the most emotional goal of his young career. 

Earlier this week, Ekuban’s mother passed away. He begged coach Ünal Karaman to let him play and the manager obliged by subbing him on in the 74th minute. Less than 10 minutes later, Ekuban netted the match winner, rising high to head in a free kick.