It was just one of those days for Manchester United; one of those days were crosstown rivals Manchester City absolutely decimated an opponent to climb to the top of the table while United reverted to the slapstick pantomime version of the world’s biggest club.
A late Paul Pogba penalty made the scoreline much more respectable, but Brighton fully deserved its 3-2 win over Jose Mourinho’s men at the Amex Stadium.
David Silva made his 250th Premier League appearance and marked the occasion with a stunning free kick in Manchester City’s 6-1 destruction of Huddersfield on Sunday. The 32-year-old Silva joined City from Valencia back in 2010, and the 2018-19 season marks his ninth with the club.
His afternoon also saw him join a select group of Spaniards to have made 250 appearances in England’s top flight — only Chelsea’s Cesc Fabregas, goalkeeper Pepe Reina (now at Milan) and current City assistant coach Mikel Arteta have accomplished the same feat.
Maybe we need to make this a weekly thing now. Hirving Lozano scored, again.
Mexico’s 23-year-old winger made it two goals in two Eredivisie matches, scoring the opener for PSV Eindhoven against Fortuna Sittard on Saturday.
Hirving Lozano scored in PSV’s season opener last week against Utrecht, smashing home first time as the reigning Eredivisie champion began its title defense with a 4-0 victory.
Tim Weah, the 18-year-old American, started at center forward alongside Neymar for PSG vs Guingamp on Saturday, a reward for scoring his first Ligue 1 goal a week earlier against Caen.
But with PSG shockingly trailing at halftime — and it could’ve been worse — Weah was replaced by World Cup star Kylian Mbappé. The Frenchman, a relative elder at 19, saved the day with two late goals for a 3-1 win.
The Houston Dash have never made the NWSL postseason in their four-year history. The club better known for being snubbed by USWNT stars is trying to change that, and a 4-0 rout of the Washington Spirit on Friday night could be just what they need to finally make it over the hump in their fifth year.
Like a certain fellow Washington D.C. resident might put it, Wayne Rooney is YUGE right now. This past weekend against Orlando, the former Manchester United man effectively broke the greater soccer world with one play. Rooney sprinted full speed — nearly half the length of the field — to track down a player, made a clean tackle and then hit a dime — nearly half the length of the field — to Luciano Acosta on the back post, who headed the ball home to give DC United the win in the 96th minute.
At the tender age of 19, any sort of highlight involving Paris Saint-Germain and France forward Kylian Mbappe is technically still from his “youth.” This is especially true since he started playing for Monaco’s senior side at the age of 16 and dominated the 2016 UEFA European Under-19 Championship at the age of 17. Now he’s a World Cup winner at 19.
Beijing Guoan continues to set the pace in the Chinese Super League following Tuesday's 5-2 win over Dalian Yifang, and it’s pretty easy to understand why. The five-star performance was spearheaded by a brace from former Villarreal star Cedric Bakambu, a goal from Spanish international Jonathan Viera and another by the man capped 31 times by Brazil, Renato Augusto.
The 30-year-old Augusto — who scored Brazil’s lone goal in the 2-1 defeat to Belgium during the quarterfinals of this summer’s World Cup — is a class apart when it comes to midfielders in the CSL.
A U.S. national soccer team being knocked out at the group stage of a major tournament is a headline that we don't often associate with the women’s side, but today produced an outcome not many in the soccer world could've predicted. The U.S. U-20 women’s national team saw its journey at the 2018 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup come to a shocking end before it really even got started.
STANDINGS // CLASSEMENT
During a goal-packed, explosive MLS game between D.C. United and Orlando City on Sunday night, Wayne Rooney and Luciano Acosta combined to destroy Orlando at the death. United won 3-2 with Acosta’s hat-trick (two supplied by Rooney) surpassing the efforts of an own goal and Dom Dwyer.
In the 96th minute, a failed D.C. corner left their own net without a keeper (United's David Ousted had come forward despite the 2-2 scoreline — D.C. had to win this one) as Orlando’s Will Johnson sought to capitalize on the counter — until Rooney started rampaging.