Prodigies

Bayern Munich's Alphonso Davies has been named the 2020 Canadian Player of the Year, Canada Soccer said on Thursday, on the back of a remarkable season with the Bundesliga club.

The 20-year-old left back, who also claimed the honor in 2018, enjoyed a stellar year in which the German club won five trophies, including the Champions League. Davies earned the highest voting score from Canadian media and coaches, finishing just ahead of Christine Sinclair's record set in 2012, Canada Soccer said.

Gregg Berhalter, you sly dog. 

18-year-old phenom Efraín Álvarez hasn’t filed a one-time switch from Mexico to the USMNT yet, but that hasn’t stopped Berhalter from luring Zlatan Ibrahimovic's cub into camp, showering him with praise and raising the pulse of Tri supporters everywhere. 

Younger generations are making their mark on the footballing world, and Sophia Smith is one of many that have the proven ability to make everyone around them feel old.

Smith graduated early from Stanford University after winning an NCAA Championship to pursue her dream of playing professionally in the NWSL. After being the No. 1 overall 2020 NWSL College Draft pick and scoring her first professional goal in her debut with the Portland Thorns, Smith has shown she's capable of playing at any level.

Sergiño Dest’s first Barcelona goal will immediately make him a favorite of culés everywhere as the 20-year-old American took matters into his own hands to end 52 minutes of futility against Dynamo Kyiv in the Champions League.

With Lionel Messi and Frenkie de Jong left in Barcelona to rest, manager Ronald Koeman elected to field a young starting 11 against Dynamo with Dest joined by Óscar Mingueza (21), Francisco Trincão (20) and Pedri (17). Antoine Griezmann, Jordi Alba and Ousmane Dembélé were left on the bench.

Mention Diego Lainez to USMNT supporters and they’ll immediately think of Matt Miazga’s relentless trolling of the diminutive winger back in September of 2018. What they won’t recall is that the then 18-year-old was the best player on the field in Nashville, form which he carried over into the Liga MX Apertura playoffs and a $14 million transfer to Real Betis. 

Jimmy Maurer made seven saves through regulation and a 30-minute overtime, then had the only stop in an eight-round penalty shootout as FC Dallas upset host Portland following a 1-1 draw on a rainy Sunday night in the first round of Major League Soccer's Western Conference playoffs.

Dallas advanced to the next round while the Timbers, who captured the MLS is Back Tournament earlier this summer, were eliminated. Dallas will play the winner of Tuesday's game between Los Angeles FC and Seattle.

BERLIN — Borussia Dortmund's 16-year-old striker Youssoufa Moukoko became the youngest-ever player to feature in a Bundesliga game when he came on as a second-half substitute against Hertha Berlin on Saturday.

Moukoko came on in the 85th minute in the place of Erling Haaland.

85' Nächster Wechsel bei Schwarzgelb.

A new era of the USMNT dawned on Thursday with Giovanni Reyna and Konrad de la Fuente playing in a front three that’ll soon be able to call upon Christian Pulisic and Josh Sargent for assistance. Watching the U.S. isn’t just fun again, it’s blissful.

The rise of Sergiño Dest has been meteoric. After all, it’s only been 459 days since he made his league debut with Ajax and 380 since he committed his international future to the USMNT. 

But this is a 20-year-old who forced his way into the starting 11 of a title-winning Ajax side before convincing Barcelona to part with $25 million. And early returns in Catalonia have been good — Dest was arguably Barça’s best player in El Clásico.