Prodigies

Frankie Amaya scored his first career goal in the 76th minute, and FC Cincinnati took advantage of short-handed Atlanta United to pull off a stunning 1-0 victory Thursday in the MLS is Back Tournament near Orlando.

The win was the first of the season for Cincinnati (1-0-3, 3 points), and an even bigger upset within Group E at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex. Cincinnati lost its opener 4-0 to rival Columbus, but prevailed thanks to an undisciplined Atlanta side that finished the match with nine men.

Borussia Dortmund’s 2019/20 season is over. Erling Haaland, the 19-year-old phenom who scored 16 goals in his first 18 BVB appearances, is free to do whatever he damn well pleases as a teenager that makes around $170,000 per week. That’s my take as an old poor boy. 

But his dad — as all dads are wont to do — sees it differently.

Chelsea advanced to the semifinals of the FA Cup with a 1-0 victory over Leicester City at the King Power Stadium on Sunday. The tightly contested match was settled by Ross Barkley’s finish in the 63rd minute off a delicious piece of service from Willian.

Leicester came roaring out the gates and overwhelmed Chelsea’s young midfield duo of Mason Mount and Billy Gilmour, forcing the 19-year-old Gilmour into mistake after mistake but failing to fashion anything to deeply trouble Willy Caballero.

Trailing Aston Villa 1-0 with just over half an hour remaining, Chelsea manager Frank Lampard turned to Christian Pulisic off the bench and the American responded by scoring the equalizer just five minutes later.

Although Chelsea dominated possession in the first half, it was Villa center back Kortney Hause who opened the scoring in the 43rd minute following a cross from Douglas Luiz.

Southampton manager Ralph Hasenhuettl spent the COVID-19 lockdown period putting the finishing touches to a masterpiece he hopes will turbo-charge the pipeline from the Premier League club's vaunted youth academy to the first team.

The flow of talent from the academy is noteworthy. Saints have unearthed and developed stars including Gareth Bale, Theo Walcott, Luke Shaw, Adam Lallana and their new skipper James Ward-Prowse.

But the supply has slowed in recent years, and Hasenhuettl is banking on his “SFC Playbook” reversing that trend.

Atlético Madrid hammered Osasuna 5-0 away from home in LaLiga on Wednesday to secure their biggest win of the season and give a huge boost to their chances of qualifying for the Champions League.

Atleti's record signing João Félix put the visiting side ahead by arriving in the box and drilling the loose ball into the top corner in the 27th minute, scoring again soon after the re-start by nudging home a fine pass from Diego Costa.

João Félix First Goal Vs. Osasuna 

The LaLiga season resumes on June 11 and then — with 11 match weeks still to be played — goes off on a tear with games every day until July 17. This means that clubs will be playing matches every three to four days until the season’s over, and with players lacking match fitness, squad depth will be tested over the coming weeks with young players given a chance to shine.