From a USMNT perspective, a look at the MLS goalscoring charts isn’t a heartening experience. With 13 goals in 27 games — four of them coming in one match against a lifeless Chicago Fire — 36-year-old Chris Wondolowski is the top goalscoring American. In second is Gyasi Zardes, who has more than a half-century of caps and only one important goal in his international career. That was a tap-in from less than a yard out.
Josh Sargent has opened his 2019-20 Bundesliga account with Werder Bremen in absurd fashion. After missing out on the Gold Cup and being restricted to an eight-minute cameo over the course of Werder’s opening two league fixtures, the well-rested 19-year-old was given his first start of the Bundesliga season today against FC Augsburg.
Who needs Lionel Messi when you’ve got Ansu Fati?
Well, Barcelona still needs Messi, but the Catalan club has something special in this 16-year-old forward.
With Messi out injured, Fati made his LaLiga debut last week as Antoine Griezmann stole the show.
Against Osasuna on Saturday, Fati was the star.
Do you ever look at Wikipedia pages to see what age people accomplished things and think, “Hey, Charles Bukowski didn’t publish his first novel until 50, I’ve got plenty of time,” but then you see that Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein at the age of 18 and you say, “It’s over, bury me out back.”
Is that a thing you do?
León striker José Juan Macías was the story of the 2019 Liga MX Clausura season after leading all Mexican goal scorers with eight in 14 appearances. That he accomplished it at the age of 19 while on loan after being cast off by Chivas only strengthened the narrative.
Given a much more normal pathway to his footballing career, Martin Ødegaard is thriving. After establishing himself as one of the best playmakers in the Eredivisie last season while on loan at Vitesse (the former wunderkind scored eight goals and provided 11 assists in 31 appearances), the 20-year-old Norwegian is finally getting his chance in LaLiga, although he’s now on loan at Real Sociedad.
24-year-old USMNT goalkeeper Zack Steffen is two matches into his Fortuna Düsseldorf career, and so far he’s helped his club into the second round of the DFB-Pokal and collected Bundesliga Player of the Week honors after recording 10 saves in Düsseldorf’s league-opening victory over Werder Bremen on Saturday.
That’s one helluva start for a man who’s just beginning a year-long loan move from Manchester City, the club he officially joined from the Columbus Crew back in July for a transfer fee of $9.12 million. He’s already surpassed Landon Donovan’s achievements in Germany.
Before yesterday’s Ligue 1 match between defending champion PSG and Rennes at Roazhon Park, all of the talk was centered around Neymar’s complete absence from the squad. After the match, the only name being mentioned was that of 16-year-old Rennes defensive midfielder Eduardo Camavinga.
Camavinga only made his senior debut last April — going on to total seven Ligue 1 appearances last campaign — but he was instrumental in his side’s shock 2-1 upset of PSG last night.
In the penultimate match of the Newcastle Jets’ 2018-19 A-League season, 22-year-old right winger Joe Champness highlighted his potential with two goals and an assist in a 6-1 demolition of the Brisbane Roar. Standing at nearly 6-3 and with two goals in three appearances for Australia’s U-23 side, Champness clearly has all the tools of an exciting young professional.
Christian Pulisic’s first Premier League start and Stamford Bridge debut wasn’t exactly the stuff of dreams. The 20-year-old American lasted 71 ineffective minutes against Leicester City before being swapped for Willian with the score level at 1-1, which is how it would end.
Pulisic spent his time on the pitch in the pocket of Leicester right back Ricardo Pereira. The Portugal international was Leicester’s Player of the Season last campaign, and with support provided by Ayoze Pérez out wide, Pulisic completed only one of five dribbles while getting dispossessed six times.