Chelsea travelled to Red Bull Arena and beat Salzburg 2-1 Tuesday night to clinch passage to the Champions League Round of 16 for the fourth straight year.
Christian Pulisic, making his first start since scoring against Wolves on Oct. 8, played a role in both goals, although they were spectacularly finished by Mateo Kovačić and Kai Havertz.
Get Malik Tillman on the plane.
The 20-year-old USMNT prodigy is at that nascent stage in his career where there's going to be ebbs and flows. Tillman arrived on loan at Rangers from Bayern Munich and had an incredible August — scoring in both Champions League qualifying and the Scottish Premiership — but a downturn in form saw him left on the bench for Rangers' last league match and Wednesday's 7-1 UCL defeat to Liverpool at the Ibrox.
America's most promising goalkeeping prospect is officially heading abroad, as Gabriel Slonina is set to begin a 13-day training spell with Chelsea.
The youngest signing in Chicago Fire history and the youngest starting keeper in MLS history, Slonina became Chicago's most expensive player ever on Aug. 2 when he joined Chelsea for a $15 million fee. The keeper was then loaned back to the Fire for the remainder of the MLS season.
The final FIFA rankings before the 2022 World Cup were released Thursday, revealing a top five that's largely in line with what the odds makers have for the tournament in Qatar.
Brazil rightfully holds the top spot and is seen as the favorite after turning its qualifying campaign into a program on Joga TV, while the Seleção's eternal rivals, Argentina, sit third riding a 35-match unbeaten streak.
The New York Red Bulls announced a new four-year contract for defender John Tolkin on Wednesday.
The deal runs through the 2027 season and includes an option for 2028.
"We are very excited to sign John to a new contract and keep him with the club," NYRB head of sport Jochen Schneider said in a news release. "He had a very successful season, and we are pleased to have him on our team for years to come."
INKED ✍️
Ricardo Pepi scored Groningen’s sole goal in a 4-1 defeat to top Eredivisie side AZ Alkmaar on Saturday. This was the second Ricardo Pepi Groningen goal in the club’s previous two games.
Before the international break Pepi scored in Groningen’s game vs. Sparta Rotterdam to end his 345-day goal scoring drought. Despite a poor showing during the U.S. friendly vs. Saudi Arabia, Pepi didn’t let that affect his club form.
Christian Pulisic made a great impression on new Chelsea manager Graham Potter after assisting the game-winning goal of the Blues’ 2-1 victory vs. Crystal Palace on Saturday. The game was Potter’s first Premier League game in charge for Chelsea.
Pulisic sat on the bench for 84 minutes of the match and was brought on late in the game with the score tied 1-1. He only needed six minutes to make an impact as he assisted fellow substitute Conor Gallagher for the 90th minute game-winner.
Welcome to Talking El Tri, your new favorite Mexican soccer podcast!
On our first episode, Luis and Yahir discuss the strengths and weaknesses of Liga MX v MLS and the future of each league. They dive in to El Tri's World Cup group and how they see Mexico performing. Yahir talks a little trash and they ask each other fun questions de Los Cantaritos!
The 2022 World Cup Golden Boot odds leave a lot of room for debate as the tournament sees Ballon d'Or finalists like Karim Benzema, Kylian Mbappé, Robert Lewandowski, Harry Kane, Vinícius Júnior and Sadio Mané all vying for the prestigious individual award that awaits the competition's top scorer.
Some big names won't be with us in Qatar after qualifying failure (Norway's Erling Haaland, Egypt's Mohamed Salah, Sweden's Zlatan Ibrahimović), but we've also got the usual suspects like Neymar, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo to consider.