On Dec. 11, 2018, Manchester City and the Columbus Crew agreed on an estimated $7 million transfer fee for American goalkeeper Zack Steffen. After 653 days, the Pennsylvania native can now officially say he has played for Manchester City. The monumental Zack Steffen debut that us American outlets hyped up ended up being a quiet occasion.
It’s been a challenging couple weeks for Americans keeping tabs on Yanks abroad. With Christian Pulisic, Weston McKennie, Tyler Adams and Sergiño Dest making headlines, Zack Steffen’s new role as understudy to Ederson at Manchester City has been largely overshadowed.
U.S. Soccer on Tuesday announced its men's national team will not play any international matches during the upcoming window in October due to COVID-19 concerns.
The U.S. has not played since defeating Costa Rica 1-0 in February in Carson, California.
Friendlies against Netherlands and Wales were postponed in March, along with the Concacaf Nations League final four in June and the start of 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifiers in September.
In the grand scheme of things, it’s for the best that existence is chaos. The bedlam of it all allows for mobility, freedom and expression; it allows for the unpredictable moments that make it all worth while.
That’s not to say that all’s well with chaos: the tumult breeds disorder and confusion, and this frightens many people that demand a concise explanation for all things.
Andrea Pirlo’s first match as Juventus manager included debuts for 22-year-old American Weston McKennie and 20-year-old Swede Dejan Kulusevski, and both young talents did their manager proud in a 3-0 victory over Sampdoria at Allianz Stadium.
It was Kulusevski, the Serie A Best Young Player award-winner last season while on loan at Parma, who opened the scoring in the 13th minute with a left-footed curler from the edge of the area.
What a beauty!
RB Leipzig eased past Mainz 3-1 in their Bundesliga opener on Sunday to enjoy a successful start to league life without striker Timo Werner.
Werner joined Chelsea in the close season and missed their run to their Champions League semifinals in August but Leipzig had little trouble finding the back of the net against Mainz, striking twice in four minutes.
Emil Forsberg converted a 17th-minute penalty for a foul on Dani Olmo and Yussuf Poulsen rose high to drill in a header for the second goal.
Every time the calendar shows Sept. 18, The18 is legally obligated to write about Christian Pulisic. I don’t make the rules, I simply follow them. With that out of the way, this year we will recap the best Pulisic highlights of his career. In case you’re wondering what has been done in previous years for his birthday, please refer to the following list.
Pulisic’s 19th birthday: Compared him to Landon Donovan.
I never thought I would see the day when players from the U.S. would be scattered around the top clubs in Europe. Yet here we are with Weston McKennie linking up with Cristiano Ronaldo at Juventus, Christian Pulisic being Chelsea’s No.
DeAndre Yedlin’s future is in a state of uncertainty with the sun setting on his time with Newcastle in the Premier League. Talks of Yedlin leaving Newcastle this transfer window were floated around earlier in the summer but now a destination seems clear. A report from CBS’ Roger Gonzalez claims the return of Yedlin to MLS looks likely.
Premier League fantasy may already be underway, but there are still plenty of questions surrounding some of the top players. Will Bruno Fernandes have an endless number of penalty kick opportunities again this season? Can Danny Ings match his goal-scoring form from last year? Which Manchester City right winger is worth adding?