Up-and-coming Players

Last year it was Adam Armstrong who provided the main thrust in the Blackburn attack. This season, following Armstrong's departure to the Premier League with Southampton, Ben Brereton Díaz has picked up the mantle for Rovers. 

Brereton Díaz is the key reason why Armstrong has not been missed as yet. With nine goals in the season's first 10 games, the 22-year-old has fired Rovers into sixth place. He announced in July he would use his mother's surname in club games as well as international games for Chile, for whom the Stoke-born forward made his international bow on June 14. 

With Villarreal and Atalanta lying in wait, Manchester United travelled to Swiss Super League champion Young Boys knowing that three points was vital against the side 30 places beneath them in UEFA’s club coefficient. 

All eyes were on Ole Gunnar Solskjær’s team after the manager again fielded the exciting quartet of Cristiano Ronaldo, Bruno Fernandes, Jadon Sancho and Paul Pogba that’d decimated Newcastle on Saturday.

Ricardo Pepi scored his team-leading 12th goal to help host FC Dallas record a 1-1 draw against the San Jose Earthquakes on Saturday in Frisco, Texas.

Pepi returned to action after missing FC Dallas' last match while participating with the United States Men's National Team for World Cup qualifying. The 18-year-old homegrown player made quite the impact after his diving header off Justin Che's cross beat a diving JT Marcinkowski to forge a 1-1 tie.

Pepi has scored four goals in his last three MLS matches.

Austin FC signed 16-year-old Owen Wolff, the second-oldest son of head coach Josh Wolff, to a first-team contract on Thursday.

Wolff is the first homegrown signing in Austin's history.

The FIRST EVER #AustinFC Homegrown!

Owen Wolff is #VERDE now!

Whisper it — anything more than a whisper and it might vanish — but Canada is on course for the 2022 World Cup (after three games). 

The 1-1 draw with the United States in Nashville must’ve stirred something in the Canucks’ plums, because they came out like a side possessed on Wednesday night at BMO Field. Frankly, some of Canada’s play against El Salvador in the opening 30 minutes was disturbingly good, and 38-year-old captain Atiba Hutchinson was at the heart of it all.

How much must this all mean to the man who collected his 88th cap tonight? 

Orlando City blew a two-goal lead before Júnior Urso scored the go-ahead goal in the 69th minute for a 3-2 victory against visiting Columbus on Saturday night to extend their point streak to seven games.

Daryl Dike returned to the lineup and had a goal and an assist for Orlando (10-4-8, 38 points), which has three wins and four ties during its run. Columbus (7-10-6, 27 points), the reigning MLS Cup champion, has lost seven of eight and is below the playoff line.

I can’t imagine the pressure of being the son of two world-famous celebrities. No matter what Romeo Beckham does with his life, it will be nearly impossible to live up to his dad, legendary footballer David Beckham, or his mother, famed Spice Girl/fashion icon Victoria Beckham. You gotta give Romeo credit for trying to follow in his father’s footsteps, even if he’s getting a bit of help from dear old dad in the process.

Taiwo Awoniyi arrived at Liverpool in the summer of 2015 as a player to keep an eye on. Due to work permit regulations, the then-18-year-old was immediately loaned out to FSV Frankfurt in Germany's 2.Bundesliga. 

The next few years brought much of the same as the Nigerian was shipped off on six more loan spells, some more successful than others.

You had to feel a bit bad for ESPN. The Worldwide Leader shelled out a significant fee to obtain the U.S. TV rights to LaLiga, only for the league’s best player to leave soon thereafter. Fortunately, a Matthew Hoppe transfer is here to save the day.