Germany

I know of no greater natural human curiosity than the one that demands we discover the ball’s final resting place. One of our most beloved sports, golf, is entirely based on this premise. So when a ball actually exits the field of play, the novelty of it all can lead to some of the greatest moments in all of sports.

But sometimes, you don’t want to know the end. Because how can the end be happy when so much random chance is involved? 

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. 

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.

Union Berlin made its Bundesliga debut on Sunday afternoon, and not even a 4-0 beatdown from rivals RB Leipzig could dampen the mood at the Alte Försterei in East Berlin. 

VfL Wolfsburg is striving to be a leader in environmentally conscious practices. The Bundesliga club announced starting with the season-opener this weekend the Wolfsburg stadium, Volkswagen Arena, will only offer multi-use drink containers, completely doing away with single-use plastics. 

AOK-Stadion, where the Wolfsburg women’s team (one of the best in the world) plays its home matches, will follow suit.

Giovanni Reyna made quite an impression in his competitive debut with the Borussia Dortmund U-19 squad. It just wasn’t as good as his younger teammate.

Reyna, a 16-year-old American, scored in the first minute of Dortmund’s 9-2 win over Wuppertaler SV in the U-19 Bundesliga season opener on Sunday. His 14-year-old teammate, Youssoufa Moukoko, did even better, scoring six goals in his U-19 debut.

With the likes of Christian Pulisic, Weston McKennie and Tyler Adams reshaping the way we view the USMNT midfield, an overhaul of the striker position will eventually follow suit. The Gold Cup was more of the same with Jozy Altidore and Gyasi Zardes leading the line, but it’s a trio of 19-year-olds in Europe that now have an opportunity to stake their claim if they should first make the breakthrough at club level.

Christian Pulisic already looks like he’s going to be a good signing for Chelsea. The 20-year-old American has been impressive so far with the Blues, putting in a stellar performance against Barcelona and scoring twice against Salzburg.

After making six Bundesliga appearances for Bayern Munich last season following his January move from the Vancouver Whitecaps, much more is expected from 18-year-old Canadian phenom Alphonso Davies during his first full season in Bavaria. Although Davies only totaled 74 minutes of action with the first team last year, he was the Bundesliga’s youngest goalscorer throughout the 2018-19 campaign (as well as Bayern’s youngest goalscorer in 20 years) after opening his account against Mainz back on March 17.