Atlanta United thrashed the Los Angeles Galaxy 3-0 — although the Five Stripes only scored one goal of their own — in front of 72,548 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Saturday night, the largest regular season crowd in MLS history.
Two own goals cursed the Galaxy, and without the legendary Zlatan Ibrahimovic up top, who was serving a one-game suspension, the team went cold in attack.
England’s best non-top-six club is through to the Europa League third qualifying round thanks to a standout performance from Mexico international Raúl Jiménez on Thursday. The El Tri star scored a brace in Wolves’ 4-1 demolition of Northern Ireland’s Crusaders FC, easing the Premier League side into the next round 6-1 on aggregate.
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.
I’ll admit that my own excitement over last night’s MLS All-Star Skills Challenge led to disappointment for the better part of an hour. The Shooting Challenge round — kicks from the spot aimed at targets in goal — was turgid and tedious as all hell, and then I sank even lower after the Touch and Volley round, which I’d likened beforehand — in my own head — to be soccer’s equivalent of the NBA’s Slam Dunk Contest.
The North Carolina Courage kept pace with the league-leading Portland Thorns on Saturday after recording an impressive 2-1 road victory over the Utah Royals at Rio Tinto Stadium.
An announced crowd of 10,545 was on its feet in the 13th minute following a sensational opener from World Cup-winner Christen Press. The 30-year-old attacker now has two goals in two games since returning from France, including a strike last week that was voted the NWSL’s Goal of the Week.
18-year-old American Sergiño Dest made his Ajax senior debut on Saturday in the Johan Cruijff Shield, going the full 90 minutes and helping his side to its first piece of silverware this season following a 2-0 victory over Chucky Lozano’s PSV.
Dest impressed last season for Jong Ajax, the club’s reserve team, while making 17 appearances in the Eerste Divisie (the Dutch second tier) and tallying one goal and two assists. He also scored one goal and provided one assist in seven appearances in the prestigious UEFA Youth League.
When whoever’s in charge of the worst competition ever created sits down to look at their social media numbers, they’ll see that the most liked/shared/commented/engaged with post of the 2019 Leagues Cup was a cat. Hopefully they’ll then decide to make the 2020 edition strictly cats.
You see, it’s a helluva fine boi.
After making his Chelsea debut as a 65th-minute substitute against Kawasaki Frontale on Friday, Christian Pulisic was handed his first-ever Chelsea start Tuesday as the Blues defeated Barcelona 2-1 in Saitama, Japan.
Last night in Bridgeview, Illinois, a crowd of 17,388 turned up at SeatGeek Stadium to watch the Chicago Red Stars defeat the North Carolina Courage 2-1 in NWSL play. For a bit of perspective, the Chicago Fire has averaged a gate of 11,209 throughout the 2019 MLS season. According to ESPN’s Sarah Spain, it was the first-ever sellout for a Chicago women’s professional soccer team.
Major League Soccer definitely has some great highlights, especially in the goals department. Sometimes, the awesome goals you see highlight the quality of the league, both good and bad. Mauro Manotas’ goal against Toronto FC on Saturday did just that.