Finishing

Romelu Lukaku came off the bench to lead Chelsea to a much-needed 3-1 victory at Aston Villa with midfielder Jorginho scoring two penalties in the Premier League on Sunday.

Lukaku has not started a league game since picking up an injury in October and missed the last two games after testing positive for COVID-19. But the Belgian transformed his team's display after coming on at halftime at Villa Park, providing a constant threat, putting his side ahead and then earning the late penalty that secured the three points for Thomas Tuchel's side.

The debate over who should be the USMNT's starting striker will continue into 2022 despite Ricardo Pepi's recent heroics in front of goal. The 18-year-old was quiet on Saturday night in the national team's 1-0 win over Bosnia and Herzegovina (a match The18's David Moore likened to "cruel and unusual punishment"), and Gregg Berhalter will be closely monitoring the FC Dallas striker's competition abroad.

The first 2021 award winner for the USWNT was revealed on Tuesday morning with the Goal of the Year being announced. The USWNT Goal of the Year 2021 nominees included a list of sensational goals. Here’s a quick refresher on what fans could vote for.

All of them were pretty great, but what was favorite goal of 2021?

American defender Chris Richards scored the first Bundesliga goal of his career on Saturday against SC Freiburg in a crucial 2-1 victory. With the score tied at 1-1, Hoffenheim had a corner kick with 15 seconds left in the game. The ball was whipped into the box, and it would be the 21-year-old Alabama native who got his head on the ball.

Chris Richards Goal Vs Freiburg

USMNT defender Chris Richards scored a stoppage time match winner for Hoffenheim today! It was his first Bundesliga goal.

The brand new semi-automated offside technology is being used at the Arab Cup 2021 and it might have just ruled out the goal of the tournament. The Arab Cup offside ruling during the group stage game between United Arab Emirates and Mauritania on Friday has my blood boiling.

PARIS — Lionel Messi scored his first Ligue 1 goal as Paris Saint-Germain opened a 13-point lead in Ligue 1 despite playing almost half an hour with 10 men in a 3-1 home win against Nantes on Saturday.

Messi found the back of the net with a curled left-footed effort from outside the box three minutes from time, adding to Dennis Appiah's own goal after Randal Kolo Muani had cancelled out Kylian Mbappe's first-half opener.

The Washington Spirit are the 2021 NWSL Champions after defeating the Chicago Red Stars 2-1 in extra time. Trinity Rodman didn’t get on the scoresheet, but the NWSL Rookie of the Year single-handedly carried the Spirit to the finish line.

The Spirit fell behind 1-0 seconds before halftime. Kelly O’Hara experienced a bit of instant karma as she put in a hard challenge on Chicago’s Mal Pugh that would force Pugh to miss the rest of the game.