Goals

CeCe Kizer is, like many Americans in the NWSL, playing in Europe this fall as the U.S. fails to contain Covid-19. The Houston Dash midfielder didn’t go on loan to a well-known club in England like Tobin Heath and Christen Press (Manchester United), Rose Lavelle and Sam Mewis (Man City) and Alex Morgan (Tottenham). Instead she found herself a club to get some playing time while the NWSL plays a mostly meaningless Fall Series back home.

In many respects, Wayne Rooney has been written off by football fans and media alike. The former England star left Manchester United three years ago and even spent a couple seasons in MLS, so it might seem like he’s a faded has-been.

But don’t forget, at 34 Rooney is younger than Cristiano Ronaldo, who many still hold as the best pure striker in the world right now (sorry Lewa). He’s a month younger than Luka Modric, who won the Ballon d’Or two years ago. And Rooney can still provide moments of magic like few in the world can even dream of.

Fulham stinks. Not even American Antonee Robinson could do anything to prevent the disaster of a 3-0 defeat to Brentford in the Carabao Cup fourth round on Thursday, which followed a winless start in the Prem. All Robinson could do was watch the insane Said Benrahma nutmeg goal vs Fulham.

Having spent much of my sports writing career covering Texas high school football, which at most levels draws more fans than USL matches, I found that more than anything Texas high school football coaches care about effort. And by that barometer, Joshua Kimmich’s game-winner against Borussia Dortmund in the German Supercup on Wednesday was among the greatest goals of all time.

Daniel Thioune's Hamburg completed a successful comeback late on to secure a 4-3 victory over Paderborn in the 2. Bundesliga on Monday.

After narrowly missing out on promotion back to the top flight last season following a late collapse, Hamburg has won its first two games of the new campaign. It had gone up 2-0 after 24 minutes thanks to goals from Manuel Wintzheimer and Simone Terrode, but Hamburg squandered the lead and found itself down 3-2 all before halftime. 

In Champions League playoff action, Ukraine's Dynamo Kyiv will take on Belgian side Gent on Tuesday in the second leg of their tie. 

Hello @DynamoKyiv #dyngnt #UCL pic.twitter.com/shCYEGhHai

Premier League champions Liverpool maintained their 100% start to the season with a 3-1 win against Arsenal at Anfield on Monday leaving them level on nine points with pacesetters Everton and Leicester City.

Liverpool created the early openings with Trent Alexander Arnold causing the visitors problems down their left. His cross was headed towards goal by Virgil van Dijk but Arsenal's David Luiz cleared off the line and then another ball from the full-back was volleyed straight at goalkeeper Bernd Leno by Sadio Mane.

MANCHESTER, England — A Jamie Vardy hat trick coupled with goals from James Maddison and Youri Tielemans steered Leicester City to a stunning 5-2 win at Manchester City on Sunday and kept them top of the Premier League with a maximum nine points from three games.