Highlights

Teammate Rips Pass In The General Direction Of Andres Iniesta; It Works

Andres Iniesta was never going to have a Zlatan Ibrahimovic-esque debut in the J1 League. The 34-year-old schemer is a much more subtle player and has never been one to stuff the stat line. Last Sunday, he made his debut for Vissel Kobe and played the final 31 minutes of his side’s 3-0 defeat.

After his break following a World Cup with Spain, the former Barcelona midfielder looked a little rusty — every pass just seemed a fraction too far for his teammates, perhaps an indication of the new level of play that he’ll need to adjust to.

Rooney Opens MLS Account By Going Five-Hole On Tim Howard (And Breaks His Nose)

Wayne Rooney — the all-time top scorer for Manchester United with 253 goals and for England with 53 — now has one in Major League Soccer. The 32-year-old is now just 144 away from Landon Donovan’s mark, but putting your first goal through the legs of Tim Howard should count double. 

Anyway, Rooney’s strike at Audi Field gave United a 33rd-minute lead over the Colorado Rapids, only for another player to respond with his first goal for a new side: former FC Dallas midfielder Kellyn Acosta scored on his first appearance for the Rapids to even things up in the 82nd.

Alphonso Davies Celebrates Bayern Transfer By Torching Minnesota United

The rumors were confirmed Wednesday that 17-year-old Canadian phenom Alphonso Davies would be joining Bayern Munich come January on a transfer that could rise to as high as $22 million, but for now, the Vancouver Whitecaps winger is free to continue his breakout season in MLS — Saturday night was perhaps his best performance as a professional.

Xherdan Shaqiri Announces His Arrival With Stunning Bicycle Goal In Liverpool Debut

Xherdan Shaqiri made his Liverpool debut on Saturday, coming on as a 66th minute sub. He immediately assisted on the match winner, but we don’t really care about that. What we care about was the absurd Shaqiri goal vs Manchester United in the 82nd minute. 

No nos importa si estaba fuera de juego, este toque de Juan Mata fue sexy.

Fue una pretemporada amistosa, pero no nos importa. Estaba fuera de juego, pero eso no importa. El toque de Juan Mata contra el Liverpool el sábado en Michigan fue absolutamente sublime.

Los dos clubes más exitosos de Inglaterra se enfrentaron frente a más de 105.000 aficionados en el stadium Big House el sábado. Mientras que el entrenador del Liverpool, Jurgen Klopp, alineó un once inicial cerca de su primera opción, José Mourinho optó por algunas reservas más. Donde exactamente Mata cae en ese espectro es discutible, pero su habilidad no lo es.

Benfica Scored The Best Goal Of The ICC, Then Juve Topped It 20 Minutes Later

Benfica vs. Juventus wasn’t exactly one of the more glamorous matchups brought to us by the International Champions Cup. But it brought us the two best goals of the preseason tournament, namely the Luca Clemenza goal vs Benfica on Saturday at Red Bull Arena in New Jersey. 

The match was scoreless after an hour. The deadlock was broken in the 65th minute by Benfica’s 22-year-old Spaniard Alejandro Grimaldo, who smashed a free kick that dipped perfectly into the back of the net.

Alex Morgan’s Clinical Hat-Trick Fires USWNT To 4-2 Win Over Japan

The USWNT defeated Japan 4-2 to begin Tournament of Nations play (essentially the warmup for October’s World Cup qualifying event) with Alex Morgan registering a hat-trick inside 56 minutes and The Best FIFA Women’s Player finalist Megan Rapinoe adding the fourth in the 66th.   

Bradley Wright-Phillips Celebrates 100th MLS Goal In Outrageous Fashion

Last night, Bradley Wright-Phillips became the fastest player to reach 100 MLS goals after he scored what would prove to be the game-winner in just the second minute against DC United. It looks as if BWP had a feeling tonight just might be the night for his historic accomplishment. Take a look at what has to be the most brazen goal celebration in MLS history.

It looks like the Englishman took a page out of Zlatan’s book for this one. When you’ve been tearing up defenses in the way he has for five years, you deserve to pat yourself on the back like this. 

If You Want To Make Varsity This Year, Spend All Of Tryouts Trying To Pull This Off

First things first, I’m not 100 percent certain we’ve agreed on a term for this particular skill. Is it a piece of back heel control? A rabona touch? An inverse rabona? A Nasty Neymar? From henceforth, it should be known as the Ballad of Ahmadzadeh Farshad. 

France Just Hammered England 5-0 At The U-19 Euros — The Future Is French

After lifting the 2018 World Cup with one of the youngest squads at the tournament (average age of just 26), there’s been a growing fear that France could turn a bit tyrannical at the international level. That fear was further confirmed today when England’s U-19s were on the receiving end of a 5-0 beatdown from their French peers. 

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