Andrew Carleton is a 16-year-old who plays for Atlanta United. In September, he became the youngest-ever player to appear for a USL team when he came on for Chaleston Battery as a 15-year-old. He also — and I do not believe myself to be exaggerating here — has a fiirst touch that has been blessed by the soccer gods.
I mean, just look at this:
Newcastle United travelled to Brighton & Hove Albion’s Amex Stadium for a match between first and second in the English Championship. With the top two sides in the division earning automatic promotion to the Premier League, matches really don’t get any bigger than this.
Albion took the lead through Glenn Murray after Murray, Newcastle’s Ciaran Clark and goalkeeper Karl Darlow all clashed together in a clusterf**k of cliche Championship football, the referee pointing to spot.
The offseason purchases of Mirlalem Pjanic from Roma (€32 million) and Gonzalo Higuain from Napoli (€75.3 million) haven’t debilitated the selling clubs, but they have had the desired effect for Juventus. Higuain has scored 19 goals, tied with Edin Dzeko for the most in the league, and no Juventus player has more assists than Pjanic.
Even more importantly, Napoli, the team that ran them closest last season, will come short of last season’s total of 82 points while Juventus look poised to surpass their own total of 91. There’s no surer gauge of the impact of that transfer.
Panama were the surprise winners of the 2017 CONCACAF Beach Soccer Championship after defeating three-time champions Mexico 4-2 in the final. With the scores level at 2-2, Panama proceeded to score two unanswered goals to secure their first ever championship.
Mexico scored the first, but Panama responded with their goalkeeper hurling one down the beach for an attacker to side volley home.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s quest to win trophies for Manchester United is being realized with stunning proficiency. After scoring late for Man United in their FA Community Shield victory over Leicester City to mark his Red Devil Wembley debut, Zlatan has continued his act by scoring twice, including an 87th minute winner, to lift United over Southampton in the EFL Cup final, 3-2.
Barcelona climbed to the top of the La Liga table (at least until Real Madrid play Villarreal later today) after defeating fierce rivals Atletico Madrid at the Vicente Calderon, 2-1.
Rafinha opened the scoring for Barca in the 64th minute with a goal that probably took a couple of years off Diego Simeone’s life.
Sunday’s match between Feyenoord and PSV Eindhoven was a meeting of first and third in the Dutch Eredivisie table. With the scores level at 1-1 in the 82nd minute, the big winner would be second place Ajax. But Feyenoord's Jan-Arie van der Heijden was credited with a winner in one of the most important and ridiculous demonstrations of goal-line technology.
It began with an attempt at Zidane-esque control and ended with a display of marksmanship that sends an entire section of the crowd surging towards the pitch. As much as we love to dissect football, to break the pitch into a systematic property where order reigns, it’s a beautiful sport because it forever remains incalculable.
We all know the legitimate questions that greet every disappointing showing from the USMNT: why does the US struggle so mightily when it comes to developing players from a young age? Why can’t we develop a star player? Why isn’t the American system doing a better job at finding Hispanic talent?
The extremely complex process of youth soccer development in America is hampered by the pay-to-play system, the daunting task of casting a net over millions of U-6 to U-18 players and the lack of qualified coaches to ensure their development.
As temperatures drop below freezing and blizzard warnings grip the Midwest, it feels as though winter has been here forever and shows no sign of abating. So it’s with an envious eye that we follow the 2017 CONCACAF Beach Soccer Championship in the Bahamas.
The tournament, contested by 16 nations from February 20-26, will crown the region’s champion and decide which two teams will qualify for the 2017 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup. On Friday, the quarterfinals will be contested and it looks like everyone is having a helluva time.