Men's National Teams

Christian Pulisic put on a display of modern footballing excellence (handball!) in Chelsea’s 4-0 Champions League win over Krasnodar on Wednesday. Chelsea’s one-goal advantage was under siege when Pulisic entered the match in the 71st minute, but the American quickly smashed a shot into Alyaksandr Martynovich’s arm for a penalty, whiffed on an overhead kick, provided a hockey assist on Hakim Ziyech’s goal and finally scored one of his own. 

It was 19 minutes of pure Pulisic Ball. 

It’s been a dream start to the campaign for Napoli after a disappointing seventh-place finish last season (apart from the ludicrous fallout of the abandoned Juventus match), and a key to the club’s revival has been the renaissance of Hirving “Chucky” Lozano.

Juventus should not require a slap to wake up even if the atmosphere at grounds is soporific, coach Andrea Pirlo said after the Serie A champions stumbled to a 1-1 draw against Verona on Sunday.

Pirlo said he could understand players might be influenced by appearing in near-empty stadiums during the COVID-19 pandemic but added that it was something they would have to adapt to.

Santiago Muñoz’s path to Real Madrid via Newcastle United is beginning! On Sunday, the very close namesake of the famous Goal! film series (Santiago Munez) logged his first Liga MX minutes with Santos Laguna during his side’s 2-1 win over Atlético San Luis. 

El Tráfico took center stage on Sunday afternoon as Los Angeles FC hosted the LA Galaxy at an empty Banc of California Stadium but with thousands watching the action unfold on national television. 

The standings — LAFC entered fifth in the Western Conference, the Galaxy dead last — and ESPN.com’s promo photo juxtaposing Bradley Wright-Phillips and Sebastian Lletget told you everything you needed to know about how much has changed for these two clubs over the past year.

The pattern of Wolverhampton’s play is absurdly predictable. Since returning to the Premier League in 2018-19, Wolves have failed to score in the first half 58 times. That’s the most in the division. 

However, they love a 0-0 scoreline after 45. They did that 14 times last season and only lost one of them. No club scored a higher percentage of its goals in the second half than Wolves, and no club boasted a stronger goal difference in the final 30 minutes of games than Nuno Espírito Santo’s men.  

There’s no doubt Saturday’s El Clásico was an unusual one. For starters, no fans were allowed in the Camp Nou, as Covid-19 precautions are still keeping stadiums empty. Then there was the fact neither side came into the match among LaLiga’s top two teams in the table, with Barcelona all the way in 10th and Real Madrid coming off two straight defeats. 

And perhaps most notably this side of the pond, for the first time ever, an American was playing in the match.

With a quick tweet of the ref’s whistle and a swift kick from Karim Benzema, 19-year-old Sergiño Dest made history. The fullback became the first American to play in El Clásico on Saturday, starting on the right flank of Barcelona’s defense alongside Gerard Piquè, lining up opposite of Real Madrid’s Vinícius Júnior.

Kickoff at Camp Nou makes this one . 

The U.S. men's national team confirmed Friday that it will return to play for the first time since February in a match against Wales next month.

The contest will be played Nov. 12 in Swansea, Wales. FS1 will televise the match, scheduled for 2:45 p.m. ET.

 . 

The #USMNT will return to action with our first match at  on November 12 in Swansea!

Football Federation Australia (FFA) said on Thursday it has called off a training camp in Europe and scrapped plans for matches against England and the United States in London next month due to the worsening COVID-19 crisis on the continent.

The FFA had been close to confirming dates for the November friendlies but said the "ongoing and worsening COVID-19 landscape across Europe" had forced it to reconsider.