Prodigies

Christian Pulisic’s first Premier League start and Stamford Bridge debut wasn’t exactly the stuff of dreams. The 20-year-old American lasted 71 ineffective minutes against Leicester City before being swapped for Willian with the score level at 1-1, which is how it would end.

Pulisic spent his time on the pitch in the pocket of Leicester right back Ricardo Pereira. The Portugal international was Leicester’s Player of the Season last campaign, and with support provided by Ayoze Pérez out wide, Pulisic completed only one of five dribbles while getting dispossessed six times. 

After being forced to start his Chelsea career on the bench during last Sunday’s humiliating 4-0 defeat to Manchester United in the Premier League, Christian Pulisic made his first-ever competitive start for the Blues in Wedne

Giovanni Reyna made quite an impression in his competitive debut with the Borussia Dortmund U-19 squad. It just wasn’t as good as his younger teammate.

Reyna, a 16-year-old American, scored in the first minute of Dortmund’s 9-2 win over Wuppertaler SV in the U-19 Bundesliga season opener on Sunday. His 14-year-old teammate, Youssoufa Moukoko, did even better, scoring six goals in his U-19 debut.

Francis Jacobs became the youngest soccer player to sign a professional contract with a U.S. club when he joined Orange County SC, the club announced Monday. Orange County competes in the USL Championship, the second division of U.S. soccer.

With Chelsea trailing Manchester United 1-0 on an early penalty that was earned largely against the run of play, Frank Lampard subbed on Christian Pulisic for his Premier League debut in the 58th minute to turn the tide. Nine minutes later, United’s lead stood at 3-0. 

Last night in Lima, Peru, Honduras upset Mexico after a penalty shootout to advance to the final of the 2019 Pan American Games. It’s a largely meaningless U-22 competition with understrength youth teams, so the Mexican Football Federation won’t be overly bothered by the result, but manager Jaime Lozano will be irked that his side couldn’t hold on to a 1-0 lead with just over 10 minutes remaining.

Especially since that 1-0 lead was built on one of the finest goals of the summer.

With the likes of Christian Pulisic, Weston McKennie and Tyler Adams reshaping the way we view the USMNT midfield, an overhaul of the striker position will eventually follow suit. The Gold Cup was more of the same with Jozy Altidore and Gyasi Zardes leading the line, but it’s a trio of 19-year-olds in Europe that now have an opportunity to stake their claim if they should first make the breakthrough at club level.

After making six Bundesliga appearances for Bayern Munich last season following his January move from the Vancouver Whitecaps, much more is expected from 18-year-old Canadian phenom Alphonso Davies during his first full season in Bavaria. Although Davies only totaled 74 minutes of action with the first team last year, he was the Bundesliga’s youngest goalscorer throughout the 2018-19 campaign (as well as Bayern’s youngest goalscorer in 20 years) after opening his account against Mainz back on March 17.

18-year-old American Sergiño Dest made his Ajax senior debut on Saturday in the Johan Cruijff Shield, going the full 90 minutes and helping his side to its first piece of silverware this season following a 2-0 victory over Chucky Lozano’s PSV.

Dest impressed last season for Jong Ajax, the club’s reserve team, while making 17 appearances in the Eerste Divisie (the Dutch second tier) and tallying one goal and two assists. He also scored one goal and provided one assist in seven appearances in the prestigious UEFA Youth League.