Prodigies

Arsenal just 10 games from the title after laying waste to Crystal Palace

Arsenal comfortably dispatched Crystal Palace 4-1 at the Emirates on Sunday to open up an eight-point lead on Manchester City heading into March's international break. The Gunners are now just 10 tantalizing matches away from a first Premier League title in 19 years. 

The main concern for Mikel Arteta was how his side would respond to Thursday's shock Europa League elimination to Sporting and that 46-yard Pedro Gonçalves worldie. It's still worth another watch.  

Marcus Rashford makes a 25-yard screamer look as simple as a tap-in

The year of Marcus Rashford continued Thursday as the Manchester United forward scored the lone goal against Real Betis at Estadio Benito Villamarín, giving the Red Devils a 5-1 aggregate victory and easy passage to the Europa League quarterfinals.

Before the World Cup, Rashford had a total of eight goals in 19 appearances across all competitions. Since the tournament in Qatar, the 25-year-old has found the back of the net 18 times in 24 games. The total of 26 from 43 is already a career best and the Red Devils are still competing on three fronts.

LAFC and Bayern Munich announce player development partnership

Despite only beginning the club's sixth season in Major League Soccer, LAFC have already begun tapping into the hot bed of talent in Southern California with exciting homegrown players like Erik Dueñas, Christian Torres, Nathan Ordaz and Tony Leone all on the roster.

Gavi makes history by attempting two head tackles in one game

There are all sorts of stats and accolades that illustrate how talented Gavi is — the Golden Boy award, Spain's youngest goalscorer, the youngest World Cup scorer since Pelé — but he's a phenomenon best experienced live.

The sky might be falling on Barcelona (littered with fake cash featuring the word "MAFIA"), but Gavi's willing to take on that duel. "Lost cause" is not in the 18-year-old's lexicon. 

Alyssa Thompson’s first Angel City goal was a fantastic solo-run 5 minutes into her debut

Alyssa Thompson made history in January when she was the No. 1 pick in the 2023 NWSL draft and the first player ever drafted out of high school. The 18-year-old phenom has already appeared for the USWNT and played her first game for Angel City on Wednesday night.

Angel City defeated Club América 3-0 at BMO Stadium in a club friendly. Thompson was given her first start and immediately made an impact just five minutes into the game.

Gonçalo Ramos shows why he's worth $130M by firing Benfica into the UCL quarters

We haven't covered Gonçalo Ramos much since the 21-year-old took Cristiano Ronaldo's spot at the World Cup and promptly fired Portugal into the quarterfinals with a hat-trick, but we've got to speak about his outrageous talents again because he's just put Benfica into the quarterfinals of the Champions League with two goals and an assist on Tuesday.

15-year-old Chloe Ricketts becomes youngest NWSL player in history signing with Washington Spirit

High school sophomore Chloe Ricketts became the youngest player in the National Women’s Soccer League history on Thursday when she signed with the Washington Spirit. Ricketts signed a three-year contract with an option to extend for a fourth year in 2026.

The record for youngest NWSL player was previously held by Olivia Moultrie who signed with the Portland Thorns when she was 15 years and 286 days old. At the time of Ricketts’ signing, she was 15 years and 283 days old.

After viral indoor goal, Dutch phenom knocks Barça out of UEFA Youth League with another stunner

I've seen enough. I'm declaring 17-year-old AZ Alkmaar phenom Kees Smit the winner of the 2023 Golden Boy Award, and there's nothing some preciously talented La Masia graduate at Barcelona can do about it. 

Over a month ago, the Netherlands youth international came to my attention with an incredibly inventive goal during an indoor match. It's as beautiful as a Rembrandt.   

Haiti reaches first-ever Women's World Cup behind the brilliance of 19-year-old Melchie Dumornay

With a 2-1 victory over Chile on Wednesday in Auckland, Haiti made history by securing qualification for their first-ever Women's World Cup finals. It's a remarkable achievement that highlights the growth of the team after not even reaching the final stage of Concacaf qualifying during the previous cycle, although there's one clear star of the show: 19-year-old phenom Melchie Dumornay.

No lie, this has to be one of the greatest assists of all time

For the game's great distributors of the ball, there's unfortunately no assist equivalent of the Puskás Award. But maybe we'd do well to highlight the year's best assist with the Pelé-to-Carlos Alberto Memorial Trophy or something. Basically I just think that Giannis Konstantelias needs some form of recognition for what he accomplished in PAOK Thessaloniki's recent Super League victory over AEK Athens. 

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