The North Carolina Courage are the NWSL Shield winners. Again. The decisive match was set to be played on Saturday night but was postponed due to lighting, and when things finally did resume in Cary, North Carolina, Sunday morning, it was just another day at the office for the Courage. The team was able to bag a 3-0 win thanks to second half goals from Debinha and Lynn Williams.
Atlanta United’s Josef Martinez registered his 27th goal of the 2018 season on Sunday, drawing him level with Roy Lassiter (1996), Chris Wondolowski (2012) and Bradley Wright-Phillips (2016) for most goals ever scored in a single MLS season.
David Silva made his 250th Premier League appearance and marked the occasion with a stunning free kick in Manchester City’s 6-1 destruction of Huddersfield on Sunday. The 32-year-old Silva joined City from Valencia back in 2010, and the 2018-19 season marks his ninth with the club.
His afternoon also saw him join a select group of Spaniards to have made 250 appearances in England’s top flight — only Chelsea’s Cesc Fabregas, goalkeeper Pepe Reina (now at Milan) and current City assistant coach Mikel Arteta have accomplished the same feat.
In what can only be described as absolutely nuts, Zenit Saint Petersburg defeated Belarusian side Dinamo Minsk 8-1 to win 8-5 on aggregate in its Europa League qualifying match, constituting the biggest Europa League comeback in 33 years. Dinamo Minsk had won the first leg 4-0 at its home ground, Traktor Stadium.
Latest scores:
AS Trencin 4-0 FeyenoordDinamo Minsk 4-0 Zenit St Petersburg
How fast is Leroy Sané? The 22-year-old Manchester City winger experienced a somewhat subdued first season in England, but he exploded into life last year after scoring 10 goals and adding 15 assists in 32 Premier League appearances. The native of Essen, Germany, was named the PFA Young Player of the Year for his contributions to City’s march to the title, but he was curiously omitted from manager Joachim Low’s World Cup squad (we all know how that turned out for die Mannschaft).
Penalty kick shootouts are a part of soccer that people love to hate. Rightfully so, most believe that a series of pressure-filled spot kicks to settle a game after 120 minutes of deadlocked, hard-fought play is both cruel and unusual. The drama of a penalty kick shootout is undeniable no matter the circumstance. However, tensions reached a mind-boggling level during a playoff between two Southern California high schools in February of 2012.
Wayne Rooney earned his first start for DC United in Major League Soccer on Saturday in Atlanta. Then Josef Martinez showed him a thing or two about how to score in this country, setting the record for most MLS hat tricks in an absurdly small number of games.
Brazilian goalkeeper Alisson is on his way to England for a medical after agreeing to a transfer to Liverpool. Three months ago, AS Roma president James Pallotta said that Alisson would not be sold, even for a massive “sack of money.” But when that sack of money turned out to be $87.4 million — shattering the previous most expensive goalkeeper transfer — the Italian club just couldn’t refuse.
The Guillermo Ochoa Silver Glove award is a deserved recognition to one the most underrated goalkeepers in the planet.
The former Club América star made 25 saves in four World Cup matches, averaging 6.25 per game, more than any other goalkeeper in Russia.