Just a few days ago Celtic’s Karamoko Dembele was merely the club’s “other Dembele”. Even when he made his debut for the Hoops’ U-20s against Hearts last Wednesday - as a substitute in the 81st minute - he was still second fiddle to first-teamer Moussa Dembele, the recent scorer of a spectacular brace against Manchester City in Champions League play.
Last week, Moussa Dembele made headlines with his performance against Manchester City in the Champions League, but this week, it's Celtic’s 'other Dembele', 13-year-old Karamoko, in the spotlight. Though he could easily be mistaken for a ball boy with his shorts nearly covering his legs, the teenaged Karamoko Dembele replaced 16-year-old Jack Aitchison in the 81st minute of Celtic’s U-20 match with Hearts to make his Celtic debut at that age level.
The accolades for 15-year-old Vancouver Whitecaps forward/winger Alphonso Davies continue to stack up. The Liberian-born Davies, who has represented Canada at the under-20 level, became the youngest player to score a goal in USL history on May 15, 2016. In July, he became the third youngest player of all-time to sign an MLS contract. He’s appeared in eight matches for Vancouver this season, including two starts.
The fact that soccer is a way of life in many if not all countries in the world is no mystery.
In some places, families bet their savings and livelihoods on the skills of a young Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi, hoping that their son will be the next big thing in the ever-changing environment that is the soccer world.
Most of the time, these bets don’t pay off and many times, especially in countries where soccer is put ahead of school, they even backfire. Nevertheless, there are a few seeds that grow and eventually turn into amazing stories.
The Juventus Story: Black and White Stripes is the comprehensive story of the legendary Italian soccer club, chronicling the team’s dramatic journey alongside its longtime devoted owners, the Agnelli family. The book will be published in the United States on November 7th, when a documentary movie with the same title will be released.
Noticing the talent of Christian Pulisic and believing he’ll have a great career should no longer be classified as jumping on the hype train. The term 'hype train' is like the plans for a high-speed rail in the United States, a theoretical concept that’s been touted since 1965 but has never materialized. 'Hype train' infers that nothing is settled, that everything is still in the balance.
Christian Pulisic will eventually be crowned the USMNT’s best player ever.
This hot take is backed with circumstantial evidence in the form of raw talent, technical superiority and a nurturing environment for tactical growth.
The list of great Italian goalkeepers surpasses that of any other nation on the planet. The likes of Gianluigi Buffon, Dino Zoff and Walter Zenga, to name just a few, have all represented the Azzurri with great ability and longevity. On Thursday, we got our first look at the next great Italian goalkeeper, AC Milan’s exceptional 17-year-old Gianluigi Donnarumma.
Bobby Wood’s play hasn’t been dissected to the level with which we’ve examined Gyasi Zardes. Wood, at 23, doesn’t come with the ‘phenom’ label that’s attached to Jordan Morris. He doesn’t uniformly divide opinion like Jozy Altidore or Chris Wondolowski. Wood has endeared himself to USMNT supporters without ever triggering the American soccer hype machine.