Swansea City was on the verge of a season-defining victory against Manchester City in the FA Cup quarterfinals on Saturday. Then Raheem Sterling threw himself to the ground under a challenge from USMNT defender Cameron Carter-Vickers and the entire match dynamic changed.
Trend meets trend: Another U.S. national team or youth prospect makes the jump to Major League Soccer as Sporting Kansas City signs a talented, young player off the radar of most clubs. That's what we got today when Sporting officially announced that Gedion Zelalem had signed from Arsenal. The 22-year-old joins Kansas City for the 2019 season, with club options for two additional years.
Given the form of Jadon Sancho, Christian Pulisic had become something of a forgotten man at Borussia Dortmund while relegated to the role of impact sub over the last few months.
Weston McKennie can kind of do it all. He’s lined up at just about every position for Schalke, from center back to forward, but he’s best deployed as a box-to-box midfielder given his mobility and awareness.
He’s also a really good header of the ball.
While most players use their leaping and heading abilities to score (Cristiano Ronaldo) or defend (Virgil van Dijk), McKennie takes another approach. He’s becoming adept at earning assists with his noggin.
Tyler Adams has started four matches for RB Leipzig following his January move, and the Bundesliga side has won all four of those games. However, even though he registered his first assist in Leipzig’s victory over Stuttgart last time out, the 20-year-old American was forced to take a spot on the bench for today’s game against Hoffenheim.
With Rangers drawing 0-0 with St. Johnstone on Saturday, Celtic took to the pitch Sunday knowing that a victory over Kilmarnock would open up an eight-point gap at the top of the Scottish Premiership with only seven matches remaining before the league splits into two sections for the final five games.
Accordingly, it was a furious game at Kilmarnock’s Rugby Park which saw two players sent off. First, Kilmarnock’s Kirk Broadfoot was sent off in the 75th minute for a late challenge on Scott Brown.
Tyler Adams is one of those unfortunate souls to have been born on a holiday. He celebrated his 20th birthday on Thursday, Valentine’s Day, perhaps with his German-but-not-really-German girlfriend the Leipzig press is way too interested in.
Though he just turned 20, he’s quickly become an integral part of the Bundesliga’s fourth-placed team. On Saturday, he played the full 90 minutes in midfield for the fourth time since joining the club in January.
At this point I have to ask: Why is Wisconsin such a hotbed for American soccer overachievers? Jay DeMerit, the man from Green Bay, showed us all how it could be done, and now we have Andrija Novakovich, from Muskego, chalking up goals in the Dutch Eredivisie.
I’m not mad, I just think it’s sad that Wisconsin is leading the way — this shouldn’t be their burden to bear.
POLITICS
After Borussia Dortmund blew a three-goal lead to draw with Hoffenheim earlier in the day, Christian Pulisic was probably hoping to get some help from his USMNT teammate Weston McKennie vs Bayern Munich in the late Bundesliga match on Saturday.
The Schalke midfielder had one great moment that had Dortmund and Schalke fans both thinking the Royal Blues could slow down Bayern. But it wasn’t nearly enough as the home side dominated the rest of the match on the way to a 3-1 victory at the Allianz Arena in Munich.
Timothy Weah notched his third goal in five appearances for Celtic on Sunday after coming on as a late substitute against St. Johnstone and turning the game on its head. The 18-year-old American has only played a total of 142 minutes for the Scottish giants, but, on average, it’s taking him only 47 minutes per goal. The teenager has probably forced himself into Brendan Rodgers’ starting 11 after today’s display.