Prodigies

Opening weekend of the NWSL season continued Sunday with the Washington Spirit welcoming OL Reign to Audi Field, where Trinity Rodman brought the crowd to its feet with some sublime quality on the ball and a solo game-winner in the second half.

We had a scoreless opening 45 in the nation's capital, but Rodman established herself as the standout player with a couple brilliant moments. 

One run from deep inside her own half was finished with a backheel pass and half-chance for Ashley Hatch.  

LONDON - Bukayo Saka is one of the first names on England manager Gareth Southgate's teamsheet and his weekly performances for Arsenal are driving them towards the Premier League title so it's no wonder the 21-year-old cannot stop smiling.

The winger created England's opener for Harry Kane in the comfortable 2-0 victory over Ukraine in Euro 2024 qualifying Group C at Wembley on Sunday, then scored an absolute beauty himself to seal the man-of-the-match award.

Goalscoring has been an awfully bleak exercise for the Republic of Ireland since all-time leading scorer Robbie Keane announced his international retirement in 2016. The team only scored seven goals in nine matches during a failed qualifying cycle for Euro 2020, and things didn't get much better on the road to Qatar where Ireland only scored 11 in eight games (the majority coming against Luxembourg and Azerbaijan).

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.  

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.

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 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.

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.