USMNT

A fascinating tactical battle between Lucien Favre’s Bundesliga-leading Dortmund and Diego Simeone’s Atletico (currently averaging 0.55 goals conceded per game in LaLiga) was bossed by the home side at the Westfalenstadion on Wednesday, BVB putting four past Europe’s misers while limiting the visitors to only two shots on frame.

Achraf Hakimi registered a hat-trick of assists while the moves were finished by Axel Witsel, Jadon Sancho and Raphael Guerreiro (x2). Marco Reus wasn’t on the scoresheet, but his deployment in the false nine role murdered Atletico’s shape. 

Weston McKennie is expected to become a major part of the midfield fulcrum for the USMNT over the next decade. But the Texan, who turned 20 in August, has shown off his versatility with Schalke this season.

McKennie started up top as one of two forwards for Schalke on Saturday against Werder Bremen, the sixth different position he’s played in six Bundesliga appearances this season. 

Josh Sargent’s time with the Werder Bremen U-23 team is all but ending. The 18-year-old is way past that, Werder Bremen coach Florian Kohfeldt said this week.

As Sargent returned from the international break, during which he scored, Kohfeldt told reporters the American teenager is in his plans for the senior team.

A few groans went out across the country when Bobby Wood was given the start against Colombia in the USMNT’s friendly on Thursday in Florida. The reason was made clear on Tuesday night when Josh Sargent got his chance against Peru.

Sargent, an 18-year-old native of Missouri, showed that he’s the future for the U.S. at the striker position with some excellent hold-up play, passing and — most importantly — goal scoring as the USMNT tied Peru 1-1 on Tuesday in Connecticut. 

Michael Bradley returned to the U.S. national team one year and one day from the worst day in U.S. men’s soccer history. He returned just in time to guide his team to a 4-2 loss to Colombia on Thursday in Tampa, Florida, with the pro-Colombian crowd chanting “Olé!” with glee in the closing minutes after Colombia scored three goals in 23 minutes in the second half.

The USMNT’s first competitive match after more than 600 days will be played in Minnesota on June 18. The 2019 Gold Cup schedule, venues and dates were announced Tuesday and the U.S. is going to be setting up in the Midwest for the 15th edition of Concacaf’s championship tournament.

Since losing to Trinidad and Tobago to be knocked out of the 2018 World Cup one year ago Wednesday, the USMNT has played some meaningless friendlies with a bunch of young kids and an interim coach.

For the first time ever, the gala for the Ballon d’Or will also include a presentation for the inaugural awarding of the Kopa Trophy — a prize given to the world's best under 21 player, so really just another Golden Boy because we really need more individual prizes in this sport, don’t we? 

Regardless, the 10 finalists for the prize include:

Weston McKennie went more than 30 appearances without scoring a goal for Schalke. Now the 20-year-old American midfielder has two goals in as many games.

McKennie scored a dramatic late match winner against Lokomotiv Moscow in the Champions League on Wednesday in Russia. It wasn’t quite the impact he was hoping to make in Russia in 2018, but it was a great moment for the Texan to score his first goal for the club he joined in 2016.