Sweden boss Graham Potter shared an update on Dejan Kulusevski's injury as the Tottenham star continues a lengthy recovery. The 25-year-old has not played a minute under new Spurs manager Thomas Frank after suffering a right patella injury in May during a Premier League match against Crystal Palace. It was a blow that ruled him out of Tottenham’s Europa League final triumph over Manchester United.

Potter happy with Kulusevski's progress

Kulusevski underwent surgery shortly after the injury and has spent the past five months rehabbing, mostly away from the spotlight. But after Sweden’s 1-1 draw with Slovenia, Potter confirmed the midfielder is finally moving into the later stages of his recovery. 

"Dejan is taking steps forward. He was happy with where he is in his rehabilitation," Potter informed. "It’s in Tottenham’s hands, and his. But he was feeling good when I last spoke to him and I look forward to seeing him maybe at Christmas or around New Year."

Potter warned, however, that nothing is guaranteed: "There is a lot of football to be played until then. Nobody knows for sure what it will look like in March. That is the reality. But he is in a good place, and he was happy with his rehabilitation last time we spoke. Then he was ready to take the next step [in rehabilitation]. But there is no stress involved. He will do his rehab in a good way and if he does that, I am pretty sure we will see him on the pitch soon.”

His comments suggest that Sweden expect to have Kulusevski fit for March’s World Cup play-off against Ukraine. It is a fixture of enormous importance after the Scandinavians finished bottom of their qualifying group but earned a second chance via their Nations League performance. 

AdvertisementTraining footage sparks optimism

During the international break, Spurs defender Destiny Udogie posted footage showing Kulusevski back on the grass at a warm-weather camp in the Middle East. The video delighted supporters, but Tottenham’s medical staff remain determined not to accelerate his schedule. Frank stated in September that he hoped to have the Swede back "before the end of the year" but refused to specify an exact return date.

"Instead of putting an exact month on it – October, November, December – I just want him back as quickly as possible," he said. "The medical guys and Kulusevski are working really hard on that. So, it's not tomorrow, but hopefully not too far away."

When further pushed, whether Kulusevski will be available at the start of the new year, he added: "Yes, there's a good chance of that."

In September, Kulusevski surprised fans by sharing an unfiltered photograph from his operation, showing surgeons holding his kneecap open. He accompanied it with a cryptic caption: “Warning for sensitive content. Thank God it happened so I could see it clear.”

Despite the graphic nature of the post, his tone during an interview with was noticeably optimistic.

"The status is great. I wake up every day with the same hunger," he said. "I will be back in the very, very near future. If everything goes according to plan, I’m confident I’ll be back in two to three months."

Spurs’ injury list continues to grow

Tottenham’s attacking options have been severely reduced in recent months. Alongside Kulusevski and Dominic Solanke, playmaker James Maddison is also out with a knee injury, while deadline-day loan signing Randal Kolo Muani fractured his jaw against Manchester United and remains uncertain. Solanke has managed just three competitive appearances for Tottenham this season, last featuring in the 2-0 win at Manchester City in August. Although Frank reassured supporters the injury was "not serious", Solanke later underwent a "small procedure" and has been out ever since.

Solanke told "It’s been very difficult. At first, I didn’t think I would be out for too long but we didn’t really understand the extent of the injury. I was trying to get back as quickly as I could but it didn’t happen, so I had to have surgery. Since then, I have been working to get back. I’m not putting a timeline on it because I’ve been telling everyone ‘I’m going to be back soon’ for the last few months. I’m taking it day by day but hopefully I won’t be much longer."

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Getty Images SportMassive test at Arsenal looms

Spurs sit fifth in the Premier League with 18 points from 11 matches. They travel next to the Emirates to face top-of-the-table Arsenal on Sunday, trailing Mikel Arteta’s side by four points. Victory would boost their Champions League ambitions and, more importantly, hand them the bragging rights of north London.

His 7 for 69 from 24.3 overs follows Kasey Aldridge’s 180 and allows Somerset to enforce follow on

ECB Reporters Network supported by Rothesay17-Sep-2025Hampshire 172 (Leach 7-69) and 35 for 1 (Middleton 8*, Vaughan 1-18) f/o trail Somerset 454 for 8 dec. (Aldridge 180, Abell 118, Overton 50*) by 247 runs A spin bowling masterclass from Somerset’s Jack Leach plunged relegation-threatened Hampshire into deeper trouble on the third day of the Rothesay County Championship Division One match at the Cooper Associates Ground, Taunton.After the hosts had increased their first innings total from an overnight 381 for 7 to 454 for 8 declared, the left-arm spinner, overlooked in recent times by England, claimed 7 for 69 from 24.3 overs to help bowl out Hampshire for 172 and make them follow on.Kasey Aldridge was last man out in the Somerset innings for 180, having begun the day on 149, while Craig Overton finished unbeaten on 50.Hampshire made a better fist of things in their second innings, reaching 35 for 1 before rain and bad light ended play 15.1 overs early, but still face a backs-to-the-wall fight tomorrow to avoid what might prove a hugely damaging defeat.The first ball of the day, bowled by Keith Barker, saw Aldridge nudge the single needed to take him to a maiden 150, having faced 207 balls and hit 16 fours and five sixes. He and Overton were positive from the outset.Aldridge cut a boundary off James Fuller to take Somerset’s score past 400 and followed up with an upper cut six off the same bowler. Overton cleared the ropes off Abbott and Washington Sundar as the pair took their entertaining partnership to the century mark from 90 deliveries.The next target was to take the score to 450, which they achieved in the 103rd over to secure maximum batting points. Overton went to fifty off 42 balls and the only remaining question was the timing of the declaration.It came when Aldridge was run out by Nick Gubbins’ direct hit at the bowler’s end attempting a quick single to mid-off. The tall all-rounder, bound for Durham next season, had batted for more than four and a half hours, facing 233 balls and extending his boundary count to 20 fours and six sixes.Hampshire’s reply had reached 13 after five overs when Leach was introduced from the River End. His first over saw Ali Orr bowled between bat and pad by a delivery that turned considerably from outside the left-hander’s off stump.Soon it was 27 for 2 as Gubbins reverse swept Leach straight into the hands of Archie Vaughan at short third and three runs later Fletcha Middleton had his off stump clipped by Leach from a delivery that pitched on middle.Toby Albert launched two defiant sixes off Vaughan in moving to 29 before driving at a wide ball from the off-spinner and offering a straightforward return catch. Lunch was taken with Hampshire 61 for 4.Vaughan struck again after he and Leach had swapped ends in the afternoon session, bowling Ben Brown, on 21, as he attempted to cut.The accurate Leach was bowling some rippers and one accounted for Sundar. Having battled his way to 23, the India Test player pushed forward defensively to a ball that spun back through the gate and bowled him to make the score 102 for 6.Fuller tried to counter-attack and had made 24 off 17 balls when becoming Leach’s fifth victim, lbw sweeping. Barker was bowled for 19 attempting to reverse sweep Leach and Felix Organ top-edged a pull off a Vaughan long-hop to be caught at midwicket before Abbott lofted a catch to wide long-on to end the innings and give Leach season’s best figures.Tea was taken before Somerset enforced the follow-on. The tireless Leach, who played the last of his 39 Tests for England almost a year ago, took the new ball in tandem with Vaughan, while Tom Abell was off the field having suffered a jolting blow on the helmet when fielding at short-leg.Orr and Middleton took the score to 35 in the 22nd over when Orr fell for 27, struck on the back pad by a ball from Vaughan. Before the game could restart, the rain which had been forecast for much of the day finally arrived, much to Hampshire’s relief.

CSK have now lost five successive games at home, which also ends their playoffs chances

Sampath Bandarupalli30-Apr-20252:10

Is CSK losing five times at home IPL’s biggest shocker?

5 – Defeats for Chennai Super Kings (CSK) at Chepauk in IPL 2025, the most for them in a single edition. They lost four matches each in 2008 and 2012, including the final.CSK have now lost five games in a row in at home this season since defeating Mumbai Indians (MI) in their opening game. Only three teams have lost more home matches on the bounce in an IPL season. Deccan Chargers, in 2008, lost all seven home games, while Punjab Kings (PBKS) lost six at home after winning their first game in 2023 and 2024. Pune Warriors India also lost six in a row after winning their first two games at home in 2012.3 – Number of players including Yuzvendra Chahal to take multiple hat-tricks in the IPL. Chahal’s first hat-trick came against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in 2022. Amit Mishra has three IPL hat-tricks, while Yuvraj Singh has two.Related

• 'It's a feel thing for him' – Simons says Pathirana is close to being back at his best

• Ponting: Shreyas 'understands game situations better than ever before'

• Hat-trickster Chahal is still making batters look silly

• Injured Maxwell in danger of missing rest of IPL; Ponting says 'stay tuned' for replacements

• Dhoni says CSK 'need to take some catches' after falling 'slightly short'

1 – CSK have been bowled out in successive matches for the first time in the IPL. They were cleaned up for 154 in their previous game by Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH). That was the first time CSK were bowled out in an IPL match since the introduction of the Impact Player rule in IPL 2023.9 – Chahal now has nine four-plus wicket-hauls in the IPL, the most by any bowler. He went past Sunil Narine, who has eight.1 – Chahal also became the first bowler to take a hat-trick against CSK in the IPL. Parvinder Awana took a hat-trick against CSK in 2014 while playing for PBKS (then Kings XI Punjab), but that was in a CLT20 match.Chahal’s hat-trick was the fifth for the Punjab franchise in the IPL and the first since Sam Curran’s effort against Delhi Capitals (DC) in 2019. They now share the record with Rajasthan Royals (RR).11 – Number of balls PBKS took to pick the last six CSK wickets, the fewest for any team in an IPL innings. SRH took 13 balls to take the last six wickets of Pune Warriors in 2013, and PBKS also needed 13 deliveries against SRH in 2020.4 – Wickets for Chahal in the 19th over of CSK’s innings. This is the second time that he’s picked up four wickets in an over in the IPL, with the other instance coming in 2022 against KKR when he took his previous hat-trick. Amit Mishra against Pune Warriors in 2013 and Andre Russell against Gujarat Titans (GT) in 2022 are the others with a four-wicket over in the IPL.Yuzvendra Chahal picked up four wickets in an over and celebrated like only he can•Getty ImagesChahal is now one of only three bowlers to take four-plus wickets in an over in men’s T20s on multiple occasions (where ball-by-ball data is available). Russell and Shaheen Shah Afridi also have multiple four-wicket overs in T20s.203 – CSK’s predicted score as per ESPNcricinfo’s Forecaster after 18.1 overs, when they were 184 for 5. CSK lost the remaining five wickets in seven balls to get bowled out for 190.CSK’s 190 is the highest by any team when they were bowled out when batting first in the IPL. RR’s 185 against PBKS in 2021 was the previous highest, although they batted all 20 overs.1 – The CSK-PBKS match on Wednesday became the first in the IPL featuring four uncapped players to open the batting. Shaik Rasheed and Ayush Mhatre opened the batting for CSK, while Priyansh Arya and Prabhsimran Singh opened for PBKS.1 – CSK have failed to make it to the playoffs in successive seasons for the first time in the IPL. This is the fourth time that they have failed to make it to the final four – in 2020, 2022, 2024 and now 2025.

Offbreaks pitching on the straight, and whizzing past a batter’s ears, on occasion – that’s not just tricky, these are serious warning signs. It’s about to get mad

Andrew Fidel Fernando06-Feb-2025It comes out of the southwest, rustles the canopies of the big banyan trees in the fort, and flutters the flags beneath the clocktower.The weather has been scorching for days. There has been barely a cloud above. And now the hottest ocean on the planet is blowing its breath across the cricket ground at Galle, so it’s happening. This is how you know drama is about to go down. Signs are, this Test gets spicy.Daniel Vettori, veteran of 113 Tests, including two in Galle (it would have been more, but this ground lost a few years to the 2004 tsunami), had this to say at the end of the day: “First innings runs are going to play a huge role in whoever wins this game.” We could extrapolate and figure that what he means is that batting conditions are going to get substantially worse over the next couple of days. But he clarifies anyway, in the sanitised language of a post-day press conference: “I just think it’s going to be a tricky wicket the whole way along.”Related

Kusal Mendis fights for Sri Lanka as Starc and Lyon stand out

Cooper Connolly exceeds high expectations in rapid rise to Test cricket

“Tricky”, for most of us, is a key that doesn’t quite fit into the keyhole at first attempt but if you yank the door towards you, and lift it up off the ground a little bit, you can shove the thing open. Offbreaks pitching on the straight, and whizzing past a batter’s ears, on occasion – that’s not just tricky, these are serious warning signs. It’s about to get mad, and Sri Lanka have 229 for 9 on the board.Sri Lanka’s own batting coach Thilina Kandamby thinks his batters should have aimed for a total of around 350, and put his team in a position to dominate the Test. These are very batting coach requests, always wanting a pile of first-innings runs from which the team can dictate. But Sri Lanka’s batters were still the same people they were last week. Having been modest in six innings on the trot, it’s not as if, realistically, an earth-shattering batting display is on the cards here.There are, instead, some scrappy fifties, and some useful 30-odds. Dinesh Chandimal flays bowlers through the offside when they have strayed out there. Though generally an outstanding sweeper, this is a shot he almost never plays on this surface. In fact, for a bottom-hand dominant player, only 18 of his 74 runs have even come on the legside.Dimuth Karunaratne was defeated by Nathan Lyon’s variations•Getty ImagesWhen the top scorer on day one of a Test puts some of his most productive shots against spin away, on a ground on which he has played several match-winning innings, we are straying into the realms of seriously menacing Test-match conditions. Kusal Mendis, who is even more reliant on the sweep, did score runs with the shot, but even he hit almost exclusively with the spin. Australia have two left-arm finger spinners in Matthew Kuhnemannan and Cooper Connolly. Almost every run Mendis scored into the legside was off a ball that they played the spin.While the first Test at this same ground Australia made 654 for 7 etc we are now about to see a very different Test match unfold. Where in the morning session, the hardness of a rolled pitch did not allow for huge amounts of spin, by the evening, it had begun to take the kind of turn that scrambles the minds of batters.Is a sweep now too big of a risk, given the bounce spinners can get from a surface such as this, with a little overspin? Is this why Sri Lanka have played three finger spinners in this Test, to exploit the natural variation a track like this offers? Wristspinners are weapons on most surfaces, but Sri Lanka have left out Jeffrey Vandersay here. Does control and persistence take over when surfaces are this dry? And if cross-bat shots like the sweep and the reverse are too risky, then how else do you score runs on tracks such as this?As batters navigate what is obviously the kind of surface that Australia would label “extreme”, there will be doubts, as to whether what worked for the men who scored runs in the first Test, will work again here. The track they are playing on now is only about ten metres from the one Australia’s top order had prospered on only several days ago, and yet it feels like it could be from another galaxy.And when the wind blows, and the footmarks from the quicks are heavy and dark, and every delivery raises an explosion of dust, there may be drama around the corner. Signs are, this Test gets spicy.

As they attempt to hold off the Mariners in a furious American League West race, the Astros may soon have back one of their most formidable weapons.

Houston designated hitter Yordan Alvarez will begin a rehab assignment Tuesday with the Double-A Corpus Christi Hooks, Astros manager Joe Espada told reporters Sunday via Chandler Rome of .

Alvarez, 28, has not played since May 2 in what has for the most part been a lost season. He slashed an uncharacteristic .210/.306/.340 with three home runs and 18 RBIs before a lingering hand injury forced him onto the injured list; a July setback delayed his return even further.

The ailment pressed pause on Alvarez's extraordinary, still-young career. In seven seasons, he's slashed .295/.387/.573 and averaged 41 home runs, 119 RBIs and 5.7 bWAR per 162 games.

Houston, which leads the AL West by 1.5 games, will close a series with the Orioles Sunday before heading north for a seismic three-game showdown with the Tigers.

واجه فريق برشلونة خصمه أتلتيكو مدريد مساء الثلاثاء، ضمن مواجهات بطولة الدوري الإسباني “الليجا” لموسم 2025-2026.

واستقبل برشلونة نظيره أتلتيكو مدريد على ملعب “سبوتيفاي كامب نو” في مباراة مقدمة من الجولة التاسعة عشر للدوري الإسباني.

وقلب برشلونة الطاولة على أتلتيكو مدريد، وحول تأخره إلى فوز بثلاثة أهداف مقابل هدف، وسجل له رافينها، داني أولمو، وفيران توريس.

اقرأ أيضًا | ترتيب هدافي الدوري الإسباني بعد هدف فيران توريس في مباراة برشلونة وأتلتيكو مدريد

وحصل البرازيلي رافينها على جائزة رجل مباراة برشلونة وأتلتيكو مدريد، بعد الأداء المميز الذي ظهر به خلال اللقاء.

وارتفع رصيد برشلونة إلى 37 نقطة في صدارة ترتيب الدوري الإسباني، وتوقف أتلتيكو مدريد عند 31 نقطة بالمركز الرابع.

MatériaMais Notícias

Como se a semana do vascaíno já não tivesse preocupações suficientes, o Vasco perdeu um dos pilares do time para o jogo decisivo contra o Fortaleza, às 19h, pela Copa do Brasil, no Castelão. O jogador ainda não se recuperou 100% da lesão no joelho.

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Zebra? Com R$100 no Lance! Betting, você fatura R$451 se o Vasco vencer o Fortaleza no Castelão após 20 anos

Após goleada para o Criciúma em São Januário no último sábado (27), o Cruz-Maltino teve mais um problema para resolver. O técnico Ramón Díaz pediu demissão logo após a derrota e dividiu opiniões entre a torcida.

Agora, Rafael Paiva, ex-técnico do sub-20, vai comandar o Vasco no confronto contra o Fortaleza. O interino terá dor de cabeça para escalar o time para o primeiro duelo da terceira fase, pois não poderá contar com Dimitri Payet. Apesar de ter atuado nos primeiros 45 minutos contra o Criciúma, o jogador ainda não se recuperou completamente da lesão no joelho direito, e ficou no Rio de Janeiro.

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No último confronto entre as duas equipes, o clube carioca saiu com a vitória depois de um golaço do craque francês em São Januário, no segundo turno do Brasileirão 2023. Na ocasião, o Vasco lutava para deixar a zona de rebaixamento e gol de falta de Payet foi fundamental para a conquista dos três pontos que tiraram o Cruz-Maltino do Z4.

Na ocasião, o time que foi a campo foi: Léo Jardim; Paulo Henrique; Maicon, Léo; Piton; Marlon Gomes, Zé Gabriel, Praxedes; Gabriel Pec, Dimitri Payet e Vegetti. Apenas Gabriel Pec e Marlon Gomes não fazem mais parte do elenco, mas a escalação que vai a campo nesta quarta-feira (1) deve ser bem diferente.

Sem Payet e sem João Victor, expulso na partida contra o Água Santa, Rafael Paiva deve ir com três zagueiros: Rojas, Maicon e Léo. Para o meio-campo, Galdames deve voltar ao time titular para fazer a função de Payet.

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Copa do BrasilDimitri PayetFortalezaFutebol NacionalVasco

Left-arm wristspinner is returning to India to prepare for the upcoming Test series against South Africa

ESPNcricinfo staff02-Nov-2025Left-arm wristspinner Kuldeep Yadav has been released from the T20I squad in Australia to return to India and prepare for the upcoming Test series against South Africa.Kuldeep has now been included in the India A squad for the second four-day game against South Africa A beginning on November 6 at the BCCI’s Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru. India A won the first game on Sunday, with Rishabh Pant scoring 90 in a chase of 275.The BCCI said in a statement that the request to release Kuldeep had come from the Indian team management. Kuldeep had played only one of the three ODIs and the first two T20Is in Australia. He was left out of the XI for the third T20I in Hobart and Washington Sundar took his spot. India play the fourth and fifth T20Is in Carrara and Brisbane on November 6 and 8.Related

• Arshdeep and Washington help India level the series against Australia

• Kamboj, Suthar take India A home after Pant 90

• Arshdeep's career highlights the balancing act T20 cricket imposes on India

India’s first Test against South Africa starts on November 14 in Kolkata.

India squad for last two T20Is in Australia

Suryakumar Yadav (capt), Abhishek Sharma, Shubman Gill (vc), Tilak Varma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Varun Chakaravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Harshit Rana, Sanju Samson (wk), Rinku Singh, Washington Sundar.

India A squad for second four-day game vs South Africa A

Rishabh Pant (capt & wk), KL Rahul, Dhruv Jurel (wk), Sai Sudharsan (vc), Devdutt Padikkal, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Harsh Dubey, Tanush Kotian, Manav Suthar, Khaleel Ahmed, Gurnoor Brar, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Prasidh Krishna, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep, Kuldeep Yadav

Nishan Madushka, Nuwanidu Fernando and Milan Rathnayake are some of the other prominent names in the squad

Andrew Fidel Fernando05-Nov-2025

Left-arm spinning allrounder Dunith Wellalage will lead Sri Lanka A in the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) Rising Stars T20 tournament, in Doha later this month.Also in the squad are legspinners Vijayakanth Viyaskanth and Sahan Arachchige, allrounders Milan Rathnayake and Ramesh Mendis, and top-order batters Nuwanidu Fernando and Nishan Madushka, and seamer Pramod Madushan.Though none of the players in this squad have consistent places in the senior XI, Wellalage, Nuwanidu, and Madushka have all played white-ball cricket for Sri Lanka in the last few months. Rathnayake also played in Sri Lanka’s most recent Test series, against Bangladesh in June. Madushan has not played for Sri Lanka since 2024.Elsewhere in the squad is 20-year-old batting allrounder Vishen Halambage, who has been called up to the Sri Lanka senior squad, though has yet to play a match for the national team. Ramesh Mendis, meanwhile, last played for Sri Lanka in February this year, in a Test against Australia.ACC Rising Stars tournament schedule

Nov 14 – Oman vs Pak; Ind vs UAE
Nov 15 – Ban vs HK; Afg vs SL
Nov 16 – Oman vs UAE; Ind vs Pak
Nov 17 – HK vs SL; Afg vs Ban
Nov 18 – Pak vs UAE; Ind vs Oman
Nov 19 – Afg vs HK; Ban vs SL
Nov 21 – Semi-finals: A1 vs B2; B1 vs A2
Nov 23 – Final

Viyaskanth, 23, has also been on the fringes of the national team for several years, though the presence of Wanindu Hasaranga, and more recently Jeffrey Vandersay, has kept him out. He has continued to do well domestically however, including in the recent SLC T20 competition – the top T20 domestic tournament this year, in the absence of the postponed Lanka Premier League.The Rising Stars tournament begins on November 14. Sri Lanka A play Afghanistan A, Hong Kong, and Bangladesh A in the group stage. Group B comprises India A, Oman, Pakistan A and UAE. Two teams from each group will then qualify for the semi finals.Sri Lanka A squad for Rising Stars Asia Cup T20 tournamentDunith Wellalage (capt.), Vishen Halambage, Nishan Madushka (wk), Nuwanidu Fernando, Lasith Croospulle, Ramesh Mendis, Kavindu de Livera, Sahan Arachchige, Ahan Wickramasinghe, Pramod Madushan, Garuka Sanketh, Isitha Wijesundara, Milan Rathnayake, V Viyaskanth, Traveen Mathew

GOAL reviews the major takeaways from Americans playing in Europe, including Agyemang getting back to his best.

The USMNT have a few good strikers to work with. What they don’t have, at least not yet, is a great one. This crop is full of ideas, full of talent, but none of them are the finished product. And that in itself comes with a certain appeal: the familiar excitement around what a player isn’t quite yet, but maybe could be. Could Folarin Balogun become world-class? Possibly. But he’ll need a few tweaks – and a sustained run of fitness – before that conversation gets serious.

That uncertainty is what fuels the weekly churn of the U.S. striker discourse, a position where relevance is gained and lost by the game. Patrick Agyemang was barely mentioned a few weeks ago; now, after a well-taken goal in a defeat, he’s back in the mix. Josh Sargent is still struggling to actually put the ball in the net, but a much-needed assist nudged him into the conversation again. And then there’s the mercurial Ricardo Pepi, who scored and assisted for PSV as his manager shifted to a two-striker system just to get him in the side. 

And even in a week in which Christian Pulisic missed action due to an injury, and Chris Richards misfired for Palace, there remains reason for optimism for USMNT hopefuls and regulars alike. 

GOAL looks at the major takeaways from this weekend's Americans Abroad.

• Getty Images Sport
  

  More to come from Agyemang?

  Agyemang's signing with Derby was a puzzling decision at the time. He was scoring goals for Charlotte FC, performing at a high level, and at the very least giving Mauricio Pochettino something to think about. Sure, the money was always going to be better in the EFL Championship, but he had things pretty good in MLS.

  Yet when Derby beckoned, Agyemang answered – and saw his income jump dramatically, from $104,000 at Charlotte to a reported $1.5 million. On the pitch, though, the move hasn’t always made sense. Since returning from the injury he suffered in MLS before the transfer, Agyemang hasn’t consistently looked like a natural fit for John Eustace’s side, alternating between No. 9 and No. 10. He’s a fine footballer, but also a fairly one-dimensional presence.

  Still, the form is coming. And on Saturday against Middlesbrough, he scored a truly lovely goal.

  It was a proper striker’s move – reading the bounce, accelerating away from his defender, and shaping the perfect angle to slot past a helpless goalkeeper. Agyemang isn’t quite the finished product yet, but he’s a regular starter and already has six goal contributions for Derby.

  After the match, Eustace praised him. Odds are, there’s more to come.

Advertisement

• Adams defies logic

  Have a hit, yeah, Tyler? Sometimes, watching football is hard to comprehend why, exactly, a player does what they do. Sometimes it's a silly decision: a backpass that goes awry, or an ill-advised attempt at a nutmeg. But on Saturday morning, it was Tyler Adams deciding to shoot from 50 yards. And why? It seemed, in real time, a truly puzzling move. But as the ball floated, and the camera adjusted accordingly, his whack down the field looked a stroke of genius. 

  You will see few better goals this season than Adams' long-range clip, the American midfielder recognizing in an instant that the goalkeeper was 15 yards off his line for no apparent reason. It capped off a fine performance in defeat for Adams. He seems to have three lungs these days, a perfect element in the middle of Andoni Iraola's Bournemouth machine, all whirring legs and instinctive moves. Bournemouth lost 3-2 – but if football is about individual moments, then Adams had the best of the weekend, by far. 

• Getty
  

  Richards fails to deliver against United

  Sunday morning's game against Manchester United felt important for Crystal Palace. It will, in all likelihood, be a tricky season forThey secured European football last year, but didn't invest enough over the summer to prove that they can stay there. But big results, such as a late win over Liverpool earlier in the season, showed that there remains plenty of fight here. 

  And Richards will be central to that effort. He has performed wonderfully on the right side of a back three for Oliver Glasner for over a year now, and has been part of a well-drilled defensive system. Man United seemed to be a good test. These are the kinds of games that Palace should win – especially at home. Instead, they were a little mixed. Richards won his headers, but wasn't quite convincing when the ball was on the ground. To be clear, he can't be totally blamed here, but Palace really shouldn't have conceded twice. And the American was part of that letdown. There will be better days…

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  Moments you might have missed

  + Ricardo Pepi scored and assisted in PSV's win over lowly Volendam

  + Brenden Aaronson came off the bench in Leeds' 3-2 loss to Man City

  + Christian Pulisic missed Milan's 1-0 win over Lazio with a knock

  + Weston McKennie played all 90 minutes in Juve's nervy 2-1 win over Cagliari

  + James Sands went the full 90 but couldn't make an impact as St. Pauli conceded a 93rd-minute winner to Bayern Munich 

  + It was a frustrating one for Malik Tillman, who couldn't quite make an impact as Bayer Leverkusen lost 2-1 to Borussia Dortmund 

  + Folarin Balogun was feeding off scraps, but Monaco got the job done in a 1-0 win over PSG

  + Josh Sargent finally found a bit of form and grabbed an assist in Norwich's much-needed victory against QPR 

  + Tim Weah played all 90, but Marseille threw away a late lead against Toulouse 

  + Yunus Musah did not play in Atalanta's 2-0 win over Fiorentina

  + Tanner Tessmann shined in Lyon's 3-0 win over Nantes