Midfielder Rescues Point for Juventus in Frustrating Lecce Draw
Weston McKennie continued his impressive form under manager Luciano Spalletti, scoring his first Serie A goal of the season to salvage a 1-1 draw for Juventus against Lecce on Saturday at the Allianz Stadium.
The 27-year-old American midfielder, deployed as an attacking midfielder in Juventus' 4-2-3-1 formation, struck just four minutes into the second half to cancel out Lameck Banda's first-half opener. McKennie capitalized on a rapid counterattack following a Lecce corner, finishing clinically after Kenan Yildiz's cross deflected into his path. The goal marked McKennie's third in his last nine appearances across all competitions—a remarkable upturn in production after managing just one assist in his previous 31 matches under former manager Igor Tudor. His versatility and consistent performances have made him indispensable to Spalletti's system.
"For me, it's not a new position," McKennie said afterward, discussing his attacking midfielder role. "I'm at the manager's and the team's disposal, and I try to give 100% in every role. I like playing as a trequartista because you can both defend and attack."
Despite his crucial equalizer, Juventus couldn't find a winner. Jonathan David's penalty was saved by Wladimiro Falcone in the 66th minute, denying the Bianconeri a chance to complete the comeback. McKennie was quick to support his teammate, insisting David had nothing to apologize for.
"He doesn't have to apologize to the team because this is football," McKennie stated. "We have to support him and keep his head up. Anyone can miss a penalty. That's football—you have to move forward and focus on the next game."
The draw extended Juventus' unbeaten run to five in all competitions, but it was their 22nd Serie A draw since last season—more than any other side in that span. However, McKennie remained philosophical about the dropped points.
"You feel a bit frustrated, but you can't dwell on missed chances," he said. "You have to keep moving forward."
The Forward Battles Through a Difficult Night as Monaco Fall to Lyon
Folarin Balogun delivered one of the few positive performances for AS Monaco in their 3-1 home defeat to Olympique Lyonnais on Saturday. However, his efforts weren't enough to prevent his side's sixth loss in seven Ligue 1 matches. The 24-year-old American striker was a constant presence for Monaco despite recording just 33 touches across the full 90 minutes—the fewest of any outfield player to complete the match. His most significant contribution came in first-half stoppage time when his determined pressing created Monaco's lone goal.
Balogun chased down a loose ball on the counterattack and became entangled with Lyon defender Clinton Mata in a physical battle for possession. As both players fell to the ground, the ball ricocheted off Balogun's heel. It rolled perfectly into the path of Mamadou Coulibaly, who capitalized on the fortunate bounce to bundle home the equalizer past goalkeeper Dominik Greif. The goal briefly restored parity after Pavel Šulc had given Lyon the lead late in the first half.
Beyond the assist, Balogun remained Monaco's most threatening attacking outlet throughout the evening. He forced a quality save from Greif early in the second half and consistently troubled the Lyon backline with his movement, creating two chances while being fouled three times. However, his effectiveness was limited by Monaco's depleted squad—missing key players to injury, suspension, and the Africa Cup of Nations—and the team's inability to maintain possession in dangerous areas.
Fellow American Tanner Tessmann entered the match late for Lyon, coming on as a substitute to help secure the victory. The 24-year-old midfielder played 24 minutes, completing 18 of 24 passes and recording four recoveries as Lyon comfortably managed the closing stages. The defeat leaves Monaco in crisis, sitting seven points behind Lyon and facing an increasingly difficult battle for European qualification.
On This Day in 2012, the Goalkeeper Scored an Extraordinary Goal in a Forgettable Night for Everton
By January 2012, Tim Howard had seen almost everything English football could offer. Six seasons at Everton had brought FA Cup heroics, penalty saves against his former club Manchester United, a club record for clean sheets in a season, and even the captain's armband. The American had evolved from a promising arrival on loan in 2006 into one of the Premier League's most reliable goalkeepers, his £3 million permanent transfer from Manchester United looking shrewder with each passing season. What he hadn't experienced—what virtually no goalkeeper in professional football ever experiences—was the sensation of watching his own clearance sail past a helpless opponent and into the net. That peculiar mix of disbelief and embarrassment was about to become intimately familiar.
Everton's 2011-12 campaign had followed a frustratingly predictable pattern. A difficult autumn, weakened by the departures of creative forces Steven Pienaar and Mikel Arteta without adequate replacements, had left David Moyes' side treading water in mid-table. Strikers Jermaine Beckford, Yakubu, and James Vaughan had all departed without real investment in their successors, leaving the attack toothless. The 1-0 home defeat to Stoke in December epitomized their struggles—all effort, no cutting edge. Yet this was familiar territory for Moyes. His Everton teams possessed an almost supernatural ability to rouse themselves after Christmas, transforming mediocrity into respectability through sheer graft and tactical discipline. The previous two seasons had seen them 14th at this stage before rallying to finish seventh and eighth. A four-match unbeaten run heading into the new year suggested the annual revival was beginning again, and victory over bottom-of-the-table Bolton would lift them to ninth with a game in hand.
"We tend to get better as the season goes on," Moyes acknowledged before the match, though he cautioned against complacency. "Winning games in the Premier League isn't easy." The return of Landon Donovan on loan from LA Galaxy offered a creative spark Everton desperately needed, and the American forward was expected to provide the attacking impetus against a Bolton side drowning at the bottom of the table. Bolton arrived at Goodison Park on January 4 in a genuine crisis. Owen Coyle's team had endured the toughest opening fixture list in the Premier League and sat rock bottom, their survival hopes hanging by a thread. Yet their circumstances made them dangerous—desperate teams either collapse or fight, and Bolton had shown flickers of resilience in recent weeks. The presence of Gary Cahill, their captain and defensive talisman, remained uncertain as negotiations with Chelsea intensified. If this was to be his farewell, the stage was set for one final contribution.
What followed was a match that defied logic and embarrassed Everton. The conditions at Goodison were brutal—bitter wind and driving rain creating chaos from the opening whistle. Balls refused to behave predictably, players struggled to keep their footing, and both defenses looked perpetually uncertain. Donovan provided Everton's only early threat, but Sam Ricketts handled the American effectively, and Bolton's organization frustrated the hosts. Then, in the most improbable fashion imaginable, Goodison Park erupted.
Midway through the second half, Sylvain Distin played a routine back-pass toward Howard, who struck ball on the roll inside his penalty area. What happened next belonged in the realm of statistical impossibility rather than tactical planning. Howard's clearance—a standard punt upfield meant to relieve pressure—caught the swirling wind perfectly. The ball sailed over Bolton's midfield, over their backline, and began its descent toward the penalty area. Ádám Bogdán, Bolton's backup goalkeeper pressed into service, tracked the flight and positioned himself accordingly.
Then physics took over. The ball bounced once, 30 yards from goal, and the wind transformed a routine clearance into something extraordinary. The bounce accelerated the ball's trajectory, lifting it over Bogdán's desperately backpedaling figure. The goalkeeper could only watch, horror-stricken, as the ball sailed over his head and into the net beneath the Gwladys End. 80 yards. One bounce. A goalkeeper's nightmare made real. The crowd's roar mixed confusion with celebration, but Howard's reaction told a different story. There was no celebration, no fist pump, no acknowledgment of the crowd's delight. The American stood motionless, hands on hips, understanding instantly what had just occurred. He had joined an exclusive club—only the fourth goalkeeper to score in the Premier League's 20-year history—but the circumstances offered no joy.
"It was cruel," Howard would say afterward, his voice carrying genuine sympathy. "You saw the back fours and the keepers not being able to believe balls all night, and one wrong step can be a nightmare. From a goalkeepers' union standpoint, I was disappointed. It's not nice, it's embarrassing, so I felt for Adam."
Howard's empathy stemmed from experience. Seven years earlier, while playing for Manchester United reserves against Wigan at Moss Lane, he had suffered the same fate when Floyd Croll's clearance sailed over him. The memory had scarred him. Now, delivering that same humiliation to a fellow goalkeeper, Howard refused to celebrate—an act of professional respect that spoke to the unwritten code among those who guard the goal.
For a few minutes, that freak goal appeared sufficient to secure three points Everton scarcely deserved. They created nothing of substance, struggled to adapt to the conditions, and looked every bit like a team missing its creative heartbeat. Bolton, to their credit, refused to crumble. The injustice of Howard's goal seemed to galvanize rather than demoralize them, and their equalizer arrived through precisely the kind of quality football that had been absent from Everton's play. Mark Davies' clever back-heel found Nigel Reo-Coker, whose deflected pass located David Ngog. The former Liverpool striker, ending a near three-month goal drought, turned his marker with composure and clipped a surgical finish past Howard. The goal was polished, professional, and deserved—everything Everton's opener had not been.
Bolton pressed for a winner with increasing confidence, sensing Everton's vulnerability. Chris Eagles tormented Leighton Baines down the right flank, and with 12 minutes remaining, the inevitable arrived. Eagles evaded Baines and slipped a reverse pass into the path of Gary Cahill, who was storming forward from his defensive position. The captain didn't break stride, meeting the ball with his right foot and arrowing a first-time shot into the far corner. If this was indeed Cahill's farewell—and Owen Coyle gave no indication otherwise—it was the perfect parting gift. The goal lifted Bolton off the bottom of the table, moved them within a point of safety, and vindicated their second-half dominance. Everton managed just four shots on target across the entire match; Bolton registered seven. The statistics told the story Moyes couldn't deny.
Baines struck the crossbar with a free kick in stoppage time, but it was a hollow threat from a team that had offered nothing all evening. The final whistle confirmed a 2-1 defeat that felt entirely deserved, Howard's extraordinary goal reduced to a footnote in a thoroughly disappointing performance. The cost extended beyond the three points. Phil Jagielka left Goodison on crutches with medial knee ligament damage that would sideline him for three to four weeks. Leon Osman, Tony Hibbert, and Jack Rodwell all picked up injuries, ruling them out of the upcoming FA Cup tie against non-league Tamworth. Moyes was forced to recall Shane Duffy from a loan spell at Scunthorpe to provide defensive cover.
Howard's assessment was scathing. "We need to look at ourselves in the mirror because it wasn't good enough," he told reporters. "We were all kind of lost for words. It was very poor. We need to be more professional, more resilient. We didn't deserve the points." Moyes echoed the sentiment with characteristic bluntness: "You cannot expect to win games playing like that. Apart from the goalkeeper and bits of Landon Donovan, it is hard to see any positives."
For Bolton, the victory proved a temporary reprieve. Cahill did complete his move to Chelsea days later, departing for a club of greater stature but leaving behind a winning goal that epitomized his value. Bolton would battle relegation all season, eventually going down after finishing 18th.
Everton, true to form, recovered from the embarrassment. Their annual spring revival materialized as Moyes had hoped, fueled by the January signing of Nikica Jelavić. The Croatian striker scored nine goals in 13 league appearances, earning the Premier League Player of the Month award for April, and inspired a nine-match unbeaten run to close the season. Everton finished seventh—respectable, if unspectacular, and entirely predictable given their recent history.
Howard's remarkable goal entered Premier League folklore, replayed endlessly on highlight reels and debated in pub conversations. Only Peter Schmeichel, Brad Friedel, and Paul Robinson had achieved the feat before him; Asmir Begović the following season and Allison Becker in 2021 were the only goalkeepers since. Yet for Howard himself, the goal remained tainted by the manner of its creation and the result that followed. In March 2012, he signed a new contract keeping him at Everton until 2016, cementing his status as one of the club's most dependable servants. Over the following years, he would add countless more clean sheets, penalty saves, and moments of brilliance to his Everton legacy.
But that January evening at Goodison Park, when the wind conspired to make him a goalscorer, and his team forgot how to play football, remained an anomaly. This statistical curiosity brought neither joy nor pride. Howard had joined an exclusive club through no real effort of his own, then watched his teammates squander the gift through collective ineptitude. Some goals are celebrated for decades. Others are remembered with a wince. On a bitter, wind-lashed night on Merseyside, Tim Howard scored the most remarkable and only goal of his career and refused to smile. The goalkeepers' union understood why. So did anyone who watched what came next.
