While the majority of MLS teams will report for preseason training on Monday, Jan. 20, clubs that qualified for the CONCACAF Champions League have now begun their preparations for the new campaign with that competition commencing in only 36 days time. (The MLS season kicks off in 47 days with Nashville hosting Atlanta on Feb. 29.)
Sergiño Dest knows how to make an entrance. Dest became cap-tied to the USMNT as the Americans romped over Canada 4-1 on Friday night in Orlando, Florida. Despite the four goals, an electric Dest elastico was easily the highlight of the night for the U.S.
It was a must-win match against a neighboring rival, one that had just thwomped the Americans a month earlier. And it kicked off with a half-empty stadium — and that’s being generous. The USMNT vs Canada attendance was shockingly sparse on Friday night in Orlando, Florida.
When former USMNT manager Jürgen Klinsmann labelled the newfangled CONCACAF Nations League a “waste of time” back in October (rich enough coming from a coach that inspired his team to defeats against Mexico, Costa Rica and Guatemala by a combined scoreline of 8-1 during 2018 World Cup qualifying), it was easy to grasp the German’s point: If you limit the amount of big matches you have against quality opponents, you limit your growth.
The USMNT approaches Friday’s CONCACAF Nations League match against Canada needing a victory to have any chance of advancing to the semifinals of the competition, and they'll do so without attacking catalyst Christian Pulisic, who misses out with a hip injury he sustained against Crystal Palace last Saturday.
On Wednesday morning, Canadian residents awoke to extensive coverage of the massive sporting news: Toronto had defeated Minnesota 4-2, the Habs lost to Tampa Bay 3-1, Winnipeg succumbed to Arizona 4-2, Calgary thumped the Flyers 3-1 and the Canucks battered the Red Wings 5-1. What’s more, Donald Trump had welcomed a heavy concentration of Canadians to the White House on Tuesday in the form of the Stanley Cup champion St. Louis Blues.
Trump congratulated the Blues on the stock market being way up, an agriculture deal with China and a Mike Pence trip to Turkey.
In the end, the scoreline flattered the USMNT. 2-0 isn’t so bad, right folks? Just try and forget the fact that Canada hadn’t scored against the U.S. since 2007, let alone recorded a victory since 1985.
Is it a new low for the U.S.? For those with a longer memory than Twitter allows, it’s difficult to countenance that when remembering 2018 World Cup qualifying performances in San José and Couva, but it’s frightening to think that this is the rebuild — exactly two years and five days — since that entirely disheartening 2-1 loss to Trinidad and Tobago.
Mexico opened play in the Concacaf Nations League with an easy 5-1 road win over Bermuda on Friday night.
Well, it was mostly easy.
Chucky Lozano was the victim of an incidental punch to the face from the referee, an intentional stomp from an opponent and sliced a penalty kick off the post and wide. But the Napoli winger persevered to record a goal and two assists.
Early in the match, Lozano was getting up from a foul when the referee inadvertently smacked the Mexican in the face.
France? Naw. England? Pshh. Brazil? As if.
Want a favorite for the 2022 World Cup? Look no further than the United States men’s national team after it throttled Cuba 7-0 on Friday night.
Any team that can score four goals in 13 minutes against the 178th-ranked team in the world has to be the frontrunner for the 2022 World Cup. That 3-0 loss to Mexico last month? That was just a meaningless friendly, nothing compared to the intense rigor of a Concacaf Nations League match.
Sergiño Dest, an 18-year-old Ajax fullback, is one of the brightest young players in the USMNT pool. But he might not be in the pool for long.
Dest has opted not to join Gregg Berhalter’s team for upcoming Concacaf Nations League matches, which would cap-tie the Dutch-American to the USMNT.
Sergiño Dest turns down USMNT roster call-up - The Washington Post https://t.co/uIs0xSy0Qp