Game Recaps

Any MLS club in Seattle’s shoes gets blown away on Sunday against Minnesota United at Allianz Field. 

It’s an away day in mid-July with the temperature at 90 degrees. Minnesota is strong at home and hungry for a first-ever win over the Sounders at the ninth time of asking. Seattle, on the other hand, has nine players listed as “out” and has to call up two players from the Tacoma Defiance reserve team, including 15-year-old Alaskan Obed Vargas.   

This is a recipe for disaster in America’s top division.

Hany Mukhtar recorded the fastest hat trick in MLS history and Nashville SC extended their home unbeaten streak to 11 games with a 5-1 victory over the visiting Chicago Fire on Saturday night.

Mukhtar tallied all three goals in the first 16 minutes.

Mukhtar, who entered with a team-leading four goals, took advantage of breakdowns on Chicago's back end to open the scoring in the 10th minute, and he came through again three minutes later.

Daryl Dike scored twice to help the U.S. men's national team to a 6-1 victory against Martinique in Kansas City, Kan., on Thursday - a win that advanced the U.S. to the quarterfinals of the CONCACAF Gold Cup.

The U.S. and Canada qualified from the four-team Group B with 2-0-0 records and six points, with one match left. They will play Sunday in Kansas City with the top spot at stake.

Haiti and Martinique, each with a pair of losses, also play Sunday, in Frisco, Texas.

Mexico defeated Guatemala 3-0 Wednesday night to get its Gold Cup campaign back on track after opening the tournament with a disappointing scoreless draw to Trinidad and Tobago. Rogelio Funes Mori, who switched his international eligibility from Argentina to Mexico in June, scored a brace for El Tri. Seeing the 30-year-old excel for Mexico has some people wondering, is Funes Mori Mexican?

18-year-old PSG phenom Xavi Simons is the world’s most well-known footballer with just a single league minute to their name. The Dutch prodigy was a standout performer in Barcelona’s youth setup, where his every progression through La Masia brought increased interest.

But after failing to agree to a new contract with Barça, Simons was whisked off to Paris in 2019, where the 16-year-old signed a three-year deal that reportedly paid him over $1 million annually. 

Scottish Premiership side Hibernian hosted Arsenal for a preseason friendly on Tuesday in a match that was very much a tale of two teams heading on opposite trajectories.

One club was preparing for European football after coming off its best league finish in 15 years — a season where it reached the semifinal of one domestic cup and the final of another.

The other was Arsenal.

The Gunners were reeling from a second consecutive eighth-place finish in the EPL and will be without European football this season for just the third time in the Premier League era. 

I’m not going to lie, it’s not easy to go from watching the Euro and Copa América finals to blanky staring at Costa Rica fight off Guadeloupe 3-1 in the Gold Cup. Concacaf’s skill level might not be that of UEFA and CONMEBOL, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t entertainment.

Welcome back then Gold Cup. 

On Saturday night, the tournament began with Trinidad and Tobago taking a point off Mexico in front of over 41,000 in Arlington, Texas. On Sunday afternoon, the action continued with Martinique taking an early lead on Canada before John Herdman’s side replied with four unanswered.

All this to say: you never know what the hell is going on in Concacaf.