As far as debuts go, it doesn’t get any better than this. 19-year-old Texan Weston McKennie, fresh off breaking into Schalke’s first team in the Bundesliga and earning his first cap for the USMNT, put his country ahead against the world’s third-ranked side, Portugal.
Argentina showed it can do goals without Lionel Messi on Tuesday in Russia. That defense though could use some work after Nigeria’s Alex Iwobi destroyed the rearguard of La Albiceleste, Javier Mascherano in particular.
Argentina took a two-goal lead in the opening 36 minutes in a friendly against Nigeria, but Iwobi scored twice to spearhead a 4-2 victory for the Super Eagles at Krasnodar Stadium. His second goal absolutely eviscerated Mascherano as the Arsenal attacker nutmegged the Barcelona man on his way to the final goal of the match.
Radamel Falcao is back to his brilliant best for both club and country, and he’ll surely lead the line for Colombia in Russia. Accordingly, Los Cafeteros could very well match or better their 2014 run to the quarterfinals — the country’s best-ever World Cup finish — which Falcao missed because of a knee injury.
We know — as evidenced by their march through CONCACAF World Cup qualifying and a solid showing at the 2017 Confederations Cup — that this Mexico side is capable of making a splash at next summer’s World Cup, but just what should we expect from the world’s 16th-ranked side? Based on the evidence of their November friendlies on European soil, a lot.
If misery does indeed love company, Americans are going to love this: Italy has failed to qualify for the World Cup for the first time since 1958. After a 1-0 home win on Friday, Sweden held Italy to a 0-0 draw in Milan to defeat the Italians in their UEFA World Cup qualifying playoff on Monday.
Some 40,000 Poles showed up at the Stadion Energa Gdansk to celebrate Poland’s qualification for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia with a friendly match against Mexico on Monday, but the feel-good energy enveloping the arena was quickly ruined by El Tri striker Raul Jimenez.
The Benfica forward looked hungry early on, sending a battling header straight at Poland goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny in the game’s opening minutes, but he made no mistake with his second effort only 13 minutes in.
The USWNT finished off 2017 with a commanding 3-1 victory over Canada in front of 17,690 at the Avaya Stadium in San Jose, California, with Julie Ertz, Alex Morgan and Carli Lloyd scoring the goals for the States. Janine Beckie scored the lone goal for the Canadians.
Overall, the USWNT posted a record of 12 wins, three losses and one draw in 2017. Although they weren’t victorious at either the SheBelieves Cup or the Tournament of Nations, the U.S. finished the year on an eight-match unbeaten streak dating back to July 30.
While the rest of the world watched the playoff between Denmark and Ireland, the tail end of qualifying in Africa or one of Saturday’s more glamorous friendlies, Macedonia (the world’s 85th ranked side) defeated Norway (58) 2-0 in a friendly with goals coming from Goran Pandev and Kire Markoski.
The first, finished by Genoa forward Pandev, was made possible following a wonderful assist from Ezgjan Alioski, a 25-year-old winger who plays for Leeds United.
In the end, the only moment that separated Switzerland and Northern Ireland in their World Cup qualifying playoff was a dubious penalty call awarded to the Swiss in Belfast. Sunday’s return leg at St Jakob-Park in Basel ended in a 0-0 draw with the Irish again looking extremely limited going forward, but Switzerland were entirely wasteful as well, particularly forward Haris Seferovic.
Sweden registered a famous 1-0 victory over Italy in their World Cup qualifying playoff first leg in Stockholm thanks to a deflected effort from substitute Jakob Johansson. The return leg is on Monday in Milan with Italy’s hopes of a 19th World Cup appearance in serious jeopardy.
Johansson’s 61st minute strike was vital, but Sweden’s ability to successfully keep Italy off the scoresheet was just as big. An away goal in Milan would almost certainly be enough to send Sweden through, and this Swedish side has enough talent to go toe-to-toe with the four-time world champions.