After a disappointing Gold Cup, the USMNT still has a chance to get to the Confeserations Cup, via a playoff with Mexico on Oct. 10. Today USMNT manager Jurgen Klinsmann announced his 35-man preliminary roster, and it was about what you'd expect.
One notable absence was Sporting Kansas City midfielder Benny Feilhaber, who hasn't been able to get a USMNT chance under Klinsmann, and nobody can really figure out why.
Goalkeepers:
At 16 years of age, Carlos Vela walked onto a soccer pitch in Peru with all the weight of Mexico on his shoulders. The Mexican National Team had finally made it the final of the U-17 World Cup. Not once in Mexico’s history had a Mexican national team made it to the finals of a world tournament. No pressure. No pressure at all for Carlitos, who would go on to lead the young Mexican national team to glory against Brazil, scoring their first of the match and leading Mexico to a 3-0 scoreline against the tournament favorites.
Mexico tied Argentina Tuesday, 2-2, in a lively match that got more interesting as it went. Mexico took a 2-0 lead into the 85th minute via a Chicharito Hernandez penalty kick and a nice shot from Hector Herrera, but Sergio Aguero and Lionel Messi proved too much for Mexico to contain near the end. Here are our takeaways.
It was mostly positive for Mexico, given they drew with one of the best teams in the world.
They played 85 minutes of solid soccer.
The USMNT's prospects for winning the Confederations Cup playoff next month against Mexico are not looking very good, if the team's form against Brazil Tuesday is any indication. Brazil annihilated the USMNT 4-1 behind two goals from Neymar. This is a result that demands a bit of wild speculation, which we are only too happy to deliver, in the form of positive and negative takeaways from the game.
There were quite a few negatives. Here are three.
Does Jurgen Klinsmann have any idea what he's doing?
The USMNT take to the field this Tuesday in a glamor friendly against Dunga’s Brazil at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro.
Cubo Torres wreaked holy havoc upon the MLS when he played for Chivas USA in 2014. He scored 22 goals in 44 games before the club folded and the Houston Dynamo acquired him that same year.
Torres started his first game in a Dynamo shirt on August 29, and got 66 minutes of game time and an assist. He's only appeared in seven games for the Dynamo thus far, and has yet to score.
So what happened? Erick "Cubo" Torres is only 22-years-old, but his career has already seen enough ups and downs to call him a veteran.
Collegiate soccer programs began to truly emerge sometime in the 1980s. For women, the passage of Title IX opened up opportunities for female athletes that were only available to men playing football (the oblong type) and basketball. Men’s soccer programs have been around significantly longer (the first NCAA championship was played in 1959), but consistently take a backseat to padded football and madness of basketball.
Mexican international Miguel Layun is headed out of English side Watford to Portuguese club Porto. Layun will reportedly be on a one-year loan deal.
Layun is the second Mexican international to transfer to Porto on deadline day, following Jesus "Tecatito" Corona.
Official: Miguel Layun moves from Watford to Porto. https://t.co/YIFqvmG3pf
Dutch club FC Twente have confirmed Mexican winger Jesus "Tecatito" Corona is headed away from the club to Portuguese side FC Porto.
Tecatito's Porto deal is reported to be for five years. The 22-year-old is one of the more promising young Mexican players right now.
Twente confirming Tecatito's move to Porto. Signed a 5-year contract with the team. https://t.co/bkh4vteA2w
Javier "Chicharito" Hernandez is moving to Germany. The Mexican striker never really clicked with manager Louis van Gaal at Manchester United, being sent on loan to Real Madrid last season, and is now headed on a permanent transfer to Bayer Leverkusen in the Bundesliga.
Chicharito's ghastly performance against Brugge likely proved to be the last straw, as far as the Red Devils were concerned.