9+For many years, Carlos Vela toiled at Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal, whether on the bench or out on loan. The Gunners of that era were often derided for trying to “walk it in.” After some good years at Real Sociedad and now thriving at LAFC, this Carlos Vela goal vs San Jose on Saturday gave the Mexican forward a chance to literally walk it in.
Last night, a crowd of 50,000 watched Mexico defeat Paraguay 4-2 at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California, to make it two wins in two matches for new manager Gerardo “Tata” Martino.
During a space of 18 first half minutes, El Tri posted three on the South American side to effectively put the game to bed. LA Galaxy midfielder Jonathan dos Santos scored his first international goal in his 40th appearance, Gustavo Gomez put one into his own net and then Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez slotted home the third with only 24 minutes on the clock.
Fresh off scoring an excellent goal in Mexico’s 3-1 friendly win over Chile last Friday, El Tri boss Gerardo “Tata” Martino is confident that now’s the time for Hirving “Chucky” Lozano to make a move to one of Europe’s bigger leagues.
In the early days of soccer, your number defined the position you played: number one was a goalkeeper, nine a striker, six a holding midfielder and three a left back. The number 11 was reserved for the left winger as the number was always the last on a lineup list.
In modern soccer, there’s a lot less emphasis on strict numerical positions, and there were some fantastic players who played on the left or elsewhere that made the number 11 their own.
Gerardo “Tata” Martino’s last match as a coach before Friday night was Atlanta United’s MLS Cup victory in December. He picked up right where he left off as Mexico’s new coach.
Mexico scored three goals in 14 minutes to top Chile 3-1 in a friendly on Friday night at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego.
While this was just a friendly, this was a country that beat Mexico 7-0 in the 2016 Copa America. Not bad for Martino’s first match in charge of El Tri.
PSV Eindhoven recorded a massive 1-0 victory over VVV-Venlo at De Koel on Sunday, and the game’s lone goal was an impressive solo strike from Hirving “Chucky” Lozano in the 86th minute.
The victory takes PSV five points above Ajax at the top of the Eredivisie table following the Champions League quarterfinalists' defeat against AZ Alkmaar later in the day.
The goal was Chucky’s 15th in 24 league games this season (to go along with six assists), and 19th in 34 appearances across all competitions. But this was perhaps the 23-year-old’s finest for the club.
Javier Hernandez may be over the hill in footballing terms at 30 years of age, but the little pea still has big goals in him.
While half of the Premier League is off this weekend for FA Cup action (hidden away behind an ESPN+ subscription here in the U.S.), there were a few matches to watch on Saturday, and they were all fucking bonkers.
Newcastle United earned a point at Bournemouth when Matt Ritchie smashed a volley into the back of the net in the 94th minute for a 2-2 draw.
Major League Soccer was feeling pretty good about itself after the 2019 Concacaf Champions League Round of 16. Although Toronto FC crashed out to Panama’s Independiente, four U.S.-based MLS clubs advanced to the quarterfinals.
Then reality struck this week and last, yet another case of MLS failing to stack up to Liga MX.
One half of the 2019 CONCACAF Champions League semifinal bracket is filled, and it’s an all Liga MX affair pitting Tigres against Santos Laguna. Tigres took care of the Houston Dynamo 3-0 on aggregate despite the absence of injured star Andre-Pierre Gignac. Santos defeated the New York Red Bulls 6-2 on aggregate, but not without receiving something of a scare at Estadio Corona on Tuesday night.
According to Portuguese media outlet Record, Wolverhampton has agreed to a deal with Benfica and Raúl Jiménez to sign the on-loan striker permanently in the summer.