Hirving "Chucky" Lozano is having quite the first season in the Eredivisie. The 22-year-old Mexico international leads the Dutch league with 13 goals and is tied for seventh with seven assists. He also, curiously, is tied for first in red cards, with two. Also curiously, both of his red cards have come against the same club, Heerenveen. Maybe he doesn't like their uniforms.
Just days after taking apart some very complicated Club America free kick defense tactics, Toronto FC's Sebastian Giovinco was at it again against Cruz Azul. The Atomic Ant blasted in his second free kick of Toronto's pre-season tour of Mexico, and this one may have even been better than the first.
Do you miss Landon Donovan? We bet you do. Be sad no more, then, because Donovan is returning to the United States in March to play a friendly for Club León against his old club, the San Jose Earthquakes. This is a good opportunity for both clubs to open themselves up to new potential fan markets.
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Hector Herrera went the full 90 in Porto’s comprehensive 4-0 away victory over sixth-place Chaves on Sunday, registering an assist on the final goal scored by Sergio Oliveira.
It was Herrera’s third assist of the campaign for the league leaders, who’ve opened up a two-point gap on both Benfica and Sporting while maintaining a game in hand.
While things are going well for the 27-year-old midfielder and his club in Portugal’s Primeira Liga, they now must prepare to host English power Liverpool in Champions League Round of 16 action on Wednesday.
Make it 16 goals from 18 games for Mexico international Charlyn Corral in this season’s Primera Division (the Spanish women’s top flight). The 26-year-old native of Acolman, Mexico, has been Levante’s top scorer the previous two seasons, and she’s currently leading the division after adding another against Sevilla on Saturday.
Did she mean it? Who knows, it’s still a long-range crack that’s probably the best scored in match week 19.
¡¡¡Q-U-É G-O-L-A-Z-O!!!
Guess who’s back, back again? Perhaps the greatest U.S. soccer player of all time, Landon Donovan returned to the pitch in a professional match for the first time since 2016. The Landon Donovan Liga MX debut for León on Saturday night marked the American’s introduction to Mexican soccer and his second comeback from retirement in two years.
Toronto FC are on a barnstorming tour of Mexico warming up for the MLS regular season (read about the lengths teams will go to try to stop a Sebastian Giovinco free kick here), which led them to a friendly against local Mexico City club Mexican Navy. We are not making that name up.
Standing over a free kick from 22 yards out during Toronto FC’s preseason friendly against Club America in Mexico City, Sebastian Giovinco looked up to see a three-man wall, defenders on either post, the goalkeeper stationed dead center and four more players scattered in front of goal to deter any other angles. No matter.
The Atomic Ant rifled one into the top-right corner, giving the defender on that post zero chance (maybe a slim chance of being decapitated). There’s simply no stopping the 31-year-old Italian.
Liga MX’s Atlas welcomed second-tier Tampico Madero to the Estadio Jalisco on Wednesday night, and the courageous Brave Crabs of Tampico pulled off a stunning upset that all began with a 45-yard piece of violence from 19-year-old forward Eduardo Aguirre.
A penalty from Atlas’ Milton Caraglio gave his side a 1-0 lead in the 44th minute, but a five-minute brace from Aguirre turned the match on its head, gave Tampico Madero the three points and put them on the cusp of the knockout stage.
We've written about Hirving "Chucky" Lozano's so-far excellent first season in Europe more times than we can count, but we are going to do it again because Chucky scored again.
Lozano finished off a wonderful team move for PSV (the assist from Luuk de Jong is just great) in the 17th minute against Excelsior in the Eredivisie Wednesday. It was the only goal of the match.