Upsets

Argentina drew 2-2 with Colombia in World Cup qualifying on Tuesday night at El Metro in Barranquilla after Los Cafeteros were able to snatch an equalizer with the game’s final attack. 

The detective work done by all neutrals when watching this Albiceleste side is to determine how much progress has been made since the nervy, need-a-Messi-hat-trick-on-the-final-day 2018 qualifying cycle, but it remains difficult to say. 

The difference between the two cycles after six games is just one point (although it’s a positive point). 

The past weekend was about as good as it gets for USMNT fans. The result top of mind will be the exhilarating, tumultuous triumph against Mexico in the Concacaf Nations League final. But there was another interesting result that happened in the Caribbean that American fans might have missed.

Trinidad and Tobago has been eliminated from World Cup contention.

Christian Pulisic became the first American male to appear in a Champions League Final. Not long later, he became the first USMNT player to lift the big-eared trophy after participating in the final, helping Chelsea over the line in a 1-0 defeat of Manchester City in a tight, edgy affair on Saturday at Estádio do Dragão in Porto, Portugal. 

They knocked out No. 1 overall seed Clemson; they knocked out the defending champion Georgetown; they knocked out two-time national champion North Carolina. The only thing left to do was defeat eight-time champion Indiana and Marshall — a program that’d never advanced beyond the NCAA Men’s Soccer Tournament quarterfinals before this year — would claim the College Cup. 

In a tournament that’s been largely decided via penalty shootouts, it was only fitting that the NCAA Women’s College Cup Final was decided on penalties Monday night in Cary, North Carolina. 

The only surprise was that No. 1 Florida State — after triumphing by this method in both the quarterfinals and semis — was ultimately upset by No. 11 Santa Clara after sending its first two attempts off the post.