FIFA Men's World Cup

September is upon us. For many, that means looking forward to cooler weather and an opportunity to view the fall coloring. For soccer fans, however, that means a few weeks of zero club action. There will be no games until the weekend of September 10 because of the break for international matches

Why the interruption? Well, this particular break is to stop play so players could take part in qualifying matches for the 2018 World Cup in Russia. Yet, for fans, that means no top level club soccer matches, which simply isn’t fair. 

Mexico enter their final two games of the fourth round of CONCACAF World Cup qualifying assured of their place in the fifth and final round, the ‘Hex’. However, their matches against El Salvador and Honduras will not be taken lightly by Mexico coach Juan Carlos Osorio, for whom they present something of a poisoned chalice. 

Two victories are expected, but any slip-up against the sides ranked 137th and 84th in the world would only magnify the hurt of Mexico’s last competitive match — that 7-0 defeat to Chile in the Copa America Centenario quarter-finals.

The Netherlands used to be really good. I solemnly swear it. At the 2014 World Cup, Robin van Persie made us believe in the possibility of the human body achieving flight. At the 2010 World Cup, Wesley Sneijder demonstrated everything that is possible in an impeccable Dutch playmaker.

It just had to be, didn’t it? Lionel Messi announced his return to the Argentina fold by scoring the game-winning goal for La Albiceleste against Uruguay, catapulting his country to the top of the CONMEBOL World Cup qualifying table in the process.

While Messi’s international retirement resulted in him missing zero action for Argentina, it was still an emotional return for the Barcelona man at the Estadio Malvinas Argentinas in Mendoza, Argentina.

Diving in soccer certainly predates the 1974 FIFA World Cup final, but on no other occasion has the ramifications of a flop been so clearly encapsulated and amplified.

The 1974 World Cup in West Germany served as a pageant for the Netherlands technique of Total Football, the tactical theory envisioning a side in which any outfield player can quickly take over the role of any other player on the pitch.

With Bolivia sitting ninth in the 10-team South American World Cup qualifying table, and having lost all three of their Copa America Centenario matches, newly appointed manager Angel Guillermo Hoyos is determined to get the most out of La Verde by going back to square one — the square where he determines who in Bolivia actually plays soccer.

Sources from Lionel Messi’s family have told Goal.com that the former Argentina captain will not return for his country’s September World Cup qualifiers against Uruguay and Venezuela.

Argentina’s opening match of the 1986 FIFA World Cup in Mexico was against a South Korean side that was participating in the tournament for the first time since 1954. Argentina’s 1982 World Cup campaign, after having won the 1978 edition on home turf, had been a disaster. 

It had been Maradona’s first World Cup and defeats against Italy and Brazil had offered a glimpse of how to disrupt the Argentinian star: aggressively man-mark and foul the Argentine No. 10.

FIFA president Gianni Infantino looks set to continue the work of his predecessor, Sepp Blatter, and disgraced UEFA president Michel Platini in expanding the World Cup to 40 teams.

The 2018 World Cup in Russia and the 2022 World Cup in Qatar will each feature the current format of 32 teams, which came into use for the 1998 edition of the tournament, but Infantino believes the 2026 World Cup will feature 40 national sides. 

To say that Marc Wilmots underperformed as Belgium manager at Euro 2016 is akin to saying the USA men’s basketball team was off the pace at the 2006 Olympics or that the Republican Party hasn’t put their best foot forward for the 2016 presidential election. Wilmots screwed the pooch.