International Soccer

As the final whistle blew on Saturday's 0-0 draw between the Brazil National Team and Ecuador, boos began to ring down from fans all around the Rose Bowl. Brazil had been largely unimpressive and ineffective, punctuated only by occasional moments of magic that failed to produce anything of substance. For anyone hoping that Brazil could shake off the shackles of the 2014 World Cup and regain their spot at the top of world football, it was a depressing dose of reality. 

Mexico and Uruguay were tied 1-1 in a hard-fought Copa America group stage game Wednesday when 37-year-old Mexico captain Rafa Marquez put his stamp on the match and removed all doubt as to the merits of putting an old creaky person in the starting lineup of a major international match.

Marquez, who once partnered Carles Puyol on Barcelona's back line, was upfield for a Mexico corner when he received a pass near the corner of the six-yard box and hammered the winning goal into the net. This is not the sort of behavior we expected from Marquez.

England took on Portugal today in an internatinoal friendly. The match was really more of a tune-up game for the imminent Euro 2016 tournament than anything else, and so both sides were looking to learn more about their players, try out some new things, and generally just finish off the day better than they started it.

Except for Bruno Alves. Bruno Alves almost killed Harry Kane.

Reports have been flying around that Real Madrid have seen a €50 million offer for fullback David Alaba rebuffed by Bayern Munich. Apparently, that monumental figure was enough to throw the Austrian off his game because he just did this in a friendly for Austria against Malta. 

The Copa America Centenario is approaching fast, and for Lionel Messi and Argentina, the tournament is a chance at redemption. Having lost in the final of the World Cup in 2014 and the final of the Copa America last year, criticism is starting to grow due to Messi's underachievement. 

This weekend we were perusing the interwebs and thinking about the sudden ascendance of precocious 18-year-old Manchester United striker Marcus Rashford when we came across an interesting statistic:

Marcus Rashford has now scored with his first shot on his:

Man United debut
Premier League debut
England debutpic.twitter.com/Y1QSp8V5UI

Argentina will play in the Copa America Centenario despite earlier claims that a government investigation could cause the AFA to pull out of the competition. In a press conference on Tuesday following an emergency meeting of the AFA executive board, president Luis Segura said there was no possibility of Argentina being forced to miss the tournament.

The U-23 Mexico youth national team endured a disappointing campaign in the Toulon World Youth Festival as they slumped to a fourth-placed finish behind Mali, Czech Republic and group winners, France. They managed a solitary win against bottom of the table Bulgaria, but their overall performance does not inspire hope for the upcoming Olympics in Rio this summer. 

Much of the buzz ahead of the Copa America Centenario is about Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and the USA, but people forget that none of those teams are the reigning Copa America champion. Chile is travelling to the United States at full force and won’t be shy in defending their title. 

Out of the players who helped Chile defeat Argentina in a penalty shootout to clinch the 2015 title, only Jorge Valdivia and Angelo Henriquez are not on the 23-man roster for 2016. 

There are a few mysteries in life we might never get the answers to. Where did we come from? Where do we go? And what goes on inside of Dunga’s head?

Photo: @futbolsapiens | Twitter