Ireland and the United States play a relatively meaningless soccer match on Saturday at Aviva Stadium in Dublin. Neither squad is preparing for the World Cup, but the teams did manage to make an important statement: in support of equality and rights for all. Unfortunately, not everyone understood the message on the back of the Ireland and USMNT jersey.
Go ahead and add Efrain Alvarez to the list of players who got away from U.S. Soccer, which is looking increasingly inept since October.
In a recent interview with SoccerAmerica, Mike Munoz, who coaches 15-year-old Efrain Alvarez at LA Galaxy II, said the exciting young prospect chose to defect from the USMNT youth setup to that of Mexico after the U.S. failed to include him in a camp last year.
Growing up as a reader of Sports Illustrated and a fan of soccer were two mutually exclusive things. Every week, I’d immediately flip through the magazine looking for an article from Grant Wahl or a blurb concerning the world’s game, but it was an extremely rare occurrence.
In what all USMNT fans had hoped would be a World Cup tune-up game, the friendly between the USMNT and Bolivia had a decidely different narrative. Interim manager Dave Sarachan selected a number of USMNT young players against Bolivia, and their performances showed promise.
According to The Tennessean, a September 11 friendly between the United States and Mexico will take place at Nissan Stadium in Nashville, Tennessee. The USMNT will face Brazil at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, on Sept. 7 before making the 900 mile journey to face El Tri in the Music City.
American striker Tim Weah earned his first career start for Ligue 1 champion Paris Saint-Germain against Caen on Saturday, closing out the season leading the line on a young starting XI for the French champion.