Newcastle United won their fourth straight league match on Saturday, climbing to second in the English Championship following their 2-0 victory over Derby County. Yoan Gouffran earned Newcastle an early advantage with his 20th minute strike before being substituted in the 73rd minute for DeAndre Yedlin. Yedlin would secure the three points for Newcastle by doubling their advantage in second-half stoppage time.
2016, you scoundrel! First, we had the trauma and ecstasy of Lionel Messi’s short-lived retirement. Now, we have this: Landon Donovan is set to end his retirement to return to the LA Galaxy for the remainder of the MLS season.
Two goals from Jozy Altidore, one from Sacha Kljestan and another from Paul Arriola lifted the United States to a 4-0 victory over Trinidad and Tobago on Tuesday night in Jacksonville, Florida. The United States entered the match having not mathematically guaranteed their spot in the ‘Hex’, although elimination would’ve required a failure of momentous proportions.
However, the USA were brilliant on the night — particularly in the second half. Trinidad and Tobago almost kept the match even throughout the first, but Kljestan opened the scoring in the 44th minute.
Mexico ended the group stage of World Cup qualifying undeafeated but disappointed after a listless 0-0 outing against Hondiras in Estadio Azteca.
Honduras did the thing pretty much everybody expected them to do and parked the bus basically from the beginning. Even firing on all cylinders, Mexico might have had trouble beating this defense.
As it turned out, though, Mexico weren't firing on all cylinders, and the crowd let manager Juan Carlos Osorio know they didn't like what they were seeing.
Let's be honest, El Tri failed to meet extremely high expectations this summer. What was expected of the Mexican national team was to excel in all competitions, but they fell flat at the Copa America Centenario and the Rio Olympic Games.
Competing in the Copa America in the team’s ‘second home’, the United States, fans and spectators alike believed El Tri had a chance to make history in the competition.
They were one of the early favorites. With a win over Uruguay and the top dogs, Brazil, crashing out early, they had a chance but blew it.
Various pundits wondered earlier this week if the Mexico National Team was stagnating under Juan Carlos Osorio, and during the first half it looked like those pundits were right.
A Jorge Torres Nilo handball in the box gave Alexander Larin a penalty try in the 24th minute, and Mexico found themselves down 1-0 and looking mostly listless.
Then, after halftime, Mexico woke up.
Hector Moreno in the 52nd minute.
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.
Bobby Wood’s play hasn’t been dissected to the level with which we’ve examined Gyasi Zardes. Wood, at 23, doesn’t come with the ‘phenom’ label that’s attached to Jordan Morris. He doesn’t uniformly divide opinion like Jozy Altidore or Chris Wondolowski. Wood has endeared himself to USMNT supporters without ever triggering the American soccer hype machine.