A few days ago, Mexico manager Juan Carlos Osorio was lamenting Croatia’s decision to send Luka Modric and Marcelo Brozovic back to Europe ahead of the two nations’ meeting on Tuesday night. Osorio was looking forward to playing one of Europe's most talented midfields, and the loss of those two exceptional talents appeared to have dumbed down the excercise.
OK, so Mexico lost to Croatia 1-0 in Texas. Let's not dwell on the negatives here. Dak Prescott was there! And he was wearing a Mexico jersey!
Never mind that Mexico got bossed around most of the night by Croatia's B-team featuring Ivan Rakitic (no Modric, no Lovren, no Perisic, no Brozovic, no Subasic and no Mandzukic), Dak Prescott was there!
Miguel Layun gave away the penalty that Croatia scored on but we can forgive him because he scored twice against Iceland. Once again: Dak. Prescott.
Nobody expected a 36-year-old Landon Donovan (who’d really been out of the game for a few years) to tear it up with Club Leon following his shock return to soccer, but we certainly expected more than just four league appearances totaling 37 minutes after joining back on Jan. 12.
Minutes have been hard to come by for Donovan as manager Gustavo Diaz monitors his progress. However, with a match against Tigres looming next Saturday, Donovan might’ve forced himself into the conversation with this instinctive finish against the San Jose Earthquakes.
Since the turn of the 21st century, it’s happened without fail: every World Cup, three nations that began the tournament ranked in FIFA’s top 20 have been unceremoniously dumped from the competition at the group stage. In fact, in two of the four World Cups this century, three of the world’s top 10 ranked sides have capitulated before the knockout rounds.
Here’s a rundown of the three highest ranked sides to fall at the first hurdle in the last four tournaments:
2002
Giovani dos Santos will not be excited to learn that his fellow Major League Soccer players think he's the most overrated player in the league.
In an anonymous survey conducted by ESPN, 11 percent of MLS players surveyed said they thought the LA Galaxy forward was the most overrated player in the league. Also voted to be overrated were Michael Bradley, Jozy Altidore, Gyasi Zardes, Paul Arriola, Benny Feilhaber and Tim Howard. Discerning readers will notice that those are, with the exception of dos Santos, who plays for Mexico, all United States internationals.
Miguel Layún scored his first goal for Sevilla in his team's defeat against Leganés.
Questioned about his performances in recent weeks, Layún is finally showing signs of adaptation and getting back in form.
The Mexican international arrived in Sevilla a few months ago after he was transferred from Porto.
In Portugal, Layún had some excellent moments. For instance, he became one of Europe's players with most assists in 2016.
Chivas defeated the Seattle Sounders 3-0 at the Estadio Akron Wednesday night in the second leg of their CONCACAF Champions League quarterfinal, comfortably overturning a 1-0 first leg deficit by the 55th minute. Oswaldo Alanis, Eduardo Lopez and Jose Godinez scored the goals to complete the semifinal bracket: it’s Chivas vs. the New York Red Bulls on one side and Club America vs. Toronto FC on the other.
Landon Donovan has gotten off the mark for his new club, Leon. In a sense, that is. We'll give it to him.
Donovan came on as a substitute in Leon's Copa MX clash against Atletico Zacatepec, and managed to stick around until the penalty shootout.
Leon ended up losing the shootout 7-6, but one of the penalty takers was talented American youngster Landon Donovan.
WHACK.
After a thrilling 3-2 Tigres win in Monterrey pulled the Liga MX club level with Toronto FC on aggregate in the Concacaf Champions League quarterfinals, the defending MLS Cup champions advanced to the semifinals over the Liga MX Apertura Champions on away goals.
Toronto FC needed a lucky Tigres own goal, some Sebastian Giovinco magic (he scored a free kick, as per usual) and a little more luck to withstand a late Tigres rally in order to advance, but advance they did.
The New York Red Bulls struck a blow for MLS pride in the early Concacaf Champions League match Tuesday when they beat Liga MX's Club Tijuana 3-1, 5-1 on aggregate, to advance to the semifinals.
The Red Bulls cut Tijuana with intricate movement in the final third, which is not a thing one normally associates with Major League Soccer. It's a brave new world.