Tuesday night’s friendly match between Argentina and Mexico was a fittingly strange closing to a strange year for both nations: Mauro Icardi scored his first international goal at the eighth time of asking, and Paulo Dybala also opened his account in his 18th appearance.
Five years ago, Real Sociedad was playing in the Champions League after a campaign in which the club scored 70 goals — the most in LaLiga apart from Barcelona and Real Madrid. Instrumental to Sociedad’s success was a 22-year-old forward by the name of Antoine Griezmann and his strike partner, the 24-year-old Mexican Carlos Vela.
Major League Soccer is losing another of its best coaches to Mexico.
Earlier this week, Atlanta United’s Tata Martino reportedly agreed to a four-year contract to coach the Mexico national team. Now, FC Dallas’ Óscar Pareja is leaving the states for Liga MX side Club Tijuana, according to reports from Ives Galarcep.
Guillermo Ochoa was awarded the Silver Glove at the 2018 World Cup, but it seems never really has gotten his due as one of the world's best goalies. A serially underrated goalkeeper (he probably should’ve won the Gold Glove), Ochoa is still making incredible saves more than 13 years after this Mexico national team debut.
There was, admittedly, very little footballing action on Wednesday. Qatar shocked Switzerland 1-0 in an international friendly and the U-17 Women’s World Cup continued in Uruguay (the U.S. beat nine-woman Cameroon 3-0), but that was about it.
Oh, and there were a couple of matches in Ascenso MX, Mexico’s second division — namely one involving Diego Cam.
According to Univision, Gerardo “Tata” Martino is set to become Mexico’s manager on a four-year, $8.8 million contract directly following Atlanta United’s playoff run.
Next Monday, the Los Angeles Rams are set to “host” the Kansas City Chiefs in an NFL game at Mexico City’s Estadio Azteca. However, the league is reportedly looking into moving the game back to LA because the field, quite frankly, looks like a case of hellfire diarrhea.
Last May, the legendary stadium switched its pitch from natural grass to a hybrid surface, but with both Club America and Cruz Azul utilizing the Azteca, the grass has been a constant source of anxiety over the last few months.
By holding Iran’s Persepolis to a 0-0 draw in front of 100,000 at Azadi Stadium in Tehran, Japan’s Kashima Antlers won the AFC Champions League final 2-0 on aggregate and booked a 2018 FIFA Club World Cup quarterfinal match against Mexico’s Guadalajara on Dec. 15 in the United Arab Emirates.
The stars for Kashima were 22-year-old Japanese international Yuma Suzuki and the Brazilian duo of Léo Silva and Serginho, who’ll give Chivas everything they can handle come December.
CONGRATULATIONS!
After reportedly rejecting offers of a contract extension at Porto (it’s set to expire this summer), Mexico international Hector Herrera has been linked with a move to Arsenal, Tottenham, Real Madrid and AS Roma. The World Cup standout again demonstrated his immense quality — and only increased the speculation — with a commanding display in today’s 4-1 Champions League victory over Lokomotiv Moscow.