National Teams

Mexico fans were not super excited with the way El Tri ended their run at the Confederations Cup. A 4-1 defeat to Germany in the semifinals followed by a 2-1 defeat to a Cristiano-less Portugal in the third place game left most folks feeling Mexico should have been more competitive.

Mexico were, however, still capable of moments of magic, as Marco Fabian proved with the consolation goal against Germany, which was named the goal of the Confederations Cup.

Elias Hernandez had himself one helluva time on Sunday night against El Salvador, scoring a goal with a vicious volley and assisting on both Hedgardo Marin and Orbelin Pineda’s strikes. 

El Salvador pulled one back through Nelson Bonilla to briefly level the match at 1-1 in the 10th minute, but Mexico were deserved winners with a controlled display of mesmerizing passing. El Tri maintained 66% of possession while completing their passes at a 90% clip, including 82% in the attacking half.

On Saturday, Dom Dwyer scored his second goal in as many appearances for the USMNT. In doing so, he gave the USA a (temporary) 1-0 lead over Panama in the 2017 CONCACAF Gold Cup. Panama eventually scored to draw 1-1 with the USA.

More significantly, Dwyer became the ninth player in U.S. history to achieve the feat of scoring a goal in each of his first two games for the national team.

Look guys, we're relatively certain that the mandatory hydration breaks during the 2017 Gold Cup match between the USA and Panama have nothing to do with CONCACAF's newly announced "hydration partnership" with sports drink maker BODYARMOR. We know it's tempting to think that there is some connection here, but settle down.

Alphonso Davies has yet to score in his burgeoning Major League Soccer career, but the 16-year-old Canadian phenom bagged his first and second goals for the national team in only his second international appearance.

After getting thrown out of the Confederations Cup third-place match against Portugal (which Portugal won), Mexico manager Juan Carlos Osorio has been handed a six-match ban by FIFA.

Osorio took issue with an incident between Pepe and Hector Moreno in front of the Portugal goal, in which Pepe appeared to push Moreno to knock him off balance while heading the ball. Moreno's header went wide, and Osorio appealed for a VAR replay. When he was denied, Osorio flipped out.

The Gold Cup cometh, and with disgraced former CONCACAF president Jeffrey Webb no longer around to taketh, the 2017 edition of the biennial championship of the North, Central American and Caribbean region promises to giveth in abundance.

Beginning with a titanic clash between French Guiana and Canada on Friday, July 7 and culminating on Wednesday, July 26 with the final in Santa Clara, California, we’ll be treated to three weeks of CONCACAF’y tomfoolery.

It turns out Trump was right. You can get sick of winning. Germany winning, that is. Especially when German guy Lothar Matthäus starts rubbing it in.

Before you get your undies in a bunch and start telling us that "Lothar Matthäus isn't just some 'German guy,'" and that he may or may not be the greatest German player in history, let us cut you off. We know. We know he played in five World Cups. We know he's the most capped player in German history. We have the internets.