Claudio Bravo, Chile’s goalkeeping hero during penalty shootout victories over Argentina at both the 2015 and 2016 Copa America finals, came up trumps again against Portugal at the 2017 Confederations Cup semifinal stage. Bravo faced penalties from Ricardo Quaresma, Joao Moutinho and Nani, saving all three of them.
Bravo!
Based on the roster selections for the 2017 Gold Cup, it’s clear CONCACAF heavyweights Mexico and the United States aren’t putting too much stock into the upcoming tournament.
Mexico, which sent many of its top players to the Confederations Cup, will be devoid of most of its stars at the Gold Cup.
The U.S., despite not being in the Confederations Cup and with a partial berth to the 2021 Confederations Cup on the line, is sending a side full of inexperienced players to the Gold Cup.
Spain’s team competing at the UEFA U-21 Euros is ridiculously talented, as we’ve laid out before.
Saúl Ñíguez is making a case to be the best of the lot.
The Atletico Madrid midfielder notched a brilliant hat trick to send Spain past 10-man Italy 3-1 in the semifinals to set up a date with Germany in the final on Friday.
Poor Gianluigi Donnarumma didn’t have a chance.
Writing about Donnarumma is getting too easy. It’s not only hilarious, but the player, agent, and club are managing to handle events in the worst way possible. It’s also moving at a ridiculous pace.
The "will he/won’t he" saga has long since passed Ross and Rachel levels of intrigue. We have newspaper headlines, press conferences, social media posts, and social media posts that have been retracted, allegedly as the result of a hack. Honestly, it’s too hot to keep track of all of this. But it’s the summer and there’s not much else to get excited about in Italian football.
With just a year to go until the 2018 World Cup in Russia, the Russian National Team finds itself in a bit of trouble. All 23 members of its 2014 World Cup squad are being investigated by FIFA for doping. A total of 34 Russian players are facing investigation, the Daily Mail reported.
Bruce Arena has finalized his 23-man roster for the 2017 CONCACAF Gold Cup, and it’s an interesting mix of veteran players that are desperate to impress and make one final World Cup squad while the next generation of talent aims to prove that their time has arrived.
While every player on the roster stands to either gain or lose a lot with regards to the ultimate goal of the 2018 FIFA World Cup, here are five players that could use this tournament as a springboard to more important roles next summer.
Chile found themselves in an unenviable position Sunday, going down 1-0 to Australia and putting their spot in the Confederations Cup semifinals in jeopardy.
Australia scores against the run of play to make things interesting in Group B! @Powerade #CHIAUS #ConfedCup https://t.co/cczRpn2q8I
We all figured Germany would make it through to the knockout stage of the Confederations Cup, and guss what: they did. The reigning world champions beat Cameroon 3-1 behind Kerem Demirbay and Timo Werner, who scored his first two senior international goals, to advance at the top of Group B. They will face Mexico in the semifinals on Thursday.
No disrespect to Carlos Bacca, but the Colombian forward's status as AC Milan’s premier forward has somewhat come to symbolize the seven-time European champion's fall from grace. More industrious than stardust, Bacca simply isn’t cut from the same cloth of Andriy Shevhenko, Filippo Inzaghi or Marco van Basten.
Goals from Nestor Araujo and Hirving Lozano were enough to see Mexico through to the semifinals of the FIFA Confederations Cup. Russia took an early lead through Aleksandr Samedov, but Yuri Zhirkov’s red card in the 68th minute extinguished any hopes of a Russian comeback.
Portugal’s 4-0 victory over New Zealand consigned Mexico to a runners-up finish in Group A, setting up a semifinal match against, most likely, either Germany or Chile.