Welcome to Talking El Tri, your new favorite Mexican soccer podcast!
On our first episode, Luis and Yahir discuss the strengths and weaknesses of Liga MX v MLS and the future of each league. They dive in to El Tri's World Cup group and how they see Mexico performing. Yahir talks a little trash and they ask each other fun questions de Los Cantaritos!
The 2022 World Cup Golden Boot odds leave a lot of room for debate as the tournament sees Ballon d'Or finalists like Karim Benzema, Kylian Mbappé, Robert Lewandowski, Harry Kane, Vinícius Júnior and Sadio Mané all vying for the prestigious individual award that awaits the competition's top scorer.
Some big names won't be with us in Qatar after qualifying failure (Norway's Erling Haaland, Egypt's Mohamed Salah, Sweden's Zlatan Ibrahimović), but we've also got the usual suspects like Neymar, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo to consider.
The overall opinion on Gregg Berhalter and the United States men’s national team has seen a dramatic shift after a heartless loss to Japan and mundane draw with Saudi Arabia. The team looked uninspired and flat, but Berhalter has tried to remain positive.
On Tuesday night at Red Bull Arena in Harrison, New Jersey, Lionel Messi was limited to 34 minutes off the bench but again demonstrated why his form has Argentina firmly placed among the favorites in Qatar.
Messi scored twice — giving him nine goals in his last three international appearances — to continue his incredible start to 2022-23 (he has six goals and eight assists in 11 games for PSG).
The first was a 22-yard rip that skipped into the corner beyond a despairing Andre Blake in the 86th minute.
It's the 88th minute of a World Cup knockout stage game. Your country is clinging to a 1-0 lead and the pressure is mounting. After an extended period of play in your defensive third, the ball goes out for a corner kick.
You can finally take a breath, but who is this sauntering forward into the penalty area? It's the 6-6 center back who has barely left his half all game. His sizeable forehead and broad shoulders stand above the scrum forming in the 18. A pit grows in your stomach as you can almost see the scoreboard saying "1-1."
The worst case scenario heading into September's international window, given the argument over Jordan Pefok's omission despite his incredible start to life in the Bundesliga, was that all three of Gregg Berhalter's selected strikers would fail against the modest defensive challenges posed by Japan and Saudi Arabia.
Gregg Berhalter and his United States men’s national team are on a one-way collision course with a nasty ass kicking in Qatar at the World Cup. On Tuesday the USMNT played its final friendly before the World Cup and pathetically tied lowly Saudi Arabia 0-0.
There are few words that can accurately describe how poor the U.S. has looked in the last two friendly games vs. Japan and Saudi Arabia. With no words to summarize these poor performances let’s just let one stat in particular speak.
Oh boy. After getting played off the pitch against Japan last Friday, our USMNT vs Saudi Arabia player ratings from Tuesday's friendly in Spain aren't much better.
Saudi Arabia entered the match having recently gone goalless against Colombia, Venezuela and Ecuador, and that lack of a cutting edge was evident against the U.S. — although the Americans did take it in turns to gift opportunities to the Green Falcons.
DOHA — Qatar has called up hundreds of civilians, including diplomats summoned back from overseas, for mandatory military service operating security checkpoints at World Cup stadiums, according to a source and documents seen by Reuters.
The deployment of conscripts, some of whom would normally defer national service because their work is considered vital, highlights the logistical challenge faced by the tiny Gulf Arab state hosting one of the world's biggest sports tournaments.
On Monday, Italy blanked their Hungarian opponents 2-0 thanks in large part to a spectacular display from goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma. Gianluigi Buffon’s heir-apparent for the Azzurri made a host of incredible saves, keeping Hungary off the scoresheet as Italy topped their group and qualified for the Nations League finals next summer.