History and Background
Since the Confederations Cup began in 1992, Mexico have only missed out on three occasions — making them joint leaders in participation alongside Brazil with seven appearances. They hosted the tournament in 1999 and ended up winning it, beating their arch-rivals the United States in the semifinals and then Brazil in the final.
After a rough start to the 2017 MLS season for both Giovani dos Santos and the LA Galaxy, the club are now unbeaten in their last four matches following Sunday’s 2-1 away win over Minnesota United — a run that has seen Dos Santos register three goals and an assist.
Big ups to Steve Fenn (@StatHunting) for breaking down MLS wages by team and player in a brilliantly interactive infographic. You can get lost in this masterpiece for hours.
I'm going to be honest, I haven't watched Conan O'Brien in ages, although Late Night with Conan O'Brien was a staple of my younger years. If there's one thing that Conan does better than any other host, it's getting outside the studio and messing with people.
Mexico manager Juan Carlos Osorio has named his 23-man squad for El Tri’s February 8 friendly against Iceland in Las Vegas, Nevada. As the match does not fall on an official FIFA international date (meaning European clubs do not have to release their players for national team duty), the squad is primarily Mexico-based, apart from the LA Galaxy’s Giovani dos Santos.
The 2017 MLS season is fast approaching with training camp beginning on Tuesday for all clubs. With the USMNT currently undergoing their January camp in California ahead of friendlies against Serbia and Jamaica, some big-name American players were missing, but Tuesday also marked the first official training sessions for expansion clubs Minnesota United FC and Atlanta United. Here are some of the best photos from around the league.
Of all the big name, designated players on show during Sunday’s Western Conference semifinal between the Colorado Rapids and LA Galaxy (Tim Howard, Jermaine Jones, Steven Gerrard, Giovani dos Santos and Robbie Keane), it was the least-celebrated DP who made the biggest difference: Swiss attacking midfielder Shkelzen Gashi.
Gashi scored his 10th goal in MLS, and it was an absolute stunner. With the Galaxy enjoying a 1-0 aggregate lead following their victory in Los Angeles in the first leg, Gashi’s 36th minute wonder goal evened the score for Colorado.
The Hex kicks off on November 11 in Columbus, Ohio with the big one: the United States versus Mexico. El Tri manager Juan Carlos Osorio has announced his squad for that match and their trip to Central America to play Panama four days later.
While Osorio had the luxury of naming largely experimental squads for September’s final fourth round World Cup qualifiers against El Salvador and Honduras, as well as their October friendlies against New Zealand and Panama, the Colombian has named his strongest possible side in an attempt to end the Dos a Cero spell.
For those watching Mexico play New Zealand in a friendly match in early October, it was easy to scoff at the sight of Giovani dos Santos wearing the captain’s armband for El Tri. Leadership has never been a quality directly associated with the Mexican attacker, but his continued evolution as a footballer speaks to his newfound maturity.
Landon Donovan, the all-time leader in scoring, assists and second most capped player in USMNT history, to go along with MLS’ all-time top scorer, assists leader and playoff goals leader has added another distinction to his legacy: he’s now MLS’ all-time leader in playoff assists with 15.
The Galaxy mercilessly ended a careening Real Salt Lake season, the Claret and Cobalt having limped into the playoffs after collecting only three points from their final seven regular season games.