Mexico National Team

The ball looped up into the air and time slowed down. Goalie Hugo Lloris watched helplessly as a deflected shot sailed just out of his reach. Tens of thousands of fans inside the Philips Stadion in Eindhoven held their collective breath. Then the Hirving Lozano goal vs Tottenham fell into the net and the crowd exploded into jubilant celebration.

Mexico international Chucky Lozano scored against the run of play with his first Champions League group-stage goal on Wednesday in Group B action, and it all came down to a poor piece of play from Spurs defender Toby Alderweireld. 

Atlanta United has announced that after cooperative negotiations between the club and manager Gerardo “Tata” Martino concerning a contract extension beyond the 2018 season, the 55-year-old Argentine coach has elected to decline the offer and move on following the 2018 MLS Cup Playoffs. 

After missing four matches due to an ankle injury caused by teammate Bruno Valdez during training, 18-year-old Club America phenom Diego Lainez made his full return on Saturday by starting his first Liga MX match since Aug. 23. Matt Miazga’s BFF certainly looked back to his best in America’s 3-0 win over Tijuana, going the full 90 minutes and scoring a golazo in the 59th minute.

A pair of former Pachuca teammates are having themselves a ball in the Netherlands right now. 

Chucky Lozano had a breakout season with PSV Eindhoven a year ago, scoring 17 goals in the Eredivisie. He welcomed compatriot Érick Gutiérrez to the team in August and now the two El Tri players are becoming terrifyingly prolific.

Against FC Emmen on Saturday, the Chucky and Guti were at it again, scoring back-to-back goals for the third time this season.

For Mexico, how things have played out in the past week of the CONCACAF Women’s Championship has been nothing short of a disaster.

Storms clouds seemed to loom for the team right from the start in its opening Group A match against the U.S. No one really expected the Mexicans to beat the Americans, but they were certainly supposed to give them a game. They couldn’t do that.

After failing to make the grade at Atletico Madrid four years ago and following that up with three years of diminishing returns with Benfica — culminating in a return of only eight goals in 43 appearances last season — Raúl Jiménez’s loan move to Wolverhampton back in June had all the stink of today’s bewildering transfer market.

It appeared to be nothing more than super agent Jorge Mendes using his clout to wheel and deal the 27-year-old in a way that lined his own pockets while allowing Benfica to finally cut financial ties with the $11 million flop.

The USMNT’s first competitive match after more than 600 days will be played in Minnesota on June 18. The 2019 Gold Cup schedule, venues and dates were announced Tuesday and the U.S. is going to be setting up in the Midwest for the 15th edition of Concacaf’s championship tournament.

Since losing to Trinidad and Tobago to be knocked out of the 2018 World Cup one year ago Wednesday, the USMNT has played some meaningless friendlies with a bunch of young kids and an interim coach.

As was detailed in a recent piece by Kevin Baxter in the Los Angeles Times, Mexico’s senior side is in the midst of a massive transition after the 2018 World Cup squad featured nine players who were at least 30 years of age. 

Right now, it doesn’t even seem fair.

PSV Eindhoven is absolutely eviscerating the Dutch Eredivisie this season and a pair of Mexico internationals is a major reason why, combining for three goals in a 4-0 win over VVV Venlo on Saturday. 

The Boeren are pulling away atop the Eredivisie table with eight wins from eight. More impressively, they’ve done it while scoring 30 goals (3.75 per game) and conceding three. 

Nearly a third of PSV’s goals this season has come from two players from one country: Mexico’s Chucky Lozano and Érick Gutiérrez.