Opinion

Is the Liga MX format garbage or the key to soccer's future success?

A few days ago, ESPN stats man Alexis Tamayo — known online as Mr. Chip — said the Liga MX format "is garbage." His opinion sent shockwaves across the Mexican soccer universe and the discussion was on. 

As a guest on the Werevertumorro's YouTube channel, Mr. Chip pointed out that he doesn't understand how "a tournament in which consistency should be rewarded" also has something like playoffs. He also blamed the format as one of the culprits behind the lack of success among Mexican players on the international stage.

Ricardo Pepi scores his second goal for Groningen — too little too late for World Cup roster spot?

Ricardo Pepi scored Groningen’s sole goal in a 4-1 defeat to top Eredivisie side AZ Alkmaar on Saturday. This was the second Ricardo Pepi Groningen goal in the club’s previous two games.

Before the international break Pepi scored in Groningen’s game vs. Sparta Rotterdam to end his 345-day goal scoring drought. Despite a poor showing during the U.S. friendly vs. Saudi Arabia, Pepi didn’t let that affect his club form.

USMNT striker Power Rankings ahead of the World Cup

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.

Wow, the USMNT is really REALLY bad — three takeaways from baffling 0-0 draw with 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.

USMNT vs. Saudi Arabia player ratings: Let's do this quick and forget it ever happened

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.

Is Beyoncé more popular than Cristiano Ronaldo and Messi?

"Beyoncé" is trending on Twitter. Care to know why?

Over the weekend, a tweet claiming that no football player alive is more popular than Beyoncé riled up the whole of Twitter.

USMNT vs. Saudi Arabia projected lineup, TV channel, team news and prediction

The USMNT's penultimate friendly before the start of the World Cup was a lesson in what not to do against Wales on Nov. 21 at Al-Rayyan Stadium. Japan destroyed the U.S. defense and midfield with its press, isolated the Americans' attack and generated all the chances in a thorough 2-0 victory in Düsseldorf.

USMNT player ratings vs. Japan: We're better than this (hopefully)

This USMNT team is very young; they'll be the youngest at Qatar. Sometimes they look like serious 2026 World Cup contenders, sometimes they look lucky to have qualified for the 2022 tournament. Friday's 2-0 loss to Japan was a look at, as we outlined in our match preview, many of the worst-case scenarios for this team.

Here are the three biggest takeaways from the USMNT’s uninspiring 2-0 defeat to Japan

American fans that woke up early Friday morning to watch the United States men’s national team play a friendly vs. Japan were greeted to a pathetic, lackluster 2-0 U.S. defeat. Gregg Berhalter’s men were second-best just about everywhere on the field.

Pages