National Teams

The China women’s national football team is currently sitting in a hotel in Brisbane, Australia, under quarantine as precautions concerning the coronavirus outbreak continue. As of Monday, there are 12 confirmed cases in Australia.

The national team, consisting of 32 members, will be quarantined until Wednesday, Feb. 5. The team is scheduled to play three Olympic qualifying matches against Thailand, Chinese Taipei and Australia in Sydney this week and next week. 

Ulysses Llanez scored seven times in 11 appearances for the USMNT U-20 squad. The 18-year-old forward looks like he might be just as prolific for the senior national team.

In his senior USMNT debut, Llanez was a constant threat playing on the wing and scored the opening goal in a 1-0 win over Costa Rica in a friendly on Saturday in Carson, California. Llanez became the 54th American to score in his international debut, doing so not far from where he grew up in Lynwood, California. 

The Mexico women are inching closer to a trip to Tokyo. La Tri defeated Saint Kitts and Nevis 6-0 in the Concacaf Women’s Olympic Qualifying Championship on Saturday in Edinburg, Texas. The win all but ensures Mexico a trip to the semifinals, where one win would send La Tri to the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.

Renae Cuellar, the hero in Wednesday’s 1-0 win over Jamaica, scored two goals to help power Mexico’s victory. 

Despite having been torched for six goals on Tuesday playing a high line, Panama wanted to maintain its defensive style against the USWNT on Friday night. The Americans attacked it early and often and cruised to a dominating 8-0 win despite never really looking like they broke a sweat in Concacaf Olympic qualifying in Houston. 

U.S. Soccer needs to do something to spice up its post-January camp friendlies, lest it continue to embarrass itself with miniscule USMNT attendance.

According to Kevin Baxter of the L.A. Times, a paltry 6,500 tickets had been sold for the USMNT’s friendly against Costa Rica on Saturday at Dignity Health Sports Park about 24 hours before kickoff for Gregg Berhalter’s first match of 2020.

The USWNT and Panama will play under Friday night lights in Houston in attempts to qualify for the Olympics. The USWNT is riding a 24-game winning streak and has scored two or more goals in 21 of those games. It will look to continue its hot streak when it faces Panama to continue Group A play on Friday at 8:30 p.m. ET at BBVA Stadium in Houston. The match can be viewed on Fox Sports Plus and TUDN XTRA 4, as well as streamed on FoxSports.com with an FS1-level login. 

With the 2020 FIFA Futsal World Cup beginning in September, qualifying for the tournament has begun in earnest in both Europe and Africa. While European qualification is a two and a half month process to determine which six countries will join the host nation Lithuania, the Africa Futsal Cup of Nations — played between Jan. 28 and Feb. 7 — determines which three African countries qualify. 

After a disastrous loss to Panama back on Oct. 7, 2018 prematurely ended Mexico’s quest for a third straight World Cup appearance, La Tri approached Wednesday’s encounter with Jamaica knowing that a similar result would likely end their dreams of earning a berth at the Summer Olympics for the first time since 2004.

Canada’s Christine Sinclair has passed USA’s Abby Wambach as the soccer player with the most international goals in the history of the sport. Sinclair now has 185 goals in 290 appearances.

Sinclair scored twice in the first half against Saint Kitts and Nevis in the Concacaf Women’s Olympic Qualifying Championship on Wednesday in Edinburg, Texas, equaling and then passing Wambach’s record.

She's done it! 

You're now looking at football's top international goalscorer of ALL TIME. 

Michelle Akers began her career at Shorecrest High School outside of Seattle where she was a three-time All-American. It wasn’t until she attended the University of Central Florida when her career took off, where she became a four-time All-American and all-time leading goal scorer in UCF history. In 1988-89 Akers was named UCF’s Athlete of the Year and became the first woman to receive the Hermann Trophy.