USA

Mexico’s pre-World Cup exhibitions will include at least three matches in the country El Tri helped keep out of the World Cup, highlighted by the Mexico vs Iceland friendly in Santa Clara, California, in March. Coach Juan Carlos Osorio will test his team against Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iceland and Croatia this spring, with all three to be played in the United States.

Bosnia and Herzegovina will play Mexico on Jan. 31, three days after playing the United States. The USA match is in Carson, California, while the Mexico match will be in San Antonio.

Amidst an influx of impressive young talent coming to Major League Soccer from South America, the Bundesliga is raiding the U.S. for young players. So while American teenagers may not be having any luck breaking into lineups at home, they’re finding more opportunities in the league of the world champions. To steal a line from Taylor Twellman, what are we doing?

The NWSL draft took place today, and there was no shortage of drama.

In 29-year-old Mexican midfielder/right back Efrain Juarez, the Vancouver Whitecaps have acquired one of the greatest prospective films of all-time. Like any great movie, Juarez’s story starts at the beginning. 

The native of Mexico City won the 2005 U-17 World Championship with El Tri (alongside the likes of Giovani dos Santos and Carlos Vela) while on the books at Pumas, facilitating an ill-fated stint with Barcelona’s B team. He then resurrected his young career by returning to Mexico to play for Pumas, helping his club to the 2009 Clausura championship.

The 2018 NWSL College Draft was held Thursday morning in Philadelphia. Andi Sullivan went No. 1 to the Washington Spirit, as expected. But “player to be named later” was the real star of the NWSL draft. By the end of the day, Carli Lloyd, Sam Kerr and Christen Press had changed teams in blockbuster trades.

Legendary German midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger has elected to re-sign with Major League Soccer’s Chicago Fire for an additional year on a Designated Player contract for the 2018 season. The Fire paid Schweinsteiger $5.4 million last year, but details have yet to be released concerning the new contract.

Landon Donovan has arrived in Mexico. The 35-year-old attacker (who’ll turn 36 on March 4) was officially unveiled at Club Leon’s Estadio Leon Monday night with 7,000 supporters on hand to watch the unveiling of the USMNT legend, who'll wear the No. 20 shirt for the club. 

Speaking fluent Spanish, the Californian addressed the crowd in a defiant matter with regards to questions surrounding his own ability to make a difference in Liga MX.

Less than a week after Sporting KC beat the New York Red Bulls to win the 2017 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup in September, qualifying for the 2018 tournament began. More than 100 amateur clubs entered the competition, dreaming of a chance to compete in the 105-year-old event against the best professional teams in the country. 

Of those scores of squads, 14 Open Division Local Qualifying teams emerged, 14 flag bearers for an ever-growing stanchion of U.S. soccer. 

Harry Kane became Tottenham Hotspur’s all-time leading Premier League goal scorer on Saturday, scoring two second-half goals to pass Teddy Sheringham in the team’s record book. But in many parts of the world, the Harry Kane goal record in a 4-0 win over Everton took a back seat to the stunning events that took place in Hawaii on Saturday morning.

As the first half of the Tottenham vs. Everton match came to a close, those watching in Hawaii had their mornings ruined by reports of an incoming missile launch.