CONCACAF officially approved the CONCACAF League of Nations on Thursday, setting up a cool new competition for the 41 national teams in North America, Central America and the Caribbean. The League of Nations, which follows the lead of UEFA, is designed to provide quality, meaningful competition for all teams across the spectrum. Schedule and structural details will be announced in early 2018.
In a league where parity reigns unlike any other, the tenure of Caleb Porter as manager of the Portland Timbers will go down as one of the most wildly successful in Major League Soccer’s 22-year existence. According to reports, that tenure has reached a shocking conclusion — by mutual consent — after a season in which the Timbers finished at the top of the Western Conference.
We joked about it a month ago, the idea of the U.S. hosting a summer tournament full of all the nations who were too cool to actually qualify for the World Cup. Turns out, U.S. Soccer is actually looking into doing just that.
Oh sweet baby Jesus, won’t you please just make this 2017 USMNT horror show stop? Can’t we just be done with it until, say, 2019 or 2020?
At halftime in Portugal vs. U.S., it’s been a tale of two decidedly different things, although both have to do with players that pundits around the nation plugged into their “GUARANTEED 2022 World Cup Starting XI” article.
As far as debuts go, it doesn’t get any better than this. 19-year-old Texan Weston McKennie, fresh off breaking into Schalke’s first team in the Bundesliga and earning his first cap for the USMNT, put his country ahead against the world’s third-ranked side, Portugal.
Leave it to 19-year-old Christian Pulisic to provide some much-needed perspective on the USMNT’s failure to qualify for the 2018 World Cup. In a current political climate that does not often favor communicating thoughtful, introspective sentiments, Pulisic finally spoke up on the state of U.S. soccer with a thought-provoking, well-written article in The Player’s Tribune released on Monday.
U.S. Soccer has announced the squad called in to play a friendly against Portugal in Leiria on November 14, the USMNT’s first match since the disaster in Trinidad & Tobago. The squad is highlighted by five uncapped players — goalkeeper Jesse Gonzalez (22), defender Cameron Carter-Vickers (19), midfielders Tyler Adams (18) and Weston McKennie (19), and forward Josh Sargent (17).
It hasn’t even been a month since the USMNT failed to qualify for the World Cup and U.S. forward Jozy Altidore apparently already felt compelled to pay homage the miserable 2-1 loss to Trinidad and Tobago in October. During Toronto FC’s Eastern Conference semifinal second leg, Altidore made a spot-on reenactment of the Americans’ performance against the Soca Warriors.
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It’s the end of an era more shocking than the United States’ failure to reach the World Cup. Kyle Beckerman’s horrific hair is no more. The Real Salt Lake and USMNT player cut off almost all of the one distinguishable aspect of his on-field displays.
C.F. Monterrey are cruising at the top of the Liga MX table with the playoffs looming, and they have the league’s stingiest defense to thank for that. Los Rayados have conceded only nine goals in 14 matches, and 18-year-old defensive midfielder Jonathan Gonzalez has played a large role in accomplishing that mean feat.