All Things Mexico

The United States U-20 team defeated a Mexican U-20 side that hadn’t lost a match since 2009 on Monday in the classification stage of the 2017 CONCACAF U-20 Championship. 

The loss for Mexico means that they’ll need a result against El Salvador on March 1 to qualify for the 2017 FIFA U-20 World Cup in South Korea. If Mexico were to lose or draw that match, the US would clinch their spot before even playing their final classification match against El Salvador on March 3.

Panama were the surprise winners of the 2017 CONCACAF Beach Soccer Championship after defeating three-time champions Mexico 4-2 in the final. With the scores level at 2-2, Panama proceeded to score two unanswered goals to secure their first ever championship.

Mexico scored the first, but Panama responded with their goalkeeper hurling one down the beach for an attacker to side volley home.

Chivas beat Club America Saturday in the Superclasico, with an Angel Zaldivar penalty the difference between the two sides. The real story of the game, though, was Club America manager Ricardo La Volpe making a tackle on Chivas' Jesus Sanchez.

La Volpe was rightly sent off. 

I have to admit, it was a pretty good tackle. Not bad for a 65-year-old!

This is the last thing Atletico Madrid wanted to see ahead of Tuesday’s Champions League first leg: Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez has hit top form again. With a brace against Augsburg on Friday, Chicharito made it five goals in three matches for Leverkusen.

After going through the longest goal drought of his career, Chicharito has been back with a vengeance throughout January and February. He put Leverkusen up 2-0 in the 40th minute with a left-footed shot.

Cuauhtemoc Blanco is a legend. El Temo was one of the most creative, entertaining players in the world during his career. Hell, even his post-playing career, featuring a successful election to the mayorship of Cuernavaca, a government investigation and a hunger strike, has been absurd. His signature move, the Cuauteminha, involved him gathering the ball between his feet and hopping away from defenders.

Javier Guemez, who plays for Blanco's former team, Club America, tried to do the Cuauhteminha against Coras Tepic. It did not go as planned.

Non-Spanish-speaking Liga MX fans will be thrilled to hear Univision is going to start live-streaming games in English on their Facebook page. The streams will only be available in the USA, and will begin with Saturday's Superclasico between Chivas Guadalajara and Club America.

Liga MX is one of the most popular leagues in the world, both in terms of attendance and TV ratings (it outdraws even the EPL in the United States). 

Real Sociedad climbed above Atletico Madrid and into fourth place in La Liga after defeating Espanyol 2-1 on Friday. Carlos Vela’s sixth league goal, his second in two games, and Asier Illarramendi’s wonder strike secured the three points for Sociedad.

Vela opened the scoring in the 26th minute after brilliantly controlling a pass from Inigo Martinez and finishing with composure.

These February friendlies are always a bit of a wild card. Diluted squads, unusual locations and the determination not to get injured can often lend to a less than desirable match. Even with these issues, as a professional player, every time you put on that national team jersey, it’s an opportunity. With both teams fielding squads of mostly fringe players, El Tri were the only side to seize the chance and turn up in a one-sided affair.