Central & South America

Tomorrow night, Argentina host Peru at La Bombonera in Buenos Aires knowing that victory will send them above the visitors and into CONMEBOL’s automatic qualifying places before their final match away to Ecuador on Tuesday. All eyes will be on Lionel Messi and the ever-improving Paulo Dybala as La Albiceleste attempt to safely navigate an unfathomable disaster, but Argentina’s entire World Cup qualifying campaign shows that nothing will go according to script.

October 6 and 10 could very well define our 2018 without having even celebrated the turning of the new year. Matches against Panama in Orlando and Trinidad & Tobago in Couva will decide the USMNT’s fate with regards to the world’s biggest sporting event. For those that like to measure the time between their birth and death with the probabilities of how many more World Cups they’ll be able to enjoy, failure to take anything less than four points could prove catastrophic.

The list for the players with the most official appearances in the history of soccer stretches from players who played in the 1940s to the present day. Goalkeepers like Iker Casillas and Gianluigi Buffon have both entered the top 20, but there are still many players ahead of the two active legends.

According to Footballdatabase.eu, English goalkeeper Peter Shilton has accumulated the most official appearances with 1,390. 

Esteban Cambiasso was a box-to-box midfielder who did a bit of everything, a prototypical Jose Mourinho player. The legendary Argentine retired on Friday at the age of 37 after two decades of play, most of which he played with his iconic bald dome. 

Want the definition of a miracle? Take Peru, a country that hasn't qualified for a World Cup since 1982 and is now closer than ever. Want the definition of a catastrophe? Take Argentina, who in recent years has lost a total of three finals and could get left out of next summer's World Cup in Russia entirely.

Alexis Sanchez is fat and content because he’s got a hot new GF and that’s why Arsenal and Chile can’t win. At least, that’s what tens of thousands of fans are saying ahead of a planned march in Santiago to break up Alexis and his girlfriend Mayte Rodriguez. 

On the face of it, a 1-1 draw with bottom-dwelling, already-eliminated Venezuela in front of 60,000 at the Estadio Monumental in Buenos Aires was a godawful result for Argentina, and it really was. But from a broader perspective there’s a lot more to analyze and discuss than simply draw = bad.

Booby Wood, on as a 73rd minute substitute for Darlington Nagbe, salvaged a point for the USMNT against Honduras by scoring his nation’s lone goal in the 85th minute. It took a superbly struck Kellyn Acosta free kick to trouble the staunch Honduran defense, and Wood was on hand to keep the U.S. in the automatic qualifying places — at least for now.

A Panama victory over Trinidad and Tobago later tonight would see the U.S. drop to fourth in the Hex, the spot that necessitates a dreaded inter-confederation playoff with Asia to determine who advances to Russia.

Everyone loves a good dog. Especially when he brings goals. 

Moments after a dog wandered onto the pitch in the World Cup qualifier between Colombia and Brazil, Willian opened the scoring with a beautiful goal in a 1-1 draw between the two teams who came into the match atop the CONMEBOL standings. 

A dog entering the field during Colombia - Brazil  pic.twitter.com/abEH1bZnVB