National Teams

The USWNT booked passage to the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup with an imperious 6-0 victory over Jamaica on Sunday night, and setup a much-anticipated CONCACAF Women’s Championship final against Canada in the process.

With automatic qualification hanging in the balance, the U.S. raced out to a 5-0 lead by the 33rd minute, and it would be ridiculous to single out an individual for praise in the face of such overall team excellence.

Panama kept Canada in check for 44 minutes Sunday, but a seven-goal, 34-minute spell ended the Central American’s hopes of an astonishing upset at the semifinal stage of the CONCACAF Women’s Championship. By advancing to the final, Canada secured automatic qualification to the 2019 Women’s World Cup in France, where it’ll look to improve on a quarterfinal showing at the 2015 finals on home soil.

When Germany won the 2014 World Cup, there was little doubt Manuel Neuer was the best goalkeeper in the world. His impressive shot-stopping ability and unparalleled foot skills made him a unique weapon for Die Mannschaft. 

These days, however, Neuer looks to be a shadow of his former self.

Following a long injury layoff, Neuer couldn’t do anything to help Germany during the country’s worst-ever World Cup showing over the summer in Russia. 

Olimpicos — scoring directly from a corner kick — are a rare occurrence at the top level of football. Goalkeepers are usually too astute, too tall and too athletic to allow someone to score from a corner. But this Mo Salah Olimpico on Friday showed it’s not impossible. 

Michael Bradley returned to the U.S. national team one year and one day from the worst day in U.S. men’s soccer history. He returned just in time to guide his team to a 4-2 loss to Colombia on Thursday in Tampa, Florida, with the pro-Colombian crowd chanting “Olé!” with glee in the closing minutes after Colombia scored three goals in 23 minutes in the second half.

It’s hard not to like Kylian Mbappé.

Time magazine announced he would become the fourth footballer to grace its cover on Thursday and the feature story on the 19-year-old included this statement on giving his $500,000 World Cup bonus to charity.

“(It) does not change my life, but it changes theirs,” Mbappé said.

What’s not to love?

For Mexico, how things have played out in the past week of the CONCACAF Women’s Championship has been nothing short of a disaster.

Storms clouds seemed to loom for the team right from the start in its opening Group A match against the U.S. No one really expected the Mexicans to beat the Americans, but they were certainly supposed to give them a game. They couldn’t do that.