South America

Liverpool fans are not happy with Darwin Núñez. The club paid a hefty $82 million to Benfica for the Uruguayan in an attempt to strengthen its front line after Sadio Mané's exit, while also providing talk for pundits about how he would compete with Erling Haaland for the Golden Boot. However, the striker hasn't hit it off and is starting to be called a bust. 

Núñez has played a mere 340 minutes across all competitions and scored two goals (one in the PL and one in the Community Shield) — far from the 34 he bagged with Benfica last campaign.

Why such a difference?

Argentine forward Gonzalo Higuain will retire at the end of the season, the 34-year-old said on Monday, bringing the curtain down on a trophy-laden career that lasted almost 18 years.

Higuain started his career with River Plate but made a name for himself at Real Madrid, Napoli and Juventus before moving to Major League Soccer club Inter Miami in 2020, scoring over 300 goals in his club career and 31 times for Argentina.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has registered an appeal by the Chilean football federation (FFCH) against FIFA's decision to allow Ecuador to play at the World Cup despite allegations they fielded an ineligible player, it said on Friday.

World governing body FIFA earlier this month dismissed an appeal in the case of Ecuadorean player Byron Castillo, who Chile had alleged was ineligible to play in qualifying since he was born in Colombia.

On Tuesday night at Red Bull Arena in Harrison, New Jersey, Lionel Messi was limited to 34 minutes off the bench but again demonstrated why his form has Argentina firmly placed among the favorites in Qatar.

Messi scored twice — giving him nine goals in his last three international appearances — to continue his incredible start to 2022-23 (he has six goals and eight assists in 11 games for PSG).

The first was a 22-yard rip that skipped into the corner beyond a despairing Andre Blake in the 86th minute. 

Lionel Messi was involved in all three of his team’s goals vs. Honduras on Friday as Argentina cruised to a 3-0 victory. The PSG forward is a man on a mission and he showed that at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami with this ridiculous chip shot.

Lionel Messi Chip Shot vs Honduras

In the 69th minute (nice) and Argentina leading 2-0, Messi scored a worldie. The goal was so nonchalant and peak Messi. He didn’t even look like he was trying, no first touch, just shoot.

Stop that Lionel Messi. ‍‍‍

This week serves as the final international break before clubs must release players to their national teams just one week before the World Cup begins, so the latest squad selections should be huge indicators of the final 26-man rosters for the competing nations.

However, a look at the current teams indicates that this won't be a traditional World Cup of blockbuster snubs, but rather an exploration of player pools in an attritional battle against lingering muscle strains.