USA

The USMNT plays host to Mexico tonight at Nissan Stadium in Nashville for the 68th meeting between the CONCACAF rivals. Mexico leads the all-time series with a record of 34W-18L-15D, and while victory is always of the utmost importance in this historic matchup, there’s no getting around the fact that this is an encounter between two very young sides that are casting their first covetous glances towards the 2022 World Cup cycle.

The NWSL regular season wrapped up this past weekend with a mixed bag of business-as-usual and surprising results. All around the league, for playoff bound teams and doormats alike (we’re looking at you, Sky Blue), the level was turned up to 11, giving fans both feel-good entertainment and high quality football to get excited about heading into the postseason.

Neymar’s return to the Seleção for a pair of September friendlies against the USMNT and El Salvador brought forth the requisite questions concerning his World Cup antics, and the Paris Saint-Germain star was measured in his response to being labelled a diver before meeting the U.S. in New Jersey on Friday. 

As I watched the U.S. friendly against Brazil, a fly kept buzzing around my living room. It would fly in circles, occasionally getting near enough to me so I could try to swat it out of the sky, but it always fluttered away out of my reach. That’s pretty much how most of the USMNT vs Brazil highlights looked, with the Brazilians dancing around their hosts for a 2-0 win on Friday night in New Jersey.

Brazil racked up well over 60 percent of possession and at times dazzled with tricks and flicks. It didn’t look great for a lot of the young USMNT players in defense and midfield.

If you’re curious to check out the most famous football players with photos and visceral evidence of their existence, you’ve come to the right place. In the latest edition of the ESPN World Fame 100, 32 of the entries were footballers, giving you a fitting idea of the sport’s global appeal. We’ve included all 32 of those players and some other footballers that are instantly recognizable to followers of the game.

Take a look below, and get inspired to run more. 

Most Famous Football Players With Photos

Edinson Cavani | PSG & Uruguay 

We’re sorry to bring it up, but directly following the USMNT’s fiasco at Ato Boldon Stadium, a lot of talking heads entered the debate surrounding how to fix U.S. Soccer without offering much in the way of concrete, actionable plans. But it was hard to ignore the insight offered from two of America’s most prized European exports: Borussia Dortmund’s Christian Pulisic and Newcastle United’s DeAndre Yedlin.

On Tuesday morning, the U.S. women’s national team found out its group for Concacaf World Cup qualifying next month. Then the reigning world champions went out and routed Chile 4-0. And Tobin Heath was so gosh darn dominant, with her feet all over the USWNT vs Chile highlights, that it makes you wonder what the heck she has to do to get some recognition from the fools at FIFA who decide who is nominated for the FIFA Best Awards.