It has been exactly a year since the USMNT lost to Trinidad and Tobago in Cuova to be knocked out of the 2018 World Cup. It was the first time since 1986 the U.S. failed to reach a World Cup (men’s or women’s) and it sent shockwaves through the country.
The USMNT’s first competitive match after more than 600 days will be played in Minnesota on June 18. The 2019 Gold Cup schedule, venues and dates were announced Tuesday and the U.S. is going to be setting up in the Midwest for the 15th edition of Concacaf’s championship tournament.
Since losing to Trinidad and Tobago to be knocked out of the 2018 World Cup one year ago Wednesday, the USMNT has played some meaningless friendlies with a bunch of young kids and an interim coach.
As was detailed in a recent piece by Kevin Baxter in the Los Angeles Times, Mexico’s senior side is in the midst of a massive transition after the 2018 World Cup squad featured nine players who were at least 30 years of age.
For the first time ever, the gala for the Ballon d’Or will also include a presentation for the inaugural awarding of the Kopa Trophy — a prize given to the world's best under 21 player, so really just another Golden Boy because we really need more individual prizes in this sport, don’t we?
Regardless, the 10 finalists for the prize include:
Right now, it doesn’t even seem fair.
PSV Eindhoven is absolutely eviscerating the Dutch Eredivisie this season and a pair of Mexico internationals is a major reason why, combining for three goals in a 4-0 win over VVV Venlo on Saturday.
The Boeren are pulling away atop the Eredivisie table with eight wins from eight. More impressively, they’ve done it while scoring 30 goals (3.75 per game) and conceding three.
Nearly a third of PSV’s goals this season has come from two players from one country: Mexico’s Chucky Lozano and Érick Gutiérrez.
Weston McKennie went more than 30 appearances without scoring a goal for Schalke. Now the 20-year-old American midfielder has two goals in as many games.
McKennie scored a dramatic late match winner against Lokomotiv Moscow in the Champions League on Wednesday in Russia. It wasn’t quite the impact he was hoping to make in Russia in 2018, but it was a great moment for the Texan to score his first goal for the club he joined in 2016.
Efrain Alvarez is no stranger to this space. Earlier this year we called him the most exciting MLS prospect ever. The 16-year-old Los Angeles native has scored some absolute worldies playing for LA Galaxy II in the USL. Alvarez is now scoring golazos for the Mexico U-17 team.
PSV Eindhoven’s hopes of making it through to the Champions League Round of 16 took a massive blow Wednesday after Pablo Rosario’s smashing opener (assisted by Hirving “Chucky” Lozano) was canceled out by a whistling, 18-yard Radja Nainggolan half-volley and ultimately made meaningless by Mauro Icardi’s comedic winner in the 60th minute.
Writing is a craft that must be honed over years of practice.
But sometimes a GIF just perfectly sums up everything you want to put on a page.
YESSS!!
An upset in sports is a tale of the split-screen day. One team — the emboldened underdog — rides the highest of highs, storming the field and reveling in its victory as it has just pulled off the seemingly impossible. The other team — the deflated heavyweight — is humbled and humiliated, slumping off into the locker room and being forced to grapple with a reality it had never considered.
November 5, 2010, was one of those split-screen days.
Mexico, the emboldened underdog. The United States, the deflated heavyweight.