An early goal from Mallory Pugh, followed by an Alex Morgan brace and Carli Lloyd’s 99th USWNT goal led to a 4-1 U.S. friendly victory over Mexico Thursday night in Jacksonville, Florida. Katie Johnson pulled one back for El Tri with a nice chip, but the U.S. showed why they’re the overwhelming favorites at next October’s CONCACAF Women’s Championship.
Mallory Pugh scored the opening goal for the USWNT against Mexico on Thursday night, continuing her scorching start to 2018. The 19-year-old’s strike was her fourth of the year for the U.S., including a January brace against Denmark and last month’s goal against France in the SheBelieves Cup.
Captain Alex Morgan took possession in Mexico’s attacking third and played Megan Rapinoe into the box. Rapinoe used the outside of her right boot to flick the ball beyond the onrushing keeper and towards the streaking Pugh.
The Highlands Ranch native did the rest.
Bruce Arena (with the help of Jurgen Klinsmann and some uninspired performances from the players) failed to qualify the U.S. for the 2018 World Cup. Now he wants to monetize that failure with a new autobiography. The Bruce Arena book is titled “What's Wrong with US?: A Coach’s Blunt Take on the State of American Soccer After a Lifetime on the Touchline,” a clear and obvious money grab revolving around a fiasco of his own creation.
There are times when football meets art. Now you may be thinking we are talking about Zlatan Ibrahimovic, but you are wrong. Arguably the most beautiful play you’ll see all year took place in Portugal’s Primeira Liga as Benfica hosted Vitoria SC on Saturday.
The author of the formidable work of art was none less than Mexican international Raúl Jiménez, a former Club América star. Benfica were leading 1-0 into the 76th minute, and then lightning struck.
In the run up to the first-ever "El Tráfico" – tha name fans have given the MLS derby between LA Galaxy and LAFC – the media hype focused on the Galaxy's recent acquisition of Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Certainly Zlatan did little to dissuade the attention, quipping at a press conference that it feels good to be better than the four billion, or so, other footballers in the world.
Javier "Chicharito" Hernandez has teamed up with Mexican Football Federation President Decio de Maria in a campaign against homophobic and discriminatory chants at soccer matches.
“Abrazados por el fútbol” invites fans to unite in a stance against physical and verbal violence while celebrating the individuality of the Mexican footballing family.
A few days ago, Mexico manager Juan Carlos Osorio was lamenting Croatia’s decision to send Luka Modric and Marcelo Brozovic back to Europe ahead of the two nations’ meeting on Tuesday night. Osorio was looking forward to playing one of Europe's most talented midfields, and the loss of those two exceptional talents appeared to have dumbed down the excercise.
OK, so Mexico lost to Croatia 1-0 in Texas. Let's not dwell on the negatives here. Dak Prescott was there! And he was wearing a Mexico jersey!
Never mind that Mexico got bossed around most of the night by Croatia's B-team featuring Ivan Rakitic (no Modric, no Lovren, no Perisic, no Brozovic, no Subasic and no Mandzukic), Dak Prescott was there!
Miguel Layun gave away the penalty that Croatia scored on but we can forgive him because he scored twice against Iceland. Once again: Dak. Prescott.
Andrija Novakovich is a 21-year-old forward for Dutch club Telstar. He’s not exactly a household name among U.S. fans, but his debut for the USMNT on Tuesday was one of the best moments for U.S. soccer in months.
Nobody expected a 36-year-old Landon Donovan (who’d really been out of the game for a few years) to tear it up with Club Leon following his shock return to soccer, but we certainly expected more than just four league appearances totaling 37 minutes after joining back on Jan. 12.
Minutes have been hard to come by for Donovan as manager Gustavo Diaz monitors his progress. However, with a match against Tigres looming next Saturday, Donovan might’ve forced himself into the conversation with this instinctive finish against the San Jose Earthquakes.