Mexico National Team

Mexico fans were not super excited with the way El Tri ended their run at the Confederations Cup. A 4-1 defeat to Germany in the semifinals followed by a 2-1 defeat to a Cristiano-less Portugal in the third place game left most folks feeling Mexico should have been more competitive.

Mexico were, however, still capable of moments of magic, as Marco Fabian proved with the consolation goal against Germany, which was named the goal of the Confederations Cup.

Elias Hernandez had himself one helluva time on Sunday night against El Salvador, scoring a goal with a vicious volley and assisting on both Hedgardo Marin and Orbelin Pineda’s strikes. 

El Salvador pulled one back through Nelson Bonilla to briefly level the match at 1-1 in the 10th minute, but Mexico were deserved winners with a controlled display of mesmerizing passing. El Tri maintained 66% of possession while completing their passes at a 90% clip, including 82% in the attacking half.

After getting thrown out of the Confederations Cup third-place match against Portugal (which Portugal won), Mexico manager Juan Carlos Osorio has been handed a six-match ban by FIFA.

Osorio took issue with an incident between Pepe and Hector Moreno in front of the Portugal goal, in which Pepe appeared to push Moreno to knock him off balance while heading the ball. Moreno's header went wide, and Osorio appealed for a VAR replay. When he was denied, Osorio flipped out.

The Gold Cup cometh, and with disgraced former CONCACAF president Jeffrey Webb no longer around to taketh, the 2017 edition of the biennial championship of the North, Central American and Caribbean region promises to giveth in abundance.

Beginning with a titanic clash between French Guiana and Canada on Friday, July 7 and culminating on Wednesday, July 26 with the final in Santa Clara, California, we’ll be treated to three weeks of CONCACAF’y tomfoolery.

Mexico took care of Paraguay in their final warm-up before the CONFACAF Gold Cup, winning 2-1 behind goals from Rodolfo Pizarro and Elias Hernandez. 

Pizarro opened the scoring when he pounced on a rebound and put it in the back of the net.

Chivas making presence felt on the NT tonight. @Rpizarrot w/ the golazo. #ElTriEng pic.twitter.com/nXiyHq2MKf

Mexico already trailed by three when Marco Fabian lashed at the ball with all his might, catching everyone by surprise.

Fabian sliced a wonder strike past Marc-Andre ter Stegen in the 89th minute, but few will remember this match for that goal.

Instead, what will be remembered is El Tri surrendering two goals in the first eight minutes en route to a crushing 4-1 defeat in the Confederations Cup semifinals Thursday in Russia.

Germany will play Chile in the final on Sunday while Mexico gets a Cristiano Ronaldo-less Portugal in the third-place game. 

Jesse Gonzalez is probably the best young goalkeeper in MLS. The 22-year-old FC Dallas goalie is tall, athletic and composed. Sounds perfect for the USMNT, right? I mean, Tim Howard and Brad Guzan are getting older, and there hasn't been a heir apparent to step into their shoes.

The problem was until today, Gonzalez was actually in Mexico's player pool. However, Gonzalez filed paperwork for a one-time national team switch, and today FIFA approved the move. This is a big deal. Gonzalez has a while to go before he even hits his prime, and he's already really good.

Ghana coach James Kwesi Appiah might be on board with Donald Trump’s vision for a big, beautiful wall along the Mexican border.

After Ghana lost 1-0 to Mexico on Wednesday in Houston, Appiah didn’t complain about his team’s inability to put away chances, but instead he was dismayed that a Mexican-American was allowed to referee the game.

Goals from Nestor Araujo and Hirving Lozano were enough to see Mexico through to the semifinals of the FIFA Confederations Cup. Russia took an early lead through Aleksandr Samedov, but Yuri Zhirkov’s red card in the 68th minute extinguished any hopes of a Russian comeback.

Portugal’s 4-0 victory over New Zealand consigned Mexico to a runners-up finish in Group A, setting up a semifinal match against, most likely, either Germany or Chile.