Germany’s “Snubbed XI” just added one of the most electric talents in all of world football. A few weeks ago, the “Snubbed XI” began assembling itself with a preposterously strong attacking core spearheaded by the dropped Borussia Dortmund duo of Mario Gotze and Andre Schurrle (the two players who expertly combined to sink Argentina in extra time back in 2014).
Last we saw Neymar on the soccer pitch he was crying as he was stretchered off the field in a Ligue 1 match. But the Brazilian is back, and if the Neymar goal vs Croatia is anything to go by, he’s ready for the World Cup.
The Mexico national dominated in its final match in Mexico ahead of the World Cup on Saturday evening at Azteca Stadium in Mexico City. But despite dozens of chances and a majority of the possession, Giovani dos Santos was the only goal scorer for Mexico vs Scotland in a 1-0 friendly victory.
The youth project continued for interim coach Dave Sarachan and U.S. men’s soccer with the second of three friendlies in the span of a couple weeks on Saturday in Dublin, Ireland. A young squad showed a few positives and a few more negatives in a 2-1 loss for the USMNT vs Ireland.
Ireland and the United States play a relatively meaningless soccer match on Saturday at Aviva Stadium in Dublin. Neither squad is preparing for the World Cup, but the teams did manage to make an important statement: in support of equality and rights for all. Unfortunately, not everyone understood the message on the back of the Ireland and USMNT jersey.
A front line of Antoine Griezmann, Ousmane Dembélé and Kylian Mbappé sounds terrifying. Italy just found out exactly how terrifying. The three-man attack played a key role in all three goals in a 3-1 win for France vs Italy in a pre-World Cup friendly in Nice on Friday evening.
France manager Didier Deschamps started the fearsome forward trio against Italy’s generally well-regarded back line in Les Bleus’ penultimate warm-up match for the World Cup.
Let’s be honest, you’re probably sick of the Paolo Guerrero story by now. The will-he, won’t-he narrative has gone on for eight months and it’s almost as unbearable as the Ross and Rachel storyline that kept people watching “Friends” for years even though it was never ever really all that funny.
No qualified nation’s World Cup cycle has been quite as dramatic as that of Egypt’s. The Pharaohs got off to a flyer in qualifying before an August defeat to Uganda threw everything in jeopardy. Step forward Mohamed Salah.
Growing up as a reader of Sports Illustrated and a fan of soccer were two mutually exclusive things. Every week, I’d immediately flip through the magazine looking for an article from Grant Wahl or a blurb concerning the world’s game, but it was an extremely rare occurrence.
Argentina began its World Cup tune-ups in earnest on Tuesday with the first of two friendlies before opening group play against Iceland on June 16. La Albiceleste welcomed Haiti to La Bombonera in Buenos Aires — a meeting between the nations currently holding spots five and 108 in the FIFA World Rankings.