Although Wednesday's MLS All-Star Game from the nation's capital will feature all the league's must-watch talent (minus Lionel Messi) and Arsenal's flourishing squad, the biggest cheer of the night might be reserved for a Gunners player who spent last season in France and who might not even be on the roster come September: instant USMNT hero Folarin Balogun.
A massive crowd at DRV PNK Stadium in Fort Lauderdale welcomed Lionel Messi and Sergio Busquets to Inter Miami on Sunday night with bumping music, an impressive light display, pyrotechnics and a collection of hype videos setting the tone.
Soak it in, Leo Messi.
The warmest of welcomes to @InterMiamiCF. pic.twitter.com/STzKSDrBGh
The folks over at AC Milan have been doing a great job providing American fans with videos of Christian Pulisic’s first week with the club. On Friday we got to see over five minutes of a Pulisic AC Milan training video.
One of the club’s camera people played the role of ‘Puli cam’ and only filmed the USMNT star during Milan’s training. During the five-minute video we got to see Pulisic laughing during some sort of relay drill where he had to pick a correct cone and some of his skill moves.
It's over. The USMNT's Gold Cup, B.J. Callaghan's reign, Matt Turner's blessed existence in penalty shootouts... it's all over. The only constant that remains is Cristian Roldan's inability to put the ball in the back of the net.
Panama shocked the U.S. on Wednesday night in front of over 30,000 at Snapdragon Stadium in San Diego by triumphing 5-4 in a shootout, this after 120 minutes produced a 1-1 stalemate.
The United States men’s national team was eliminated by Panama in the Gold Cup semifinals on Wednesday after drawing 1-1 and losing on penalty kicks 5-4.
Turner was the hero in penalty kicks vs. Canada on Sunday, however the U.S. couldn’t repeat the magic against Panama. Turner saved one penalty kick vs. Panama, but Jesus Ferreira and Cristian Roldan failed to convert their penalties resulting in the USMNT’s defeat.
USA: ❌
PAN: pic.twitter.com/FOTCZFzzPI
The Concacaf Gold Cup semifinals are upon us Wednesday night, and although it's easy to pencil the United States and Mexico into the final for a third straight time, we shouldn't be so quick to write off Panama or Jamaica.
This feels like a particularly open final four. You could probably make just as convincing of an argument about why the U.S. is the best team remaining as you could one about why they're the worst, and the same goes for El Tri.
The USMNT is through to the Gold Cup semifinals after a dramatic, back-and-forth penalty shootout victory over rivals Canada.
The U.S. thought they'd won it in the 88th minute, only for Canada to equalize at 90+3'. Then the dramatics were reversed in extra time as the Canucks went up 2-1 in the 109th-minute before the Americans found a leveler in the 114th.
In the shootout Matt Turner prevailed as Canada could only convert two of five attempts, and up next for the States is a semifinal against Panama on Wednesday night in San Diego.
Christian Pulisic's days of misery at Chelsea are over. The USMNT talisman will join AC Milan on a permanent deal in the next few days.
Transfer guru Fabrizio Romano confirmed the news on Twitter.
Christian Pulisic to AC Milan, here we go! Deal in place between clubs as Chelsea accepted conditions of final bid. ⚫️ #ACMilan
The USMNT is soaring into the Concacaf Gold Cup knockout rounds after twice matching their largest margin of victory in tournament history (back-to-back 6-0 results against Saint Kitts and Nevis and Trinidad and Tobago).
But all that will quickly be forgotten Sunday night when the U.S. welcomes Canada to TQL Stadium in Cincinnati with the knowledge that anything less than safe passage to the semifinals will be considered an unmitigated disaster, especially against a Canadian team that finished behind Guatemala in group play.
After a strangely long break in the action (the United States has a whole week to figure out how to win 6-0 again), the Concacaf Gold Cup returns this weekend with the quarterfinals.
It's no surprise to see the USMNT and Mexico at the business stage of the tournament, but Jamaica, Panama, Guatemala and Canada all navigated the group phase without tasting defeat.
Will we see any surprises in the last eight?
Panama vs. Qatar