Daytona International Speedway wants to get a little more international. The NASCAR racetrack announced plans to host a soccer festival with professional clubs from North and South America on July 3-4 in 2021. The two-day Daytona Soccer Fest will mark the first time a NASCAR racetrack hosts a pro soccer match.

According to a press release from FOX Sports, the network has landed an exclusive multi-year English-language rights deal with CONCACAF for coverage of the 2021 and 2023 Gold Cups as well as men’s and women’s Olympic qualifiers and the CONCACAF Champions League. 

Fresh off cementing their reputation as the third-best team in the world, Rayados have captured the 2019 Liga MX Apertura title after a brilliant performance inside the house of the beast.

After doing CONCACAF proud with a third place finish at the 2019 FIFA Club World Cup in Qatar, Monterrey finally returned home to contest the first leg of the Liga MX Apertura final on Thursday night. Coming off four games in ten days in Qatar, it was always going to be a test of Rayados’ fortitude against a Club América side that hadn’t played a match in over two and a half weeks.

After a remarkable shootout performance from backup goalkeeper Luis Cárdenas, Monterrey can claim it’s the third-best team in the world after edging Al-Hilal on penalty kicks on Saturday at the Club World Cup. After a 2-2 draw, Los Rayados won the shootout 4-3 in the third-place match. 

OK, maybe the Liga MX side isn’t actually the third-best club team in the world, but don’t let that ruin a good excuse to party. 

Monterrey gave Liverpool all it could handle in today’s FIFA Club World Cup semifinal in Qatar. The two sides exchanged early goals through Naby Keïta and Rogelio Funes Mori, but it was the substitute Roberto Firmino who scored the dramatic winner in second half stoppage time to book Liverpool’s place in the final, where they’ll meet Copa Libertadores champion Flamengo. 

Leonel Vangioni booked a date with Liverpool with one monstrous lash of his left foot.

Monterrey’s 31-year-old Argentine left back launched a stunning long-range goal to help his team beat Al-Sadd 3-2 in the Club World Cup quarterfinals on Saturday in Qatar. The victory sends Los Rayados to the semifinals against UEFA Champions League champion Liverpool on Wednesday.

Monterrey Femenil claimed the 2019 Liga MX Femenil Apertura title with a 2-1 aggregate win over UANL in front of 38,251 fans on Saturday. Las Rayadas had lost in the 2018 and 2019 Clausura finals before finally earning their first-ever title.

But the celebrations were dulled this week when it became apparent Monterrey would only reward players with iPads instead of a verbally promised financial bonus. Last I checked, you can’t pay rent with a tablet.

Monterrey secured a 1-1 draw away to Santos Laguna in the second leg of their Liga MX quarterfinal to advance to the semis 6-3 on aggregate. Santos Laguna suffered the dreaded Curse of the 'Superlider' at the first hurdle after entering the Liguilla as the Apertura’s top team.

Monterrey, however, isn’t a very forgiving eight-seed, as demonstrated by their 5-2 first leg victory at Estadio BBVA Bancomer last Thursday.