As a little kid, I would feverishly collect Panini World Cup sticker albums every four years. The World Cup rush was even further intensified as everyone at school was collecting the stickers. Of course, all kids specially valued their national team stamps above anything else.

There was nothing a Mexican boy or girl would hold dearest to his or her heart than a Cuauhtemoc Blanco sticker.

With 102 appearances, 18 goals and as a veteran of two World Cups, history is on Giovani dos Santos’ side. However, his play on the field over the last year and a half makes his inclusion in Mexico’s 2018 World Cup squad, by Juan Carlos Osorio’s own stated standards, a real doubt.

When Dos Santos arrived in MLS in 2016, his initial return of 14 goals, 12 assists and a place in the MLS Best XI seemed to fully justify a Designated Player salary of $5.5 million per year. 

England channeled the spirit of Robert Green against the USWNT Wednesday, conceding a very silly own goal on the way to a 1-0 USA victory that gave the Americans the SheBelieves Cup.

Megan Rapinoe's cross/shot was eventually knocked into the England netby goalkeeper Karen Bardsley for the only goal of the night in the 58th minute.

France entered the SheBelieves Cup as the lowest-ranked team of the four involved, ranked sixth while the others were all in the top three. But thanks to a blistering goal from Amandine Henry for France vs. Germany, Les Bleues ensured they didn’t finish last in the tournament, beating Die Nationalelf 3-0. 

Adding to the list of shit that would never happen in men’s football, the Algarve Cup decided to not play its final on Wednesday, instead awarding both the Netherlands and Sweden first place in the tournament. About two hours after announcing starting lineups for the final, the Algarve Cup announced the match was canceled due to poor weather conditions.

Russia concluded group play in the 2018 Algarve Cup without a point, losing all three matches while being outscored 7-1. A 3-0 loss to Sweden on Monday ensured the Russians finished among the bottom two of 12 national teams. But there was one positive: an exquisite rainbow by forward Marina Fedorova.

The USWNT, the world's top-ranked side, defeated Germany, second-ranked, 1-0 to begin SheBelieves Cup play Thursday night, Megan Rapinoe scoring the game's lone goal off an assist from Alex Morgan.

The weather outside was weather — cold, wet (a nice wintery mix of rain/snow) and windy. Why the SheBelieves Cup decided to stage two matches in the midwest during the winter is an awfully good question, but the USWNT and Germany played out a high-energy, although somewhat limited, match — the opener for both nations at this round-robin tournament. 

The Algarve Cup began Wednesday with six matches. The highlight was supposed to be Japan, a finalist in the last two World Cups, against the Netherlands, the reigning European champion. However, the match was hardly competitive, with the Leeuwinnen thoroughly dominating the match. The only notable aspect of the 6-2 rout was four miserable seconds from Japan goalkeeper Sakiko Ikeda.