Anthony Martial did some bad, bad things to the Germany defense on Tuesday in Cologne. Alexandre Lacazette scored two goals. But, because this was still Germany, the home side scored late to earn a 2-2 draw in a friendly between two World Cup favorites.

Both teams are looking to build a little cohesion in the buildup to the 2018 World Cup and while much of the match was played with a relaxed demeanor, France will be disappointed to have given up the lead with a 93rd-minute equalizer. 

Oh sweet baby Jesus, won’t you please just make this 2017 USMNT horror show stop? Can’t we just be done with it until, say, 2019 or 2020?

At halftime in Portugal vs. U.S., it’s been a tale of two decidedly different things, although both have to do with players that pundits around the nation plugged into their “GUARANTEED 2022 World Cup Starting XI” article.

As far as debuts go, it doesn’t get any better than this. 19-year-old Texan Weston McKennie, fresh off breaking into Schalke’s first team in the Bundesliga and earning his first cap for the USMNT, put his country ahead against the world’s third-ranked side, Portugal.

Argentina showed it can do goals without Lionel Messi on Tuesday in Russia. That defense though could use some work after Nigeria’s Alex Iwobi destroyed the rearguard of La Albiceleste, Javier Mascherano in particular. 

Argentina took a two-goal lead in the opening 36 minutes in a friendly against Nigeria, but Iwobi scored twice to spearhead a 4-2 victory for the Super Eagles at Krasnodar Stadium. His second goal absolutely eviscerated Mascherano as the Arsenal attacker nutmegged the Barcelona man on his way to the final goal of the match. 

People have started to write the obituaries for Italian football.

Italy is a young nation. It has old cities, even older cultures. But, as a country, it was only unified in 1861. That’s only slightly older than the form of codified football we know today. It should be no surprise that Italy has traditionally been so close to football: it’s simply a question of historical proximity.

Radamel Falcao is back to his brilliant best for both club and country, and he’ll surely lead the line for Colombia in Russia. Accordingly, Los Cafeteros could very well match or better their 2014 run to the quarterfinals — the country’s best-ever World Cup finish — which Falcao missed because of a knee injury.

This is the official end of an era for the Italy national team. After a 0-0 draw with Sweden on Monday, combined with a 1-0 defeat on Friday, Italy will not be at the 2018 World Cup, ending a run of 14 straight World Cup appearances. The dominoes are already falling in the aftermath of the Azzurri failing to qualify.

We know — as evidenced by their march through CONCACAF World Cup qualifying and a solid showing at the 2017 Confederations Cup — that this Mexico side is capable of making a splash at next summer’s World Cup, but just what should we expect from the world’s 16th-ranked side? Based on the evidence of their November friendlies on European soil, a lot.

If misery does indeed love company, Americans are going to love this: Italy has failed to qualify for the World Cup for the first time since 1958. After a 1-0 home win on Friday, Sweden held Italy to a 0-0 draw in Milan to defeat the Italians in their UEFA World Cup qualifying playoff on Monday.

In the end, the only moment that separated Switzerland and Northern Ireland in their World Cup qualifying playoff was a dubious penalty call awarded to the Swiss in Belfast. Sunday’s return leg at St Jakob-Park in Basel ended in a 0-0 draw with the Irish again looking extremely limited going forward, but Switzerland were entirely wasteful as well, particularly forward Haris Seferovic.