For almost an entire year, Argentina’s national team refused to speak with the press. The boycott was the result of a terrible run in qualifying which led to extremely harsh criticism from the media, including an unfounded substantiation that Ezequiel Lavezzi had been dropped for smoking pot after training.
FIFA president Gianni Infantino has come through on his promise to make the World Cup bidding process more transparent and open to scrutiny after the fallout following the 2010 vote which saw the 2018 and 2022 World Cups handed to Russia and Qatar.
On June 13, 2018, 211 member federations and the 38-person FIFA council will decide who’ll win the right to host the 2026 FIFA World Cup, and all of those votes will be open to public viewing.
U.S. Soccer has announced the squad called in to play a friendly against Portugal in Leiria on November 14, the USMNT’s first match since the disaster in Trinidad & Tobago. The squad is highlighted by five uncapped players — goalkeeper Jesse Gonzalez (22), defender Cameron Carter-Vickers (19), midfielders Tyler Adams (18) and Weston McKennie (19), and forward Josh Sargent (17).
Between November 9 and November 14, the complete European field for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia will be decided over the course of eight gut-wrenching playoff ties. The two-legged affairs will mark the final cuts in a qualifying marathon that began with 54 hopefuls back on September 4, 2016, and will end with 14 European nations vying for glory next summer.
The United States, Mexico and many other countries across the globe will line up to play some relatively meaningless friendlies next week. They could be some of the last international friendlies if a UEFA-led project comes to fruition and forever reshapes the landscape of international football.
Mexico are certainly not taking it easy with regards to November’s international window. Friendlies against Belgium and Poland in Brussels and Gdansk represent World Cup warmups against the nations currently ranked fifth and sixth in the world, and their UEFA qualifying campaigns certainly give credence to those high-water marks.
C.F. Monterrey are cruising at the top of the Liga MX table with the playoffs looming, and they have the league’s stingiest defense to thank for that. Los Rayados have conceded only nine goals in 14 matches, and 18-year-old defensive midfielder Jonathan Gonzalez has played a large role in accomplishing that mean feat.
Monday night’s playoff encounter between the New York Red Bulls and Toronto FC saw the continuation of a narrative that’ll likely follow TFC for years to come: wherever the club goes, Michael Bradley and Jozy Altidore are not going to be given a warm reception. It began on October 22 with Toronto’s visit to Atlanta, TFC’s first road match since that unspeakable encounter between the United States and Trinidad & Tobago. It continued on Monday night at Red Bull Arena.
England completed a rare double on Saturday, rallying to defeat Spain 5-2 and claim the U-17 World Cup after winning the U-20 World Cup earlier this year. The Three Lions also finished second in the U-17 Euros and reached the semifinals of the U-21 Euros. Is England on the verge of a new golden age of football?
Make it back-to-back hat-tricks for 17-year-old Liverpool talent Rhian Brewster at the 2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup in India. After hitting the United States for three in England’s 4-1 victory in the quarterfinals, the London-born striker again found the back of the net thrice, this time in the Three Lions’ 3-1 victory over Brazil in the semifinals.
Brewster, who scored on his Liverpool U-23 debut back in January, now leads the tournament’s Golden Boot race with seven goals. He also bravely struck the first penalty in England’s Round of 16 shootout triumph over Japan.