Brazil's six-times world player of the year Marta has tested positive for COVID-19, the country's soccer governing body (CBF) said on Saturday.
Marta, 34, has been withdrawn from the national team that is set to face Ecuador in two friendly matches at home on Nov. 27 and Dec. 1.
As the rain and mist rolled into Liebenauer Stadium in Graz, Austria on Tuesday, it was Mexico that moved like the onryō ("vengeful spirits") that originated in their opponent’s homeland before being proliferated around the world through the J-Horror genre.
An opening 20 minutes of Japan superiority was beat back single-handedly by Guillermo Ochoa, but the rhythm of the game slowly changed in Mexico’s favor and by the time Raúl Jiménez opened the scoring in the 63rd minute, you felt as though it’d been coming for El Tri.
But first, Ochoa.
USWNT manager Vlatko Andonovski has announced his squad for the Nov. 27 friendly against the Netherlands, and — as always given the extremely competitive nature of forcing your way into this team — the exclusions are probably more notable than the inclusions.
The U.S. Women's National Team will return from an extended break due to the COVID-19 pandemic with an exhibition game against the Netherlands on Nov. 27.
The rematch of the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup final, won 2-0 by the Americans, will be played at Rat Verlegh Stadium in Breda, Netherlands, about 67 miles south of Amsterdam. There will be no fans in the stands. The U.S. squad last played March 11, when it beat Japan 3-1 to win the SheBelieves Cup in Frisco, Texas.
Mexico scored three goals in four minutes to quickly turn a deficit into a 3-2 win over South Korea on Saturday at the Stadion Wiener Neustadt in Austria.
Raúl Jiménez, Uriel Antuna and Carlos Salcedo scored within minutes from the 67th to 70th minutes to erase an early goal created by Son Heung-min. The friendly was played in Austria without fans at the same stadium where the USMNT will face Panama on Monday.
A new era of the USMNT dawned on Thursday with Giovanni Reyna and Konrad de la Fuente playing in a front three that’ll soon be able to call upon Christian Pulisic and Josh Sargent for assistance. Watching the U.S. isn’t just fun again, it’s blissful.
The USMNT returned from a 285-day hiatus on Thursday. A global pandemic and the U.S. federal government’s bungled response meant the Americans hadn’t taken the pitch since a friendly on Feb. 1. Since then, young Americans abroad have staked their claims as vital figures at some of Europe’s biggest clubs, from Borussia Dortmund to Juventus to Barcelona.
Georginio Wijnaldum captained the Netherlands in a friendly against Spain on Wednesday, the day he said goodbye to his 20s. The now-30-year-old played 45 minutes of the 1-1 draw, which was in all fairness a fairly drab exhibition. In fact, the most notable moment was watching Wijnaldum left hanging by teammate Memphis Depay.
Memphis was subbed out in the 79th minute and gave fist bumps to all his teammates as he made his way to the socially distanced benched. Well, all but Wijnaldum.
A hamstring injury will prevent star forward Christian Pulisic from participating in the U.S. men's national team's friendlies against Wales and Panama.
Coach Gregg Berhalter told reporters on a video call Wednesday that the 22-year-old Pulisic was leaving the team's European camp to return to Chelsea, his professional club in the Premier League.