Fails

Oh boy. After getting played off the pitch against Japan last Friday, our USMNT vs Saudi Arabia player ratings from Tuesday's friendly in Spain aren't much better. 

Saudi Arabia entered the match having recently gone goalless against Colombia, Venezuela and Ecuador, and that lack of a cutting edge was evident against the U.S. — although the Americans did take it in turns to gift opportunities to the Green Falcons.

On Thursday night at 11 p.m. in Madrid, the Spanish women's national team — one of the favorites at the upcoming 2023 World Cup — was thrown into disarray after 15 players, in emails sent to the Spanish Federation (RFEF), reportedly made themselves unavailable for selection until the dismissal of longstanding manager Jorge Vilda. 

This USMNT team is very young; they'll be the youngest at Qatar. Sometimes they look like serious 2026 World Cup contenders, sometimes they look lucky to have qualified for the 2022 tournament. Friday's 2-0 loss to Japan was a look at, as we outlined in our match preview, many of the worst-case scenarios for this team.

Sophia Smith called out NWSL’s continuously awful officiating on Tuesday after the referees missed a clear foul on her in the Portland Thorns’ game vs. Kansas City Current game from Sunday. In the second half of Sunday’s game Smith was taken down in the box with a dangerous tackle from behind.

No foul was called, and one Twitter user posted the highlight asking how nothing was given from the referee. Smith responded, too.

Honduras defender Wisdom Quaye has been banned for 18 months due to an anti-doping rule violation, soccer's global governing body FIFA said on Tuesday.

The 24-year-old right back tested positive for clostebol — which is prohibited by the World Anti-Doping Agency — following a World Cup qualifying match vs. the United States on Feb. 2.