Eduardo “Chofis” López is reportedly looking for a way out of Guadalajara after seven years with the senior side. The 26-year-old has only appeared in seven of Chivas’ 13 Torneo Guardianes matches so far, and he’s had to make due as a substitute in each — totaling just 122 minutes to go with zero goals and zero assists.
Three England players scored their first international goals to give Gareth Southgate's experimental team a comfortable 3-0 win over Wales in a friendly at Wembley Stadium on Thursday.
In-form Everton striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin opened the scoring in the 26th minute before second-half goals from Conor Coady and Danny Ings secured the win in the warm-up game for Nations League matches against Belgium and Denmark.
Francesco Caputo was thrilled to finally pull on an Italy shirt at the age 33 but there was also a tinge of regret at what might have been after a career spent largely in the lower divisions of Italian football.
The Sassuolo forward became Italy's second-oldest debutant when he started Wednesday's friendly against Moldova and needed only 23 minutes to score his first international goal in the 6-0 win.
Olivier Giroud became France's second top scorer when he netted a double to take his international tally to 42 goals as the world champions crushed an injury and COVID-19-ravaged Ukraine 7-1 in a friendly in a near-empty Stade de France on Wednesday.
Giroud, who celebrated winning his 100th cap, found the back of the net twice in the second half to move within nine goals of Thierry Henry's French scoring record. The Chelsea striker leapfrogged Michel Platini, who scored 41 goals from 72 games between 1976-87.
Mexico has gone into the empty belly of the beast and defeated the Netherlands 1-0 at Johan Cruijff ArenA. The game’s only goal — a penalty converted by Raúl Jiménez — was fortunate in that Jiménez was offside before the foul that led to the spot kick, but Mexico’s play in defense, midfield and attack was superior to the Dutch’s over the course of 90 minutes in Amsterdam.
Here are my five key takeaways after watching Wednesday’s match on ESPN2.
#1. Tecatito is fun as hell.
Ukraine have included 45-year-old retired goalkeeper Oleksandr Shovkovskiy in the squad for Wednesday's friendly against France after three other keepers tested positive for COVID-19, the country's football federation (UAF) said.
Shovkovskiy, who retired in 2016 and has made 92 appearances for Ukraine, is currently assistant to head coach Andriy Shevchenko.
New Netherlands manager Frank de Boer will have a tough job over the next fortnight trying to convince the doubters he is the right man to lead the national team after Ronald Koeman.
De Boer, 50, took over last month from Koeman, who left to join Barcelona, and will make his debut on Wednesday when the Dutch host Mexico in a friendly followed by two Nations League games away to Bosnia on Sunday and Italy three days later.
