Game Recaps

Chile found themselves in an unenviable position Sunday, going down 1-0 to Australia and putting their spot in the Confederations Cup semifinals in jeopardy.

We all figured Germany would make it through to the knockout stage of the Confederations Cup, and guss what: they did. The reigning world champions beat Cameroon 3-1 behind Kerem Demirbay and Timo Werner, who scored his first two senior international goals, to advance at the top of Group B. They will face Mexico in the semifinals on Thursday.

Goals from Nestor Araujo and Hirving Lozano were enough to see Mexico through to the semifinals of the FIFA Confederations Cup. Russia took an early lead through Aleksandr Samedov, but Yuri Zhirkov’s red card in the 68th minute extinguished any hopes of a Russian comeback.

Portugal’s 4-0 victory over New Zealand consigned Mexico to a runners-up finish in Group A, setting up a semifinal match against, most likely, either Germany or Chile. 

Arsene Wenger has done something special with his most recent Gunners team.

Despite missing out on the Champions League for the first time in his career, Wenger has managed to instill a sense of team unity that’s the envy of Europe.

Five minutes into the Confederations Cup group B match between Chile and Germany, two Arsenal players combined for the game’s opening goal.

Gunners defender Skhodran Mustafi passed to Arsenal striker Alexis Sanchez, who, after a one-two with Eduardo Vargas, fired home off the left post.

Australia vs. Cameroon did not matter in any larger sense. Both teams are almost certainly eliminated from the Confederations Cup. God, it was fun though. Both teams played on the front foot, and both teams, while not being good enough to affect the international soccer paradigm very much, are good enough to do one or two cool moves before taking a heavy touch and colliding with a defensive midfielder.

The game was like the show 24: entertaining, violent, fast-paced and utterly meaningless in the grand scheme of things. Look, here's a goal:

Oribe Peralta, enemy of the free people of New Zealand with six goals against the Oceania side, might’ve saved Juan Carlos Osorio’s job with a match-winning goal against the Kiwis in the 72nd minute of El Tri’s 2-1 victory. 

After an impressive showing from Mexico in their opening 2-2 draw with European champions Portugal, El Tri manager Juan Carlos Osorio made eight changes to his side because he’s the tinker man. As a result, Mexico spent the opening 45 minutes looking disjointed, blunt and second best. 

Chile were the better side from the kick-off today in Moscow as Cameroon quickly found themselves setting up camp in their own half. Chile were eventually rewarded with a 2-0 victory, but not without the Video Assistant Referee system playing a role.

Portugal will lament giving up a 91st minute equalizer to Mexico in their opening Confederations Cup match, but it’s a result that doesn’t greatly harm the aspirations of the two sides favored to advance from Group A. Ricardo Quaresma gave Portugal the lead in the 34th minute, only for Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez to equalize three minutes before halftime for Mexico.

It happens every year. Like a Johnny Unitas haircut, you can set your clock to it.

When MLS teams hop into the U.S. Open Cup, inevitably some are immediately chopped down. On Wednesday night, three MLS clubs were swept aside by lower-level squads. 

An impressive 30,160 fans showed up at Nippert Stadium for USL side FC Cincinnati’s 1-0 home win over Ohio rival Columbus. For the record, the Cincinnati Reds are averaging 22,063 fans per game.

Leave it to the outspoken Noel Gallagher to bring France and England together.

The Oasis front man’s song "Don’t Look Back In Anger" was played prior to the England-France friendly Tuesday in Paris in a show of solidarity between the two nations following the recent terrorist attacks in England.