Every once in a while it pops back into Omar Gonzalez’s head. A night of terror for all U.S. soccer players and fans.
Omar Gonzalez was on the field the night the USMNT shockingly lost 2-1 to Trinidad and Tobago and — thanks to results elsewhere — failed to qualify for the World Cup for the first time since 1986. It was off his leg that the Soca Warriors scored their first goal, one of the flukiest own goals you’ll ever see.
Hope Solo has often been a figure of division throughout her playing career, and she has only added to that with her latest remarks. Solo believes that the joint bid consisting of the United States, Mexico and Canada should not win the hosting rights for the 2026 World Cup.
The youth project continued for interim coach Dave Sarachan and U.S. men’s soccer with the second of three friendlies in the span of a couple weeks on Saturday in Dublin, Ireland. A young squad showed a few positives and a few more negatives in a 2-1 loss for the USMNT vs Ireland.
Ireland and the United States play a relatively meaningless soccer match on Saturday at Aviva Stadium in Dublin. Neither squad is preparing for the World Cup, but the teams did manage to make an important statement: in support of equality and rights for all. Unfortunately, not everyone understood the message on the back of the Ireland and USMNT jersey.
Go ahead and add Efrain Alvarez to the list of players who got away from U.S. Soccer, which is looking increasingly inept since October.
In a recent interview with SoccerAmerica, Mike Munoz, who coaches 15-year-old Efrain Alvarez at LA Galaxy II, said the exciting young prospect chose to defect from the USMNT youth setup to that of Mexico after the U.S. failed to include him in a camp last year.
According to The Tennessean, a September 11 friendly between the United States and Mexico will take place at Nissan Stadium in Nashville, Tennessee. The USMNT will face Brazil at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, on Sept. 7 before making the 900 mile journey to face El Tri in the Music City.
If you haven’t heard of him before, this is 15-year-old Angeleno Efrain Alvarez. He was given a professional contract by the Los Angeles Galaxy back in March, becoming the seventh youngest signing in league history.
He was sent to LA Galaxy II in the USL to begin the season, and he’s tearing up the league at an astonishing rate. Today, he scored two absolute golazos against Portland Timbers 2.
Jurgen Klinsmann, the man who invented football in 2006 and created Miroslav Klose, Lukas Podolski and Bastian Schweinsteiger using nothing more than some bits of string and an abandoned Doritos bag, is targeting a top-four finish at the 2018 World Cup after finishing fifth in the Hex.
Bruce Arena and Jurgen Klinsmann are two very different people both hung with the blame for failing to get the U.S. to the 2018 World Cup (because it’s easier to blame coaches than the players fans worship).
For all of Toronto FC’s financial ambition, signing players like Sebastian Giovinco, Jozy Altidore, Michael Bradley, Gregory van der Wiel, Ager Aketxe and Victor Vázquez in recent years, the club hasn’t focused on one vital position: center back. And thus, with recent injuries to regular defenders, an intriguing new Michael Bradley center back experiment has unfolded at BMO Field in recent weeks. And it’s something the next USMNT coach might want to consider.