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      US Men's Soccer 3, Mexico 2: All The Plot Twists

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      Sunday’s Concacaf Nations League final was a roller-coaster of emotion, a game of goals and fights, flying projectiles and video reviews. It ended with the United States lifting the trophy.You will not find the word Concacaffy in any dictionary, but any soccer fan in North America knows what it means and how to use it in a sentence.It can explain anything from a terrible field to a terrible call to terrible behavior, and the word works just as well as an anguished cry or accompanied by a shrug of the shoulders. Can’t believe that foul wasn’t a red card? That’s so Concacaffy. Field surrounded by a 20-foot moat? That’s so Concacaffy. Were there really just 11 minutes of stoppage time after a 15-minute overtime? Sooooo Concacaffy.Even before the United States men’s national team beat Mexico, 3-2, on Sunday night to win the Concacaf Nations League final on Sunday, the word has been tossed around quite a bit. For fans of the two teams — the twin poles of North American soccer dominance and hand-wringing — the whole night was thrilling and frustrating and exhilarating and maddening.It was also pure, unfiltered Concacaf. Missed it? Here are the highlights. And the lowlights.Jesús Corona intercepted a pass by Mark McKenzie, left, and ripped a shot past Zack Steffen.Jack Dempsey/Associated PressA mistake! And a goal for Mexico.Mexico’s night started wonderfully, with a sizable advantage among fans in the stands in Denver and an early goal. It came courtesy of a giveaway by the young United States defender Mark McKenzie — who made a bad decision in his own penalty area. Just over a minute into the game, Jesús Corona pounced on the error, and Mexico was ahead, 1-0.It gets worse for the U.S.! Oh wait, no, it doesn’t.Mexico’s Héctor Moreno doubled the lead in the 24th minute, threatening to send the United States into a dangerously deep hole. But the referee, John Pitti of Panama, is called to the video-assistant review monitor for a second look at Moreno’s positioning, and he rules the goal was offside.Relief for the U.S.! Reyna gets one back.Gio Reyna corralled a header off the post and slammed in the rebound in the 27th minute.Isaiah J. Downing/USA Today Sports, via ReutersMoments later, the U.S. got to breathe an enormous sigh of relief when three of its brightest young stars teamed up to tie the score.Christian Pulisic started the play, curling in a corner kick toward midfielder Weston McKennie. McKennie won the free ball and sent his header past Mexico’s goalkeeper, Memo Ochoa, but the shot hit the far post. The carom brought it right back into the goal mouth, though, where Gio Reyna turned it effortlessly back into the net. Tie game.In the stands, Reyna’s parents, Claudio and Danielle — who both played for the national team — share a hug.Late Drama! Mexico retakes the lead, and the U.S. answers.The second half was when the game got interesting. The Americans made some tactical changes and started to hold their own, and McKennie kept firing headers at Ochoa, who kept managing to keep them out. United States goalkeeper Zack Steffen was doing the same at the other end until he scrambled out to break up a chance and, untouched, went down with a leg injury. He couldn’t continue, and was replaced by Ethan Horvath in the 69th minute.And this is when the game got really fun.The 20-year-old Mexico star Diego Lainez appeared to win the game in the 79th minute when, seconds after coming on as a substitute, he took a pass on the right, nudged it left and ripped a shot past Horvath to give Mexico a 2-1 lead.But that wasn’t the exclamation point it seemed. Within minutes, the game was even again after McKennie — thwarted by the post and by Ochoa for most of the night — finally sneaked a header over the line.Weston McKennie’s late header sent the final to extra time.John Leyba/USA Today Sports, via ReutersTrouble! A homophobic chant and flying bottles.The game was delayed for about three minutes when the referee stopped play to enforce Concacaf’s anti-discrimination protocols. The rules are in place to address everything from racism to homophobic chants, and they nearly stopped a Mexico-U.S. game in New Jersey in 2019.Mexico’s federation, its stars and its coaches have pleaded with their fans for years to stop the chant that has caused the most trouble, but it is still a common refrain at the team’s games at home and abroad.“Once again, I insist — I asked you guys to stop with that screaming,” Ochoa said during a news conference ahead of the final, and after the team’s win over Costa Rica in the semifinals had been paused because of the protocols. “It doesn’t help us at all. It is affecting us as a matter of fact.”Ochoa pleaded with fans to not repeat the chant in the final “and in the upcoming games in the Gold Cup, in the qualifiers, in Mexico, or abroad,” noting that the team could face escalating punishments, and even ejection from tournaments, if soccer officials ever follow through and enforce its most serious punishments.“All the team players are asking you, please, because in the long run, this could affect us.”Still, for the second time in this tournament, a Mexico match was stopped to address it.Isaiah J. Downing/USA Today Sports, via ReutersThe players gathered at midfield during the delay, and an announcement — a warning that the game could be called off — was read over the stadium loudspeakers. Play soon resumed, but the trouble wasn’t over.As is often the case, bottles and cups became projectiles on several occasions, most notably after the United States celebrated goals, and as players like Pulisic lay on the grass to waste time late in the match.At least one missile sent Reyna down in a heap, clutching his head, after a goal, and another later hit a Mexican player square in the face.Extra time! Two V.A.R. checks, two penalty kicks, one goal.If you weren’t hooked by now, the game was about to go full Concacaf.Early in the second extra session, Pulisic drove into Mexico’s penalty area and went down under a hard challenge from two defenders. On the ground, he waved his arms in the international symbol for “Hey that was a penalty!” but Pitti ignored him. Until, that is, he got a nudge to review the play on the sideline monitor.“It plays with your head a little bit when it takes long for the ref to decide whether it’s a PK or not,” McKennie said.A second look — interrupted briefly so he could red card Mexico’s coach, Tata Martino, for throwing his arm around the referee’s shoulder as he peered at the screen — confirmed for Pitti that the foul was a penalty. He made a dramatic signal to award it, and Pulisic stepped up and buried it. U.S. 3, Mexico 2.Christian Pulisic went down after a hard challenge in the second extra period.Jack Dempsey/Associated PressAfter waiting out a video review, he fired his penalty kick into the top corner.Jack Dempsey/Associated PressBut the final, and Mexico, was not done. Mexico won a corner in the 119th minute and stroked in a cross. A header appeared to hit McKenzie on the arm, and while Pitti did not appear to see it, every Mexican player did. Back to the review screen Pitti went, and off to the spot went Mexico. By this point, even the announcers were laughing.The problem, at least for Mexico, was the job wasn’t done yet. Andrés Guardado stepped up to take the penalty, and tie the score again, and his attempt wasn’t bad. But Horvath had guessed correctly and, diving to his right he pushed it aside.After that, all that was left was bottles thrown from the stands, 11 minutes (11!) of added time and a final whistle that delivered the United States — which had started the inaugural Nations League final with one of its youngest lineups ever — its first trophy since 2017, and its first win over Mexico since 2018.The confetti flew where the bottles had not, the fans (at least those there to support the U.S.) cheered and the American players picked up their medals.And then they braced themselves to possibly do it all over again in a month, when Mexico and the United States will be expected to tangle again in Concacaf’s regional championship: the Gold Cup.Tyler Adams, who taunted the Mexico crowd as it threw bottles, and Gio Reyna, who took one to the head.John Leyba/USA Today Sports, via Reuters More

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      U.S. Men Fail to Qualify for Olympic Soccer Tournament

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      Honduras dashes the Americans’ hopes of a trip to Tokyo, the latest in a string of qualifying failures for U.S. Soccer.The United States failed in its latest bid to qualify for the Olympic men’s soccer tournament on Sunday, falling to Honduras, 2-1, in a regional qualifying tournament in Mexico. A goalkeeping blunder proved to be the difference this time, but the feeling — and the frustration — was all too familiar.The defeat was a humbling end to yet another Olympic qualifying campaign for the United States men, and it means the Americans will miss their third straight Summer Games. A United States men’s team last appeared in the Olympics in 2008, and now has failed to qualify for the Games in four of the past five cycles.Goals by Honduras on either side of halftime — a bundled finish by the Brooklyn-born striker Juan Carlos Obregón Jr. in first-half stoppage time and a deflected goal as a disastrous mistake by goalkeeper David Ochoa minutes into the second half — proved decisive, and sent the Hondurans to their fourth straight Olympics. Honduras finished fourth in Rio de Janeiro in 2016, losing to the eventual champion, Brazil, in the semifinals.“The goal was to qualify for the Olympics, and we didn’t get the job done today,” defender Henry Kessler said.Mexico beat Canada, 2-0, in the tournament’s second semifinal to claim its third straight berth in the Summer Games.U.S. Soccer will still have a representative in Tokyo: Its world champion women’s team qualified last year and will be a favorite to claim its fifth gold medal in the sport when the Olympics open in July. American men’s teams have played in the Olympics four times but have never won a medal.Defender Justin Glad with Juan Carlos Obregón Jr. of Honduras, which was bidding for its fourth straight Olympic berth.Henry Romero/Reuters“Obviously, we’re devastated, absolutely devastated,” United States Coach Jason Kreis said. “In our locker room, the guys are like it’s a tragedy — a tragedy.”Unlike most tournaments, the Olympic qualifying event is all about the semifinals. In CONCACAF, the region that includes teams from North and Central America and the Caribbean, only the two semifinal winners advance to Tokyo, making victory in one of those matches the goal and rendering the final — Honduras will play the host Mexico on Tuesday — an afterthought.The make-or-break semifinal game played out under a scorching sun in Guadalajara, Mexico, where the temperature was 90 degrees at kickoff. The game paused for hydration breaks in each half.The Americans tried to take control early, and produced two good scoring chances. But as Honduras held firm and settled in, the Americans seemed to run short of energy and ideas. Honduras took the lead four minutes into first-half injury time, with a long, inch-perfect cross-field pass headed expertly into the path of a charging Obregón in the goal mouth. Using his thigh, and then his hip, he clumsily muscled it over the line past Ochoa in goal.Honduras doubled its lead less than three minutes into the second half when Ochoa — under dutiful but minimal pressure — drove a pass off forward Luis Palma that ricocheted into his own net. Scrambling to his feet, Ochoa quickly fished the ball out of his net, but the Americans’ day suddenly had taken on a grim aura.Midfielder Jackson Yueill, the United States captain, got a goal back in the 52nd minute with a rocketed shot from just outside the circle atop the Honduran penalty area. And Jonathan Lewis had three excellent chances to tie the score — one on a header cleared off the line, another lost to a mystery foul spotted by the Salvadoran referee — as the tension built and the time ticked away. But the goals the United States needed never arrived.The two games in Mexico on Sunday completed the 16-team Olympic men’s field, which already includes teams like host Japan; Brazil (the gold medalist at home in 2016) and Argentina from South America; France, Germany, Romania and Spain from Europe; Egypt, South Africa and Ivory Coast from Africa; Australia, Saudi Arabia and South Korea from Asia; and New Zealand from Oceania.Jonathan Lewis had several chances to score in the second half.Henry Romero/ReutersThe Olympic men’s tournament has been an under-23 championship since 1992, an accommodation with FIFA, the sport’s global governing body, to maintain the primacy of the World Cup as the sport’s showcase event. (The women’s Olympic tournament is, like the Women’s World Cup, contested by senior national teams.)But it remains an important barometer of a country’s ability to produce young talent, and for a regional force like the United States, which was still reckoning with its senior national team’s stunning failure to qualify for the 2018 World Cup in Russia, missing out again and again had become a referendum on the nation’s soccer progress.Once a regular in the men’s event, the United States last appeared in it at the 2008 Beijing Summer Games, when it won only its opening game against Japan, tumbled out after the group stage and finished ninth. But soon, missing the Olympics troublingly became the norm. The Americans, who had failed to qualify for the 2004 Athens Games, then missed out on both the London Olympics in 2012 and the Rio Games in 2016.Honduras took the lead on a goal seconds before the halftime whistle.Henry Romero/ReutersU.S. Soccer made reversing that recent history a priority this year. It hired Kreis, a veteran of several head coaching jobs in Major League Soccer, to lead the team, and tried to take full advantage of some of the talent produced by the league’s recent investments in player development. All 11 United States starters on Sunday play for teams in M.L.S., but some of the country’s best under-23 talent that — European pros like Christian Pulisic, Weston McKennie, Sergiño Dest and Gio Reyna, among others — were unavailable because their European clubs were under no obligation to release them for Olympic qualifying play.Still, the Americans beat Costa Rica (1-0) and thumped the Dominican Republic (4-0) in their first two games before an errant pass led to a first-half goal, and a 1-0 defeat against Mexico, in their group-stage finale. The defeat was a blow to the United States team’s momentum, and perhaps to its psyche, as it represented the team’s first big test of the event, but Kreis moved quickly to dismiss it and turn his team’s focus to the semifinal.“I think we’ve been searching for a little more sharpness in this whole tournament,” Kreis said after the loss. But the only thing that mattered, he added, was not that result but that “the most important game is coming.”It came on Sunday. And the Americans lost it. More

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      Cuban Soccer Is Stocking Up on Overseas Players. Why?

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      Cuba’s soccer team has called up a handful of players who developed outside the country’s sports system for its World Cup qualifying matches, a subtle but potentially significant shift in policy.When its campaign to qualify for the 2022 World Cup begins this week, Cuba will try an approach it has not tried in years: fielding many of its best eligible players.For years, only Cuban players who had contracts with INDER, the country’s governing body for sports, were selected to represent the national team. This month, that will change. Cuba has called in several players who are based abroad — and outside the official Cuban sports system — to play in a set of World Cup qualification matches.That means potential national team debuts for Norwich City wing Onel Hernández, the Spain-based defender Carlos Vázquez Fernández and the San Marino-based forward Joel Apezteguía. It also means a return to the national team after six years away for defender Jorge Luis Corrales.“I didn’t know if I should shout or laugh because there are a lot of conflicting feelings,” said Corrales, who currently plays in a second-tier league in the United States. “The images of many years playing with the national team and all the great moments went through my mind. I think once again participating in those moments will be one of the best experiences I’ve had since arriving here to the United States.”To outside observers, the overseas-based players fall into a category that is difficult to distinguish from Cubans who walked away from national teams during tournaments abroad or defected elsewhere. But there is an important distinction that makes all the difference to Cuban officials: All of them either left the island with their parents as children, or were given permission by the government to go abroad.Corrales, for example, was allowed to visit his father in Miami after the 2015 Gold Cup, a major regional championship, and decided to stay after he was granted a five-year visa. He has since played for several teams in Major League Soccer and the U.S.L. Championship, the second division in the United States, including for his current employer, F.C. Tulsa.Jorge Luis Corrales, left, during his days in Major League Soccer. He is hoping to make his first national team appearance in six years.John Raoux/Associated PressApezteguía is hoping to make his national team debut at age 37. He played in Cuba until he was 24 before leaving to help his father run a bar and restaurant in Spain. After years of laboring in Europe’s smaller leagues (Moldova, Albania and his current home in San Marino are highlights) and hoping to be noticed by Cuban soccer officials, the call finally came.Hernández, 28, left Cuba when he was a child to move to Germany. He started his professional career in the German second division before moving to Norwich City, which he helped earn promotion to the Premier League in 2019. That summer, he became the first Cuban to play in the Premier League. A few months later, in a match against Manchester United, he became the first Cuban to score a goal in it.Hernández had expressed interest in representing his country of birth in the past, even accepting an invitation to train with the national team, but suiting up in an official game still seemed impossible until this month.Vázquez Fernández, a 21-year-old known as CaVaFe, left for Spain with his parents when he was 3. He developed his soccer game there, rising through Atlético Madrid’s academy and training with the first team at times. He has expressed his desire to wear the Cuba jersey for years, but had no timeline in mind.“I knew this first call-up was going to come,” he said. “What I didn’t know if it was going to be sooner or later, in 2028, 2025, 2021, but I knew it was going to happen. I’ve always been positive.”What none of the players is sure about, though, is why the calls are coming now.Cuba has rarely been competitive against regional powers like the United States. It is currently ranked 180th by FIFA, just behind Chad and Puerto Rico, and just above Liechtenstein and Macau.Scott Taetsch/Getty ImagesHernández has had regular contact with Cuba’s manager, Pablo Elier Sánchez, including video chats to get up to speed on the team’s tactics. He and the other players said they felt Sánchez and a handful of other officials had facilitated their call-ups by working for several years to convince soccer and government officials to bring them into the fold.Sánchez addressed the new faces in a brief airport interview upon arrival in Guatemala on Sunday, saying they would “undoubtedly” strengthen his team.“They’re players who are playing in important leagues, first-class leagues in the world,” he said. “They’re going to bring a lot when it comes to the results the team can get.”Cuba has offered no official explanation for its sudden openness to players from outside the national sports system, or if the success of these initial steps might usher in an openness to a prospect that has to date been unthinkable: reinforcing Cuban sports teams with the defectors who represent the elite of the Cuban sporting diaspora, not just soccer players like Osvaldo Alonso and Maikel Chang but potentially baseball stars like José Abreu and Yuli Gurriel.Messages left with Sánchez, federation officials and INDER were not returned.The players are hoping they can make a difference. Apezteguía said it had been difficult to watch Cuba’s national team, ranked 180 of 210 FIFA members, and know he could raise its level of play.“It bothers you a bit because you feel a bit powerless,” he said. “You’re watching it on TV without being able to help or represent your country, fight and give everything on the field. Now that this opportunity is here, we have to think about the present and about this chance we’ve been given.”Cuba’s dream is to see its name called at a World Cup draw again. It has played in only one, in 1938.Kurt Schorrer/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesCuba plays both of its first qualification matches in Guatemala, playing the hosts on Wednesday and Curaçao, the favorite to advance to the next round, four days later. But these games could lay the groundwork for a larger Cuban goal: a run at qualifying for an expanded 48-team World Cup in North America in 2026.Even without a concrete answer about the timing of the decision, Cuba’s reinforcements are optimistic this will be a first step toward the nation’s realizing its potential, especially if Cuba-based players are increasingly allowed to go abroad to try their luck in the world’s best leagues.“We have so many kids in Cuba that love football, and they want to live the dream that I lived,” Hernández said. More