By MARK LORENZANA In close to two decades as the face of international soccer, Argentinian legend Lionel Messi has won it all: He has dominated at the club level, and has been the consensus best soccer player (he has been awarded the Ballon d’Or, or Golden Ball, an annual soccer award, seven times). He was still, however, missing a piece
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By MARK LORENZANA If there’s one team in this World Cup tournament in Qatar that was bound to break Morocco’s stingy defense, it would have been the defending champion. And France did just that on the afternoon of Wednesday, Dec. 14 (Mexico City time), beating Morocco, 2-0, at the Al Bayt Stadium, in the city of Al Khor. Les Bleus
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By MARK LORENZANA Argentinian soccer superstar Lionel Messi has won it all in his legendary career that has spanned almost two decades. He’s still missing an important piece of hardware in his trophy case, though, and perhaps the most important: a World Cup championship. Messi and the Argentinian National Team will get another chance at World Cup glory as they
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By MARK LORENZANA English striker Harry Kane missed a much-needed second penalty kick, and England lost to defending champion France in their World Cup quarterfinals match on Saturday, Dec. 10, in Qatar. Kane badly needed to score on the penalty as England was trailing 2-1 against France with six minutes left in regulation. The English fans were probably feeling good,
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By MARK LORENZANA Spain started its World Cup campaign with a 7-0 rout of Costa Rica, which many soccer fans, especially fans of La Furia Roja, thought would be a portent of things to come — opponents beware. Instead, Spain is now out of the World Cup, after a match that was level at 0-0 on Tuesday, Dec. 6, against
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By MARK LORENZANA Brazilian soccer superstar Neymar on Monday, Dec. 5, returned from an ankle injury to help his team cruise against South Korea, 4-1, and advance into the World Cup quarterfinals in Qatar. The Seleção scored early in the match, at the seventh minute, courtesy of a goal by Vinícius Júnior, and then Neymar got in on the action
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By MARK LORENZANA After a somewhat inconsistent showing in the group stages, England on Sunday, Dec. 4, defeated Senegal, 3-0, in a blowout to barge into the World Cup Quarterfinals in Qatar. Sure, the Three Lions — the oldest international soccer team in the world, having played its first international match against Scotland in 1872 — was dominant in its
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By MARK LORENZANA Leave nothing to chance. That statement may be painfully cliché, but it’s something that the players from the Mexican National Team should have taken to heart as early as the first half of their opening game against Poland on Nov. 22, when they played aggressive, controlled possession and had countless shots at goal. One could say that
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By MARK LORENZANA American Soccer superstar Christian Pulisic literally sacrificed his body to send the United States Men’s National Team (USMNT) into the knockout round of this year’s FIFA World Cup in Qatar. With his team needing a goal, Pulisic scored in the 38th minute against Iran, but collided with the goalkeeper and ended up in the hospital for an
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By MARK LORENZANA It seemed as though Neymar’s absence for Brazil’s match against Switzerland on Monday, Nov. 28, due to an ankle injury would come to haunt the Seleção, as the South American squad couldn’t find the net for 82 agonizing minutes. Richarlison, the hero for Brazil against Serbia, scoring two goals — one an impressive, athletic shot — on
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