Wednesday 11/22

🦃😋🍽️ Turkey Day Eve. The good news: USMNT fans can breathe a sigh of relief as the team officially qualified for the 2024 Copa America. The not so good news: the USMNT did not look convincing in their 2 legged match up against Trinidad and Tobago. They won the first leg 3-0 but it took the team until the 82nd minute to score the first goal against a 10-man opponent. Now about the second game.. Sergiño Dest suffered a complete mental breakdown that led him to getting sent off and leaving his teammates a man down. They were unable to hold strong and lost the game 2-1 but managed to qualify for Copa America ‘24 through an aggregate sore of 4-2.

Giveaway: Our latest giveaway winner has won themselves a $50 gift card to spend at Golaco Kits. Stay tuned as we cook up our next giveaway series.

International Matches
CONMEBOL WORLD CUP QUALIFIER ROUND UP

WCQ via FOTMOB

🏁 ✅ ✍️ First 6 Rounds of CONMEBOL Qualifers are in the books. The table might paint a different story, but geewillikers, Uruguay looks scary. In 6 matches, La Celeste have bagged 13 goals while only conceding 4. Not to mention Uruguay handed losses to both CONMEBOL heavy hitters, Argentina and Brazil. Specifically, Uruguay handed Argentina’s first lost since November 22, 2022. More so, with the exit of their legends, Edinson Cavani, Luis Suarez, and Diego Godin, Uruguay underwent quite the rebuild phase, which turned out to be pretty dang nice. Defenders Matias Vina and Ronald Araujo have been the heart of the defense, while Federico Valverde and Nicolas de La Cruz have been utter dogs in the midfield, with Liverpool forward Darwin Nunez leading as CONMEBOL’s top goal scorer contributing 5 goals (and 2 assists).

🌎️ 👊 💺 El Superclasico de las Americas. Brazil and Argentina met for their 110th time at Maracana Stadium in Rio de Janiero, Brazil. Although a low score of 0-1 in favor of Argentina, things got ugly to say the least. But to say the most, chaos erupted in the stands as a full-out brawl went down between Argentina and Brazil fans shortly after the conclusion of their respective national anthems. Fans were seen tearing stadium seats and throwing them at one another (imagine returning to your seat only to find out it’s no longer there, feel bad for that fan).

🚨🚑️ ⏳️ The chaos lead to police-baton interventions to break up the fights in the crowd resulting in a 20+ minute delay of game. Messi and Co. returned to their locker room while Brazil remained on the pitch to warm up. The game resumed with more drama as Brazil were seen a questionable 82nd minute red card with Argentina snagging a critical 1-0 victory to maintain their position top of the table.

“It’s not the first time it happens in Brazil”- Lionel Messi
The rivalry between Brazil and Argentina grew after the Argentinians lifted their first World Cup title in 1978, and tensions escalated when Brazil beat Argentina 3-1 in the 1982 World Cup, for the Argentinians to respond 8 years later with a 1-0 victory eliminating Brazil in the Round of 16 of the 1990 World Cup.
This rivalry extends past the nations down to the players as heated debates continue over the best ballers in history; Pele and Ronaldo, or Maradona and Messi.
Both teams were coming fresh off suffering prior losses, with Brazil losing their last 3-straight matches for the first time since 2001.
Brazil also suffered their FIRST-EVER home World Cup Qualifier after an impressive 51-13-0 run.
This past November, the Copa Libertadores final was fought between Brazil’s Fluminense and Argentina’s Boca Juniors at the Maracana Stadium, with Fluminense proving victor.

🔎 👀 🔍️ We’ll see what’s about to happen next, okay? Ask us sometime in September 2024, as that’s when CONMEBOL’s next round of WC Qualifiers are set to pick up. Intern Jose thinks we may see some technical changes, in part on Brazil’s coaching staff, and hopefully the return of some big names from injury. It would be pretty unbelievable to witness a World Cup without Brazil. After all, the last time the World Cup came to the States…. Brazil won.

Injuries
A Relentless FIFA Virus

ligue 1 soccer GIF by Toulouse Football Club

Gif by toulousefc on Giphy

😷🩼 The FIFA Virus does not discriminate. The 2022 World Cup has shown to have lasting effects on player fitness as key injuries continue to pile up. At minimum, there were 16 injuries during the latest International break, some more serious than others. Here’s a list of a handful of noteworthy injuries:

Eduardo Camavinga: Out for a minimum of 2 months with LCL tear
Gavi: Tore ACL during game against Georgia. Will miss rest of season
Zaire Emery: Serious ankle injury sidelines teenager for “several weeks”
Vinicius JR: Out for 3 months with thigh injury

🚢🧭 So how do we navigate such a demanding calendar? The more success a team has throughout the season, the more games they will play as they advance in tournaments. For example, last season, Manchester United played a total of 62 games as they reached two finals domestically and also the quarter finals in Europa league, all while battling in the Premier League. On the other side of town, Manchester City was able to accomplish an impressive treble winning season as Pep lead his team to win the Champions League, Premier League and the FA Cup. Although an incredible feat, we may want to think about the sustainability of reaching such milestones.

With big clubs participating in multiple tournaments in one season, the ultimate responsibility of rotating players and managing player’s minutes falls on the coaches. Of course, the money to be made from these tournaments is intriguing, but it is clear that the money is taking priority over player’s health as shown from the injuries that continue to pile up.