Welcome to the inaugural Snacking on Soccer Digest! These bite-sized pieces of soccer tidbits will start coming your way on Sundays, ideally keeping it short but still meaty enough to be worth your while. But, enough with the yapping, let’s get to the snacking!!
🥨 Ivory Coast absolutely abused the South Koreans. The four-goal beatdown is even more exaggerated by the Big Chances battle that swung 7-1 in the African side’s favor. Despite seeing less possession, the Ivory Coast disrupted all of South Korea’s passing channels and countered with deadly precision. Really impressed with their high work rate and intensity.
🍪 Japan’s assertiveness with and without the ball against Scotland proved deadly, firing off 11 shots in the first half, and also looking quite dominant on defense (14 tackles, 12 interceptions) and on duels (54% duels won, 67% successful dribble). Junya Ito’s winner wasn’t amazing, but it was well deserved after buzzing the net for 80+ minutes.
🍿 The USMNT again looked rather incompetent against a top-ranked FIFA team, giving up way too many goals to Belgium due to defensive collapses at the top of the box. Matt Turner probably lost any chance of starting any important game after that ineptness. How Poch gets this group to respond against Portugal should be very telling on whether this team can handle adversity. At the game level, their response to being kicked down was to just let more goals in.
🥦 The women’s North London Derby ended with a similar result as the men’s, Arsenal’s complete annihilation of Spurs. Just when I thought I could get away from some Tottenham Torture over this International Break, Alessia Russo’s hat trick emphatically reminded me that errant choices were made in my life.
🍗 For a game that ended with no goals, Mexico versus Portugal had a lot of bite. Pedro Neto came on after half and was a tornado on the pitch, crossing the ball, being Neto aggressive, and getting off two shots. However, with 27 touches in the opposition box, Portugal’s execution in the final 18 leaves many wondering if finishing will be an issue come June.
🥜 Aissata Traoré made sports history on Saturday, becoming Boston Legacy FC’s first player to record a goal. The goal came with her team down two and only 19 minutes left in regulation, but it brought hope and excitement to their fans nonetheless. With that important milestone in their rear view mirror, the even more important marker of securing a point on the table shouldn’t be too far off.
What matches caught your eye this weekend? Let me know!
