Futbol Americas: USMNT Recap + Mexico Recap + Troubel in Brazil + CONCACAF Nations League

30:45Sure. Sure. All right. That's it. It's a bet. We'll move coffee to lunch. So loser buys lunch. Deal. Deal. All right. All right. Pleasure as always, Casey. Thank you for joining us. We'll see you next time. Gracias, amigo. See you guys. All right, that's Casey Keller with us on Football Americas. Gotham FC, Angel City FC. NWSL Action, Sunday, 1 p.m. Eastern on ABC. Catch the game in Spanish as well on ESPN Deportes.

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32:23Second game in charge for Rafa Marquez, the Mexican national team, playing Peru. A brand new starting 11 for Mexico, 24th minute. Isaias Violante with a cross and the poor header from Violante. He is asking for a penalty, Eric. Was that a penalty? Well, it sure does look like a handball. I do not know what the reasoning was. Maybe proximity too close, but it looked like a handball to me. 26th minute. Jairo Velez steals the ball and scores for Peru. Peru leading Mexico 1-0, Shaq. Yeah, fairly straightforward. Long ball, not great defending in two instances. And then Velez, who takes his time, finds that bottom corner.

33:10Yeah, León's keeper, Oscar Garcia, could not stop that one. 39th minute. It's a great save by Pedro Gallese after Mateo Chavez's cross. Look at the save by the keeper. Would have been a beautiful own goal. You know what was beautiful? This was beautiful. Great free kick and thundering header from Guzman. Victor Guzman made up for the earlier airway flicks it back to the Peruvian player. Great pass by Denzel Garcia starting from Mexico. That was in the 48th minute. 69th minute, Oscar Garcia. Oh, Lord. Dios mío. Gives the ball away and now makes the save to make up for it. Yeah, he knows. It's a poor clearance.

33:55But makes the save. Didn't matter. It's 1-1. Mexico dominated possession, created more chances, completed more passes, but did not create enough danger in the opposing box. In the end, it's a 1-1 Mexico. Peru, Rafa Marquez decided to start a completely different 11 from his first game in charge. Is it too early to try to find what the Mexican national team is going to look like under Rafa Marquez? No. If you're asking about the DNA, if you're asking about the way they will play, if you're asking about who they are, it's going to be a continuation of what we saw during the World Cup, which is not a bad thing.

34:42pragmatic, intense, a team that can build out of the back but it isn't necessarily going to play like the Mexico of old and I would argue and say that's a good thing. That's the way that Mexico is going to be. What we saw against Colombia that's closer to the Mexico you're going to see when it really matters. What you saw today was Rafa Marquez giving out opportunities, auditions, seeing what these players would be like. A completely alternate squad. Even the veteran presence on this team aren't starters on this team. Álvaro Fidalgo, Obed Vargas, Germán Berterame, Mateo Chávez. While, yes, World Cup players, sans Berterame, not starters on this team.

35:33You give the likes of Denzel Garcia. You give the likes of Oscar Garcia. You give the likes of... Victor Guzman. Victor Guzman, Jerry Marquez, Victor Guzman, who's been around. But you give those guys a responsibility, players who have maybe been around, been in or around the camp, but not necessarily been starters or been mainstays together, and you're going to get this type of game. I don't know what people expect. You put 11 players on the pitch that have never played together, you're going to get this type of thing. Peru, this Peruvian team, a much different team than the one, at least in intensity, at least in the way they were dynamic with and without the ball, than the one that lost by four goals to the U.S.

36:16men's national team. You saw what Mexico created. Was it.43 goals in their expected goals? .43. It wasn't a great showing by any means, but I don't think we should read too much into this. No, because as you said, it's all new players. Even the players that came on as subs, other than Santi Jimenez, it was all Chivas players. Chivas players who were allowed to play over the weekend with their club and now joining the national team. Some very promising players like Sandoval, like Camberos, some experienced players like Luis Romo, El Piojo Alvarado. But I feel like for even Rafa, yes, he's the new manager, but he's been a part of the team now for almost two years.

37:02He was the assistant for Javier Aguirre. He knows the system. He knows the players. even though he might want to bring his own ideas and philosophies of play for the game for the team, it will take time. So is this the right time, as Herc said, just to give out opportunities, additions, if you will, to other players that eventually will have the chance to make the senior team? Yeah, absolutely. And it kind of mirrors a lot of what I was saying about the U.S. Mets national team. Yes, you have a new manager coming in. He does want to have his own ideas. And again, for Mexico, it's about what happens in four years' time.

37:37It's about work-up qualifying. And again, maybe it's just me, but this first international break after the work-up always feels like an odd one to get just right. I am fully supportive of using it as an audition. I think it's the phrase I use now. Four players who you're trying to figure out whether they're there for the long term, what their role is going forward. I think this is the time to do that. This is the time to kind of get those places, those positions in mind and see how they're assessed. If I may, if you use the U.S. men's national team and Mexico and compare them, compare both, because that's what they always do with each other, one is in a generational change that would be the u.s men's national that thinks they've got to go generational change the other mexico just wants to continue what they've done because they did it in a good way this world cup was very successful for them and they went four games without receiving a goal they played the one of the games of the tournament versus england and went out in spectacular fashion they'd like to continue these things maybe there's one or two positions that they would like to get younger and maybe refresh the nine position raul jimenez is probably not a player you want to bank on for Copa America or the World Cup 35 years of age understandable but besides that you've got a good core you've got players you want to maintain you've got players you want to nourish more like a Gilberto Mora teenage sensation the U.S.

39:13may be looking more for these younger players and you can see that they've got a deeper field of these younger players even the new younger players that Mexico is bringing are players that have already been there. You just mentioned Victor Guzman. Denzel has been in and around. Jeremy Marquez has been in and around. It feels like there are no new faces. The new faces that get people excited are the Hugo Camberos, are the Santiago Sandovals. But a lot of these names have been in and around the Mexican Nationally for quite some time. So if anything, it's just a reflection of the pool that you don't have at this moment.

39:50What about a player like Isaias Violante, who had good, solid seasons with Toluca. I like him. Now he's being, I don't want to say stellar, but very important for America. I would say stellar. He's been great. For a Mexican player in the United States, he has been stellar. And maybe in a position that I do feel is up for grabs. Yeah, that right hand side position, if it's not Quinones, because he's going to be on the left hand side, who can be that player? You've had Chucky Lozano, who's a blast in the past, playing in that position. This is a fast, nimble, 1v1 player who's done good things, right footed, left footed.

40:25He can score some goals. He's done it for Club America. This right here, he gets his head on the end of it. It doesn't go his way because they don't call the handball. Maybe it's proximity they didn't call it, but he puts himself in good positions. There are a handful of guys, two or three guys that you could say, I'm excited about and I've not seen. Isaias Violante is one of them. The other two for me are Hugo Camberos and Santiago Sandoval. But there are no new faces, Mal. No, that's it. And we're still talking about wingers, players with ability that do not fear playing the 1v1 situations. I still feel like a player like Obed Vargas needs to take a step forward.

41:08I know he sees limited minutes at Atlético de Madrid. Whenever he has a chance like he had tonight, he has to convince Rafa Marquez that he is a player, that Rafa can rely on for the future. Now, Shaq, speaking of Rafa, so it's two spectrums, Javier Aguirre and Rafa Marquez. We all know what Javier Aguirre likes and does as a manager. Pragmatic, direct game, priority number one is defending, and then we'll see what happens. Rafa Marquez comes from a very different school of thought, and that is Barcelona. And even though he said last week and was criticized for saying that. Shaq criticized him.

41:49I mean, fair play. Fair play because he opened that window for criticism. But would it be too risky for Rafa Marquez at this stage with what he had as an assistant manager with Javier Aguirre to try and maybe change the way the team has been playing in the last two seasons and maybe create a more attacking philosophy for the Mexican national team. If that's the direction that he wants to take this team, he needs to start that now. Because, again, with all the criticism and all the risk, this is a new manager coming in with the Mexican national team who's trying to establish himself and his presence within that dressing room.

42:35But he's got to do things his way. I don't see the value in a soft or gradual transition from Aguirre to whatever Rafa Marquez may prefer to do. You start that on day one. And again, you give yourself the time because you've got limited windows and limited time in those windows to work with a group of players. Jump into the deep end. You start establishing your style of play on this team from day one, mistakes and all. Can I just... I don't think this is... You just said Javier Aguirre is pragmatic. He's defensive. He is direct. We've all seen Mallorca, his Mallorca play when he coached Mallorca to Murici.

43:26You know, very direct to the nine. Valencia will be some version of that. You can go back to those Osasuna teams, Leganés. They're all very much like that. That's not Mexico. Mexico wasn't like that with Javier Aguirre. I would argue because the architect is still there, was in-house, and that's Rafa Marquez. To me, the way they played in the World Cup had Rafa Marquez fingerprints all over it, high tactical fluidity and IQ. Except the second half against England. Well, that's individual heirs. And maybe we can pin that on Javier Aguirre for putting nets in Alvarez. and him not being able to win a header off a Harry Kane when both players don't jump.

44:04But you asked for offensive play. Was there a game they didn't score two or more goals in the World Cup? In a World Cup, Mal. In a World Cup. At home. You do what you – this is what I'm talking about. I'm leaving it to the two of you. I'm just – But the thing is, you play who you have in front of you. And you look at the same play. it's not your traditional Javier Aguirre type of team. So I would argue it already has the fingerprint. It already has the footprint. It already has the style and the makeup of Rafa Marquez. If anything, it's Rafa who was the architect of all that, not Javier. We want to think it was Rafa.

44:47I still find hard to believe that Javier Aguirre would give up control of idea, philosophy of the game, and then would just let Rafa Marquez do what he wanted. Of course, he consulted with Rafa. But again, still too early to judge. And from what we've seen, Rafa wants to bring that belt from the back, start using your fullbacks, attacking. So it might be a different era in the national team, but it's not starting from zero. It's not starting from nothing. And that might be helpful for Rafa Marquez. Again, that Barca philosophy, you can catch it during La Liga season. Barça faces Getafe on Saturday, October the 10th.

45:29When La Liga resumes, the game starts at 12.30 p.m. Eastern Time on ESPN Deportes and on the ESPN app.

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46:45Will Rafinha feature? Will Rafinha feature on that game? We will see because Brazil played in Australia. Look at the atmosphere in Australia. Again? To host Brazil again. And in the third minute, it will be quick for Carlo Ancelotti's squad. Carletinho Ancelotti-Vandersong scores a great goal for La Canarinha. I don't know if he meant this touch, but the finish is ridiculous. Speaking of ridiculous, that's been Rafinha to the start of the season. First one denied. Second chance denied as well, Shaq. Yeah, and it's two good efforts, two really good saves. Rafinha is just able to craft these opportunities despite the crowd.

47:32First through legs, second through bodies. Keep it equal to both. Corner for Australia. It's a deflection. And then look at Alessandro Chircati. The referee says offside after VAR. Or it's a goal for Australia. That's ridiculous. I don't even know if he meant to do that, but it's a golazo. He threw a leg at it. Meant to be dangerous, right? 33rd minute. Conor Metcalf. And Australia's leading Brazil, Shaq. That is some strike here by Metcalf. Just opens his body and just puts his leg through this and flies into that near post-top corner. No movement on that. None at all. 48 minutes. Take a look at this action.

48:19Gabriel goes and steps on Tete Zangui. The referee says only yellow card. Should that be a red card, Eric? No, yellow card's fine. Come on, it's Gabriel. You know he's indentured. And now penalty. Danilo taken down. The ref did not say penalty. Did not call a penalty originally. Had to check. Also in VAR. after review. That's a clear pen. And it is Rafinha from the spot. It's 2-2 in Australia. And Rafinha keeps playing, keeps scoring. And another mistake by the keeper. Otavio gives the ball away. Oh no, Iracunda! This is some opportunity. You've got to find the back of the net there. Second half, 10 minute, corner for Brazil, and it's Gabriel's header.

49:15Heads it down, and it's a great save by the keeper. Save. Yeah, it's a save by the keeper. That's what I'm here for. And another missed opportunity for Australia. Again, up a corner kick, that's point blank, had to put on target. Three minutes later, Jackson Irvine. Penalty? Is this a player that said to Casemiro, have you seen that? Casemiro told him, with the mustache, that's you? Exactly. Take it away. 68-minute, Enric to Bruno Guimaraes. Brasil takes the lead. Give Enric his flowers, Shaq. That is all Enric. Guimaraes is an easy finish. Yeah. The Real Madrid-Arsenal connection. 76 - Estebao.

49:58The deflection, Enric. Comes at him quickly. Oh, no. No, Shaq. It comes at him really quickly. A Vini Jr. side. The referee says penalty on Vini Jr. That's a penalty. That is a penalty. Right here. Yeah. That's a soft penalty. That's a penalty. But it is a penalty. Vinny with La Paradinha and there he converts. Yeah, a little shuffle right there, stutter step and puts it away. It's a win for Carlo Ancelotti. Squad 4-2 now. Bad news for Brazil. Rafinha had to come off. And the reports by ESPN is that he does have an injury, will be re-evaluated. A thigh discomfort is the report so far. Rafinha has started the season on fire, breaking records.

50:50Only Cristiano Ronaldo has a better start of the season in La Liga than Rafinha in the history of La Liga in Spain. But Rafinha has a track record of injuries. And this is a long international break with long travel for Brazil. How concerning is this Rafinha report? Right now, not overly in that domestic leagues don't restart till October 10th. So he's got just under two weeks before he has to be back in action. So with that in mind, if the reported discomfort is where we are with Rafinha, I think two weeks should be enough. But given his importance to Barcelona, given his start to the season, everything with Rafinha, every slight kind of concern just seems to snowball because of how good he has been.

51:59And he's been injured. All of that, that list that we saw, those are injuries suffered playing for the national team. Yeah. No, you know, Barcelona is going to be very understanding of this. They always are with international injuries like they were with La Minha Mal and the Spanish national team. Is this concerning? Not for Rafinha. He's going to live. He's going to be the player we know he is. When he gets healthy, things will be fine with Rafinha. But it's not Rafinha that you should be worried about. It's Barcelona and the domino effect that it'll have on Barcelona. Rafinha was their answer to the, we don't have Julian Alvarez.

52:40Rafinha was the answer to who will play the ninth position. Rafinha is the one guy when they lost last season, the team crumbled. The team went down. Rafinha does so much for you. Not only attacking-wise. What he's doing right now, the goals, the assists, why that is historic. Why that is noteworthy. It's not really what he does best. Rafinha has intangibles for Barcelona that no other player has. La Minha Mar may be the talented one. Rafinha is the important one for Barcelona. He is contagious in his work ethic. He is contagious in his leadership. He's the glue to this team. Now you won't have him potentially?

53:22Shaq says 11 days will be enough. Muscular injuries are tricky. We don't know the extent. There's going to be a flight, a long flight back home. There are going to be tests. And then there's going to be Champions League, which most likely he may or may not be part of. And if he is not, you don't have a solution at the night. If he is not, you're losing your captain. If he is not, you're losing a leader. So here's what's coming up for Barca, resuming from the international break. They will play. They will host Getafe. as we saw, and then his Champions League at Galatasaray, at Betis, at PSG, and then hosting Real Madrid.

54:07Yeah, I think I think Getafe, Galatasaray, with or without, Rafinha, Barcelona, and the Coupé, fine enough. And if you have to rest them, you rest them. Oh, absolutely, you rest them. And then the game against Betis, who have been outstanding themselves, that's October 17th. So I'm right. So now we're talking three weeks out from where we are right now. And yes, it's a long journey back from Australia. But I think at this point, Rafinha plays no further part. They make their way back. If you have to rest him until that Betis game, until the week of the Betis game, then so be it. You need him to be back fully fit for that run of games.

54:52That Betis-PSG-Real Madrid run of games. You can rest him up before that. You can rest him up, and that's most likely what they will do. But as a footballer, you don't want to just break the momentum. And he's been on this run where everything he touches is gold. The last thing you want to do is not be available. And it's one thing to be medically cleared to play. It's another thing to be fit to play at your level. And it's a thing that every footballer will go through when he's coming back from injury. Rafinha won't be any different. I just highlight last season for Barcelona when they didn't have Rafinha and how difficult that was for them.

55:30That's it for Brazil, playing twice in Australia. Now they will play in India. But before that, Carlo Ancelotti was asked about Vinny Jr., the level of confidence. Vinny admitted himself after his last game with Real Madrid that he needs to do better. And that's not always been the case with Vinny, admitting that he's not up to his level. And this is what Carlo Ancelotti said regarding Vini's confidence.

56:19fundamental for the future. Is it in its best moment? No, it is not in its best moment, but it is at the beginning of the season and always, when it is not in its best level, it can be seen as far as it is today, because the third goal that has opened the game is his. I will be very patient with him because he deserves that patience.

57:16time Shaq, there's chat voices that suggest that maybe Vini should go to the bench and that Diomande should become the starter from that left-hand side for Real Madrid, where Diomande, by the way, looked great the last time he played second half. So is patience the key word for Vini right now at this stage of his career? Yes, I echo Ancelotti and would do so for Real Madrid as well because you know how much of a talent, how big a talent Vinicius Junior is. Because you know how he can change games individually. Yes, they've struggled between him and Kylian Mbappe to find that understanding, to find that partnership, to look anywhere near as good as you would think players of those talents should together.

58:10But as of right now, I continue to stick with Vinicius Jr. for those reasons. And Diomani has been good, I think at times inconsistent. And maybe he has that value of coming off the bench. But in terms of Vinicius Jr., his role for both Barcelona and Real Madrid, I think both managers, both head coaches are right to continue with him. Is there a player that can challenge Vini's spot? In the national team. What about Esteban, for example? Esteban would be the closest one, like for like. But no, you look at the players who stood out in the World Cup. Vinny Jr. was a Brazilian player who stood out in the World Cup.

58:55Vinny Jr. was the closest to that star that you had in the World Cup. For his goals, for his 1v1 ability, for the way he went at defenders, for the confidence he showed. There is no other player for the Brazilian national team that had that World Cup. And I would argue in this pool, you don't have a lot of top national team players. Because it's one thing to be Gabriel at Arsenal. It's one thing to be Rafinha at Barcelona. It's one thing to be Marquinhos with PSG. It's one thing to be Guimarães. You don't have these standout players. and Vinny wasn't a standout player until recently. He wasn't a player that you knew was good for it with the national team.

59:44He was at the World Cup. Because of that, for Brazil, you give him that patience. And in reference to Real Madrid, you just made him one of the highest paid players on the team. You just rewarded him with a new contract. Well, Hassad was the highest paid player at Real Madrid for many years. Yeah, but that was injury-related. That was injury-related. Well, in the end, it was just because he wasn't a player. He wasn't a professional player. Now, what I feel plays to Vinny's strength is the way Carlo Ancelotti wants to play. And the fact that the last time we saw an all-star kind of level with Vinicius was under Carlo Ancelotti.

1:00:26Ancelotti has already been patient with Vinny when he was the manager of Real Madrid and that patience paid off with important goals, Champions League winning goals for Real Madrid. I suppose that's the reason why Carlo Ancernotti is very confident that he can be patient with Vinicius trying to get him to that level again. Yeah, listen, once you have that relationship between manager and player, you understand that it continues. And you understand why Carlo Ancernotti understands how to get the best out of Vinicius Jr. remembering his his journey to becoming that player for Real Madrid as well he wasn't that consistent when he first started and grew into to the player that we'd come to to know and love at Real Madrid now a part of of me is wondering and I said this during during work of qualifiers for Brazil I felt that Brazil needed somebody to take on that job of being the star the one where all the focus fell on.

1:01:31For so many years, it had been Neymar. He can't be that player anymore because of injuries, because of age. And you were looking for somebody to take on that role. But then that coincided with Vinny probably not having his best time once Kylian Mbappe arrived at Real Madrid. Now you can make the argument that Rafinha can be that player. But for so long, I think this team has been crying out and and if it felt like Vinicius would be the heir apparent to that to take on to take on those pressures which are hard with this Brazil team because who started to reel off some of those Brazil players that they're able to to put out onto the park the first thing that comes to mind is this Brazil team is less than the sum of their parts yeah the you look at these players for their clubs and they are nowhere near, they are a shadow of themselves for this national team.

1:02:33And as a result, because he started establishing himself as that player to take on the weight of the spotlight that comes with being Brazil's star, a lot of that responsibility fell on Vinicius's shoulders. But you could put that on anybody before now. I mean, just to go back to what you were saying, we did this exercise last show. I could make a serious argument that Brazil, as talented as they are, they haven't done it collectively. But if you look at the talent alone, Argentina, which has played two different World Cup finals back to back, they're a more talented team individually than Argentina.

1:03:17You go line through line, goalkeeper to the defensive line, to the midfield line, maybe Argentina only overtakes them in the midfield line. If you really think about it, that's how talented they are. But Argentina... And Messi. Yes. But Argentina, because it's the team. Messi will do what he does, but they will support Messi in the way they need to support him. They're more of a team. And to me, to wrap this up, it's never felt like Vini would be the number one at any club. It's always Vini and someone else if that club or national team wants to succeed. He hasn't proven yet that he can be the player, the number one at Real Madrid.

1:04:00And I don't think he's going to have... Was he the number one when they lost, won the Champions League on Ancelotti? Who would you say it was? Jude was... No, that was the first one. After Benzema. No, the best player of that season was Jude Bellingham. Well, yes, in the regular season, not a Champions League season. And the most important player was actually Thibaut Courtois. Yeah. Yeah, I thought to that point, Jude started this season wonderfully well, scoring goals and breaking records himself. But as that season progressed and as they went deep in the Champions League, you saw a change in the role of Jude Bellingham where he came back almost in support.

1:04:38Sheck, you're right. Vinny was a Ballondo Arcana. He was top two. So don't let him get it. You're right. Jude's role changed as they went deeper in the Champions League, as they went later in the thing. I understand. My point is it wasn't sustained. It was one season. If you're the number one, it cannot be just for the one season. It was one season, and then Kylian Mbappe arrived, and everything just kind of went a little askew. About as nicely as I can put it. That is a deeper, deeper conversation for which, at the moment, we do not have the time. Vinny will be back in action with Real Madrid October 10th when Real Madrid hosts Villarreal.

1:05:21Good game at Santiago Bernabéu, 3 p.m. Eastern, on the ESPN app and ESPN Deportes.

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1:07:24All right, let's talk some CONCACAF and Nations League action. Some surprising results or maybe not so surprising. Let's start with World Cup participants. Curacao playing Nicaragua. This is the sixth minute. Libano Cominencia scores the first one for Curacao. You cannot stroke it any more beautifully than that. And five minutes later, Shaq Kenji Gore off the post doubles the lead. Just dropping inside, opens that body up. Far post is not covered by the defense. Picks it out perfectly. Yeah, and Curaçao was absolutely feeling it here. Less than 20 minutes into the game, and it's 3-0 for the O's.

1:08:07Leandro Vacuna with that header, and he's going to do it again. He wants his fourth. Follows it up. That is 4-0 for Curaçao. They are flying. Yeah, everybody wanted their second one. Gore grabs his second off the night. Look at this move, Shaq. Moves off two defenders and a great finish. It really is. Just coming inside so easily. Curaçao playing some incredible football right now. El Gol del Honor para Nicaragua. This is Jaime Moreno. Curls it in. Too late. It's 5-1 at the moment. But Curaçao, they were not done. Jurgen Locadia makes it 6 for Curaçao with a little help. Oh, goalkeeper. From his friend the keeper.

1:08:45Goalkeeper. It's difficult, especially in this plastic pit. But that's it. That's it. It's a plastic pit. It's a plastic pit. Yeah. Haiti playing whatever is left from Costa Rica. Oh, no. Yeah, Costa Rica's in trouble. We'll talk in just a second. In 7-minute, And Erson Mendes with a chance for Costa Rica. And he goes just wide. Yeah, too tight of an angle. Goalkeeper's going to have it covered all day. Cuts it across. No harm, no foul. Now, goals that you do not score. You give a chance to the opposition. And Haiti will say, thank you very much. Nice strike. Jan-Riegner Pelecrad is 1-0 for Haiti.

1:09:21Shaq. Joins the player late. Nobody picking him up. Produces a wonderful strike. And in the 39th minute, Fafá Picot. Shot comes off Francisco Calvo. Oh, goal, man. Oh, no. The Inter-Miami, man. Everybody is watching. Calvo himself. After facing in. Haiti, six points. Costa Rica, zero points. Chap, Trinidad and Tobago playing my República Dominicana. 37th minute. And it's 1-0 for TNT, Daniel Phillips. That's a golazo. Off the chest and then volleys it in. Beautiful goal. Look at this. Look at the way he takes it. Unbelievable. No chance for the goalkeeper here. No chance for the keeper. 42nd minute.

1:10:06Now it's Heinz Morchel for the Dominican Republic. He'll take the long distance shot. Scores the equalizer. Sitting top of the box. Nobody comes and closes him down. Picks out a good strike. But I'm wondering if the keeper couldn't have done better there. Do you guys remember Mariano Diaz, former Real Madrid player? Yeah, yeah, yeah. He had a great start of the season in La Liga, and here scores a beautiful goal. Mariano Nazario. Stunt on Mariano. Off the left, cuts it back to the right. Beautiful goal. Lazio, this man cannot stop scoring. Now, by the end of the game, things would get ugly. Oh, no.

1:10:42Look at this back and forth. Players on the ground stomping another player. The ref is just looking at the action. In the end, straight red for Phillips. Chinatown and Tobago down to 10 men and it would not be enough after the red card. That would be all and it's a win for the Dominican Republic 2-1. So that makes the standings look like this. And group number one with Curaçao, Haiti and the Dominican Republic leading. Two games played, two wins. Trinidad and Tobago, Costa Rica and Nicaragua. Nothing to show for. Let's start with Costa Rica. They didn't qualify for the World Cup, even though it was an expanded World Cup.

1:11:35And already three CONCACAF nations had already qualified because of being the host nations. They fired Miguel Herrera. now bring a new manager fire the new manager what's going on with Costa Rica Bautista left that didn't last long this is a team that's not developed players um Brian Ruiz is coming back to the national team not to play to coach as an interim coach and his idea is now to bring in some players that he wants new Kehler Navas is gonna be part of this process but you're other Caribbean nations who maybe aren't developing that talent but are accruing talent in players like Curaçao, like Haiti.

1:12:24You've seen these World Cup players, players with dual passports, players with a different type of development that are now making their regions better. That's not happening. It's not just Costa Rica. I could make the same claim for a lot of Central American countries that aren't developing at the rate they need to. I don't think this is a surprise. I think what happened in 2026 World Cup qualifying I will remind you a qualifying process with no Mexico no United States and no Canada three strongest teams in the region weren't part of this process and you don't qualify I think that was a warning sign and what we're seeing right now is the reality of that region's the reality of Costa Rica's lack of development Costa Rica led three nothing against Curaçao in the first game of this international break and they conceded four goals in the span of 20 minutes in the second half.

1:13:13That was already a warning sign for Batista that maybe the new method that he was trying to apply, maybe the players that he selected, whatever, it wasn't working. It was bad. And it got worse after the second game. So how do you turn this around? Let me start with this. Can Costa Rica turn this around with what they have? Not anytime soon is my feeling around this. And listen, on the one hand, you want to say, all right, you're three up. There's something there you can build on. But you don't capitulate in any way that you do against Curacao and concede four. And then it's always going to be a very difficult bounce back.

1:13:52Now, the thing for me is, while we recognize Costa Rica's kind of golden generation, I guess you can call it, with Kelo Navas, and I'd be a pinnacle to that. Costa Rica's kind of, I don't want to say dominance, but they were regarded as one of the big boys sitting in Concord football, at least on that second tier, maybe the US and Mexico, for as long as I can remember, from when I was playing. And now all of a sudden to see this version of Costa Rica, I'm not sure what the quick solution is to this. How do you recover from that period of being a very good team, then your best generation and know this i i'm i'm not sure what what the short-term solution is if you're very clear if you look at this costa rican team when they most this current generation of players i shouldn't say generation this current crop of players most showed promise was with gustavo alfaro at copa america when they were taking on the likes of brazil and they were doing good things in that tournament it was a very young team jalen mitchell was a teenager the center back, and you're thinking there's something here.

1:15:05Gustavo Alfaro jumps up, she goes to Paraguay, and you see Paraguay's turnaround in the second half of Combinable. Coaching matters, and it just seems like they can't get that higher right. That said, I'm with Shaq. The way we see Panama today is the way we used to see Costa Rica. Panama has now gotten to the upper echelon of teams that are fighting Mexico, fighting the U.S., fighting Canada. That was always Costa Rica. Teams don't fear Costa Rica anymore. Not like that. No, they don't fear me because they don't see the manpower. They don't see the stars at this level that they used to have, players that represented a lot for this team.

1:15:41Now, Shaq, Trinidad and Tobago, what do you make of the performance so far? Disappointing on a number of levels. Let's go from the start. This is a team that had to threaten to strike because they hadn't been paid monies due to them for up to a year in workup qualifiers. and with no real end in sight to that standoff, the team threatened to strike and only then the Toronto Bigger Football Association was able to raise the funds to at least satisfy that debt to the players. There are a whole slew of other debts that they need to take care of. Then they come into this tournament and in fairness to them, injuries played a big part in, I think, which can only be deemed as subpar performances.

1:16:30You lose Dante Sealy. You lose Spicer. I still think that this squad is missing a number nine. It's missing another defensive midfielder. Kobe Henry decided to stay on with Real Salt Lake. He has been a rockin' for this team defensively. Denzel Smith, the goalkeeper, picks up an injury. Now all of a sudden, this team's lack of depth, I think, has cost them. I will also say that at times inexperienced in the first game of the competition, you're leading in the 90th minute. He scores two in injury time and you lose three to. And that, again, is a very difficult bounce back. And I think you you kind of saw that as per as per the shot sheet, full disclosure.

1:17:17That was Wayne Frederick who was sent off. Again, full disclosure, Wayne Frederick's father is my best friend. And I will say I absolutely love what Wayne Frederick Jr. has brought to this team in terms of quality and in terms of fight. And while you don't want to see it kind of express itself in that way in a red card later on, for too long we've missed some bite, at least in the midfield. And Wayne Frederick has brought that. I think this is a team that with a couple of additions, if we can find those players, can do something, can do a lot more than they've shown. But right now, you need just a couple of players for this team to start to feel a little more complete, a little more balanced.

1:18:09Sometimes that fire, the proper channel can be contagious in the right way. And sometimes it's what you have to bring to the table. You said the way you're selecting players, the way you're finding players, maybe that's been one of the strengths for Curaçao. They even got their first point at the World Cup. They scored in Germany. They were tied to Germany in their World Cup debut. Is that the key why Kurosawa is finding results at CONCACAF level, the way they've been able to find these players and make them play for the national team? Well, yeah, that's part of it. Let's not beat around the bush here.

1:18:42Some of these players have been developed in quality programs. Some of these players have been in quality setups. They understand what pressure is. and you mentioned the game against Germany. I go to the game against Ecuador. Ecuador, who up until that moment was the best defensive team in South American qualifying. And there were a lot of people who put down Curaçao before the World Cup even started. This is a bad idea, this expansion of the World Cup. Curaçao is going to get beat every single game. It's going to be 16-0. And you have their goalkeeper, yeah, putting up a historic performance, but they could have won that game against Ecuador.

1:19:24They could have stole that game. So it's things like that where you build off a point and you build belief and you start thinking that now because of the talent you have, that not only can you go back to the World Cup, but you can start dominating this region. And I see no reason right now that the table reflects how dominant they've been, but I see no reason right now why if they continue on this path, we're not going to see them in another World Cup. All right, let's move things on to Group B. Jamaicans started their participation in this CONCACAF Nation League with the win. Now they were hosting Honduras.

1:20:01And this is the 14th minute. Jonathan Toro, Cato Figueroa, and Shaq Honduras is leading. Yeah, and this comes like a bolt out of the blue. Jamaica don't cover themselves in a whole lot of glory defensively and pay the price. 25th minute, Herc. Casey Palmers saved by the keeper. Good attempt by Jamaica. Yeah, but an easy, easy save by the keeper. And uh-oh. Uh-oh. Get your pocket pick. Another good save by the keeper. Yep. That was in the 26th minute. Second half. Oh, that's a heavy clash. The referee deems it red card worthy for Derek Moncada. An elbow to the face. Another red card. That's the game.

1:20:451-0. Good win for Honduras away. Guatemala playing El Salvador. Look at the crowd in Guatemala. And in the 8th minute, Darwin Lombs. Big deflection. Keeper cannot do anything, Shaq. And it's 1-0 for Guatemala. Yeah, you pull your trigger, you get lucky. Deserve that luck, Guatemala. And they hurt Rubio Rubin. Who else? Scores a second for Guatemala. Yeah, the ex-Sholos player now playing in the US with an easy goal. Puts Guatemala up 2-0. 32nd minute, and it is a party. William Fajardo, 3-0 Guatemala. Look how free he is at the far post. Deflection takes it nicely into his path. Comfortable with the finish.

1:21:26And from then on, it would be all for the guys in white. Basically, from the PK spot, Jorge Aparicio makes it fourth. And Herc, no hay quinto malo. Fajardo, he's second of the night. Yeah, Fajardo with the left foot, just nice and easy. Sees the goalkeeper come out, just slots it near post. Good entry ball, good touch, sets it up. Left-footed finish. 90th minute. The party would not be completed with a sixth. And Fajardo gets his hat-trick. Guatemala, six. El Salvador, nothing. Suriname could lead the group with a win. Taking on Martinique. Oh, Shaq, all yours. Oh, no. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, Kuiper doesn't cover himself in glory here.

1:22:13It's well struck. That's a way to put it. But... Is it? It's well struck, but that's too central. You know, it's turf. It's a weird bounce. Goalkeeper gets a weird feel on it. Come on, come on. I don't know what to say here. That was Justin Langevic and Girano Carrick from Suriname. Right footed shot from the center of the box. And it's 2-0 for Suriname. Oh, his center back doesn't help him at all. No, not at all. Not a great footed shot by Kirk. That's a great pass. It's a good pause. This place gets away from it. Good pass. Not great. Yeah. 81st minute. Boris Moulton is with a header from the center of the box as well to the bottom left corner.

1:22:55That's 2-1. Martinique would try in the end to get the equalizer. Would not get it. So it's a win for Suriname. Two games. Two wins. Six points. and leading by themselves, Group B, Guatemala, Jamaica, Honduras, and El Salvador, all sharing the second spot with three points. Quick thought on Jamaica. Nope. No? No quick thoughts on Jamaica? Well, because every – I feel like this is an inland cycle with Jamaica. I know what you're going to say. But, I mean – Go on, go on. I don't know how many times I've got to be on this program and say Jamaica has more resources than any other Caribbean country and a lot of different Central American countries, not only in terms of resources, but things at their disposal, the dual nationals they can have, the pyramid that is for them the UK.

1:23:57And yet you mentioned the problems that Trinidad and Tobago have had with the federation. There's a long laundry list of those problems with Jamaican footballing federation and its players and quality players that they have had who at times have refused to play for the Jamaican national team, Leon Bailey being one of them. They've had quality players throughout that setup. And if you look on paper, some of the rosters they've touted out in the last three, four years, you got some idiots like this guy who constantly pick them to be contenders for trophies like the Nations League, trophies like Gold Cup.

1:24:31A few additions, I said, hey, I'm picking Jamaica. The U.S. didn't bring their strongest team. Mexico didn't bring their strongest team. I'll take Jamaica. And yet, they always find a way to let you down. So, rinse and repeat. Rinse and repeat. One step short of qualifying for the World Cup, losing that game against the Congo. But is it a similar disappointment the way we spoke about Costa Rica, the way we speak now about Jamaica? No, I think Jamaica and Sydney have more than enough talent to continue to compete at the highest level, certainly regionally. I think where Jamaica got it wrong is on two counts.

1:25:17I thought there was a sense of complacency around the group in World Cup qualifying, a group that, of course, Curacao won, but Jamaica fully expected to win. I also feel Steve McLaren was a really poor choice as coach for the Jamaican national team. he just did not get it right there was and then Helgeson who was in charge and doing wonderfully well and then fell out with the JFF and then McLaren was brought in and that was just a poor choice from the get go I think they were able to paper over the cracks because Jamaica are just so much stronger than everybody else regionally and then as I say between that and I feel a sense of complacency in that of World Cup qualifying and what you have seen now in the Concordiave Nations League is a little bit of a hangover from that, a little bit of a hangover from the disappointment of not qualifying for this year's World Cup.

1:26:16And they just, it's hard to find that momentum for them. So I'm a little bit more sympathetic in terms of their performances, certainly right now. I think once again, once World Cup qualifying restarts, you will start to see the best of Jamaica but then that again comes down to who they get in as head coach whether it's speed who continues or they bring somebody else in but it has to be a good fit for Jamaica and how they play the football somebody who understands that culture of the game in Jamaica how they play football and to bring together federation and players yeah the way they've been on a eternal dispute has prevented Jamaica from taking the next step and being a constant team, as Eric said, competing for titles at the CONCACAF level.

1:27:08El Salvador and Honduras coming up for Jamaica. The invitation is still open. You can catch ESPN FC Extra Time on YouTube. Make sure to subscribe to the channel, send in your questions, and enjoy the madness of Frank LaBeouf. All right. It wouldn't be a Football Americas without Lionel Messi. Lionel Messi and Inter Miami taking on the Columbus Crew. We go straight to the 23rd minute. Yannick Bright will be fouled by Joseph Martinez inside the box. We're moving on to the next play. He fouled Joseph. He fouled Joseph, you're right. And it's a penalty. And that's the right call. Was it really a penalty?

1:27:54Joseph Martinez will take it and we'll make it. It's a 1-0 for Columbus. Yeah, well, it was a 1-0 for Columbus. And 33rd minute, look at this beauty by Messi. Did he really try that shot or was he trying to cross the ball? It's Messi, right? I absolutely think you go for a little bit of both. You think if you overcook it, there's somebody at the far post. If you get it just right, it goes in. And Messi, more times than not, gets it. It's a foul. That's a foul by Messi. Santi Rodriguez and Messi will then get into an argument. Have you guys seen on Instagram or TikTok people trying to read the lips of what they've been saying?

1:28:36Yes. Talking about the Milanesa and the Panadas. No, not that one. That was not necessarily the case. But it's, again, a confrontational Messi. We've seen a lot of that recently. Yeah, Rodriguez, Uruguayan, wants none of it. Messi wants none of it. It's a very physical, physical game. and then watch this look at this play it's the 96th minute oh no Santi Morales oh no second yellow for delaying the game and sees the red card 97 minute Bryce Mendez shot will be somehow deflected by the keeper Jamal Diare scores the rebound oh man the goalkeeper situation for Inter Miami it's been a mess.

1:29:26It's 2-1 for Columbus. Great goal by Messi, but Inter Miami has been having issues with the goalkeeper position. Well, Dane Sinclair's on international duty right now, so it goes back to Rocco Rios Novo, who hasn't felt good all season. And to be fair to him, Dane Sinclair hasn't looked that good all season either. Pick your poison, but this is an absolute routine save for any goalkeeper and if you can't carry it if you can't pull it in you got to parry it away and you can't parry it into the middle to oncoming traffic that he does that said this is the mo of inter miami if it's not a goalkeeping there it's a back line there it's a midfield there it's giving the it's giving the opponent late equalizers late winners opportunities to creep back into this game knowing that yes you do have a special player in leonel messi you do have players like Luis Suarez, who can put you ahead.

1:30:22But those players, and you pick your battles. You know that Messi's on the field. He's got to attack. He's going to attack. You've got to defend a little more. You've got to have those legs. And they lack those legs at times, especially in the midfield. A lot of the legs that were supposed to be in the midfield, that punch, that power in the midfield was Casemiro. A lot of the time this season, he's been playing center back because of injuries. Should be disappointing for Messi, who keeps on scoring, scoring great goals. Acting as a leader, I know, as we stated before, sometimes you gotta, you know, push the envelope a little bit to show something to your team.

1:30:59But Shaq, Messi just keeps doing his thing, scoring goals like this. Yeah, scoring great goals and carrying this team in ways that only Lionel Messi can. I just can't help but wonder if this is part of Lionel Messi's frustrations, which is he spilled out in other ways on the park. But given his performances and then just feeling a little bit let down by what's happening around him, that you can't somehow turn these performances, those goals into wins. That has to be frustrating. Even for somebody like Lionel Messi who's seen it and won it all. And nevertheless, Inter Miami understands the way this works.

1:31:41They did it last season. You don't have to win the Supporter Shield in order to end up winning MLS Cup. And the World Cup in the middle, the time that Messi was away, some other players having to spend some time on the bench, recovering from injuries. We'll see in what kind of shape Inter Miami gets to the postseason. It's all that matters. That's all that matters, and I'm not too worried. Listen. Me neither, no. Last season and the seasons before, Major League Soccer is unique in that it doesn't move along with the FIFA calendar. So there was a pause for international break during the playoffs.

1:32:17And Messi would go on that international break. And it was never a guarantee on what kind of type of shape he would come back in. Now you're going to allow him to rest. And I would say you need to pick up these wins because you want some sort of home field advantage. But if you've watched Inter Miami this season, they're terrible at home. They've got a better record away from home. So, you know, I would take my chances with this intra-Biami team regaining health. That back line is going to get healthier. Mikel, the center back, is going to come back. Casemiro is going to be playing in his position.

1:32:48Rodrigo De Paul is going to, at some point, come back to the Rio De Paul that we saw during the playoffs. Tayo Allende was a big contributor in the last, excuse me, playoff structure. So there's going to be people, players, who need to step up besides Lionel Messi. But the one guarantee here is Messi, so I'm not too worried about him. We'll see about Kili Gonzalez, the new manager. Won a trophy in his first game in charge, and now he's taking over the team for the rest of the season. All right, that's it for the show tonight, this special edition on a Tuesday. But on Thursday, Herc, it's fight week.

1:33:24Thursday. It's fight week for you and me. We'll have a full preview. U.S. men's national team. Are we going? No, I'm not going. Are you going? Again, we'll be in Arizona. We'll preview the rivalry right here on Fútbol Américas. Thanks for watching. We'll see you Thursday. Raiders!

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