Carles Puyol is looking at maybe having surgery on his knee, and will
most likely not be fit for the Euro 2012 tourney. I know he's just one
guy, but he's pretty well the anchor of that back 4 for Spain. How big
of a loss would it be to not have him when Spain tries to defend their
Euro title? - Cory L., Raceland, LA
Photo Credit: guardian.co.uk
Tough break for Carles "don't call me Carlos or Charles" Puyol. Any time you lose one of your starters, particularly one of your team leaders, it's a blow. Fortunately for Spain, they're incredibly deep in the back. Even without Puyol they can trot out an imposing back line consisting of Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid), Gerard Piqué (Barcelona), Raúl Albiol (Real Madrid) and Álvaro Arbeloa (Real Madrid). Puyol is 34 now and the reality is that Spain was going to need a plan to move forward without him in the near future anyways. Now they're just going to have to do it a little bit sooner than expected. The bigger concern in my mind for Spain is that they will be without their leading scorer from their World Cup run as David Villa continues to recover from his broken leg suffered with Barcelona. Spain will have to get production from somewhere else on the field or teams like the Netherlands or Germany will be able to upset the defending champs.
Canada did something no other team in the tournament had done shutting down the explosive Summer Green who had entered the CONCACAF Championship Finals with 12 goals through the tournament's first four games. It wasn't enough though as Green still contributed a nifty assist to Amber Munerlyn in the 21st minute for the only goal of the match. Munerlyn became the 10th different U.S. player to score in the tournament and Jane Campbell and the USA defense took care of the rest posting a fifth straight shutout. The U.S. outscored their opponents 26-0 over the 5 games and won the tournament for the first time since 2008. Next up, a trip to Azerbaijan for the U-17 Women's World Cup in September. This will be third running of the U-17 Women's World Cup, with the U.S. still seeking their first championship. North Korea defeated the U.S. 2-1 in the finals in 2008 while South Korea won the tournament in 2010 when the U.S. failed to qualify.
Canada and Mexico also qualified for the World Cup with their performance in the CONCACAF Championships. Mexico defeated Panama 6-0 in the 3rd Place Game behind 4 goals from Luz Duarte.
Summer Green scored 3 more goals and the U.S. cruised to a 7-0 win over Panama clinching a berth in the 2012 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup set to be held this fall in Azerbaijan. Green now has 12 goals in the tournament, breaking the CONCACAF U-17 Women's Championship record of nine goals set by Lindsey Horan (USA) back in 2010. Green's 12 goals are also the most scored by a U.S. player in a single tournament at any level and she's also the only player in U.S. National Team history to net three hat tricks in a tournament. The U.S. also got goals from Toni Payne, Morgan Andrews, Darian Jenkins and Emily Bruder as they now prepare to take on Canada in the Championship Game on Saturday. Canada defeated the U.S. in penalties during the semifinals of the 2010 tournament knocking the U.S. out of U-17 World Cup contention. Canada went on to win the 2010 CONCACAF U-17 Women's Championship defeating Mexico by a score of 1-0 in the Final.
Five different players scored for the U.S. as they cruised to a 5-0 win over Trinidad & Tobago clinching a berth in the U-17 CONCACAF Women's Championship Semifinals. The U.S. got off to a bit of a slow start, but Emily Bruder finally got them on the board in the 20th minute. Trinidad & Tobago kept it close though even putting a long range shot off the crossbar and went into halftime down just 1-0. The score would stay that way until midway through the second half when the Americans finally gave themselves a little breathing room behind back to back goals from Andi Sullivan (on an assist from keeper Jane Campbell) and Sarah Robinson. Summer Green would add her tournament leading sixth goal late in the match while Joanna Boyles rounded out the scoring with a goal in stoppage time. Green also finished with two assists.
The U.S. now gets ready to take on Mexico in the final match of Group B play tomorrow. Mexico, like the U.S., also won its first two matches in the tournament defeating Trinidad & Tobago 2-0 and the Bahamas 6-0. The winner of the U.S. - Mexico match will avoid playing Canada in the semifinals as the Canadians have already clinched first place in Group A following a 6-0 win over Panama and a 4-0 win over Jamaica. Panama and Jamaica will battle it out for second place today with host nation Guatemala already having been eliminated.
Here's a look at the tournament's leading scorer's through 2 matches:
Summer Green - USA - 6
Summer Clark - Canada - 4
Margaret Purce - USA - 3
Nichelle Prince - Canada - 2
Jessica Morales - Mexico - 2
Karla Riley - Panama - 2
Kayla Gray - Jamaica - 2
Laurie Batista - Panama - 2
Andi Sullivan - USA - 2
Mariana Cadena - Mexico - 2
Marta Cox - Panama - 2
Summer came early in Guatemala this year as Summer Green, just a day after her 17th birthday, scored 5 goals in the U.S.'s 10-0 rout of the Bahamas in their opening game of Group B play at the 2012 CONCACAF U-17 Women’s Championships. Green became the third American women to score 5 goals in an international match this year joining Senior National Teamers Amy Rodriguez and Sydney Leroux who both accomplished the feat during Olympic Qualifying. Margaret Purce added a hat trick while Andi Sullivan and Toni Payne also scored for the U.S. The score could've been a lot worse as the U.S. outshot the Bahamas 52-1 striking the post several times and forcing Bahamian keeper Cori Strachan into making 17 saves.
The U.S. now gets ready to take on Trinidad & Tobago on Saturday and they conclude Group Play against Mexico on Monday.
It's not often that both Abby Wambach and Alex Morgan get shutout in a U.S. victory. The two biggest weapons in the U.S. offense had combined for 21 goals and 13 assists this year heading into today, but they weren't factors in the U.S.'s 3-0 win over Brazil. Instead it was veterans Carli Lloyd and Shannon Boxx who put the U.S. ahead in the first half with both goals coming off of free kicks. Amy Rodriguez then sealed the victory adding an insurance goal late in the second half after coming on as a substitute for Morgan as the U.S. converted on yet another dangerous free kick. The win was the U.S.'s largest against Brazil since a 5-1 win back in 2004. The win puts the U.S. in great position to win the Kirin Cup as now Japan will need to deliver a similar victory over the Brazilians on Thursday in order to not lose the tiebreaker.
The U.S. Women's Soccer Team has had a number of rivals over the years: China, Brazil, Germany, and Sweden just to name a few... But it would appear the U.S. has found a new nemesis in Japan. For the third time in the last nine months, the U.S. faced off against the Japanese and failed to emerge victorious being forced to settle for a 1-1 draw this morning at the Kirin Cup in Japan. This draw comes on the heels of a 1-0 loss at this year's Algarve Cup and the all too memorable World Cup Final that the U.S. lost in a shootout. The U.S. fell behind early in this one thanks to a goal by 27 year old defender Yukari Kinga, but Alex Morgan - as she's done all year - bailed the U.S. out with a 72nd minute left-footed strike from just outside the penalty spot. Morgan now has 12 goals in ten games for the U.S. this year to lead the team.
The U.S. now has just a day's rest before taking on Brazil in their final game of the 3-team tournament. The last time these two teams met, Abby Wambach scored her famous header in the closing seconds of extra time to force a shootout which the U.S. would go on to win knocking Brazil out of the World Cup. Brazil will then conclude the tourney by taking on Japan on Thursday.
Despite a 1-0 loss to Japan at the Algarve Cup, the U.S. Women's Soccer Team hung on to the top spot in the latest FIFA rankings released today. Germany, the Algarve Cup Winners, stayed at number two but closed the gap between them and the U.S. to just three points. Japan meanwhile held steady at number three with Brazil, Sweden, France, Canada, North Korea, England and Australia rounding out the Top 10. Scotland (21), Costa Rica (40) Wales (45), Papua New Guinea (49) and Cameroon (52) all moved into their highest-ever positions in the FIFA rankings this month. Here's a look at the Top 20.
The next set of FIFA rankings comes out June 1st. The U.S. currently has two matches scheduled between now and then as they are set to travel to Japan at the end of the month where they will face the 3rd ranked Japanese (4/1) and number 4 Brazil (4/3).
When Japan shut out the U.S. Women's Soccer Team 1-0 last week it marked the first time that the U.S. had failed to score a
goal since a scoreless draw with Korea back in 2008, a span of 57
matches. Only two women started both of those games for the United
States. Who are they?
Answer:
Photo Credit: soccerchris.com
Shannon Boxx and team captain Christie Rampone (pictured above) were the only players to start both games for the United States. Heather O'Reilly appeared in both games, but was used as a substitute in the recent match against Japan.
This week's question:
Photo Credit: ballineurope.com
Who was the last player taken first overall in the NBA draft who won an NCAA Basketball Championship?
The U.S. rallied for a pair of goals in the final 12 minutes to defeat Canada by a score of 2-1 to win the 2012 CONCACAF U-20 Women's Championship. The U.S. fell behind early when defender Crystal Dunn turned the ball over deep in her own end and Canada's Jenna Richardson beat U.S. keeper Bryane Heaberlin with a low driven shot to the back post for a 1-0 lead. It was the first goal the U.S. surrendered in the tournament in five matches. Canada took that lead all the way into the 79th minute, but eventually the U.S. broke through when Maya Hayes fought through the Canadian defense to win a cross from Kealia Ohai and tucked the equalizer into the corner of the net. Ten minutes later it was Ohai again making things happen when her cross in the match's final minute deflected off a Canadian defender and substitute Chioma Ubogagu got to the loose ball first and knocked it in for the game winner. The U.S. has now won two straight U-20 CONCACAF Championships and three of the past four.
Meanwhile, Mexico won yesterday's third place game over Panama by a score of 5-0 meaning they'll join the U.S. and Canada at the U-20 World Cup in August. Mexican striker Natalia Gómez-Junco, a freshman at the University of Memphis, scored a pair of goals giving her a tournament-high six. The U.S.'s Hayes was the tournament's second leading scorer with five goals.
Here are the highlights from Friday's 4-0 win over Mexico for the U.S. Women's U-20s. The U.S. takes on Canada tonight in the finals of the 2012 CONCACAF Under-20 Women's Championships. Kickoff is set for 9 Eastern at Estadio Rommel Fernandez in Panama City, Panama.
The U.S. Under-20 Women’s National Team is headed to the World Cup. The U-20s turned in a fourth straight dominant performance, this time in the tournament semifinals against Mexico, and with a 4-0 win are now guaranteed one of the CONCACAF's 3 spots at the 2012 U-20 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Japan this August. Julie Johnston, Morgan Brian, Lindsey Horan and Kealia Ohai each scored goals and Katie Stengel had a pair of assists as the U.S. advances to take on the winner of tonight's other semifinal between Canada and Panama. If Canada wins it will mark the 4th time in 5 tournaments that the two North American nations have met in the CONCACAF Women's U-20 Finals. Canada defeated the U.S. in both 2004 and 2008.
Photo Credit: uvumi.com
The U.S. has outscored its opponents in the tournament by a score of 22-0, led by 4 goals apiece from Maya Hayes and the 17 year old Horan.
Alex Morgan and Abby Wambach ensured the U.S. wouldn't get shutout for a second straight match as they accounted for all of the scoring in the U.S.'s 4-0 rout of rival Sweden today. Morgan scored her first ever hat trick for the U.S. giving her 5 goals in the tournament and a team high 11 in 2012. Meanwhile Wambach's goal gives her 134 for her international career moving her to within 24 of the legendary Mia Hamm. Hope Solo got the day off for the first time in 2012 giving way to Nicole Barnhart who made 7 saves in the victory.
The U.S. is now off for the rest of March, but they start April off
with a pair of friendlies in Japan, first getting another crack at the
Japanese on the first and then taking on 4th ranked Brazil on the third.
It remains to be seen if the U.S. will be able to hold onto their
number one ranking when next week's updated FIFA rankings come out.
Photo Credit: ffc-frankfurt.tumblr.com
2nd ranked Germany ended up winning the tournament defeating Japan 4-3 in a wild finish. Célia Okoyino da Mbabi broke a 2-2 tie in the 88th minute only to have Yūki Nagasato equalize two minutes later. But Okoyino da Mbabi netted her third goal of the match in stoppage time to give the Germans their first Algarve Cup title since 2006 when they defeated the U.S. in a shootout. Okoyino da Mbabi led all scorers in the tournament with 6 goals.
The U.S. was unable to get any payback for their shootout loss to Japan in the 2011 World Cup Finals as the Japanese once again got the best of the United States. Substitute Megumi Takase headed in Aya Miyama's 84th minute corner kick for the only goal of the match to capture first place in Group B at the Algarve Cup. It marked the first time the Japanese had ever defeated the U.S. in regulation and means that there will be no three-peat for the United States. In fact, this will be the first Algarve Cup final since 2002 that won't feature the U.S. women as they'll instead head to the consolation game where they'll take on rival Sweden. While you'd hope the U.S. could take out some frustration and salvage at least a third place finish, it won't be a cake walk by any means. The Swedes went unbeaten in three matches against the United States last year including wins at the Four Nations Cup and in group play at the World Cup.
CONCACAF WOMEN'S CHAMPIONSHIPS - USA U-20s 6 PANAMA 0
On a brighter note, the U-20s cruised to their third consecutive 6-0 victory clinching first place in Group B at the CONCACAF U-20 Women's Championship. Micaela Capelle opened the scoring with her first goal of the tournament, and second half substitute Maya Hayes added two more goals to lead the way for the United States. Vanessa DiBernardo, Julie Johnston and Samantha Mewis also scored goals for the U.S. The U-20s will now advance to the semifinals of the tournament where they'll face Mexico who finished second in Group A. Only the top 3 teams advance to the 2012 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup so the U.S. must win one of their next two matches to move on. Panama, despite the loss, also advances to take on Canada in the other semifinal.
18 points. 17 rebounds. 20 assists. Rajon Rondo tallied his second triple double of the week, and an absurd one at that, as the Celtics squandered a 15 point lead and then rallied for an overtime victory over the New York Knicks today by a score of 115-111. Rondo now has 4 triple doubles on the year while the rest of the league has combined for only six. Jeremy Lin finished with 14 points and 5 assists, but turned the ball over 6 times in the loss.
DOUBLE DEUCE ACTION
Photo Credit: mlssoccer.com
Jozy Altidore may be enjoying a nice little run, but no American is enjoying greater success in Europe this year than Clint Dempsey. The American winger netted 2 more goals in today's Premier League match with Wolverhampton giving him 12 in league play and 18 across all competitions for the Cottagers. Pavel Pogrebnyak added a hat trick as Fulham cruised to a 5-0 win, its third in a row. Fulham now sits in 8th place in the Premier League.
KOBE GETS HIS REVENGE ON WADE
Photo Credit: thestar.com
Sometimes, the best place to hurt someone is on the scoreboard. There was no retaliation for Dwyane Wade's hard foul on Kobe Bryant in the All-Star Game, but the Lakers took it to the Miami Heat today winning 93-83. Bryant, still donning the mask, led all players with 33 points while Wade had a forgettable day fouling out midway through the 4th quarter after turning the ball over 5 times. The Heat clearly missed Chris Bosh, who hasn't played since the All-Star Game following a death in his family. Bosh's replacements, Udonis Haslem and Juwan Howard, missed all 10 of their field goal attempts in the loss.
USA WOMEN'S U-20s CRUISE TO SECOND STRAIGHT 6-0 VICTORY
Photo Credit: ussoccer.com
The U.S. Women's U-20s clinched a spot in the semifinals of the CONCACAF Under-20 Women's Championships today with a second straight 6-0 victory. This time the victim was Cuba as the U.S. wasted little time in getting after their Caribbean opponents taking the lead less than 5 minutes into the match on a goal by Wake Forest sophomore Katie Stengel. Stengel, the reigning ACC Offensive Player of the Year, and Penn State sophomore Maya Hayes, the nation's leading scorer in 2011 with 31 goals, each scored twice in the first half as the U.S. was in control from the start. Vanessa DiBernardo (Illinois) and Chi Ubogagu (Stanford) each added goals after the intermission to complete the rout. The U.S. now gets ready to take on host nation Panama on Tuesday with first place in Group B on the line. Panama defeated Guatemala 3-1 tonight to also improve to 2-0 in the tournament.
STRASBURG DEBUT
Photo Credit: usatoday.com
Washington Nationals phenom Stephen Strasburg took the mound for the first time in 2012 and worked a solid 2 2/3 innings against the Houston Astros in his spring debut. Showing no ill signs of his 2010 Tommy John surgery, Strasburg threw 44 pitches, 26 of them for strikes, and while he was somewhat unhappy with the locating of his offspeed pitches, overall he should be pleased with the results. The only real mistake he made was a 3-1 "hit-me-fastball" to Chris Snyder who deposited it well beyond the left field fence. And now my Astros are 2-0 on the spring!! Hey, we're probably go lose close to 100 games again this year; I've got to get excited about the things that I can.
NEW GOLF NUMBER ONE
Photo Credit: dailymail.co.uk
22 year old Rory McIlroy won the Honda Classic today and took over the number one ranking the world from England's Luke Donald. Donald had held the spot for the past 40 weeks, but now that honor goes to the reigning U.S. Open Champion from Northern Ireland. McIlroy had to sustain Tiger Woods shooting an 8-under-par 62 six groups ahead of him, but was able to hold on for the 2 shot win.
The U.S. Women's U-20s destroyed Guatemala in their first match of the CONCACAF U-20 Women’s Championships yesterday by a score of 6-0. We posted the summary earlier, now here are the highlights:
Lindsey Horan and company are back in action tomorrow when they take on Cuba. The Cubans lost their opener to Panama by a score of 2-1.
Over in the other group both Canada and Mexico improved to 2-0 today with wins over Jamaica and Haiti respectively. Mexico got a hat trick from Natalia Gómez-Junco in their 10-0 win over Haiti. Gómez-Junco, who has 4 goals in the tournament to lead all scorers, is finishing up her freshman year at the University of Memphis. She scored 8 goals in her first year with the Tigers. Memphis went 22-1-1 and didn't lose until the 2nd Round of the NCAA Tournament when they were defeated 2-0 by Louisville. The 22 wins were a school record and the Tigers earned their first ever NCAA Tournament Win.
Photo Credit: gotigersgo.com
Mexico and Canada will play Monday with both teams already assured a berth in the semifinals.
17 year old Lindsey Horan scored three goals and the U.S. Under-20 Women’s National
Team defeated Guatemala 6-0 on Friday in the team’s first match
of the CONCACAF U-20 Women’s Championships. Julie Johnston, Katie Stengel and Cari Roccaro also scored for the United States while Crystal Dunn added a pair of assists in the win. The U.S. continues group play tomorrow with a match against Cuba and then conclude the first round against host nation Panama on Tuesday. The top two teams in each group advance to the semifinals with the top 3 teams in the tournament qualifying for this summer'sFIFA U-20 Women's World Cup in Japan.
Photo Credit: ussoccer.com
The U.S. is looking to improve upon a disappointing performance at the U-20 World Cup in 2010 when they blew a late 1-0 lead against Nigeria in the quarterfinals and subsequently lost on penalties, but obviously the first step is qualification. Sydney Leroux, now featured on the Senior Women's National Team led the U.S. with 5 goals in the last U-20 World Cup.
Abby Wambach and Sydney Leroux both scored in the second half as the U.S. defeated Norway today by a score of 2-1 in group play at the Algarve Cup. The U.S. Women now get ready to take on Japan on Monday with first place in Group A on the line. Japan defeated Denmark 2-0 today as they also improved to 2-0 in the tournament. The U.S. women have the edge in goal differential thanks to their 5-0 win over Denmark on Wednesday so a draw will be enough to push them through to the finals. But you can bet they'll be out to exact some revenge for their crushing shootout loss to the Japanese in last summer's World Cup Final.
Norway's lone goal came late in stoppage time when
Elise Thorsnes scored in the final seconds of the game. It's the first
goal that Hope Solo has allowed in 2012. The American women have now won
8 in a row to start the year.
It's too bad there isn't a February 29th every year. What a day for U.S. Soccer. Goals were scored, history was made, and three different U.S. teams emerged victorious today. Let's take a closer look at how it all went down.
WOMEN
USA 5 DENMARK 0
The U.S. opened the 2012 Algarve Cup with a 5-0 thrashing of 12th ranked Denmark this afternoon as they took an early lead in Group B. Alex Morgan continued her torrid scoring pace this year notching her 7th and 8th goals of 2012 and Abby Wambach scored the 132nd goal of her international career to lead the offense while Hope Solo made 4 saves for her 61st career shutout to lead the defensive effort. Carli Lloyd and Sydney Leroux also chipped in goals in the second half, and with goal differential being one of the main tiebreakers in this tournament every little bit helps. The U.S. is now 7-0 to start the year and has only allowed one goal while scoring 45. The road to a third straight Algarve Cup title gets a lot tougher though as powerhouses Norway and Japan still loom ahead on the schedule. Japan, who defeated the U.S. in the World Cup Final last summer, rallied for a 2-1 win over Norway this morning in Group B's other match. The U.S. gets Norway on Friday, and then wraps up Group Play against Japan on Monday with a berth in the final potentially on the line.
MEN
USA 1 ITALY 0
The U.S. men made history today with their first ever win against the Italians in 11 tries. Clint Dempsey became just the fourth American player ever to score against Italy taking a feed from Jozy Altidore near the top of the box and hitting a driven shot against the grains and past a helpless Gianluigi Buffon for the only goal of the match as Tim Howard and company held on for a 1-0 win. While the win is certainly historic, let's not get too carried away. To be clear, the U.S. did not outplay Italy today. The Azzurri outshot Jurgen Klinsmann's club 19-4 and were victimized by 9 offsides calls, and with a little luck this game easily could have been 3 or 4 to 1 in favor of the hosts. But Howard made 7 saves and the U.S. back line of Steve Cherundolo, Carlos Bocanegra, Clarence Goodson and Fabian Johnson (later Jonathan Spector) made just enough plays to preserve the shutout and snap a winless streak dating back to 1934. Still, while this win doesn't propel the U.S. into the conversation of the best teams in the world, it's still another step in the right direction and it's a huge confidence builder. Any time you can go toe-to-toe with, and hang with, one of the world's best - and despite what you may think after today Italy is still exactly that - that's a substantial accomplishment.
Photo Credit: espn.go.com
The U.S. has now won 4 games in a row - 3 of those outside of the country - and they haven't allowed a goal in any of their matches in 2012. And let's not forget that the U.S. still hasn't managed to put its two best players, Landon Donovan and Clint Dempsey, on the field at the same time since the start of the Klinsmann era. With the improved play of Michael Bradley, Maurice Edu and Jozy Altidore, and the continued development of youngsters like Brek Shea to complement the starpower of Donovan and Dempsey there's plenty of reasons to be optimistic about the U.S.'s chances in World Cup Qualifying this summer.
U-23s
USA 2 MEXICO 0
Photo Credit: soccerbyives.net
More reason to be optimistic for U.S. soccer fans as the U-23s, despite playing without Brek Shea or Terrence Boyd who were both in Italy with the Senior Squad, defeated Mexico in Texas tonight by a score of 2-0. Both goals came mere minutes apart in the first half, first with Juan Agudelo heading home a Mix Diskerud corner and then Diskerud deflecting Freddy Adu's long range shot into the corner of the net doubling the lead. On the other end, MLS keepers Bill Hamid and Sean Johnson combined to make 8 saves to preserve the shutout. Watching the U.S. handle a tough Mexico squad with some ease, you have to like their chances in Olympic Qualifying 3 weeks from now when they take on the likes of Cuba, Canada and El Salvador in group play. Qualifying kicks off on March 22nd.
THE REST OF THE WORLD
Today was a busy day for soccer with a lot of the world's top teams in action in friendlies. Some of the highlights:
SPAIN 5 VENEZUELA 0 - Even without injured David Villa, Spain's offense is still potent. 26 year old Valencia striker Roberto Soldado came off the bench at halftime and struck 3 times as Spain cruised to a 5-0 win over Venezuela.
NETHERLANDS 3 ENGLAND 2 - England erased a 2-0 deficit with a pair of late goals, but Arjen Robben ripped their hearts out with his second goal of the match, two minutes into stoppage time, to give the Dutch a 3-2 win. Scary moment in this one on Holland's second goal when Klaas-Jan Huntelaar and Chris Smalling knocked heads seconds after Huntelaar's header gave the Dutch a 2-0 lead. Both players were sent to the hospital with Smalling leaving the field on a stretcher.
Photo Credit: dailymail.co.uk
FRANCE 2 GERMANY 1 - Oliver Giroud and Florent Malouda each scored goals for the French while the Germans could only muster a 91st minute goal from Cacau as they lost at home 2-1.
ARGENTINA 3 SWITZERLAND 1 - The international game hasn't been particular kind to Lionel Messi, but today was an exception as he torched the Swiss defense for 3 goals, including 2 in the last five minutes, for his first ever international hat trick. Messi, who has scored at least 38 goals for Barcelona in each of the last 4 seasons, now has 22 goals for Argentina in 67 matches.
COLOMBIA 2 MEXICO 0 - Mexico dominated possession and attempted 17 shots, but the potent Chicharito and Gio Dos Santos were both shutout while Atlético Madrid striker Falcao and midfielder Juan Cuadrado beat Mexican keeper Guillermo Ochoa for a 2-0 win.
