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Commentary: Copa América loss to Venezuela is a new low for Mexico's national team

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Commentary: Copa América loss to Venezuela is a new low for Mexico's national team

Just when you thought Mexico’s soccer team couldn’t sink any lower, El Tri takes out a shovel and tunnels a little deeper.

The latest excavation project took place Wednesday when Mexico dug itself a hole it may not be able to climb out of in an embarrassing 1-0 Copa América loss to Venezuela before a disappointed pro-Mexican crowd of 72,773 at SoFi Stadium. Drawn into a group with Jamaica, Ecuador and Venezuela, none of which are ranked inside the top 30 in the world, the bare minimum — the minimum — Mexico had to achieve in the tournament was to finish in the top two and advance to the knockout stages.

With Wednesday’s loss, Mexico may not be able to clear even that low bar. If it doesn’t win Sunday’s group-play final against Ecuador, El Tri’s Copa América is over. Venezuela, meanwhile, is on to the next round.

“The situation is clear. We need to win the next game,” midfielder Luis Romo said. “It’s a knockout match.”

With the World Cup returning to Mexico in less than two years, the national team program is in tatters and the panic in the country’s soccer federation is real. It took years of neglect and mismanagement at all levels of Mexican soccer for the national team to fall to this level, so it’s unrealistic to think things can be fixed in 23 months.

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But that’s all Mexico has before the World Cup kicks off in Mexico City.

The decline began six years ago in Russia, where the average age of Mexico’s team was just a few months under 30, making it the second-oldest roster in the World Cup. Mexico beat defending champion Germany in its opener, then limped into the round of 16 where it lost to Brazil. But the promised post-tournament rejuvenation of the team never happened, so when Mexico went to Qatar four years later, it once again had the second-oldest team in the World Cup.

And this time it got blitzed, beating only Saudi Arabia en route to its earliest World Cup exit in 44 years. Two years later, it still hasn’t recovered and Mexico’s long-awaited youth movement is nowhere to be found.

If anything, it’s retreated.

Mexico’s U-23 team, which won a bronze medal in the last Olympics, didn’t even qualify for this summer’s Games in Paris. Mexico didn’t qualify for last year’s U-20 World Cup either and won just once in four games in the U-17 tournament. (The women’s team, meanwhile, hasn’t played in a World Cup since 2015 or in an Olympic tournament since 2004. The collapse has been astonishingly complete.)

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The talent pool that once fed Mexico’s national team has gone dry. So when 38-year-old goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa and backup keeper Luis Malagón were ruled out of the Copa América with injuries, coach Jaime Lozano — more about him in a minute — did not have a goalie with more than six games of international experience to call up.

Mexico coach Jaime Lozano talks to Gerardo Arteaga during Wednesday’s Copa América match against Venezuela at SoFi Stadium.

(Mark J. Terrill / Associated Press)

When forwards Hirving Lozano and the oft-injured Raúl Jiménez were ruled out of Copa, Mexico started Colombian-born Julián Quiñones, who made his first appearance for Mexico last fall, a month after becoming a Mexican citizen. On Wednesday, the high-strung Quiñones committed the foul that set up Salomón Rondón’s game-winning penalty kick.

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Not only is the cavalry not coming, it doesn’t even exist. The depth that once made Mexico’s national team one of the strongest in the Americas has vanished and now El Tri is losing to Venezuela, the only South American country never to play in a World Cup.

And it’s not just losing to Venezuela, In fact, Mexico has lost four of its last six games, failing to score in three of those four losses. And it has won just half its 20 games under Lozano.

If Mexico doesn’t beat Ecuador and bows out of the Copa América after three games, it’s likely the federation will use the coach — the third in 18 months — as a scapegoat. But it’s hard to see how this is Lozano’s fault. He can only play the players the federation gives him — and at the moment those players aren’t very good.

Maybe you can blame it instead on the Curse of Chicharito. Tata Martino banished Javier Hernández, Mexico’s all-time leading scorer, from the national team 14 months after the 2018 World Cup — and a few hours after he scoring the first goal in a 3-0 win over the U.S.

Since then, Mexico has won just one trophy, hasn’t beaten the U.S. in seven tries, made its earliest World Cup exit in more than four decades, failed to qualify for the Olympic Games for the first time in 16 years and is on its way out of the Copa América after just two games.

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OK, so maybe that’s not an air-tight theory. But as explanations go, the Curse of Chicharito is probably as good as any other.

What is clear, however, is that Mexico has fallen and it can’t get up. The national program is in the worst shape it’s been in decades and the federation has no road map for getting it back on track.

A win Sunday could save both Mexico’s Copa América and Lozano’s job — for the time being, at least. But it’s unlikely to solve the deeper problems, and with the World Cup fast approaching, there appears to be precious little time for the federation to complete the massive overhaul El Tri needs.

Maybe they should just bring back Chicharito. It couldn’t hurt.

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Indy 500: Counting Down The 10 Best Finishes In Race History

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Indy 500: Counting Down The 10 Best Finishes In Race History

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The best Indianapolis 500 finish could be subjective, depending on which driver a fan was rooting for to win.

It certainly is in the eye of the beholder.

So take this list for what it’s worth. One view of the 10 best finishes in Indianapolis 500 history. Of course, it skews to more recent decades when the runs have come a little faster and the finishes have had a tendency to be a little closer.

We’ll add one each day to this list of fantastic finishes ahead of the 110th running of the Indy 500 on May 24 (12:30 p.m. ET on FOX).

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10. Ericsson outduels O’Ward (2022)

After a red flag, Marcus Ericsson held off Pato O’Ward in a two-lap shootout. The shootout didn’t last two laps, though, as there was a crash on the final lap behind them. Ericsson had a comfortable lead when the red flag came out for a crash with four laps to go, a situation where in past Indianapolis 500 races, they likely would have ended the race under caution with Ericsson as the winner.

9. Foyt survives chaos (1967)

How does a driver who wins by two laps end up on this list? It’s because the win nearly didn’t happen on the last lap. A big crash with cars and debris littering the frontstretch just ahead of Foyt as he came to the checkered flag forced him to navigate through the wreckage for the win.

8. Sato can’t catch Franchitti (2012)

This was one of those finishes where the leader holds on for the win, but boy did the leader have to hold on. Takuma Sato tried to pass Dario Franchitti early on the final lap but to no avail and Franchitti sped off for the victory. This was one of those Indy 500s that made you hold your breath all the way to the checkered flag.

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UCLA softball pummels South Carolina to advance to NCAA super regional

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UCLA softball pummels South Carolina to advance to NCAA super regional

No. 8 UCLA stuck with right-hander Taylor Tinsley throughout the Los Angeles Regional and that faith in the senior paid off.

During the Bruins’ NCAA tournament opener at Easton Stadium, Tinsley gave up 10 runs before her teammates rallied for a walk-off win. She returned less than 24 hours to pitch against South Carolina, giving up two earned runs in a victory. Tinsley was back in the circle Sunday afternoon, yielding one run in UCLA’s 15-1 victory over the Gamecocks to advance to the super regionals.

“I am proud of Taylor’s resiliency, the ability to do whatever she can to help this team,” UCLA coach Kelly Inouye-Perez said. “She got stronger through the weekend. I am proud of that.”

Tinsley and her teammates will host Central Florida in a super regional that begins Friday.

“I feel good,” Tinsley said after pitching three key games in three days. “I could have gone more innings if needed.”

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South Carolina right-hander Jori Heard gave up only one hit through two innings, keeping UCLA’s potent bats relatively quiet. The Gamecocks had runners on first and second with two outs in the second, but Tinsley escaped the inning with a pop-up to left field.

The Bruins got on the board first with a two-run home run from left fielder Rylee Slimp in the third inning. The Bruins followed it up by loading the bases with no outs in the fifth for right fielder Megan Grant.

Grant cooked up a grand slam to make it 6-0. She has 40 home runs, extending her hold on the NCAA single-season home run record. Oklahoma freshman Kendall Wells trails Grant with 37 homers.

“Its just incredible because I am blessed to be able to say the number 40,” Grant said.

South Carolina broke through on an RBI single from left fielder Quincee Lilio to cut UCLA’s lead to 6-1 in the fifth inning after being held to just one hit since the first inning. The Gamecocks couldn’t cash in the rest of the way.

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The Bruins resumed scoring in the sixth inning, with the bases loaded and Grant at bat again. Fans at Easton Stadium anticipated another grand slam, holding up their cellphones hoping to catch some magic. Grant served up a two-run RBI single to expand the lead 8-1.

Jordan Woolery added to the scoring with a two-run RBI double down the left-field line, and Kaniya Bragg hit a home run to left-center field. Soo-jin Berry put a bow on the win with one more home run.

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Pro wrestling star learns what ‘land of opportunity’ means in US as he details journey from Italy to America

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Pro wrestling star learns what ‘land of opportunity’ means in US as he details journey from Italy to America

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Cristiano Argento has been tearing up opponents in the ring for the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) as he worked his way up the ladder to get a few shots at some gold.

But the path to get to one of the most prestigious pro wrestling companies in the U.S. was long and a path that not many wrestlers have taken.

Argento was born and raised in Osimo, Italy – a town of about 35,000 people located on the east side of the country closer to the Adriatic Sea. He told Fox News Digital he started training in a ring at a boxing gym before he got started on the independent scene in Italy. He wrestled in Germany, Sweden, France and Denmark before he came to the realization that, to become a professional wrestler, he needed to make his way to the United States.

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Cristiano Argento performs in the National Wrestling Alliance (Instagram)

He first worked his way to Canada to get trained by pro wrestling legend Lance Storm. He moved to Canada, leaving most of his friends and family behind and without a firm grasp on the English language.

“At the time, my English was horrible. I didn’t speak any English at all,” he said. “But I was with my friend, Stefano, he came with me and he translated everything for me. I probably missed 50% of the knowledge that Lance Storm was giving to us because I was unable to understand. I was only given a recap and everything I was able to see. I’m sure if I was doing it now with a proper knowledge of English, it would have been a different scenario.

“Eventually, I moved back to Italy after the training and I said, OK, now, I want to go to the U.S. So, I studied English more properly, and eventually I got my first work visa that was in Texas. I was in Houston for a short period of time. I trained with Booker T at Reality of Wrestling. I got on his show, which was my debut in the U.S. That was awesome. I eventually got a new work visa in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where I currently live since 2017. Since then, my wrestling career, thankfully, kept growing, growing, growing and growing until now wrestling for the NWA. One of the bigger promotions in the U.S.”

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Argento said that his family thought he was “nuts” for chasing his pro wrestling dream.

He said they were more concerned about his well-being given that he was half-way around the world without anyone he knew by his side in case something went sideways.

“My family, friends, everybody was like why do you want to move to the opposite side of the world not knowing the language, not knowing anybody, by yourself, to try to become a professional wrestler? And I was like, well, we have one life, I love, and that’s what I’m gonna do,” he told Fox News Digital. “Eventually, my family was really supportive. But when I first said, ‘Hey, mom and dad, I want to do that.’ They looked at me like, ‘Are you nuts? Are you drunk or something? What are you talking about?’ And I said, no that’s what I want to do. And they knew I loved this sport because in Italy I was traveling around Europe, spending time in Canada training, so they started to understand slowly that’s what I want to do with my life. They were proud of me.

Cristiano Argento works out in the gym. (Instagram)

“They’re still proud of me. I think more like the fact that you’re gonna try that, that it’s hard than more like you’re gonna leave us. The fact like, oh, my son is gonna go on the opposite side of the world for a six-hour time difference and we’re gonna see him maybe, when, like, I don’t know. Not often. I think it was more that. And for me too, it was really hard. It was heartbreaking not being able to see my family every day or every month. Like once a year if I’m lucky. I think that was the biggest part for them because of concern or that I was here by myself and if I have any issue or any problem, I didn’t have nobody. So they were scared. Like, you get sick, if you have a problem, anything, and they’re not being able to be here next to me. But they were really supportive since day one.”

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Argento is living out his dream in the U.S. He suggested that the moniker of the U.S. being the “land of opportunity” wasn’t far from what is preached in movies and literature – it was the real thing.

“I was inspired by people who came to the U.S. and made it big,” Argento told Fox News Digital. “The U.S. was always like the land of opportunity. That’s how they sell it to us and this is what it is. I feel like, in myself, that was true because anything I tried to do so far I was able to reach a lot more than if I wasn’t here. I’m not yet where I’d like to be but I see like there’s so many opportunities in this country. Not just in wrestling but like in any business to reach the goal. I’m really happy of the choices I did here.

National Wrestling Alliance star Cristiano Argento poses in Times Square in New York. (Instagram)

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“But my big inspirations were big-time actors who moved to the country, who didn’t know English, with no money, no support system. I had one dream, I have to go right there to make it happen and I’m gonna go and do it and I’m gonna make it happen. So those people were always the biggest inspiration even if it wasn’t in wrestling, just how they handled their passion, how they pursued their dream without being scared of anything, how far you are, how alone by yourself … You don’t know the language, you’re like, let’s go, let’s do it.”

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Outside of the NWA, Argento has performed for the International Wrestling Cartel, Enjoy Wrestling and Exodus Pro Wrestling this year.

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