Fútnotes, Volume 49

Apologies for getting this out so late. My plan was to wait until my youngest went to bed before banging this out before the ball dropped in Times Square. Wanna take a guess who stayed up until 1 AM? Anyways, a very happy New Year to you and yours.

Tigres made it official today, adding Jenni Hermoso to an already stacked squad that has won two straight Liga MX Femenil championships. (Full disclosure, I do media consulting for Tigres.) The team has also added Thembi Kgatlana to the already potent attack, which brings a ton of questions to mind about other teams in the league. I’ll save those perhaps for a different column, but there’s one question I wanted to focus on.

Are Tigres the best team in the world?

They’re inarguably the best team in México right now, and the club’s commitment to the project is as strong as ever. The team could have easily brought back the same team or made a few minor adjustments, but they brought in a striker that lead her team to the Round of 16 in the World Cup and a number 10 who lead her team to victory in that World Cup.

Unfortunately there’s no real way to gauge whether Tigres is the best team in the world right now. There are plenty of teams that could lay claim to it. Barcelona are the current UEFA champions and have lost just one league game dating back to 2021. Corinthians won the Copa Libertadores and completed a quadruple, also winning the Copa do Brasil Feminina, the Campeonato Paulista, and the Campeonato Brasileiro. Mamelodi Sundowns won two of the three CAF Women’s Champions Leagues and came in second place in the one other tournament in addition to winning the past four South African Super League titles.

A Women’s Club World Cup would be the ultimate way to put the best teams in the world against one another to see which one is the best. Unfortunately not only is there no such women’s tournament, one simply isn’t possible at the moment. There are continental women’s club tournaments in every confederation except one: Concacaf. There’s the UNCAF Interclub Championship between Central American teams, but nothing involving teams from the NWSL or Liga MX Femenil, the two giants of the region.

Concacaf is making progress on the women’s soccer front, with the inaugural W Gold Cup kicking off here in a few weeks. But the confederation is the critical missing link to even having conversations around a Women’s Club World Cup. And until there’s a definitive tournament pitting all of the best clubs against one another, there’s no real way to tell who is the best club in the world.

México

Speaking of Jenni Hermoso, The Guardian named her Guardian Footballer of the Year for 2023.

And believe it or not, there were more moves before this week’s Liga MX Femenil opener. For more Liga MX Femenil transfer news, don’t forget to check out my transfer tracker.

Thank you for reading Golazo del Gringo! If you enjoyed reading this post, please share it with anyone who enjoys women’s soccer.

Rest of the World

Former Tigres player Alex Chidiac returned to the Melbourne Victory.

The Equalizer released it’s list of the Top 25 coaches in women’s soccer. These are always contentious, but I’m glad someone put such a list together.

Despite it being a quiet week, don’t ever let them tell you no one pays attention to women’s soccer.

If you have something that should be included in this segment, please reach out to me via twitter or email me at [email protected].