Short takes
• On the one hand, the U.S. men's national team's 1-0 victory against Mexico was a meaningless result in a boring exhibition game. On the other hand, all anyone could talk about for the next day was U.S. center back Matt Miazga, who is 6-4, mocking teenage standout Diego Lainez, who is 5-5, for being short. It's that sort of grouchy behavior that has defined the USA-Mexico rivalry for decades, and so in a way it was a welcome return to normalcy.
• La Liga has asked Spain's soccer federation for permission to move a January game between Girona and Barcelona to Miami. The league is planning to pay for plane tickets for 1,500 Girona fans as a reward for giving up a home game. If permission is granted, La Liga still needs the go-ahead from at least three other governing bodies before the match can go ahead.
• Diego Maradona is, amazingly, still getting work in the soccer world. Second-division Mexican side Dorados de Sinaloa hired him as coach this week. The soccer legend was last a coach at a second-division side in the United Arab Emirates, where he left earlier this year after failing to earn promotion — the latest stop on a struggling coaching career.
