I’m back — again!

Like I said last week, you can now pre-order my book, Net Gains: Inside the Beautiful Game’s Analytics Revolution. Please pre-order my book! Get it for yourself, your kids, your future kids, your grandparents, your partner, your future self, your least-favorite barista, your favorite birdwatcher, your mortal enemy, your venial enemy, your dog’s best friend’s wife, Danny DeVito, and anyone else not mentioned earlier in this sentence. Specifically, though, please buy copies for Danny DeVito. If you’re looking to save a couple bucks, Bookshop currently has it available for discount.

However, I am not only here to sling bound, narrative nonfiction. A bunch of you said you found last week’s link roundup to be useful, so I’m gonna do that more often. Here’s what I wrote for ESPN since the last email:

-“Why U.S. draw in Mexico was one of its best World Cup qualifying performances ever (seriously)”

More impressive, though, was just how much the Americans limited the Mexican attack. El Tri had more of the ball, spent more time in the attacking third, and moved the ball into the penalty area slightly more often, but just five of those 11 shots came inside the penalty area, none were from central locations, and pretty much all of them had multiple defenders in the way.

The 0.55 xG created by Mexico was its lowest tally for any match, home or away, so far in this cycle. And going back to 2014, it was its worst attacking performance in any home qualifier.

-“Lionel Messi's Argentina-PSG 180 turn: thriving for country, underperforming for club”

Which brings us to Friday's 3-0 win over Venezuela in Buenos Aires, at Boca's La Bombonera. Argentina, the defending Copa America champs, had already walked their way to World Cup qualification. The game didn't matter, so they just had fun. For one of the first times since Messi put on the Argentina shirt, everything looked easy, carefree and in control. Messi scored the third, scuffing a shot into the ground, and -- get this -- laughing at himself as the ball trickled into the net. It was Argentina's last competitive match at home before the World Cup, and all the baggage, it seemed like, was gone.

Messi has been booed by Argentine fans before -- at a World Cup game, in a tournament where he won the Golden Ball, no less -- but not anymore. La Bombonera loved him last week. Instead, now he's getting booed by fans of his club team: Paris Saint-Germain.

-“United States men's World Cup qualification: The stats that defined their road to Qatar”

Sergino Dest, Weston McKennie, Christian Pulisic, Giovanni Reyna and Tyler Adams still haven't played a single minute together for the USMNT. With five stars waffling in and out of the lineup, it's a little easier to understand why the team's approach has changed so much from game to game. You just shouldn't be asking Paul Arriola or DeAndre Yedlin to do the same things you'd be asking from Reyna and Dest.

In fact, outside of Adams, none of these other guys even appeared in half of the qualifying minutes. Get all of them healthy at the same time, and this is automatically a significantly better team than the one we saw in qualifying. Forget Berhalter's tactics or whoever you think the backup right-back should be or even what needs to happen with the concept of "a striker." The health and development of these five players will have a bigger effect on the USMNT's performance in Qatar than anything else.

Have great weekends, all.