A Whimper

An utterly forgettable FA Cup Final and the English football season is over.  Certainly Arsenal were the heavy favorite but sometimes they can be slow off the mark.  Unfortunately the Gunners looked ready and it was Aston Villa that couldn't get going.  In fact, they never did.  Maybe it was relegation fatigue.  Credit to Arsenal as well; that goal by Sanchez was pretty sweet.

Couldn't agree more - totally unremarkable match from my point of view.  Definitely something that just kind of happened rather than an event I was really paying attention too (though that could have something to do with the hour and a half of sleep I got the previous night).   I do wish they had put up more of a fight on such a high profile stage, but I didn't really expect it after their 2 previous awful weeks.  Whether or not the team was, I certainly was suffering from relegation fatigue alongside my conventional fatigue.  My brain switched into a much lower gear after safety was guaranteed and never recovered.  The loss keeps us out of the Europa League and probably cost us some key players, which I guess is better than making the Europa League, probably keeping most players, but probably being relegated as a result of being stretched so thin.  Nothing to do now but wait, see who gets transferred, and enjoy my reclaimed Saturday mornings for a few months.   


Handling (Again)

Though loath to question my brethren, I think the AR got it wrong in the Union vs DC United match.  Not questioning whether the ball hit Pfeffer's arm - it did.  But check out the video and tell me whether that was ball to hand or hand to ball.  Even the Washington Post writer said the ball "dropped onto his arm."  A shame too because it was the third straight quality outing from the Union.  The attack seems much more organized, as does the defense, and we're not seeing the jaw-dropping mistakes of earlier matches.  Doesn't mean this is a great team but I do like how Adam Cann of The Philly Soccer Page put it:

Ladies and gentlemen, you may finally be getting your first look at the 2015 Philadelphia Union: Playoff bubble team.

This view was further reinforced by the solid 3-0 win over the Columbus Crew on Wednesday night.  Didn't get to see it but the highlights suggest it was mostly the Union's match.  C.J. Sapong gets the start and they put in three goals - hmm.  Good to see the better play just as the European season ends - maybe it won't be such a dry summer.  Last place NYC at home on Saturday - a perfect test to see if this is for real.


Women's World Cup

There are plenty of sites that have detailed analysis of the tournament so I'm not going to spend a lot of time on that aspect.  The 30,000 foot view - the US are definitely in the mix but there is no clear favorite.  Here's analysis from fivethirtyeight.com, Nate Silver's website.

USA group stage matches:

June 8 7:30 pm - vs Australia (Fox Sports 1)
June 12 8 pm - vs Sweden (Fox) - Sweden is likely USA's chief rival for winning this group
June 16 8 pm - vs Nigeria (Fox)


Champions League

Don't forget CL final 2:45 on Saturday.  I will be rooting for Juventus over Barcelona.  And not just because the Juventus kit looks a lot like Newcastle's, although it might be the main reason.  BFS Foreign Correspondent Michael B (seen here at a recent Roma match) is on special assignment in Italy and will provide us with views on the CL Championships from that side of the Atlantic.