England Make Second European Exit in Five Days

Hoo!

You could say England voted with their feet this time.  As in did a poor job with them.  Not to take anything away from Iceland's performance in their 2-1 defeat of the Lions but England were bloody awful.  How much of it was players being in unfamiliar positions versus players simply not performing?  Seems like it was both.  Iceland hadn't even finished their group Viking chant (left) before Roy Hodgson had resigned.

Good on "Our Boys" for not collapsing after Rooney's PK gave England an early lead.  The response was nearly immediate, with Sigurosson leveling things a mere two minutes later.  Sigporsson's (um, my computer can't do the letters justice) well-placed, though not overpowering shot in the 18th minute turned out to be the game winner.  Check out this call from the Icelandic announcer.  Sure he was biased but ESPN's Ian Darke and Steve McManaman didn't even bother to pretend, making their disgust with England's performance evident throughout the broadcast.


Shaqiri's Bicycle

The Iceland-England contest was my favorite of the round but Switzerland-Poland was good too - a pretty open, flowing contest.  Switzerland, trailing 0-1 late, got a stunning goal from Shaqiri.  By itself, it was a thing of beauty.  But in the context of a team desperately trying to level the match, it was even better.  An easy choice for this week's YouTubeableMoment.  Too bad the Swiss ended up losing on kicks from the spot.

Belgium found their A game and pummeled Hungary 4-0.  Not especially thrilling but good to see this team play, well, as a team.  Italy's 2-0 upset of Spain probably has to go down as an upset but The Blues (sorry, Azzurri) have had a strong tournament so you can't really call it shocking.


The Quarters

When the dust settled, we ended up with the following quarterfinal match-ups.

Poland - Portugal
Wales - Belgium
Germany - Italy
France - Iceland

They'll go in that order, one a day, starting Thursday.  All matches are at 3 pm EDT.


Copa Conclusion

The USMNT made a credible showing in the consolation match but still fell 0-1 to Colombia.  Don't know what to say about the Argentina - Chile final.  The fouling began early.  The referee probably overreacted, showing a second yellow on what was a questionable foul and a straight red on what was a questionable yellow.  Sure looked like a make up call.  I had hoped that 10 v 10 might have made for a more interesting second half but not really.  Neither team managed to score in 120 minutes.  So it came down to kicks from the spot, and Chile was the winner.  Not the best ending to what was overall a pretty decent tournament despite its seamy origins.


Did They Really Listen?

More than once Dennis has questioned the fairness of a red card for denying an obvious goal scoring opportunity in the box.  "It's like a double penalty - the penalty kick plus the sending off."  Well now the rules only call for a PK and a yellow, provided it was a legitimate attempt to play the ball.  Similarly, I had suggested that when matches go into extra time, teams be allowed additional subs.  Copa America officials made a step in that direction, allowing each team one additional sub should the match be level after 90 minutes.   There, that wasn't that hard was it?


Uh, What About the Defense?

The Union haven't had much trouble scoring, even with Sapong out and Nogueira gone.  But now the defense has become susceptible to counter attacks and goals scored otherwise against the run of play.  The 2-3 loss to Vancouver was the third straight match in which the Union surrendered three goals.  It is a relatively young back four; maybe there are also transition issues as Alberg takes over for Nogueira.  Needs to be sorted out quickly as we have half the season to go.



On Your Own

Thursday I head out to Eugene for my other unpaid gig, following track and field.  Almost certainly won't be able to see the Euro quarters live and maybe not even on streaming replay.  Hope to see the semis and final live but that's not a sure thing.  So expect the posting to be light nonexistent for the next few weeks.

Euro Champs, Copa, MLS and...Brexit

A crowded calendar and other obligations will again necessitate a superficial survey of recent events.  Five matches alone today of interest to this blog, with a highly entertaining Poland-Switzerland match providing the backdrop to this post.


Implications of Brexit on EPL

Having had difficulties with work permits for foreign players in Football Manager, I wondered if there would be some repercussions.  Turns out, there very well could be.   This article from SkySports suggests massive implications while this less pessimistic analysis at ESPNFC notes that the problems could be largely handled with existing loopholes or modified regulations.

Two other things.  If you were already inclined to root against England for political reasons (looking at you Mackenzie), this will certainly add to the list.  Especially after you read that many who voted for the exit had no idea what the European Union is.  Second, it is very likely that Michael B and I could pay significantly less for our upcoming trip to England to take in some matches.


No Copa for You

The 0-4 defeat to Argentina could hardly come as a surprise for the USMNT.  Besides missing key players due to suspension and playing a top-ranked opponent, the US displayed a horrible first touch and misplayed too many passes.  In the other semi, Chile handled Colombia 2-0 in a convincing manner; to be fair, the match was really only 45 minutes, with the second half delayed by over two hours waiting out heavy rains that left the pitch close to unplayable.

US get a replay with Colombia in the consolation match tonight.  Will be interested to see how, um, interested the US are in playing this match.  It is a chance to show that they have progressed throughout the tournament.


Euro Knockouts

Happy to see Iceland advance.  They are paired with England in the first knockout stage.  Many interesting match ups in the games on Saturday-Sunday-Monday; actually looks like all offer a reason to watch.  DVR gonna be smoking again.  Belgium (yeah they were a nasty colonial power but at least they didn't vote to leave the EU) have a tough contest against Hungary; they bring their B-game one more time and they'll be out.  Somehow Germany, Spain, England and France all ended up on the same side of the bracket.


Alberg Hat Trick

Roland Alberg - Paul Rudderow/Philly Soccer Page

So Roland Alberg seemed to provide the answer to who would replace Vincent Noguiera.  He recorded a hat trick in the Union's 4-3 win over Chicago.  He was directly responsible for the fourth goal as well, as his shot hit the post, then ricocheted off a Fire defender into the goal, which goes down as a own goal.  Need to address the defensive breakdowns but the way the Union responded with...


Holy crap, when you get a chance, check out Shaqiri's incredible bicycle kick to bring Switzerland level with Poland in the 82nd minute!!!

...four unanswered goals and were seemingly in control of the match was impressive.  Ilsinho was also excellent in his first start in a while.  Curtin's substitutions also seemed to work well.  Hope they keep it up tonight against Vancouver.


There's so much to watch, all I can say is pace yourselves. 

Mouse Different

So the US, along with Argentina, Colombia and Chile, have advanced to the Copa semi-finals.  We turn to noted soccer pundit Robert Klein for analysis on which team is least likely to make it to the final.

I like a nice, obvious multiple choice:
a) Giraffe
b) Rhinoceros
c) Elephant
d) Mouse

Mouse different

We can quibble about which among Argentina, Chile and Colombia is the elephant, rhino or giraffe but the US is clearly the mouse here.

Still, at least the US is in the hunt after a strange 2-1 defeat of Ecuador.  Arguably, this was the biggest US win in forever.  Even in the 2002 World Cup, we beat Mexico (i.e. another CONCACAF side) to advance to the quarters.  Clinical Clint Dempsey was stellar with a fine header but an even more impressive settle and pass inside the six to set up Zardes for the second goal.  Landon Donovan made this point but I don't know if others picked up on it; Bobby Wood getting behind the Ecuador back line on a regular basis helped stretch the defense and opened up more scoring chances for the US.  The second half was a bit surreal with both teams having a player sent off.  The ejection of Jermaine Jones seemed a little harsh until we got the explanation that there was a June 1st directive from FIFA that said any player giving "noogies" to an opponent not in the course of playing the ball was to be given a straight red.  I can see how this will make things easier for the referees.  They don't have to judge intent or force, only did you touch the face?  I thought 10 v 10 was a big advantage to Ecuador but the US acquitted themselves well and hung on the for win.

The bad news is that reds and yellows take Jones, Wood and Bedoya out for tonight's semi against Argentina (9 pm FS1).  Some interesting thoughts on how to remake the line up are outlined in this article in the Guardian. Will Klinsmann go with veterans like Chris "One Job" Wondolowski, Graham Zusi and Kyle Beckerman?  I like the idea of Fabian Johnson at left mid, leaving Matt Besler at left back. 


On the Other Side of the Pond

There is life after Chester

The European Championships march on, though in comparison to the Copa Yellow Card Fest, with a few exceptions, the games don't seem to match the passion we're seeing on this side.  Sad to see Iceland only walk away with a draw after Hungary scored late.  "Our Boys" acted like they had lost; to some extent they had, as a win would have surely put them through whereas now they likely need at least a draw with Austria to advance.  The otherwise unremarkable picture from the Iceland-Hungary match (above) is presented only because all three players in the shot are ex-Chester players.  Gylfi Sigurdsson has just scored the PK, Zoltan Gera (number 10 for Hungary) is moving in for a possible rebound and Kari Arnason (14 - Iceland) is hands on hips, confident of his teammate's ability to convert the PK.

England got untracked against Wales but got bogged down again versus Slovakia; they will advance but will need to step up their game to go any deeper.  France, Wales and Switzerland are definitely through to the knockout stage.  Belgium also got going with a 3-0 win over Ireland.  Tuesday and Wednesday see the final group stage matches. 


Mackenzie's Guide to Picking a Euro Side

Not sure who to root for in the European Championships?  Mackenzie has an easy two-step algorithm to help you decide.  First, was either of the countries a colonial power?  If yes, cheer for the non-colonial power.   For example, in upcoming matches, you would choose Northern Ireland, Iceland and Croatia over Germany, Austria and Spain respectively.  Some of the others may not be so obvious but you get the point.  If both sides were colonial powers or both were non-colonial powers, then look at the diversity of the squad.  That gets even more subjective - who's more diverse, Germany (Boateng/Ozil) or England (Alli/Walker)? - but it may help you decide.

BTW, if someone gets injured in a collision with the German center defender, would you say he was hurt in a Boateng accident?  Just askin'.


Copa Break Hangover

The Union definitely did not need this lay off.  They were slow out of the gate on Saturday against NYCFC and found themselves down 0-3.  Only a PK and a late goal against a 10-man NYCFC allowed the final score, 2-3, to look respectable.  As if the long break wasn't bad enough, the Union announced a mutual termination of Vincent Noguiera's contract to allow him to return to France; unidentified health issues were cited as the reason.  This is a big loss.  Hopefully, some combination of Ilsinho, Creavalle and Alberg can fill in the big hole created by his departure.  Plus Sponge Sapong is still injured.  With matches coming fast and furious (Wednesday vs Chicago, Saturday vs Vancouver), they need to sort these things out quickly.


After last weekend, the dvr needs a break but there's still a few more days of heavy activity.

There Was Soccer This Week?

Between the Copa America and the Euro Championships, some days there were up to five matches.  Too much to address in a comprehensive manner so we will revert to the usual BFS strategy of focusing on random issues and silly themes.


Yankee Stay Home

But first some serious business.

So the USMNT survived Yedlin's sending off and beat Paraguay 1-0 to earn a spot in the quarterfinals.  They will play Ecuador on Thursday night in Seattle.  The US is an underdog, if only a slight one here.  Possibly the venue could work in the US favor as it may feel more like a home match, although ticket prices are keeping attendance below what it might have been as discussed here.

Watching the US over these three matches leaves me with a familiar feeling.  As in, the other team always has better soccer players but when the US team feels like grinding it out, they can win. That was the team's trademark and it worked to a certain extent but was never (IMHO, anyway) going to get us to a World Cup final or even a semi-final.  I thought Klinsmann was brought in to change that.  But here it is five years later and we still only have success when we go back to the old ways.  Does that mean he's failed?  Check out this article in the Wall Street Journal; the money quote:

If the idea of staying strong defensively and attempting to exploit openings when they appear sounds familiar, that’s because it comes right out of the playbook of former U.S. coach Bruce Arena, who took the team to the quarterfinals of the World Cup in 2002. It’s a gameplan that has also been adopted by practically every other coach who has ever led a team saddled with a talent gap, because it can be incredibly effective.

Yes, it can be incredibly effective but I don't think it gets you beyond the quarters in a World Cup.  Until we "unsaddle the talent gap," we may be stuck on a merry go-round.  Lose trying to play a style not supported by the talent or be satisfied winning an occasional Gold Cup or getting out of the group stage at the World Cup.

Okay, on to the more fun stuff.


Iggy Pop Leads Peru Into Quarters

Peru, managed by Iggy Pop twin Ricardo Gareca (see below), pulled off the upset of the Copa America tournament with a 1-0 win against Brazil.  Yes, the winning goal was clearly propelled into the net by the arm of Ruidiaz.  Yes, some type of official review process probably would have overturned the decision.  But they don't have that.  Brazil were eliminated with the result and likely feel hard done by the whole thing but we note a) Peru probably should have been awarded a PK for a foul in the box in the first half and b) Brazil scored exactly zero goals against teams not named Haiti.  A very indifferent performance overall and that  should be Brazil's focus, not the bad call.




Same Hair Stylists

We note that Abby Wambach and Swiss midfielder Valon Behrami obviously have their hair done by the same person.  He has bigger earrings though.




We're Gonna Need a Bigger Stadium

Entire population of Iceland attends opening match

Favorite match from the first round of group stage play was easily Iceland's 1-1 draw against the petulant Ronaldo and Portugal.  Thirty thousand Icelanders, or 10% of the population, were in attendance.  For any other country in the competition, packing that percentage into a stadium would require a much, much bigger venue.  Portugal had them on the ropes but could not add to a 1-0 lead.  At 50 minutes Birkir Bjarnason leveled things, completely against the run of play.  This seemed to reinvigorate "Our Boys" and the defending was resolute to the end.


I'm A Goalie Not A Model

Gabor Kiraly (left)  is Hungary's keeper.  He wears gray sweatpants.  He is known as "Pyjama Man."  He looks like he belongs in a Sunday pick up game.  He also held Austria scoreless on Tuesday.  John Kruk would be proud.


Chester Blues Honor Roll

I counted five current or former Chester Blues making appearances in the first round. Paul Pogba had mostly an indifferent performance for France vs Romania.  John Guidetti came on as a sub for Sweden and wasn't terrible.  Zoltan Gera wore and played the number 10 for Hungary in their fine 2-0 upset of Austria. Check out the excellent "Lambeau Leap" by goal scorer Szalai.  And for the surprising Iceland, we had Gylfi Sigurdsson (not his best but possibly because of spending so much time defending) and Kari Arnason (solid as center defender).


If It's Underachieving, This Must Be Belgium

Sure they have a collection of great players but do they know how to function as a team.  I swear it's like watching Newcastle all over again.  The whole is less than the sum of the parts.  Did you see anything resembling the second ranked team in the world on the pitch against Italy?  Gli Azzurri (The Blues) earned that 2-0 win with an well-organized defense and timely counterattacking.  Wait, didn't I just say that's not the way to win a major tournament? 


More to Come

Too much to go over but everything is on TV.  For Copa check FoxSports1 or 2 and for the Euro Championships, ESPN has you covered.  Streaming is available for both.

Now, where's the remote?

Players Play

Well the players certainly don't seem to care about the suspect origins of the Copa America Centenario.  They are clearly into it.  I guess for this collection of countries, regardless of the context, they will play hard.   And recklessly.  And with excessive force.  Through the first 12 matches there were 54 yellow cards and six red cards.  Every match except the two US contests and Brazil-Haiti has seen a minimum of four yellows.

Certainly entertaining so far.  US weren't dreadful against Colombia but they weren't very good plus they were a little unlucky.  The handling call was correct in my view; yeah he turned his back and had no idea where the ball was but his arm was outside the frame of his body.   I never agree with Lalas on these calls but on this one I did.  I don't have an explanation for the Yankee blow out of Costa Rica. For me the 4-0 score seems extremely flattering to the US; I didn't think they played all that much better than in the Colombia match.  Argentina-Chile was a marvelous exhibition of the sport, even if there was a lot of fouling.  I swear they were making tackles on guys going for water.  Mexico-Uruguay was also high on energy; El Tri got pretty ticked when Uruguay leveled the match and kicked into a higher gear in the 3-1 win. The Peru-Ecuador 2-2 draw was a good watch too. 

YouTubeable Moment for the week goes to the cameraman down.  Hope he's okay.


Chester Bankrolled

The board in its infinite wisdom gave me a transfer budget 56 million virtual dollars.  That seems like a lot but it's about middle of the road.  And it certainly doesn't give me license to go out and get anybody I want.  Plus with the maximum salary allowed by the board (about $3 million a year), many of the best players are still out of reach for us.   To top it off, the richer clubs are sniffing around at our younger talent. One of my players got all pouty when I rejected a bid from Atletico Madrid.  Fortunately, I found a moderately better replacement, got a good bid from Atletico and let him go for a net spend of $5 million. Better than having a disgruntled player bringing down the other players.


Oh To Be In France...

Paul Pogba - new Chester Blues acquisition! - leads favored France into Euro Championships

The European Championships kick off Friday with host France taking on Romania.  You know the drill, six groups of four teams, play each team in your group, three points for a win, one for a draw, etc.  Group winners advance.  So do group runners up runner ups second place finishers.  And, so do four "best" third place finishers.  Wait, group stage play winnows the field from 24 down to 16?  That's worse than the NBA regular season.  And just how do you determine the best third place finishers?  Let's go the manual (available here) Section 18.03:

The four best third-placed teams are determined according to the following

criteria applied, in the order given, to the final tournament group matches:

          a. higher number of points obtained;

         b. superior goal difference;

        c. higher number of goals scored;

       d. fair play conduct in the final tournament as defined in Annex C.5.1;

      e. position in the UEFA national team coefficient rankings (see Annex B.1.2.b).

Well a., b. and c. are pretty common.  What's in Annex C.5.1?  Start with 10 points per game.  Deduct one point for each yellow, three points for each red.  For those with inquiring minds, a red from two yellows counts for three points, a red card on top of a yellow (i.e. second offense that would have a been a sending-off even without prior yellow) is four points.  Why do they count down from 10 as opposed to simply adding up the points?  I don't know.  I'm not a soccer administrative person.  At least not anymore. 

Still with me?  We move onto Annex B.1.2.b to read about the coefficient rankings.  That calculation, while not complex math, is involved.  Start with 10,000 points per match.  Why 10,000?  Beats me.  Add points for wins and draws, add points for goals scored, deduct points for goals conceded, add bonus points based on the importance of the competition, weigh matches in the first half of the cycle less than second half blah, blah blah.  If you're really interested, RTFM.  Except I strongly recommend that you don't.  Anyway, the process gets you to a ranking that will be the fifth tiebreaker for the third place finishers.

As for predictions for the tournament, I suggest the following sources:

Sports Illustrated
ESPN FC [features comments from top bloggers from each country]
The Daily Mail
The Guardian [good group-by-group analysis]

France is getting the most attention as a possible winner but Spain, Germany, England and Belgium are mentioned as well.  Belgium will be the main rooting interest here at BFS.

In closing we note that a tournament with venues that include both St. Etienne and St. Denis is probably awesome.

High Stakes Matches

Last Saturday saw two of the more important matches on the annual calendar - the Champions League final and the Championship Division playoff final.  Unfortunately, IMHO, neither was all that exciting despite the high stakes involved.  A couple of Union matches - one a complete stinker, the other not so bad - added a little to the agenda but it was still an underwhelming week.


Three Misses

The Fox guys were rambling on about Ronaldo's "iconic abs" after he made the final spot kick that completed Real Madrid's "win" over Atletico Madrid.  Never mind that he was mostly absent during the match itself.  No, for me the match turned on three misses.  First, the AR missed what looked like a pretty clear offside call on Real Madrid's goal.  Then there was Griezmann's missed PK.  And finally, Juanfran missed his kick from the spot.  Not that any one of these actors should be singled out for blame but clearly these were important events.  For some reason, even as the match ran into added extra time and then kicks from the spot, it never really grabbed me.  My pick for the performance of the match - referee Mark Clattenburg for his ability to separate the bs (yeah I'm looking at you Pepe) from the true fouls.

And really, doesn't soccer need to come up with another way to resolve draws in championship matches.  My proposed fix to throw into the pile?  Keep playing but allow additional substitutes.


A $200 Million Goal

Also tense but curiously underwhelming was the Championship Division playoff final between Hull City and Sheffield Wednesday Saturday.  Hull City were clearly the better attacking side but Sheffield defending was resolute.  Then in the 70th minute, Mohamed Diame provided a shining moment of quality.  This is what $200 million goal looks like.  I didn't see Sheffield having the ability to mount an attack and the last minutes weren't as frantic as you might have expected.  So Hull City are back in the EPL after just a one year absence and will benefit from all the new TV money.


Four More Points

The Union picked up an unlikely draw in Colorado and a more deserved win over Columbus back home.  In Colorado, they looked awful and were totally outplayed.  If not for the frame of the goal, they would have already been well behind by the time the Rapids actually took the lead in the 87th minute.  I was ready to accept defeat as it would have been a totally fair result.  Then scoring sensation Brian Carroll volleyed a ball past former Union keeper Zac MacMath in the 92nd minute and the Union had absolutely stolen a point.

Wednesday's match versus Columbus saw the Union return to the form that has served them well this year - possession and stringing together passes through the midfield.  Sure they benefited from two deflections (shots that were going to be on target though possibly/likely saveable) and the totally unnecessary sending off of former Union striker Conor Casey.  And the defense wasn't as tight as we'd like but from this homer's perspective, the three points were deserved. Most importantly, they did not cough up the lead after going up a man up so this is progress.

Ilsinho provided possession and an assist late in win over Columbus -  PSP photographer Daniel Gajdamowicz 

So the Union sit atop the East as we head into the Copa break.  There's much to be happy about.  I'm not thrilled with our team speed and our fitness is a bit suspect but many things are working.  Goals are coming from multiple players, so we don't have to rely on CJ Sapong (Sponge as Mackenzie calls him), though he's doing just fine thank you.  I had been thinking Pontius had been kind of quiet but he chips in with a goal and an assist against Columbus.  Bottom line - it's been fun to follow this team for a change.


Soccer's Version of The Onion

Check out this article from the latest edition of Soccer on Sunday.  The money quote from Jose Mourinho as he takes over at Man United:

“Job one, fumigate office,” Mourinho told Soccer on Sunday. “It smells of old, stale, Dutch crotch.

Alrighty then.  That's the kind of irreverence we like here at BFS.  Or about how this story on Leicester's transfer bid for Ronaldo which includes the following quote from the pec'ed one::

“To be wanted by the champions is flattering,” the galactico told Soccer on Sunday. “It’s no secret that I wish to finish my career freezing my ass off in England. I love Manchester UTD, but unfortunately they are a big steaming pile of donkey shite at the minute. Leicester are currently the only team befitting my talent and supernatural beauty.”

Oh yeah, definitely bookmarking that page...


Copa Copa Copa

They own the calendar for the next week.  Just to put a finer point on my cynical remarks from last week, the Copa America is a quadrennial tournament last played in 2015.  But it's only one year later you point out.  Somebody noticed that the tournament started in 1916.  So the powers that be said, let's do a special version to celebrate 100 years, expand the format, and best of all, hold it in the United States so we can make lots of money.  As the Inquirer said today, "So [the various federations] hatched a plan."

Of course, none of that will get in the way of us watching as much as we can.  Thing get underway on Friday, with the US taking on Colombia (9:30 Fox Sports 1).  The other group stage matches for the USMNT are 6/7 vs Costa Rica and 6/11 vs Paraguay.  Some of the groups don't look anywhere near as competitive as the US group but it could be I just don't know the teams.  Other group stage matches I'd be inclined to check out include Argentina vs Chile (Monday at 10 pm on FS1), Mexico vs Jamaica (6/9 at 10 pm on FS1) and Colombia vs Costa Rica (6/11 at 9 pm on FS2).

Next week - European Championships preview.