Time for Some Hex Mex

Everybody shuts down this week for international action, including US-Mexico from Columbus. Plus plenty of action from last weekend.


Stupid Stupid Playoffs

Great, just great.  We'll have 3 vs 5 seeds in the East and 2 vs 4 in the West.  Ze Roberto suggests the bye week is a disaster, noting that all four of the top seeds failed to score in the away match of the conference semi-final.  Only Colorado was able to rescue the situation and they had to go to kicks from the spot to do that (nice work Timmeh Howard!).  NYCFC self-destructed, Red Bulls surrendered the opening goal, making their work that much harder, and Dallas just had too much of a deficit to overcome.

So Dallas and Red Bulls are left with a feeling of failure for what were otherwise excellent seasons. Taylor Twellman speculated on what they might do.  His point was that even though both did very well over the course of 34 games without a heavy reliance on superstar/designated players, those type of players may be necessary for success in the playoffs.  Maybe.  Sounds like we're getting close to that old debate of whether there are "clutch players" and "non-clutch players."  For me, the sample sizes are too small, especially in soccer, to believe that's the whole story.  Superstars sometimes fail to deliver in a single game and people wave their hands and talk about magical clutch performance to explain it.  I'd still like to see some tweaking of the post-season format.

So I will root for Colorado the rest of the way, largely because of the presence of ex-Union player Sebastian LeToux (whose work rate is undiminished) and US national keeper Tim Howard.  And they're the only top seed remaining.


You Dissing My League?

Italian national team coach Giampiero Ventura on why Sebastian Giovinco (21 goals and 17 assists in 31 games for Toronto) was not picked for the Italian team:

"I have done everything to help him but the reality is that he plays in a league that doesn't matter much. And the number of goals he scores is less important because with the quality he has got, he is bound to make a difference in that league. The problem is that if you play in that type of league, and you get used to playing in that type of league, it becomes a problem of mentality."

Yes, I think he is.

Tests Passed

We suggested that both Liverpool and Chelsea faced moderate tests as to whether they might be contenders this year as they took on Watford and Everton respectively.  With their 6-1 and 5-0 wins they both passed with flying colors.  I realize it's not the same as facing the very top of the table but the quality of these wins over upper table sides was impressive.

I can report that Michael B and Luke P were well-behaved as they watched the North London derby together.  Spurs fans came away the happier group with the 1-1 draw.  Tottenham, dealing with injuries, have been just good enough lately.  Gunners fans might have seen this as a chance, especially at home, to take all three points.  A great match for the neutral.

No car crash in Wales, as Manchester United came away with a 3-1 win over Swansea.  Check out Paul Pogba (also on my Football Manager Chester Blues side!) opening goal, this week's YouTubeableMoment.  With the Special One relegated to the stands, serving a suspension for his antics against Burnley, maybe it wasn't as nutty as usual.

Things just aren't getting better for Leicester as the Foxes fell 1-2 at home to West Brom.  Same for Crystal Palace.  Alan Pardew moves up to second in the sack race after a 2-3 loss to Burnley.  David Moyes gets to stay at least another week based on the Black Cats improbable 2-1 win at Bournemouth while playing a man down.  Everybody else at the top, and neutrals as well, likely celebrated Middlesbrough's tying goal in stoppage time against Man City.

And I can't forget the opening ceremonies of games the last few weeks honoring veterans from WWI and other conflicts.  Nicely done and appropriate when you realize the UK lost about 750,000 in that conflict.  But I hope this isn't sacrilegious to point out that some of the "marching" is evocative of John Cleese as the Minister of Silly Walks.

2-0 Is A Deceiving Lead

Gouffran scores against Cardiff, his third league goal of the season

For the second week in a row, Newcastle were cruising with a 2-0 lead late into the match.  Then, Cardiff City scores at around the 80th minute and the Magpies once again had to hang on for dear life.  They did so and keep their three point lead over Brighton.  Better still, they extended the gap over third place Huddersfield to eight points; this matters because the top two teams are automatically promoted to the the Premiership, while third through sixth have a grueling playoff to decide the third spot.

Great Moments in Refereeing

Me (having forgot a coin to decide opening kickoff): Pick a number between one and two

Blue captain (pausing to ponder the possibilities): Does it have to be a whole number?

Me: Do you go to Masterman [Philadelphia magnet school]?

Blue captain: Yes

International Stuff

A veritable stew of acronyms with CONCACAF (more familiarly known as North America, Central America and the Caribbean), CONMEBOL (that's South America to you) and UEFA (more simply, Europe) holding World Cup qualifiers.  Plenty to watch.

We'll be focusing mostly on the last step of CONCACAF qualifying, the six team round robin competition affectionately known as the "Hex."  The first three teams automatically go to the World Cup final; fourth place plays fifth place from the Asian Confederation (right now that would be South Korea or Japan but that could easily change) for the last spot in the final.  The USMNT jumps right in with two tough matches - home against Mexico on Friday night and away to Costa Rica on Tuesday night.  The other three nations competing are Honduras, Panama and Trinidad.  With 10 matches in the process, there is a little room for slip-ups but not much.  We note that Costa Rica opens away against Trinidad in a match to be played in Hasely Crawford Stadium; non-track fans will be excused for puzzled looks but Crawford was the 1976 Olympic Champion at 100 meters in an upset over Don Quarrie and Valeriy Borzov.

Meanwhile, in South America, Chile picked up two points and Peru three, without playing a match. In this week's U12 moment, Bolivia were found to have used an ineligible player in those matches, converting a draw for Chile and a loss for Peru into wins.  We head into Matchdays 11 (Thursday) and 12 (Tuesday) with Chile and Argentina outside the four automatic playoff spots.  Eight matches to go so plenty of time for that to change but Uruguay and Ecuador have been tough so far.   Thursday looks especially tasty as the top six face each other - Colombia v Chile, Uruguay v Ecuador and Brazil v Argentina.  I think all three are on beINSports Thursday afternoon/evening. Tuesday matches include Argentina-Colombia and Chile-Uruguay.  Standings could look very different by Wednesday morning.

Europe will see matches on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.  Friday you can see France-Sweden at 2:45 on ESPN2 and England-Scotland at 2:45 on FS1.  Other matches of interest (to this blog anyway) but not sure of coverage include Croatia-Iceland at noon on Saturday and Belgium-Estonia on Sunday. Still very early in UEFA qualifying process.

Beats watching election returns...