Pleasant Surprises

A pair of surprising results from the BFS home teams plus important results from the EPL made for a good weekend.


Outrunning the Bear

Recall a month or so ago I pointed out that to achieve automatic promotion Newcastle did not need to finish ahead of Brighton, but simply had to stay in front of Huddersfield and the other campers.  Turns out they ended up outrunning the bear too.  Newcastle made easy work of Barnsley at home 3-0 while in Birmingham, Jack Grealish's 89th minute goal gave shorthanded Aston Villa a draw with Brighton. So the Magpies win the Championship division.  In the grand scheme of things it probably doesn't matter that much.  Maybe some extra prize money, maybe a little easier to woo transfer targets.  But hey, one of my teams actually got some silverware.

Meanwhile at Chester-on-Delaware

Exceeding all expectations, the previously unwon Union put together their best 65 minutes of soccer this year came away with a 3-0 win over the New York Red Bulls.  C. J. Sapong's hat trick got him the man of the match but my choices would have been Bedoya and Med.  Alejandro personally foiled numerous Jersey attacks and Med did a great job distributing the ball in ways that created good attacking runs.

Now the wet blanket part - the score flatters the Union and not just a little bit.  While the Union had the run of play in the first half, Jersey had probably as many good scoring chances with quick counter attacks.  We could have been down 0-1 or 0-2 at half.  Next, the first 25 minutes of the second half were awful.  From our perch at the 18 at the River End, Jeff K and I were getting stiff necks watching all the action down at the other end.  Could have been 0-3, 0-4 by 70 minutes.  About 50-50 between poor finishing by the Red Bulls and good goalkeeping by Blake.  Third, our first goal came on a deflection; nice play to set it up but if it doesn't hit the defender, it doesn't go in.  Fourth, shortly after our goal the Red Bulls should have tied it but Royer (I think) completely missed the goal. Fortunately a few minutes later Pontius sent a header across the goal mouth and Sapong put it away. Given its importance to the Union, we'll make it this week's YouTubeableMoment.

Good result and maybe the players will build off it.  But this team is still a work in progress.


By the Time You Get to Read This

The EPL title may have been decided.  Chelsea's win over Middlesbrough and Spurs upset loss to West Ham means that Chelsea can clinch Friday afternoon with a win at West Brom.  Tottenham really looked flat and it cost them.  The good news for Spurs fans is that Liverpool's 0-0 draw  with Southampton (which featured a rare PK miss by James Milner) means only Man City can catch Tottenham for second.


So You're Telling Me There's A Chance

St Totteringham's Day is cancelled but Arsenal are not out of the Champions League running yet.  Wins over Man United and Southampton leave the Gunners three back of Man City and four back of Liverpool with three to play.  Yes, the Citizens' schedule doesn't look overwhelming (Leicester, West Brom and Watford); neither does Liverpool's (West Ham and Middlesbrough).  Arsenal's goal differential is also worse  than either Man City or Liverpool.  Still they are not mathematically out of it.  Should the Gunners finish top four and then win the FA Cup, how in the world is it not Arsene Wenger's choice if he stays or goes?


And Then There Were Three

A combination of their own results and/or Hull's bad awful loss to Sunderland meant Leicester, Stoke, Watford, Burnley and West Ham all saw their relegation threats end.  At the dark end of the street, Middlesbrough's defeat at the hands of Chelsea meant their relegation struggle was over too but not in a good way.  Therefore we are left with Crystal Palace (38 points), Swansea (35) and Hull (34) fighting to avoid the last spot.


No Cup For You

Well the virtual FA Cup Final vs Arsenal didn't go as planned.  It was a statistically even match but we had poor tackling and shooting, got poor performances from our top two players and all of our strikers and we hit the woodwork twice.  Perhaps the most interesting thing is that with all that, we only lost 0-1.  But I look at it the other way.  If it was that close and we played our worst, that suggests even an average game from us would have been enough to claim the cup.  I blame the manager.


The View From Europe

Atletico made things exciting but a late first half goal from Real Madrid put that Champions League semi-final to bed.  Juventus was unpressed closing out Monaco in the other semi.  Man United held on against Celta while Ajax won the other Europa semi so both European competition finals are set.


Relegation Matchup

I recommend you watch or at least DVR Sunday's clash between relegation rivals Crystal Palace and Hull City (7 am CNBC).  Not saying it will be a quality match but unless it's a blow out, the tension will be high.  Crystal Palace will be safe with a win or a draw.  A win for Hull means the final relegation spot won't be decided until the final Sunday.  The other relegation candidate, Swansea, travels to Sunderland for a Saturday match ( 10 am NBCSN).

For those looking for an early start to the weekend, take in the aforementioned West Brom-Chelseas match at 3 pm Friday (NBCSN).

At the top of the table you'll want to stay current on Liverpool at West Ham (Sunday 9:15 CNBC), Man City hosting Leicester (Saturday 7:30 NBCSN - this should be a fun match to watch anyway), Stoke hosting Arsenal (Saturday 12:30 NBCSN) and Spurs-Man United (Sunday 11 am NBCSN).

Unfortunately it appears there is no coverage here of the two playoff series in the Championship division featuring Reading-Fulham Saturday and Tuesday and Huddersfield-Sheffield Wednesday Sunday and Wednesday.  Hopefully beIN Sports will choose to at least cover the finals.

The Union travel to Washington to face DC United, hoping to build on recent performances.

And a reminder that next week is crammed with mid-week EPL action as the teams with games in hand will take the pitch.  Not clear if any will be meaningful depending on this weekend's results but the schedule includes matches Monday through Thursday.  Tuesday's matches with Arsenal hosting Sunderland and Man City hosting West Brom are most likely to still matter.

Gonna be a rainy Saturday so enjoy your football.