Reality Check

A full plate with MLS, European wrap-up, Women's World Cup, CONCACAF Gold Cup and the zoo that is Newcastle. For the Union, reality may be creeping in.


Finishing School Needed?

A disturbing trend was emerging.  Twice again the Union struggled to put the ball in the net against Western Conference opponents at home and fell 1-3 to Portland and could only draw 1-1 with Colorado.  Some borderline mind-boggling numbers from the Portland match:

Possession - Union 63% Portland 37%
Shots - Union 18 Portland 9
Shots on target - Union 5 Portland 7
Passes in the final third - Union 242 Portland 90
Crosses - Union 27 Portland 8
Crosses completed - Union 19% Portland 63%

Two of the Union shots off target hit the post so it's not quite as bad as it looks but it's still pretty bad.  The numbers from the Colorado match are basically the same except the Union also had more shots on target.  The numbers suggest a team constantly on the attack but seemingly confused as to how to actually score.   Too many shots off target or blocked and too many incomplete crosses.  I like what Monteiro does for the midfield play but he can't seem to direct his shots on goal.  Same for Picault; he works himself into good positions with his speed but also doesn't find the target.  shuh-Bill-koh is  better at getting his shots on frame but they often lack sufficient velocity to beat the keeper.  Ze Roberto summed it up by noting that in three home matches the Union outshot opponents 64-29 yet managed just two goals.  And two points.

Curiously, they turned things around on the road.  Outpossessed, outshot, pretty much outplayed but they took a 3-2 win at Minnesota.  They were regularly sliced open by the Minnesota attack but were spared by some Blake saves, defender blocks and Loon misses.  A PK from Monteiro (he got that one on frame!), a free kick goal from Medunjanin (shoot more often?) and a late game winner from Trusty accounted for the Union goals.

Though we rue the lost points on the home stand (should have gotten at least five), the rest of the conference mostly dithered as well.  The end result is that the Union finish the weekend back in first.  DC United only managed three draws themselves with New England, Cincinnati and San Jose - not exactly the stiffest of competition. Toronto, Columbus, Montreal and Atlanta all lost to Western Conference opponents along the way.  Montreal did get three by beating Real Salt Lake on Wednesday but were hammered at home by Orlando.  Atlanta is gathering steam and had home wins against Minnesota and Chicago after their loss to Real Salt Lake.  Many questions linger about this Union squad but this is way more fun than doing calculations about how many points below the playoff line they sit.


Return of the BFS Derby and Other English Football League Promotion News

All three of the EFL promotion finals were nailbiters of the highest quality intensity.  Tranmere waited until the 119th minute of their match with Newport County to slip in a goal to take them up to League One.  In the contest for promotion to the Championship division, Charlton scored with basically four seconds left in regulation to steal a 2-1 win from Sunderland (no Tyne-Wear derby for the fourth consecutive year).  Views of that goal are here and here, with the latter capturing the fans' perspective.

Two of Aston Villa's more notable supporters;
one of these two will be King of England some day

But from the BFS perspective, the best and most important result was Aston Villa's 2-1 win over Derby County.  Seemingly safe with a 2-0 lead (the second most dangerous lead behind 1-0), a goal in the 81st minute meant the final 10+ minutes were squeaky bum time. The Villans did hang on, which means the BFS derby - missing since the 2016-17 season - is back on.

In truth you wouldn't say the quality of the football was outstanding in these matches but the intensity and drama was.  For the players, promotion likely means about a 25% increase in salary.  For the teams, promotion to the Premier League is worth just under £200 million per year.  The stake aren't quite as high for promotion to League One or Two but they're still substantial.  So you can understand why the contests can be feisty.


European Wrap-up

Well those were two duds.  You may be forgiven for passing on the Europa League Final.  The stakes were likely higher for Arsenal, as a win here was their only route to the Champions League but Chelsea took the game by the scruff of the neck in the second half and cruised to a 4-1 win.  The first half was 0-0 but the Blues built a 3-0 lead on goals from Giroud, Pedro and Hazard (only one of these - Giroud - will likely be playing for Chelsea next year).  A goal from Iwobi offered faint hope of an Arsenal comeback but Hazard's second at 72 minutes put that idea to rest.  The most notable thing I can think of about the match is that it was a final between two English teams and yet there was only one Englishman on the pitch to start (Ainsley Maitland-Niles) and two made it in as subs (Ross Barkley and Joe Willock).

The main course, the Champions League Final between Spurs and Liverpool, was even more disappointing.  The highlight was the appearance of a scantily clad, busty Russian model on the pitch.  You think I kid but if you watched the match you know 'zactly what I'm talking about.  The match turned on a crucial handling call just 23 seconds in.  You can see the all the key talking points involved in the play in this GIF.  First, the ball probably did hit Sissoko's arm.  Second, his arm was definitely not at his side.  BUT, 1) he was not trying to make himself bigger, he was pointing instructions to another Tottenham player (that's why his index finger is extended), 2) the ball came off his armpit before hitting (maybe) his arm, 3) look how close Mane was to Sissoko when the ball was struck, 4) did it really hit his arm at all.  I get why VAR could not overturn the call but for me it never should have been made.

Whatever, the call had huge consequences for the tenor of the match.  Salah dispatched the PK and Liverpool seemed content - confident of their defense? - with a one-goal lead and slowed things down and sort of bunkered in.  Spurs didn't really mount credible challenges until after the 80th minute, with Liverpool keeper Alisson called on to make some key stops.  The Reds added a late goal to kill any excitement for the closing minutes.  The match had almost the air of a friendly (no yellow cards?) between two squads familiar and comfortable with each other.  Even Michael B was muted in his disappointment over the loss.  From our slightly more neutral perspective, we wished the match had been more entertaining but feel that Liverpool are certainly worthy of the title.  Klopp took a really good team and made it even better.  Yes, he got to spend over 100 million (pounds, euros, dollars whatever) to fix the keeper problem (adding Alisson) and shore up the defense (acquiring Fabinho) but he used the money wisely.  Should be fun to watch Man City and Liverpool go at it again next year. 


Women's World Cup Final

Matches start Friday with host France taking on South Korea.  Action picks up from there with two to four matches every day until group stage play ends on 6/20.  Knockout contests start on 6/22 and the Final is on 7/7.

Conceding that we are US-centric about this, we note that the USWNT play Thailand on 6/11 at 3 pm, Chile on 6/16 at noon and Sweden on 6/20 at 3 pm.  Looks like the Fox network will have the TV coverage but check your local listings to be sure (wait, here are your local listings).  The US are fully expected to make a deep run and are co-favorites with France to win the whole thing.  England and Germany are also mentioned.

I found this article at Huffington to be quite helpful in framing the issues.  Key takeaways include:

- this should be a competitive tournament with several favorites and possible dark horses
- non-USA group stage matches to check on include:
      o Australia-Brazil on 6/13
      o England-Japan on 6/19
      o Netherlands-Canada 6/20
- one major reason for a more competitive tournament is that other countries are  investing in their women's programs
- equal pay is an issue in this industry too

Should be fun.


CONCACAF Gold Cup

Running concurrently with the WWC Final (not sure this is a good thing) is the biennial tournament for the North American, Central American and Caribbean countries.  It used to have some meaning in that the winner had a chance to make it to the Confederations Cup, a pre-World Cup tournament that gave teams a chance to play in the host country.  But with the cancellation of that competition, the Gold Cup is now just for pride.  And hopefully assessing your squad for this World Cup cycle.

When we last left the USMNT, they were failing to qualify for the 2018 World Cup Final.  New they sport a new manager (former player Gregg Berhalter) and many "new" faces.  The final roster won't be announced for another week or so but it will come from the list included in this article.  Matches start 6/15 with the final on 7/7.  An attempt at handicapping the tournament is here; spoiler alert - they expect a US-Mexico final.

US group stage matches are Guyana (6/18 at 10 pm - watch for possible appearance of the Union's Warren Creavalle), Trinidad and Tobago (6/22 at 8 pm) and Panama (6/26 at 9 pm); all are on FS1.  Note that two quarterfinal matches will be played at Lincoln Financial on 6/30 that will likely (better) include the US in one of the contests.


Drama-on-Tyne

To our usual summer sport of tracking which transfer candidates Newcastle will fail to acquire, we add two new activities:

- Monitoring the efforts to re-sign Benitez
- Scrounging for details about a possible sale of the club to a Dubai syndicate

News on both fronts is being parceled out with an eye dropper, leading to wild speculation all over the place.  Initially, the prospects of a sale seemed legitimate but newer stories are casting doubt.  Also, everybody seemed to think that a sale would guarantee Rafa's return but the Sunday Mirror is reporting that the new ownership would replace Benitez with Arsene Wenger or Jose Mourinho.  Just shoot me now.  As I have long said, I don't support any serious football club, I'm a Newcastle fan.


The Week

The Union host the Red Bulls 7:30 Saturday night - I'll be at Talen Energy for that one and the Women's World Cup has matches all weekend.  If you can't find some soccer to ease your withdrawal symptoms, you're not looking hard enough.  Maybe we'll check back in after the first USWNT match.