A Summer Slumped in the Depths of Hell

The Chronicle's John Gibson gets this about right:

Let us not pussyfoot around - this has been a summer slumped in the depths of hell.  A close season which has drained all hope and ripped to shreds the dreams of Geordies everywhere. Consider it and weep – an owner Mike Ashley who has, for a dozen years, brought nought but two relegations, a top class manager Rafa Benitez who has left in abject frustration, club top goalscorer Ayoze Perez sold, and his sidekick Salomon Rondon allowed to depart when he was desperate to stay. Has there ever been such a gut wrenching, demoralising summer of discontent?

Gibson then goes on to review summers that might actually have been worse but that does not really concern us here.  Steve Bruce is in as manager, the sale of the club looks pretty much dead in the water and the chaos surrounding the club has meant a slow start to the transfer season.  I don't really care that 1984 might have been worse.

To be fair on one point, the transfer season to date has been basically quiet all around the league.  Sure, Man City got midfielder Rodri and Spurs signed center mid Ndombele.  Harry Maguire may be on his way to Man United for £80 million.  Fabian Delph to Everton I guess is meaningful.

New Newcastle striker? (picture credit - Getty)

To be even fairer, Newcastle looked poised to sign Joe Linton Joelinton, a 22 year old Brazilian striker currently playing for Hoffenheim, as early as today (7/23).  At about £36 million, he would be a record signing for the club.  Reports had him Tyneside on Wednesday, further fueling speculation he'll be aboard soon.  He looks like a reasonable, possibly better, replacement for Perez.  The fact that Ashley is letting Bruce spend this much is encouraging.   All we need now is a playmaker, some help in the midfield and depth for the back line.  Shouldn't take more than three to five additional signings.  Lots of time before transfer deadline of August 8th.  For a smooth functioning franchise like Newcastle, this should be no problem at all.

No, I'm still not bitter...


Embarrassment of Riches

Perusing pre-season results for Newcastle, I have discovered Sean Longstaff has a younger brother Matty who also plays for the Magpies.  In fact, they teamed up in the midfield in a recent 1-0 win over West Ham.    Always good to have an extra Longstaff on the bench.


Union Bounce Back from Stinker in SLC

We actually had advance warning that things might not go well for the Union in Salt Lake City.  BFS Travel Coordinator Jeff K reported that the flight to Utah was delayed and the players did not get in until late.  It's as good an excuse as any.  They were awful.  Zero shots on target.  Can't find any highlights because Jim Curtin had the game films burned, believing that there was nothing they could learn from them.  Part of that is true.  Missing Wagner, Monteiro and Ilsinho didn't exactly help the cause.

Things were better - but not great - back in sweltering Philly on Saturday night against Chicago.  The Fire's attack featured ex-Union players Sapong and Herbers.  Kind of nice to see someone playing with our "cast-offs" instead of the other way around.  Still missing Monteiro but at least Wagner was back.  He was credited with both assists in the 2-0 win.  The first was a simple pass to Fabian on the free kick play that looked right off the training ground.  Fabian blistered a shot from about 25 yards that eluded everyone.  An easy pick for this week's YouTubeableMoment.  His second assist required much more work, as you can see here; yes, a touch lucky but deserved given how Wagner made it happen.  Otherwise not really a great performance but an important home win against a lesser opponent.  Fabian hasn't been consistently good but maybe flashes of brilliance like that goal will be enough.

Atlanta, Red Bulls and NYCFC are creeping closer but the Union still sit top of the table in late July.  At least somebody's summer is going well.


Remember Chester?

Too much other stuff kept me away from Football Manager for an extended period but we are back and it is April 6 on the virtual calendar.  The Board's goals for the team (compete for EPL title, make FA Cup finals and make Champions League semi-finals) have left precious little room for error.  They don't care about the League Cup so of course we won that pretty easily, routing Newcastle 5-0.  This gives us the Football Manager Tiger Slam (explained here) - we are currently EPL, FA Cup and Champions League title holders from last year. 

The challenges have been managing the psychology of the team and physical injuries.  With so many fixtures, I went with a large squad which has two drawbacks - complaints about playing time and difficulty in gelling with so many different line ups.  Our record also makes overconfidence a big problem.  Case in point.  In advance of critical fixtures versus Roma and Liverpool we stumbled through a 0-0 draw with lowly Birmingham.  But four days later we pounded Roma to advance to the Champions League quarters and three days after that we snatched a 1-0 win at Anfield to retake first place in the EPL.  So right now, the quad is still a possibility.


Road Warriors

Two critical away matches for the Union on successive weekends.  This Saturday they travel north to Montreal (8 pm).  On the plus side, Montreal have a US Open Cup match on Wednesday. On the negative side, Wagner will be missing due to accumulation of yellow cards.  At 538, they have Montreal as the favorite.  The following week it's down to DC for a Sunday night match (7:30).  538 likes DC in that one too.   I'd be happy if we could steal a couple of draws.

In case there's no post before then, the MLS All-Stars will take on Atletico Madrid on 7/31 (8 pm FS1).  Might be a fun watch.  Who says we don't cover La Liga? 

Going Dutch?

No explanation needed
AP Photo - Allessandro Tarantino

The USWNT had no intention of splitting the WC trophy with the Netherlands.  Though not overwhelming, in the end the margin of victory was clear.   The scoreless first half was pretty entertaining stuff, with the US often testing keeper Sari van Veenendaal (woman of the match?) but the Dutch handling the pressure well and occasionally suggesting they might score on the counter.  The deadlock was broken when Dutch defender Stefanie van der Gragt made contact with a high boot in the box; Rapinoe did not miss.  The call was fair but was leaving everybody less than thrilled that it would be the deciding goal.  Thankfully, break out star of the tournament Rose Lavelle solved that for us with a brilliant run and shot from the top of the box (from which you never score) - an easy choice for this week's YouTubeableMoment.

At times they didn't look great but beating France, England, and the Netherlands in consecutive matches on European soil says plenty.  Plus they managed to piss off multiple conservative pundits while doing so.  I don't mean to wade into that mess too much except to say I can find hundreds and hundreds of videos of male strikers preening way worse than anything Rapinoe did so be consistent or shut up.


No Cup for USMNT

The US men did not fare quite so well in Chicago.  They played well enough but came up short 0-1 to Mexico.  Fair to say that the match was at least equal and maybe you could argue the US should have outscored Mexico.  I won't say I read every post game article but what I heard from the team afterwards was encouraging - clear-eyed assessment acknowledging the good and the bad.  The best thing is that the team is headed in the right direction; even that wasn't clear from the dreadful pre-Gold Cup friendlies.  But the team doesn't seem anywhere deep enough to be a clear cut WC qualifier, let alone a player.


The Wooten Clan
musical accompaniment Wu Tang Clan (explicit language but you knew that)

Saturday night's match in Salt Lake City should be the debut of the Union's new acquisition - striker Andrew Wooten  (pronounced VOO-ten)  He comes to us from the second division of the Bundesliga, where he was the fourth leading scorer last year.  Given that finishing is the Union's biggest weakness, the deal makes sense.  We've been down this road before.  Hard to know exactly what to expect bringing in players from the second tier of European football.  We don't need him to be Bradley Wright-Phillips but we do hope he's not the second coming of Jay Simpson.

Przybylko (center) and others celebrate
YONG KIM / Inquirer STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Speaking of inability to finish, the Union were all over Orlando in the first half Sunday (game was moved from Saturday night due to weather) but only put one in the net.  Two, ahem, lightning strikes from Orlando at 67 and 81 minutes made those failures look really costly.  Fortunately our phavorette non-phonetically spelled hero, shuh-BILL-koh came through with a lovely strike in the 90th minute to rescue a draw.  The set up was pretty, and not just because it involved youthful subs Anthony Fontana and Matt Real - the runner up YouTubeableMoment; probably would have won most other weeks.

The late tally to grab a point almost obscures the fact that this was really two dropped points.  Four points from a home-and-home series over four days doesn't sound awful except when you already had the three away points, were sitting on a 1-0 lead, and were pushing the other side all over the field.  The good news is that the rest of the league seems to be our friend right now.  NYCFC lost - at home no less - to Portland.  Montreal and Columbus also lost.  And, in a match I wish I had watched live, Atlanta and Red Bulls played to a 3-3 draw in front of 68,077 fans.  The match featured four goals from the 60th minute on and two in stoppage time.

Second Shoe About to Drop

Stories are flying that Steve Bruce is about to be appointed as Newcastle's next manager.  In fact, by the time you read this, the shoe may have hit the floor.  Shoot me now.  Just shoot me now.   By my count he's taken teams up four times (Birmingham twice and Hull twice) but also been relegated twice (Birmingham and Hull).  See the up-down-up pattern there?  The guy has made a career of managing teams that live on the edge of the Premier League.  Sound like any club we know?  He is the perfect fit for Mike Ashley's unambitious ownership.  Except - and this is the part I really don't get - Bruce has left a few clubs based on frustration over transfer policy.  Why the eff would he come to Newcastle?

The third shoe - the news that the club will be remaining in Ashley's hands - should drop any day now.

Then there's this.  With the departure of Perez and the end of Rondon's loan from West Brom, the leading returning scorer for Newcastle is center back Fabian Schar, who had four goals last season.  But apparently Everton is keen on stealing him away.  Perfect.

Still not bitter...


Late Night

Jeff K says these are Union players on their way to SLC;
I recognize Fabinho but not sure about others.

Mild withdrawal now that the World Cup and Gold Cup are over.  Plus fears that the upcoming Newcastle season will be a disaster.  Fortunately, we wake up in July with the Union in first place.  They face Real Salt Lake at 10 pm on Saturday night.  BFS Ski Resort advisor Jeff K sends the pictures at left and below, noting that he is on the same flight as the Union to Salt Lake City.

Okay, that's definitely Fabian showing off
during the delay

Thunderbolts and Lightning

"Very very frightening."  Or at least enough to cause weather delays for the Union as well at the USMNT on Wednesday.  But we get ahead of ourselves.


Independence Day

Orange dots are England's first half touches;
Yellow box is where Julie Ertz plays
(original from Paul Carr)

Or Thanksgiving Day, depending on how you look at it.  The US Women advanced to the WC final with a hard fought 2-1 win over England that had pretty much everything.  High quality goals. Check. Physical/chippy play. Check.  VAR controversy. Check.  Good stuff for the neutral or the USA fan.  So Rapinoe doesn't start and her replacement gets a goal and sets up the other score.    Check out the graphic on the left sent by BFS Track and Field expert Jack W.  Not much going on in the territory patrolled by Julie Ertz.  So England had a lot of the ball but not often where possession was dangerous.

The VAR calls seemed right to me.  VAR offside decisions are pretty much like goal line technology; you draw the line and it is or it isn't.  The PK looked right to me as well.  Ellen White's back leg was clipped and it affected her shot; it's a foul in the box.  Bad for England that captain Steph Houghton didn't convert the penalty.  Not a great take but US keeper Alyssa Naeher did go the right way and most importantly kept at least one toe on the line sweet Jesus;  we'll make it this week's YouTubeableMoment.

The second semi between Netherlands and Sweden was suspenseful but maybe not quite as riveting.  The Dutch advance to the final courtesy of a Jackie Groenen goal in the 99th minute of extra time.  So glad it was not decided on foul in the box or kicks from the spot after extra time.


A Second Final for the US

The day after the US women advanced, the USMNT finally put a strong performance together and pretty much ran over Jamaica.  Through 16 minutes the US were in total command, had a 1-0 lead and looked poised to add more goals.  They didn't look quite so dominant after a 90 minute weather delay and the first half ended at 1-0.  For the second half, the Yanks looked like they remembered they were the better team and added to the lead at 52 minutes.  A goal by Jamaica in the 69th minute threatened to put some suspense into the match but Pulisic ended the drama with a second goal at 87 minutes.

The other semi between Haiti and Mexico (on Tuesday) made little impression on me as all I can remember is that Mexico got a PK early in extra time to take a 1-0 win to get to the final.  Despite everybody assuming that the Gold Cup final is always US-Mexico, this is the first time the two have met since 2011.


Midweek MLS

Weather delayed the start of the Union's Wednesday match in Orlando.  When the match started, the Union looked like they were still on delay.  They fell behind quickly on an impressive run and goal by Chris Mueller at just 8 minutes.  The boys did find their feet and leveled things on a goal by shuh-BILL-koh at 32 minutes.  Things looked even better when just before the break, Jansson pulled down Picault and earned himself a straight red for DOGSO.  The Union took quick advantage in the second half with another goal from shuh-BILL-koh at 47 minutes.  Fafa Picault added a third just five minutes later and the match looked secure.  Any doubt was removed when Sacha Kljestan got a straight red for continuing to have that cheesy mustache a bad foul on Monteiro.  Some may claim that the match turned on the red card but I'd argue that the Union were already taken over the match before the call - which BTW was another VAR special.

Most of the results from other sectors were good.  NYCFC continued to win but DC United went down to Dallas, the Red Bulls lost to Houston and Toronto fell to Galaxy.  So the Union spent the 4th on top of the MLS East.


Population and FIFA Ranking

Curacao's performance against the US got me wondering about which countries do the most with the least population.  I kicked a few ideas around but ended up comparing FIFA ranking to population ranking.  The higher the number, the better you've done based on your population.  Ideally, we might look at number of professional soccer players versus total population but this will have to do.  The table is presented below.  Curacao is indeed up there in 6th.  As I suspected they would, Iceland topped the chart.  The US is 150th, not that impressive but better than either China or India.  Two fun facts.  Lebanon, at about 6 million, is the largest country without a national team, at least one ranked by FIFA.  Also, did you know that in April of 2018, Swaziland renamed itself and is now called the Kingdom of Eswatini?  Where else are you going to get this stuff?

				Population
		FIFA Ranking	Population	Ranking	Difference
1	Iceland	35	340,566	181	146
2	Uruguay	8	3,482,156	136	128
3	Croatia	6	4,140,148	131	125
4	Northern Ireland	28	1,871,000	151	123
5	Montenegro	53	629,355	168	115
6	Curaçao	79	162,547	193	114
7	Wales	23	3,125,000	137	114
8	Faeroe Islands	107	49,692	212	105
9	Denmark	10	5,775,224	115	105
10	Cabo Verde	76	560,349	172	96
11	Bosnia and Herzegovina	39	3,501,774	135	96
12	Ireland	32	4,847,139	125	93
13	Switzerland	9	8,608,259	99	90
14	Qatar	55	2,743,901	142	87
15	Slovakia	31	5,450,987	118	87
16	Jamaica	54	2,906,339	140	86
17	Slovenia	65	2,081,900	149	84
18	Costa Rica	39	4,999,384	123	84
19	Portugal	5	10,254,666	88	83
20	Belgium	1	11,562,784	81	80
21	Luxembourg	90	596,992	169	79
22	Antigua and Barbuda	124	104,084	200	76
23	North Macedonia	73	2,086,720	148	75
24	St. Kitts and Nevis	133	56,345	207	74
25	Scotland	45	5,425,000	118	73
26	Sweden	17	10,053,135	90	73
27	Albania	66	2,938,428	138	72
28	Norway	47	5,400,916	119	72
29	Paraguay	36	6,981,981	107	71
30	Austria	26	8,766,201	97	71
31	Cyprus	93	1,198,427	159	66
32	Andorra	139	77,072	203	64
33	Serbia	34	8,733,407	98	64
34	Trinidad and Tobago	92	1,375,443	154	62
35	Finland	56	5,561,389	116	60
36	Estonia	99	1,303,798	157	58
37	Gabon	89	2,109,099	147	58
38	Panama	75	4,226,197	130	55
39	Netherlands	14	17,132,908	69	55
40	Tunisia	25	11,783,168	79	54
41	Hungary	42	9,655,361	93	51
42	Bulgaria	57	6,988,739	106	49
43	Senegal	22	16,743,859	71	49
44	Chile	16	18,336,653	65	49
45	Czechia	41	10,630,589	87	46
46	Bahrain	110	1,637,896	152	42
47	Armenia	97	2,936,706	139	42
48	El Salvador	69	6,445,405	109	40
49	Georgia	94	3,904,204	133	39
50	Oman	86	5,001,875	122	36
51	Romania	27	19,483,360	62	35
52	Honduras	61	9,568,688	94	33
53	Greece	52	11,124,603	85	33
54	Cook Islands	190	17,462	222	32
55	Liechtenstein	183	38,404	215	32
56	Bermuda	174	60,833	206	32
57	Guinea-Bissau	118	1,953,723	150	32
58	Montserrat	197	5,220	228	31
59	New Caledonia	155	283,376	186	31
60	Namibia	113	2,641,996	143	30
61	Dominica	177	74,679	204	27
62	Solomon Islands	140	635,254	167	27
63	Congo	90	5,542,197	117	27
64	French Polynesia	158	288,506	183	25
65	Mauritania	103	4,661,149	128	25
66	United Arab Emirates	67	9,682,088	92	25
67	Grenada	173	108,825	197	24
68	Maldives	151	451,738	174	23
69	Spain	7	46,441,049	30	23
70	Barbados	164	287,010	185	21
71	Vanuatu	163	288,017	184	21
72	State of Palestine	100	5,186,790	121	21
73	Bolivia	62	11,379,861	83	21
74	Peru	21	32,933,835	42	21
75	Argentina	11	45,101,781	32	21
76	England	4	55,620,000	25	21
77	France	2	65,480,710	22	20
78	Gibraltar	198	34,879	217	19
79	American Samoa	190	55,727	209	19
80	Suriname	152	573,085	171	19
81	Israel	82	8,583,916	101	19
82	St. Vincent & Grenadines	177	110,488	195	18
83	St. Lucia	172	180,454	190	18
84	Poland	19	38,028,278	37	18
85	Kyrgyzstan	95	6,218,616	111	16
86	Colombia	13	49,849,818	29	16
87	Comoros	148	850,910	163	15
88	Anguilla	209	15,174	223	14
89	British Virgin Islands	205	32,206	219	14
90	Equatorial Guinea	141	1,360,104	155	14
91	Latvia	137	1,911,108	151	14
92	Central African Republic	112	4,825,711	126	14
93	Belize	166	390,231	179	13
94	Belarus	82	9,433,874	95	13
95	Eswatini	141	1,415,414	153	12
96	Australia	43	25,088,636	55	12
97	Venezuela	33	32,779,868	44	11
98	Ecuador	60	17,100,444	70	10
99	Italy	14	59,216,525	24	10
100	Aruba	189	106,053	198	9
101	Lithuania	132	2,864,459	141	9
102	Ukraine	24	43,795,220	33	9
103	Turks and Caicos	208	36,461	216	8
104	New Zealand	119	4,792,409	127	8
105	Germany	11	82,438,639	19	8
106	San Marino	211	33,683	218	7
107	Seychelles	194	95,702	201	7
108	Guinea	71	13,398,180	75	4
109	Sao Tome & Principe	185	213,379	188	3
110	Libya	105	6,569,864	108	3
111	Cameroon	51	25,312,993	54	3
112	Brazil	3	212,392,717	5	2
113	Guam	190	167,245	191	1
114	Mauritius	157	1,271,368	158	1
115	Cayman Islands	205	63,129	205	0
116	U.S. Virgin Islands	199	104,909	199	0
117	Lesotho	145	2,292,682	145	0
118	Burkina Faso	59	20,321,560	59	0
119	Mali	62	19,689,140	61	-1
120	Ghana	50	30,096,970	48	-2
121	Iran	20	82,820,766	18	-2
122	Botswana	147	2,374,636	144	-3
123	Malta	181	433,245	177	-4
124	Tonga	202	110,041	196	-6
125	Samoa	195	198,909	189	-6
126	Fiji	167	918,757	161	-6
127	Morocco	47	36,635,156	40	-7
128	Mexico	18	132,328,035	10	-8
129	Jordan	98	10,069,794	89	-9
130	Côte d'Ivoire	62	25,531,083	53	-9
131	South Korea	37	51,339,238	28	-9
132	Benin	88	11,801,595	78	-10
133	Guyana	177	786,508	165	-12
134	Sierra Leone	115	7,883,123	103	-12
135	Gambia	161	2,228,075	146	-15
136	Zambia	81	18,137,369	66	-15
137	Macao	182	642,090	166	-16
138	Brunei	193	439,336	176	-17
139	Haiti	101	11,242,856	84	-17
140	Japan	28	126,854,745	11	-17
141	Nicaragua	129	6,351,157	110	-19
142	Azerbaijan	110	10,014,575	91	-19
143	Turkey	37	82,961,805	17	-20
144	Syria	85	18,499,181	64	-21
145	Bhutan	186	826,229	164	-22
146	Turkmenistan	135	5,942,561	113	-22
147	Tajikistan	120	9,292,000	96	-24
148	Togo	128	8,186,384	102	-26
149	Kuwait	156	4,248,974	129	-27
150	United States	30	329,093,110	3	-27
151	Saudi Arabia	69	34,140,662	41	-28
152	Liberia	153	4,977,720	124	-29
153	Bahamas	210	403,095	178	-32
154	DR Congo	49	86,727,573	16	-33
155	Algeria	68	42,679,018	34	-34
156	Russia	43	143,895,551	9	-34
157	Djibouti	195	985,690	160	-35
158	Hong Kong	141	7,490,776	104	-37
159	Moldova	170	4,029,750	132	-38
160	Nigeria	45	200,962,417	7	-38
161	Uzbekistan	82	32,807,368	43	-39
162	Canada	78	37,279,811	38	-40
163	Zimbabwe	109	17,297,495	68	-41
164	Iraq	77	40,412,299	36	-41
165	Timor-Leste	200	1,352,360	156	-44
166	Egypt	58	101,168,745	14	-44
167	Puerto Rico	180	3,654,978	134	-46
168	Niger	104	23,176,691	57	-47
169	South Africa	72	58,065,097	25	-47
170	Singapore	162	5,868,104	114	-48
171	Uganda	80	45,711,874	31	-49
172	Mongolia	187	3,166,244	137	-50
173	Kazakhstan	114	18,592,970	63	-51
174	Burundi	134	11,575,964	80	-54
175	Madagascar	108	26,969,642	51	-57
176	Rwanda	136	12,794,412	77	-59
177	Malawi	126	19,718,743	60	-66
178	Dominican Republic	154	10,996,774	86	-68
179	Taiwan	125	23,758,247	56	-69
180	North Korea	122	25,727,408	52	-70
181	Mozambique	117	31,408,823	47	-70
182	Papua New Guinea	171	8,586,525	100	-71
183	China	73	1,420,062,022	1	-72
184	Angola	123	31,787,566	46	-77
185	Guatemala	145	17,577,842	67	-78
186	Kenya	105	52,214,791	27	-78
187	Vietnam	96	97,429,061	15	-81
188	Eritrea	202	5,309,659	120	-82
189	Laos	188	7,064,242	105	-83
190	South Sudan	168	13,263,184	76	-92
191	Cuba	175	11,492,046	82	-93
192	Yemen	144	29,579,986	50	-94
193	Sudan	130	42,514,094	35	-95
194	Thailand	116	69,306,160	20	-96
195	Cambodia	169	16,482,646	72	-97
196	India	101	1,368,737,513	2	-99
197	Chad	176	15,814,345	73	-103
198	Tanzania	131	60,913,557	23	-108
199	Afghanistan	149	37,209,007	39	-110
200	Myanmar	138	54,336,138	26	-112
201	Philippines	126	108,106,310	13	-113
202	Malaysia	159	32,454,455	45	-114
203	Nepal	165	29,942,018	49	-116
204	Somalia	202	15,636,171	74	-128
205	Ethiopia	150	110,135,635	12	-138
206	Sri Lanka	201	21,018,859	58	-143
207	Indonesia	160	269,536,482	4	-156
208	Bangladesh	183	168,065,920	8	-175
209	Pakistan	205	204,596,442	6	-199

I'm sure minutes after I publish this I'll come up with a reason that this is a terrible way to analyze this issue but it's what I have now.  Also, I checked the FIFA ranking score against actual population and found that the correlation was under 10%, suggesting that total population has little to do with success in international football. 


Newcastle Keeps Their Shoes On

Quique Sanchez Flores - I don't often coach EPL teams,
but when I do, I prefer mid-table teams
 with low transfer budgets

Not tons to add except that Ayoze Perez went to Leicester for £30 million.  Feel surprisingly torn about this.  Not happy to see him go but £30 million is a great price, especially since we got him for £1.5 million.  The problem is who is going to decide how to spend that money.  And we don't really know much more on that front.  A new rumor is that Quique Sanchez Flores, who did a nice job with Watford, might be the next Newcastle manager.


Sunday Finals

So USWMT takes on Netherlands at 11 pm and USMNT will face Mexico at 9 pm.  Don't forget the Union at 7pm on Saturday.

Are You Ready For Some Football?

Both US national teams onto the semis in their respective competitions, the Union on the road and Newcastle still on the road to hell.  So much to watch, it's a good thing work has been relatively quiet.


On To the Semis

It wasn't easy or even pretty but the USWNT took a 2-1 win over France.  Rapinoe's free kick goal was hockey like in that it made through a screen of a bunch of players.  The second goal was pretty good starting with the nice passing by Morgan and Heath that ended with a great cross from Heath to Rapinoe for the second goal.  A set piece from France meant a tense finish but they held on. 

On the one hand, there were many negatives.  France outpossessed the US 61-39, out shot the US 20-10 and US passing accuracy was an abysmal 64%.  On the other hand, despite the possession and shot disadvantage, the US still seemed in control of the match.  Only five of the shots were on goal.  The back line moved with precision, which led to six offside calls against the French.  In the end, the result matched what I thought I saw on the field, if not in the statistics.

England started fast and put away Norway 3-0.  We'll make Lucy Bronze's goal this week's YouTubeableMoment because a) it's a bullet and b) you never score from the top of the box.  The Saturday quarters were pretty good too.  Netherlands were just better than Italy and earned their 2-0 win.  The upset of the quarters came when Sweden rallied from 0-1 to get past favored Germany 2-1.  Can't remember any other come-from-behind wins in this tournament.  So we move on to two pretty interesting semi-final matches. 


Who Are Those Guys?

Panama vs Jamaica at the Linc (before the fights broke out)

A group of five of us traveled down to South Philly to catch the Gold Cup quarterfinals at the Linc.  Great weather, great seats, pretty good soccer.  The first match was a tight one between Panama and Jamaica that was decided on a hand ball call late in the match.  None of us were happy about the call, as the ball had come off the head of the defender and struck his arm, which happened to be raised above his shoulder.  Clearly no intent.  Except the new law says basically it's automatically a hand ball if the arm is raised above the shoulder.  Well that sucks.  And is stupid.  But the ref did not blow the call and VAR would have upheld his decision.

The second match was US vs the mighty island of Curacao, population 160,000 or barely more than South Philly as Philip S pointed out.  The US did have the run of play - sort of - and Pulisic's cross to McKennie for a goal at 25 minutes was well done.  Except from there you have to say the match was even.  These guys can play.  Turns out there's a reason.  We took to our phones to get more info about the Curacao players and you could argue that their pedigree might be better than the US.  Leandro Bacuna plays for Crystal Palace, defender Martina plays for Feyenoord but is on loan from Everton.  A bunch of them play for first division Dutch clubs. Another plays for a first division Belgian team and others play in the lower tiers of English football.  Jeff H wonders if this is a case of Curacao taking advantage of its Dutch roots and finding players with dual citizenship.  Not today but I'm also going to look at world ranking vs population.  These guys might be number 2 behind only Iceland.

In the other quarters on Saturday, Costa Rica took Mexico to extra time but lost on kicks from the spot.  Haiti spotted Canada two goals but came roaring back for a 3-2 win.


The House That Was Ruthlessly Built

The Union continued their nightmare run of games at Yankee Stadium.  Nothing seems to go right for them in the Big Apple.  The match started out well enough as they had 1-0 and 2-1 leads but things eventually fell apart and they went down 2-4.  The first two NYCFC goals came on PKs that might not bear up under the weight of too much scrutiny.  The first was probably okay but still not sure about the second.  But failure to mark Castellanos was their ultimate undoing.  I think the shorter field had something to do with it.

Fortunately the Union had snuck away from Foxborough with a point after a late goal from shuh-BILL-koh.  They were positively awful in the first half, looking like they were rusty after a layoff and playing on turf.  Much better in the second half and the draw was more than deserved. 

Somehow after dropping five points in two matches, the Union still sit first in the table.  DC United only managed a draw at home vs Toronto and Atlanta took the measure of Montreal.  Remember though, several teams below us have games in hand so it's somewhat of an illusion.  On the other hand, never expected any points from the NYCFC game and a point at New England wasn't terrible.  More important to see how they do with the home and home series with Orlando this week.


Waiting for the Other Shoes to Drop

No good news from Newcastle this week.  Names continued to be bandied about as Rafa's replacement with Mikel Arteta now leading the pack.  Ashley put a two-week deadline to complete the sale which means it probably won't happen.  Fears of player departures rise; probably won't be able to keep Rondon.

From Dennis we have the following chart:



Should be looking forward to the new season but hard to feel good about what's to come.


To the VAR Critics

I give you this scene from the Mexico-Costa Rica Gold Cup quarterfinal.  Joel Campbell was brought down near the box by Mexican defender Luis Rodriguez at 49:45.  The call on the field was a PK and there is no VAR in the Gold Cup so that's what played out.  Reviews indicated that the foul took place outside the box but Rodriguez coulda/shoulda been sent off for DOGSO.  Big difference.  But that's not my point.  With all the arguing and pleading and dramatics, the kick was taken at 51:45 - two minutes after the incident.  So stop whining about VAR slowing the game down.  With or without it, the restart is going to take forever anyway so why not use the time to get the call right.


Wrong Venues

So in the course of the week we saw:

- soccer played in a one-fifth full football stadium on turf with the football lines still visible (Union vs New England in Foxborough)
- baseball played in a soccer stadium which resulted in American football scores in both games (Red Sox vs Yankees at  London Stadium, home of West Ham)
- soccer played in a baseball stadium with the field length appropriate to U13 (Union vs NYCFC at Yankee Stadium)

Talen Energy Stadium is conveniently located to no one but at least it's a proper soccer venue.  Well, except for the new grass that comes up in huge chunks.  And yeah, the Linc wasn't even half full for the Gold Cup quarterfinals but at least 1) it was real grass and 2) there were no football markings on the pitch.  We won't discuss the nasty fan violence that broke out between Jamaican and Panamanian fans after the first match except to note that security was a joke.  Eagles and Giant fans in the same setting is one thing but this...


Better Living Through Science

Did you catch this?  During the France - US match sideline reporter Alex Curry had just done a quick bit about how the US players were given regular hydration tests and had individual electrolyte replacement regimens.  To which Ally Wagner replied:

The hydration test is simply look at the color of your urine.  But it sounds technical.

I smell an ESPY.


Revolution 2.0

So 243 years later to the day after the Declaration of Independence was approved by the colonies (the vote took place on 7/2, it was officially adopted on 7/4 - history lesson here), the USWNT will take on England for a berth in the World Cup Final.  That will be at 3 pm on Tuesday.  The other semi - Netherlands - Sweden is Wednesday at 3 pm.

Similar schedule for the Gold Cup.  Haiti - Mexico is at 10 pm on 7/2 and Jamaica - US is at 9 pm on 7/3.

Somehow we have to fit in Orlando vs the Union at 7:30 on Wednesday as well.  Would be nice if the various schedulers talked to each other occasionally.