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.