Win Some, Lose Some, Draw Some

Until the Union's midweek win my Football Manager Chester Blues had provided the only good news of the week.  A disturbing trend we've seen in the past.


U Know the Way in San Jose (musical accompaniment courtesy Dionne Warwick)

BFS Referee Consultant Graham R reminds me of the expression "Better to be lucky than good sometimes."  That certainly applied to the Union performance in a 2-1 win in San Jose.  Oh, and we still love VAR.  On a night when the Union passing was atrocious they still found a way to take all three points.  As is becoming their habit, they did surrender the opening goal.  And in the first of favorable VAR calls, Wagner was not sent off for DOGSO; probably the correct call on the field but if the initial call had been a red card, probably would not have been overturned either.

Przybylko just one shy of  CJ Sapong single season record
 of 16 goals (photo Nhat V. Meyer Bay Area News Group)

Things did not improve in the second half as a leaky back line gave up the second goal in less than a minute. But wait, VAR to the rescue again.  Extremely tight, but correctly ruled offside, a call that never would have been spotted without VAR.  I didn't sense a marked improvement in their overall play but the Union managed to score in the 70th and 76th minutes.  The latter was a sweet cross from Monteiro finished with an equally sweet header from CATS-purr shuh-BILL-koh.  VAR still had one more role to play.  Collin inexpertly road Andres Rios off the ball in the box and was whistled for a foul in the 81st minute.  Again, the review went in the U's favor.  Obviously biased here but I think they got it right; Collin did not use his arms and actually had pretty good position on Rios.  From there, San Jose didn't really threaten and the all three points came home with the Union.

This was a marked improvement over Sunday's effort in New Jersey, an 0-2 loss to the Red Bulls.  They were never in the game.  It wasn't horrible defending but the offense just wasn't very threatening.  I guess they did have a chance that first required a save from Robles, then a clearance off the line.  The Red Bulls got their first goal on a Blake howler; on a ball coming through his box, he didn't hold on or push it hard enough to the side.  The ball was a sitting duck for the rebound.  The second goal came late after it was clear the Union were not going to mount a serious threat.

Helpful news from the out of town scoreboard.  Toronto's draw on Saturday meant the Philadelphia clinched a top four spot, which translates into home field advantage for the first round of the playoffs.  NYCFC's  4-1 thumping of Atlanta allowed the Union to move back into second place, which would mean a home playoff game in the second round, were the Union to get that far.  Atlanta have Montreal and New England while Philly have Columbus and NYCFC.  Going to be tight.


How to Take Your Shirt Off While Celebrating a Goal Without Getting a Yellow Card

Excessive celebrating in the stands is not a cautionable offense-
though maybe it should be 

Did you catch Chris Wondolowski's act on Wednesday night?  San Jose's leading scorer was serving a red card suspension but was in the stands for the game against the Union.  After the Earthquakes' goal, he celebrated by taking his shirt off.  He was not yellow carded.






Championship Football

Fabian Schar - defender, goal scorer and now apparently goalie

And I mean that in the worst way.  Newcastle and Brighton put on a display of Championship Division (2nd tier) finishing at St. James' Park on Saturday in a match that truly deserved the 0-0 final score it yielded.  The Magpies were listless and disorganized.  No soul whatsoever.  Well except for Fabian Schar, who must be thinking do I have to do everything myself.  Check out his clearance off the line to save a sure goal - my choice for this week's YouTubeableMoment. You can see from the picture how close it was. Truly for 70 minutes Newcastle were awful and Brighton not that much better.  The introduction of the original Bunned One - Andy Carroll- and Saint-Maximin sparked both the play and the crowd but did not result in a goal.

Some of the poor play is down to the players but the chaos surrounding their formation and system goes to Steve Bruce.  Apparently a week's worth of planning had to be scrapped after just 20 minutes because the formation/system simply wasn't working.  And how about the announced crowd of just 42,000 (with scads of empty seats to boot)?  Geez, they used to get 52,000 real bodies when they played in the Championship Division.  Yeah, things are just great Tyneside.


What Is Wrong With Tottenham Man United Everton?

Possibly a little harsh on Spurs but not the other two.  Still, you'd have to say something doesn't look quite right for Tottenham this season (written before I saw they lost to Colchester in League Cup play - see below).  They fell to a good Leicester that passed the retest in their second straight contest against a "top six" team.  The Foxes fell behind Tottenham when Harry Kane scored while basically prone on the turf (should have been this week's YouTubeableMoment).  But two second half goals, including James Maddison's 85th minute winner, gave them a 2-1 win.  Great match for the neutral but I had to spend the weekend talking Michael B off the ledge.

Man United were effectively stymied by West Ham 0-2 and frankly looked in some disarray, especially on the attacking side.  But what to say about Everton?  Losers at Bournemouth last week, the Toffees fell to newbies Sheffield United 0-2 at home.  Metrics at 538 say they may have been unlucky in several matches so maybe it's temporary slump.  But untimely too as the top six does seem a little less exclusive this year.

This is a stupid game - Palace manager Roy Hodgson shortly
 after his Eagles let a win slip away.

Started watching Man City Watford but after two quick tallies moved on to Burnley Norwich.  Not sure why City went for the two point conversion but the 8-0 result sure put a hurting on Watford's goal differential.  Burnley got a quick jump on the Canaries with goals at 10 and 14 minutes and cruised to a 2-0 win.  I did not see Crystal Palace - Wolves but the box score reads like a train wreck.  Palace were gifted an own goal early in the second half; they went a man up after a second yellow at 73 minutes.  Yet there was Jota scoring in the 95th minute to snatch a 1-1 draw.  Couldn't find the picture of Hodgson after the goal online so I took it from NBC highlights video.  Not a happy camper.

Decline the Penalty?

Speaking of not doing well when opponent gets a red card.  Last week Aston Villa could only manage a draw despite a man advantage for the last 20+ minutes.  This week they couldn't manage a win even playing a man up for about 50 minutes.  Yeah, it was Arsenal but the Villans surrendered three goals, including two in the last ten minutes, in the 2-3 loss.  Scary to think how they'd do 11 v 10 for the whole match.


False Precision

Back in the day when I was a fleet-footed redhead (well, that's what the school newspaper called me),
electronic timing of races, which could measure down to 1/100th and even 1/1000th of a second, was just getting implemented.  At the same time, digital stopwatches that measured to 100th of a second also came out.  But Track & Field News, guardians of track archives, would always round any hand timing up to the nearest 10th of second, arguing that 100ths of a second was suggesting precision not possible with hand timing.

An inch offside?

I feel that way about VAR and offside.  On the one hand, the technology does look sophisticated as they identify the relevant body parts, fiddle with the dials and draw precise lines to determine whether the play was offside.  The problem is that it's still based on the VAR's opinion as to when the ball was struck.  As Charlie O points out, that's kind of like deciding exactly when the ball is in the first baseman's mitt.  So we have goals overturned for incredibly tight offside infractions because the standard for offside is not a clear and obvious error but rather a yes or no question.  It doesn't matter how close it is, you are either on or offside. Don't see a solution but it is frustrating.


I Still Don't Carabao It Cup

Most notable result is Colchester advancing over Spurs despite not managing a shot on target; they got their win based on kicks-from-the-spot.  Overall, the round of 16 will feature 11 premier sides, three from League One and two from League Two; note the absence of any Championship sides.  And with the quaint practice of no seeding in these competitions, the round of 16 will include matches such as Chelsea - Man United and Liverpool - Arsenal.  Good thing I don't really care about it.


Two Venues That Are Better Than Yankee Stadium

BFS Travel Consultant Jeff K sends this article about soccer in Greenland, where the season looks to last about 40 minutes before the elements take over.  But check out the venue where they play (video above).  Not to be outdone, BFS Scandinavian correspondent Philip S sent the following pictures of Aalesund Norway, where he saw QPR play a friendly against a local squad.

Think of these images next time you're watching NYCFC (or New England) in their home parks.


Maybe Not Such A Great Weekend for Neutrals

Scanning the weekend's fixtures I'm not seeing many obvious choices for exciting viewing.  I guess Man United v Arsenal Monday at 3 pm (NBCSN) is the best option.  You can get up at 7:30 on Saturday to catch Liverpool at Sheffield United (NBCSN) but not expecting a tight match there.  The 10 am TV game is Chelsea - Brighton.  538 odds suggest that Bournemouth - West Ham or Aston Villa -Burnley will be more competitive matches.  Bottom dwellers Wolves and Watford also face each other.  You'll need NBC Gold for any of those matches.  The 12:30 NBC feature match is Everton - Man City at Goodison Park; doesn't feel like a great fixture for Everton to sort themselves out.  The other 10 am matches (all NBC Gold) are Crystal Palace - Norwich and Spurs - Southampton.  Tottenham are comfortable favorites so look for Michael B out on the ledge again if they don't secure all three points.

Leicester - Newcastle at 11:30 is Sunday's only match.  There are reports of a big shake up in the Newcastle line (Schar as defensive midfielder?).  The Magpies are of course big underdogs for this road match and it's hard to see them getting a result here. 

MLS scheduling is quite regimented the next two Sundays.  This weekend all the Eastern Conference matches start at 5 and the Western Conference matches begin at 7:30.  The following Sunday every fixture starts at 4 pm.  Aside from the Union-Columbus match, Toronto,  DC United and Red Bulls are fighting for the 4th spot and the home field advantage.  Toronto takes on Chicago while DC and the Red Bulls face other in New Jersey.  You can catch that one on FS1 but not sure how you do it spoiler-free if you're watching the Union first.

Any smoke you smell this weekend isn't burning leaves but my DVR.  Somehow I'm going to ref two games, watch 5-6 matches and stay current with the Track and Field World Championships, which start on Friday.  These sporting events are not going to watch themselves.


Late news - Peter Kenyon may have a renewed (continuing?) interest in purchasing Newcastle.  Color us skeptical.