Let the Inquest Begin

Pulisic's expression says it all (ESPN2)

After a 7-0 pasting of Cuba, the USMNT put up a real stinker in a 0-2 defeat to Canada in Nations League action.  This was the first loss to Canada in 34 years.  Though the actual place in this competition is not a real issue, performances like that one are.  They managed just three shots on target.  The Sports Illustrated write up is littered with phrases like "lack of meaningful possession in final third," "lack of creative runs," and "scatterbrained."  Pulisic didn't have the greatest night but was also often isolated in the attack.  He was subbed around 60 minutes and was visibly unhappy.  Commentators Ian Darke and Taylor Twellman used the word "inquest" liberally in the closing minutes.  The competition is somewhat of a no-win situation for the USMNT, as in if they win so what.  But they need to win so people can say "so what" as opposed to "wtf."

England also saw their unbeaten qualification streak ended with a 1-2 loss to the Czech Republic in European Championship qualifying.  This was their first loss in Euro or World Cup qualifying since October 2009.  Not as shocking as the US loss to Canada, just notable.  No inquest likely here, plus they pounded Bulgaria 6-0 in their second match during the international break.  That match may have been more notable for the racist behavior of vulgar Bulgarian fans, who directed monkey chants and Nazi salutes at Tyrone Mings and others.  England was also criticized for not bringing enough traveling stewards.  Uh?  Seems like FIFA could go no tolerance on this - either no home matches or home matches in empty stadia.

Took in a few other Euro qualifiers, including the Dutch 3-1 come-from-behind win over Northern Ireland in which all goals were scored after the 74th minute and a tight 1-1 draw between Sweden and Spain where Rodrigo got the equalizer in stoppage time to rescue a draw for Spain.  Also got to see Ukraine take an early lead and hold on to a 2-1 victory over Portugal.  Pretty good stuff all around.

For those keeping score at home, the following countries have qualified:

Belgium
Italy
Poland
Russia
Spain
Ukraine

Matchdays 9 and 10 in early November will conclude group play and determine many more automatic spots.  But there will be all kinds of playoffs to determine additional spots.  The playoff process is more complicated than the NBA draft lottery so I won't go into it here.


Turning Your Back on a Teammate

Apparently isn't always bad.  In one of the Dutch matches during the break, I saw a choreographed throw-in play in which a Dutch player stood maybe five yards from a teammate with his back turned to the thrower.  The throw-in gently bounced off the back and the thrower easily settled it and merrily dribbled away.  I couldn't find a video of the play but I did find this play by Canada's Junior Hoilett and Mark-Anthony Kaye from a match in March.  Same idea except the Canadian version looked more casual and spontaneous.  In the Dutch plan, the teammate clearly planted himself with his back parallel to the touchline to provide the perfect backboard.  Let's see if this catches on.


I Thought They Had National Health Insurance

In Football Manager 2010, I would occasionally have to deal with injury situations in which there was a choice between letting the injury heal or giving the player an injection that would get him through the next match but would cause him to miss more time in total.  I never chose the injection route because, I don't know, I hate shots?  Anyway, in FM 2019 the same thing happens, except now it tells me that the injection will cost the team $650 and goes against our budget.  I guess it's not covered by the British national health insurance plan.

I'm about two months into my tenure at Chester and in that time, team cohesion has gone from "abysmal" to "very poor" to "poor."  I'm told my position is secure at the moment because the cost to terminate my contract is more than the team is willing to spend.  That, and we are in first place after seven games. 


EPL and MLS Playoffs

And me out much of the weekend with refereeing and other stuff...

Newcastle can look to build on the win over Man United but not feeling much promise with a road trip to Stamford Bridge to face Chelsea.  Anything from that match is a bonus.  That's at 10 am but only on NBC Gold.

Saturday dawns early with a 7:30 (NBCSN) match between embattled Everton and mildly surprising West Ham.  The other five 10 am matches offer a range of interesting contests.  The TV guys picked Spurs -Watford; story line there is whether Tottenham get their act together against the last place side.  Leicester - Burnley could be a real good fixture between relatively equal squads.  Same for Aston Villa - Brighton.  Are Wolves really back to last season form?  They face Southampton at home.  Bournemouth and Norwich is the least interesting of the bunch but the Canaries sometimes surprise.  The Saturday 12:30 feature on NBC doesn't look great as Man City go to Selhurst Park to take on Crystal Palace; except, Palace have more points in the last five matches than City so who knows?

Sunday has just a solo game with Man United hosting Liverpool (11:30 on NBCSN).  Used to be we'd think of this as a big time match up with all sorts of implications.  Recent form for both sides suggests otherwise but maybe United will get their act together.  We get Monday afternoon football this week as Arsenal travel to face Sheffield United; the Gunners look in much better form and are favorites here.

MLS has six single elimination playoff matches spread over Saturday and Sunday.  Our primary focus will be the Union vs Red Bulls at Talen Energy (3 pm Sunday on FS1).  At 538 the Union are a solid favorite (70%) which seems on the optimistic side to me.  The good news is that shuhBILLkoh and Bedoya are both expected back.  This gives Curtin many more options than he had against NYCFC two weeks ago.

Saturday has games at 1 (Atlanta - New England on Univision), 3:30 (Seattle - Dallas on FS1), 6 (Toronto - DC United on [can't find it on my TV], and 10 (Real Salt Lake - Portland on ESPNews).   Again, surprised that 538 doesn't see these as all that close with Atlanta at 78%, Seattle at 66%, Toronto at 75% and RSL at 66%.  The weekend concludes with Minnesota - LA Galaxy at 8:30 on Sunday night (ESPN), the tightest match up according to 538 with Minnesota at 62%.

MLS apparently wants the playoffs to go quickly as they scheduled the second round matches for mid-week on 10/23 and 10/24.  Wow, another big advantage to the division winners, who got first round byes and will face sides working with four days rest.  And conference finals are next Saturday/Sunday so teams could have three games in 7-8 days.  This might be driven by the international break in mid-November.  If they don't get the final in by 11/10, they'd have to wait until 11/24.

The break is clearly over.