Still in the Hunt

Despite less than overwhelming performances, both US national teams still have a chance for hardware in their respective competitions.  The Union come away with just one point in Florida.

Hoppe Header

Hoppe with a clean finish
(like Michael B's favorite beer)

No, that is not the latest from Vermont's craft brewer The Alchemist.  Rather, it is the narrow difference between the US and Jamaica in their quarterfinal match up.  The US did have a 68/32 possession advantage but shots were 11/10, shots on goal were 5/5, corners were 7/7.  Each keeper did have a key save in the first half.  Yes, this was looking like extra time or worse, a shoot-out.  Fortunately, Matthew Hoppe (pronounced hoppy) buried a great cross from Roldan in the 83rd  minute to save us from all of that.  There is some argument that this was a mistake from Blake as he attempted to intercept the cross as opposed to staying on his line.  Doesn't take away from the finish though.

So where are we with the US chances?  They'll have to get past a surprisingly good Qatar team (see below) and then would face Mexico or Canada in the final.  Not saying they can't win the whole thing but it feels like a long shot at this point.  There are flashes of quality from this decidedly "not full first team" side.  Not sure they have enough to win it all.

Close, But No. Qatar

That is the Jeopardy answer under Gold Cup Football for $600.  The question:  Did El Salvador come back from an 0-3 deficit to win its quarterfinal match?  Not a marquee match up but highly entertaining.  Qatar were up 2-0 within eight minutes.  A PK in the 55th minute looked to have salted this one away.  Someone forgot to tell El Salvador, who scored twice within three minutes to bring the game to life.  They even had looked to level the match shortly after only to see the goal disallowed for offside.  There were a few more chances before the final whistle but Qatar held on for the 3-2 win.  They may be a challenging opponent for the the US.

Mexico Advance

No way Mexico was going to lose
with Him in the lineup

Not a surprise that Mexico had little trouble getting past Honduras 3-0.  But maybe they had some "special" help (see left). With the quarterfinal results, the US - Mexico final is still on track.

In the other quarter on this side of the bracket, Canada took the measure of Costa Rica 2-0.  Maybe the score flatters the Canadians but not that much.  On the other hand, this Costa Rican squad is getting long in tooth; many of their best players are on the wrong side of 30 - at least from an international soccer perspective.

USWNT Advance With Ugly Tie

Don't think this is what the headline
 meant but it is fitting in a way

You could call it a pragmatic draw.  You could also be labeled as exceedingly generous.  There was nothing good about the USWNT's 0-0 draw with Australia other than the fact that it got them second in the group and a spot in the quarterfinals.  Yes, a US goal was chalked off - correctly - for an incredibly tight offside call.  There wasn't much else.  A night owl friend (Chris Z) watched much of the match live and wondered if soccer is always this bad.  I had no good response.

A draw was good enough here because of a 6-1 drubbing of New Zealand on Saturday.  That obviously was a better performance, though it was against a decidedly weaker opponent.  Any medal, let alone gold, feels like a long shot right now.

Sucks to Be Right

Turns out we were correct to be concerned about the Union's Florida swing as they return home after collecting just one point.  A little strange that in some ways they were lucky to get one yet unlucky not to get four.  Huh?

Against Orlando they were dead in the water at 0-2 until shuhBILLkoh got one back in the 68th minute.  The Union were on the front foot the rest of the way and saw the equalizer headed off the goal line by defender Kyle Smith in the 98th minute; exciting stuff.  Expected goals data at 538 says this could have been a Union win and certainly a draw was in reach.

Somewhat the same story three days later in Miami.  They fell behind 0-1 and were looking at zero points.  Curtin rolled the dice with an incredibly attacking line up in the 83rd minute - taking off Mbaizo and Flach for Ilsinho and McGlynn.  The gamble paid off as within two minutes they had the equalizer.  Though the finish isn't textbook, the build up play is so we make it this week's  YouTubeableMoment.  And look at Jack Elliott acting like a No. 10.  A second goal did not seem out of the question though there was little time left.  The metrics suggest a close one and the draw was probably a fair result.

Once again a mixed bag.  They were shorthanded again, missing Blake and Burke.  They also seemed prone to the misplaced pass again.  To my eye, I don't see that they have figured out how to get the best out of Monteiro and Gazdag when they are on the pitch at the same time.  Good on Curtin to gamble late against Miami; he clearly subscribes to the theory that there's little difference between losing 0-1 or 0-2.  Also glad to see Curtin has given in to the need to sub out Bedoya late in matches; he's already lost a step and when fatigued it's several steps.  Quinn Sullivan is young but showing some promise.  They sit fourth in the table but 7th on points per game.

That Will Not Look Good On Your Resume

A few minutes into the Union match with Inter Miami, I realized that their left back was none other than Kieran Gibbs.  Oof.  A career path that goes from Arsenal to West Brom to Inter Miami isn't necessarily the trajectory you would hope for.  Note that ex-Stoke defender Ryan Shawcross features for them and Aston Villa loanee Indiana Vassilev makes an occasional appearance as well.  Not surprising I guess for an American franchise with ex-English internationals as owner (David Beckham) and manager (Phil Neville - at least last time we checked).

August Break?

Well sort of.  Thursday has the Gold Cup semis with Qatar vs US at 7:30 and Mexico vs Canada at 10 pm.  The final will be Sunday night at 8:30 pm.  The Olympic women's quarterfinals are early Friday, with the USWNT taking on Netherlands at 7 am.  And the Union will host Chicago at Subaru Park on Saturday at 6 pm.  Given where we've been, that is an incredibly light schedule.

On another topic, we will note that this is the 400th post from BFS.  We started up in October 2013 with no idea of what would happen.  Happy to see that we're still around.  We had hoped to do more to celebrate but, well, you know.  We will however include a link to the most viewed post in the blog's history from December 2016 during the famous "Five Guys from the USA" trip to England.  It includes the iconic "album cover photo" of the group while in Whitby and also, my brush with celebrity status - the interviews outside of St. James' Park in which a Yankee displays incredible knowledge of second tier English football.

Thunderbolts and Lightning

Very very frightening (apologies to Queen)

BFS Keeper Consultant Graham R and I were at Subaru Park when the skies opened up in the 86th minute.  Sticking around for the restart did have its rewards.  Also, the USMNT came through group stage play at the Gold Cup unscathed but not looking exactly like world continent beaters.  Not so great  start for the USWNT at the Olympics.

Timing Is Everything

Going into the home match with DC United, the Union were going to be shorthanded again.  Blake and Burke are on international duty with Jamaica, Freese was serving his red card suspension and Monteiro was out for his yellow card accumulation suspension.  In large part, they survived those absences pretty well in a close 2-1 win.  Joe Bendik, a 25 10 year MLS veteran, was more than competent in goal and had a critical save in the first half.  Sergio Santos contributed a goal and an assist for which we'll sort of forgive him for the truly careless foul in the box on a player moving away from the goal that gave DC its only score.  And Daniel Gazdag was solid at the top of the diamond, contributing an incredible assist (seen here as this week's YouTubeableMoment) on the first goal and starting the counter attack for the second with a solid tackle.  We'll also mention the solid work of the two center backs  Elliott and Glesnes, as they did a good job identifying and blocking the passing lanes. 

On the glass half empty side, there were many passes that either missed or went right to the opposition.  Also, there were times when the attack looked static and lifeless.  Very fortunate that the second goal came minutes before the game was stopped for the weather delay.  Highly unlikely that they would have scored after sitting for 90 minutes and returning to the pitch for the last four minutes plus five of stoppage time.

The U sit second in the table, but they are tied with points with Nashville (total wins is first tiebreaker and they have a game in hand on 4th place Orlando.  Good that they have four points in the two matches so far without Blake and Burke.  My wish now is that Curtin can figure out a way to have both Gazdag and Monteiro on the pitch at the same time without cramping either's style.  

Patience Has Its Rewards

After the storm hit - an impressive one we might add - we stuck around for over an hour.  We were about five minutes from leaving when the announcement came that the game would restart at 11:20.  At that point, there was no reason to leave - it wasn't a school night.  There weren't many takers though.  I had been thinking that if the Union marketing people were on the ball, they would come up with a way to show their appreciation of the 100 or so fans that hung into the end.  Well, they did.  A guy came around with the Supporters Shield and let the fans get a picture holding it.  So there's the proof that Graham and I stuck around to the end.  The thing is pretty heavy.  

And yes, it was the real one.  What's that mean?  Well, recall that in the BFS post back in November, I suggested that the shield looked like something right out of Captain Marvel.  I had no idea how close to the truth I was.  Check out this story at ESPN, which I hadn't seen until Dennis forwarded it to me this week.  The real shield did not arrive in Philly in time for the game so they fashioned a replica - using a Captain America shield.  I am not making this up.  You can see the picture with the fake and the real one in the article.

We also read up on MLS weather delay policy.  Games abandoned after 75:00 are complete and all the stats count; if abandoned before then, the game restarts from the point it was stopped "the next day or as soon as is practical."  The decision to abandon is at the league's discretion though factors such as will the restart be more than three hours after play is stopped, will the restart occur after midnight and will the game end after 1 am.  

"A Dreary Affair"

After an easy 5-1 pasting of Martinique, the USMNT took first place in Group B with a rather uninteresting 1-0 win over Canada.  Eesh, even Suriname v Costa Rica might have been more exciting; yes, desperately seeking a fix, I watched the second half of that contest.  As this article points out though, we can blame the early goal (the US scored in 30 seconds) for most of that.  Though it wasn't pretty to watch, they did exactly what they needed to.

So it's onto the knockout stage and the US first opponent will be Jamaica on Sunday at 9:30 pm.  They will be favored but this is not our best squad so who knows what will happen.  The other quarterfinal matches are:

Qatar - El Salvador (Saturday 7:30 pm)

Mexico - Honduras (Saturday 10 pm)

Costa Rica - Canada (Sunday 7 pm)

Wait, what is Qatar doing there?  The answer is here.  Something about a strategic partnership to advance the cause of soccer for both CONCACAF and the Asian federation.  Oh, and it got the Gold Cup sponsorship from Qatar Airways. Short answer - money.

The US is in the bracket with Qatar/El Salvador so a US - Mexico final is possible.  Shocked to hear that.  The semis are next Thursday with the final on Sunday.

Bitter Swede Opener for the USWNT

How is it possible that the 0-3 score line in the loss to Sweden actually flatters the US?  The Swedes came out with attacking football and had the US on the backfoot from the get go.  Further, in a very non-Mourinho move, they continued to press even after going up 1-0.  How much of this was Sweden playing well versus US coming up flat?  Julie Foudy suggested that this was "About as sloppy and lethargic as I have seen from the United States in a very long time."  I'd go with both.  Sweden are a good team but that was not a good performance from the US.

Fortunately, the Olympics uses the NBA-style approach and eight of the 12 teams in the competition will advance to the knockout stage.  So that means the loss by itself is not crippling.  What will matter is how they respond to this setback.

Comment on the Euros

BFS top Costa Rican fan Bob K sent along this post-mortem type article from The Guardian discussing what England need to do going forward.  Citing the racist abuse that Rashford, Saka and Sancho got in the wake of the shootout, the article suggests a few things for Gareth Southgate and the English team but a whole lot more for England as a country.  

Still Busy

By my count BFS will take in eight matches in the next week.  We have the Union on their Florida swing, taking on Orlando Thursday night and Miami Sunday night.  Orlando is just one point back of the Union so a result there would be great but likely difficult; frankly a draw would be awesome.  Chances at Miami look a little better but we have to consider the possibility of U getting just one or two points from the trip to the Sunshine State.

Given our propensity to watch what's available, it is very likely we will take in all the Gold Cup quarters.  Costa Rica - Canada should be a decent show and we'll want to scout Mexico.  Oh hell, why am I justifying it?  You know I'll watch them all.

We'll also check in on the USWNT to see how they fare against New Zealand (7:30 am Saturday morning) and Australia (4 am Tuesday).  Put us down for DVR on that last one.

For those keeping track, the EPL opener (Brentford vs Arsenal) is barely three weeks away (8/13).  

There Is No Off Season

With EPL and MLS overlap there never really was but it seems even crazier these last 18 months.  The Euros and Copa America ended this weekend but Gold Cup started up and runs to August 1.  EPL regular season starts Friday 8/13.  Oh yeah, there'll be Olympic soccer as well from 7/21 to 8/7.   Do not take that as a complaint though.

England Mimic Spurs

It was like watching a Jose Mourinho coached squad all over again.  Luke Shaw gave England a quick lead with a goal in the third minute (and there was much rejoicing).  They played reasonably well for another 15-20 minutes.  Then nothing.  We saw this movie all year with Tottenham. With the same result. 

The good thing about the early goal was it meant we would not see much catatonia catenaccio from Italy.  The Azzurri took a little while to recover from the quick score but slowly gained control of the match.  They were on the front foot from about 30 minutes on; credit to the England back line for keeping them out of the 18 for awhile.  Eventually Italy broke through on a scrum in front of the goal in the 67th minute - deserved if not pretty.  

Fitting for this tournament, we went to extra time (8th time in the 15 knockout games).  Nothing in the extra time.  Fitting for this tournament, we went to a shootout (4th time in the 15 knockout games).  Southgate went tactical and put in two subs in the 119th minute - Rashford and Sancho - who were theoretically solid PK takers.  Except both missed.  So did Saka and Italy took the title 3-2 in the shootout. 

Though I would have preferred to see England prevail, I am happy to see Roberto Mancini achieve success on the world stage.  Same with Chiellini.  And it's not like Italy weren't solid the whole tournament.  My early reads of the English press don't show Southgate getting raked over the coals though many point out some of the team's - and his - shortcomings.  Given this was the first appearance in a final in a long time, one would expect Southgate gets the chance to manage the team through next year's World Cup.

Overall, a fascinating tournament that was thoroughly entertaining from start to finish.  

You Know 'Zactly Who I Mean

Not your typical assistant manager

Surprised I did not get to this sooner.  It was hard not to notice Alberico Evani (photo left) on the sidelines advising Roberto Mancini.  He has a very, um, distinctive appearance.  I thought he was straight out of a Peter Sellers movie.  We weren't the only ones who took notice.  Check out this article in Mr. Porter, a British on-line fashion store that apparently also publishes a journal.  So many great lines.  I'll go with this one:

He should be in a piazza in Rome drinking Campari and tutting, not doing anything as vulgar as setting up a training session or telling a defender where to stand on a patch of grass. 

Don't miss the link at the end of the article if you want one of those jackets for yourself.  Also, how many soccer blogs do you know with a quoting fashion journals?

Only If Europe For It

We certainly ran through a lot of puns during the tournament.  Some late entries:

As the Spanish midfielder could not get to a cross in the box:  Apparently things do not go better with Koke

As Denmark are threatening England with incisive attacks: The English are finding the Danish counter is more than a place to get pastries

Conversation That Could Have Taken Place and Did

as Jack Grealish enters the Euro Final

Steve:  Here comes the calvery

Dennis: A++++++++++

If I have to explain it, it's no good...

Message on a Bottle (apologies to The Police)

Read any good bottles lately?

Though the practice has been going on for some time, I was not aware that keepers will put notes on
their water bottles about shooters' tendencies on penalty kicks.  Pickford has done it several times.  Ian Darke referenced it before the Italy - England shootout.  Haven't seen anything that says it's illegal. That would seem to be valuable information to have in a shootout, though I wonder if it leads to overthinking.  Seems a bit like rock, scissors, paper, shoot...

That Was Messi

In golf, there's always a discussion about the best player never to have won a major (Masters, US Open, British Open, PGA Championship).  The soccer equivalent dogging Lionel Messi was that for all his accomplishments, he had never won a major title with Argentina.  Fortunately, their 1-0 win over Brazil in the Copa America (South American confederation championship) takes care of that.  Messi himself did not have a great game though he did have a good tournament.  Also kudos to Aston Villa keeper Emiliano Martinez for his work in goal for Argentina.

I did not watch any of Copa America except the final.  Maybe it was a great tournament.  In any case, the final was brutally ugly.  Laura thought it was an NFL game.  There were 41 fouls and nine yellow cards.  At least the game winner from Angel Di Maria was a nice piece of work, calmly settled and deftly lifted over the keeper; we make it this week's YouTubeableMoment.

Tin Cup

The CONCACAF Gold Cup looks like a soccer step-child.  Though it is the confederation's championship, it doesn't have the same cachet as the Euros or Copa America.  Add to that, the real focus of these squads is World Cup qualifying which begins in September.  ESPN has a helpful write up here.  I like how Berhalter won't call this his B Team but look at the roster.  They were certainly less than impressive in a 1-0 win over Haiti on Sunday night.  Martinique on Thursday won't be much of a test.  The third group stage match with Canada on Sunday could be interesting.   Until the Olympics start though, this is pretty much all we have, save for some MLS contests.

Textbook Stuff

In the Union's 1-1 draw with the Red Bulls, we saw a textbook case of excessive force when Dru Yearwood absolutely clocked Monteiro.  Unfortunately, it was not called on the field and VAR did not deign to push the issue.  In the second half, with the score still 0-0, we saw a textbook hospital ball from Glesnes back to replacement keeper Freese.  That was followed by a textbook goalie error from Freese as he sought to play the ball rather than hoof it clear.  After failing to play the ball to safety, Freese committed a textbook DOGSO, one that left no doubt in anyone's mind.  The PK was converted and the Union played the rest of the way a man down.  There was a happier ending when Curtin made a textbook "throw caution to the wind" decision to substitute Santos for Flach, clearly reasoning that there's little difference in losing 0-1 or 0-2.  In fact, BFS obtained exclusive video (language!) of Curtin explaining his decision.  The equalizer from Santos can be seen here.

On balance this was a good result.  Somewhat surprised to see Freese taking more of the blame for the mess up; to me it was 50/50 between Glesnes' soft pass and Freese's decision not to clear it.  Yes, Freese could have saved the situation but he shouldn't have been under pressure in the first place.  Good overall play from Gazdag in a purely attacking role and hope that develops more.  A character building moment to come away with a point.  New England, Orlando and NYCFC all lost so the point was useful that way too.

He Seems Outgoing Enough

The Inquirer's Jonathan Tannenwald suggested a role for the Union's Daniel Gazdag as a "withdrawn" forward.  At least that is a real position, unlike the "introverted" winger that Taylor Twellman referenced earlier this season.  Dennis says he played both in high school.

A Breather?

Well, only if you have no intention of following the Gold Cup group stage play.  If you do, there's two matches pretty much every day until next Tuesday.  Even I'm balking at that, though I'll probably tune in selectively.  Certainly will watch US - Martinique (Thursday 9:30 pm) and US - Canada (Sunday at 5 pm).  Costa Rica - Jamaica (Tuesday 7/20 at 7 pm) looks interesting.  Hard pass on Suriname - Guadaloupe.  The knockout stages should bring some more enticing match ups.

I'll be at Subaru Park Saturday night for the Union vs DC United.  On paper, this is supposed to be W for Philly; 538 has it 57% chance.  They will be without Blake and Burke again.  Still,  I think the U have enough to see this one through.  Some other good Eastern Conference stuff too with Atlanta - New England (Saturday at 5 pm) and Columbus - NYCFC (Saturday at 7:30).  Haven't paid much attention to the West yet but I see that Seattle have eight wins, five draws and no losses.  KC and the LA Galaxy also doing well.  

Have you broken the habit of tuning in at 3 pm for the Euro match of the day?

Four Scores and Five Clean Sheets Ago...

...the English advanced to the semis of the Euro 2021 2020.  Overall continued great viewing with four interesting quarterfinals.  For the Union, the viewing - and the news  - was not as good.

End of the Road for the Boys of Sommer

One of Sommer's 10 saves versus Spain

No one's had a better tournament that Switzerland's keeper Yann Sommer.  He continued with another fine performance against Spain, recording 10 saves (tournament high) through regular time plus 30 minutes of extra time, getting the Swiss to a 1-1 draw.  Then he stopped another one in the shootout.  Unfortunately, it was not enough, and Spain advanced on the strength of the 3-1 shootout.  

Spain played a man up from 77 minutes on after Michael Oliver issued a dubious red card to Remo Freuler.  We are big Oliver fans but agree with Mark Clattenberg here; better he had issued a yellow and let the VAR chime in.  You can't say it was an egregious error; though Freuler had slid a long way before contact, Oliver judged it was excessive force and that was hard to overturn.  However, it would have worked the same way had he issued just a yellow; it would not have been overturned by the VAR.

Italy Exposes Belgium

Jeremy Doku - Coming to an EPL side near you?

During the Spain Switzerland match, Efan Ekoku suggested words to the effect that the Belgian back line was old and slow.  A few hours later, it was clear that 1) he was right and 2) it wasn't just the back line.  The exception would be Jeremy Doku, the 19 year-old left winger who was responsible for most of the Belgian attacks.  There were a few moments from De Bruyne that forced a couple of saves from Donna Summer Donnarumma.  Otherwise, Italy looked the far better side and arguably 2-1 doesn't reflect how much they were in control of the match.  The Belgium goal came on a poorly timed challenge in the box.  To be fair, some of Belgium's troubles may not be "old age," but the fact that Italy are a solid team.  A tense match and a fair outcome.  

Miracle Recovery of the Tournament

In the build-up to Italy's first goal after a failed bicycle kick and collision inside the Belgian six, Immobile went down writhing in agony.  His teammate Barella is obviously not concerned as he plays on and puts a beautiful shot past Courtois.  The most interesting part though - which you can see here - is how after the ball is in the net, Immobile immediately picks himself up with no apparent lasting effects of the contact; you might say he's no longer immobile.  Frankly, that's just embarrassing.  Stop it.  Feigning an injury should be specifically listed in the Laws as unsporting behavior and a cautionable offense.  

The Paler Dark Horse Advances

An early strike from Thomas Delaney and a late first half goal from Kasper Dolberg were enough for Denmark to take the measure of the Czech Republic 2-1.  Patrik Schick's fifth goal of the tournament (tied with Ronaldo) and spirited play second half play from the Czechs made this a close one.  With Schmeichel in goal and Christiansen, Kjaer, and Vestergaard in the back line, the Danes have yielded just five goals in five matches.  Maybe they weren't expected to make it quite this far; on the other hand, this is a pretty good team.

England  Bid "Harryvederci" to Ukraine in Rome

or

Ukraine Can Crimea River (hat tip to BFS Super League Correspondent Philip S.)

Our dismay in not seeing Jack Grealish in the starting 11 was short-lived as Harry Kane put The Three Lions up in the 4th minute.  A different Harry - Maguire - doubled the lead early in the second half. That was followed shortly by another tally from the first Harry.  The final was 4-0 and if it flatters England, it's not by much. This was easily the best the English have looked so far, especially in attacking.  Five matches in and they still have not conceded a goal.  Don't forget some love for Luke Shaw - he's been a critical part of the good run.  Arguably, they are the deepest team in the tournament.

I've Got the Nashville Blues (apologies to the Everly Brothers)

Speaking of early goals, the Union coughed one up early in Nashville to - wait, this can't be - CJ Sapong.  Fortunately, he missed several other chances.  Unfortunately, so did the Union and the 0-1 loss looks like a fair result.  Once again, Curtin's line-up was part of the story line.  He opened with Gazdag on the left wing with Monteiro at the top of the diamond. Though it doesn't really show up in the stats - everything, including expected goals, is very close - something didn't look right on the pitch.  Not sure if it was Gazdag being uncomfortable on the left side or having a bad day or still recovering from the knee injury.  Curtin pulled Gazdag for Martinez in the second half and things did go a little better.  Nashville might be a decent team too.  They play good defense and look for the counter attack, so this was always going to be a tough match up.  Also, they have four wins and four draws and no losses at home.  

More Midweek Football

Two great semi-finals on tap.  I can only hope that my projects don't require meetings on Tuesday or Wednesday.  As of publication - still clear.

Tuesday is Italy - Spain.  The Italians are in better form, coming off an impressive win over Belgium; the hardest they've been pressed was Austria taking them to extra time.  Spain have been all over the map in this competition.  Croatia scored twice late to force them extra time and frankly they were unimpressive against Switzerland.  

Wednesday is England - Denmark.  As we've noted, the English have not been scored on yet.  On the other hand, they can look stodgy in the attack.  The Danish have been tough on defense and they have been able to score.  Happy to see either side advance though I will admit to a preference to see England in the final.

The Union also play midweek, traveling to Harrison not NY to face the Red Bulls on Thursday.  We sense there may be some goals in this one.  

May be back before the Euro Final but possibly not until next week.  The USMNT will begin play in the Gold Cup Sunday night at 8:30 versus TBD.  That is not a country abbreviation so don't worry if you're not familiar with it.  The US opponent won't be known until the preliminary phase of the tournament is over.  Midweek football will continue for a few more weeks!

Are We Not Entertained?

An awesome set of Round of 16 matches.  Four that went to extra time.  A stoppage time game winner, a stoppage time equalizer.  A few upsets of varying degrees.  Really only one stinker (Wales - Denmark).   For the Union, a result but not what we wanted.

Two Great Finals

Family Resemblance? Thorgan (r),
not Eden, sank Portugal

Other than the fact they were Round of 16 matches, the Belgium-Portugal and England-Germany contests would have made for great finals.  The former was tense throughout with the "wrong" Hazard (Thorgan) getting the lone goal, a laser from the top of the box in the 42nd minute.    The bad news for Belgium is that both De Bruyne and the "right" Hazard (Eden) left with injuries.  As long-time supporters of this team, we were pleased with the result.

In truth, the first half of England-Germany was not a great display of football.  England looked slow and uncreative and Germany were more than happy to see that.  Jack Grealish entry into the match in the 69th minute shook things up and England broke through shortly thereafter.  Germany's Muller had a golden opportunity to level things but couldn't find the net in the 81st minute.  Five minutes later, Harry Kane got his first of the tournament to settle things for England.  As long-time supporters of England, we were pleased with the result.  A Belgium - England final is still a possibility. 

About Those Two Goal Leads

While we will contend that two goal leads are the second hardest to defend (after one goal leads), we will concede that two goal leads were a problem on Monday.  First Spain looked to have recovered from the goalie gaffe of all-time (here - wonder if it made Spanish fans long for David De Gea) and were cruising at 3-1 over Croatia.  Even Azpecuta Assplatica Dave had a goal. Then, in, ahem, dramatic fashion, the Croats scored in the 85th minute and again in stoppage time to send the match to extra time.  Spain however made short work of the extra time, scoring twice within minutes and pulling away comfortably for a 5-3 win.

A few hours later, Paul Pogba's rocket put France up 3-1 on Switzerland with 15 minutes to play.  The Swiss apparently knew the script and scored twice in the final 10 minutes.  On to extra time but no goals were forthcoming.  To PKs, where the Swiss were flawless through five, but Kevin Mbappe, who will probably not look back on this as his finest tournament, was stopped by Yann Sommer.  

Czech Republic Uses Prague-matic Game Plan to Defeat Netherlands

Sure it helped that Netherlands had a man sent off at 55 minutes but the Czechs were always in this match.  Goals at 68 and 80 minutes sent the Dutch packing.  The second one came from Patrik Schick, his third of the tournament.

Conversations That Could Have Taken Place But Didn't

Dennis:  Did you say the crowd in Budapest for Netherlands versus Czech Republic looked well-fed?

Steve: No, I said there were no Hungary fans in the stands.

Dennis: Did you say the Czechs identified a weakness in the Dutch defense?

Steve: No, I said Kalas found Holes inside the Dutch six.

 

 Conversation That Could Have Taken Place and Did

(after Man City transfer targets Jack Grealish and Harry Kane hooked up for England's clinching goal versus Germany)

Steve: Pep Guardiola just saw his future

Dennis: 

That's Not Necessarily What They Meant

So Group F, AKA the Group of Death, sent three sides (France, Germany and Portugal) into the knockout round.  None  survived.  Also, this is the first time in tournament history that the quarters will not have at least one of France, Germany and the Netherlands.

Memo to Gareth Southgate

England have 1 goal in 243 minutes without Grealish on the pitch and 3 goals in 117 minutes with him out there.  Just sayin'.

Trial By Fire

With a congested schedule, international obligations and injuries, you knew at some point Jim Curtin was going to have to break out a new line-up.  Though risky, the match with a reeling Chicago Fire was probably the best time to try it.  So we saw Alvas Powell, Stuart Findlay, and Quinn Sullivan get starts plus the return of Jack Elliot to the defensive mid-field role.  Decidedly mixed results.

An early Glesnes own goals was not helpful.  Fortunately, Sullivan got that one back with a spectacular bicycle kick for his first MLS goal; it's our choice for this week's YouTubeableMoment.   Cory Burke put Philly ahead with a goal in first half stoppage time.  Then, two Chicago goals on what looked like defensive mix-ups left the Union down 2-3.  A Chicago own goal leveled things in the 79th minute and 3-3 was the result.

As we noted last week, this was a match that the Union need to win if they want to be a top side in the MLS.  We can hope that the defensive mix-ups were in part due to an unfamiliar line up in the back.  Sullivan's goal was certainly encouraging.  So too was Daniel Gazgag's creative playmaking during his 30 minutes on the field.   They did manage to get a point.  Silver lining and all that.

Holiday Viewing

The Euro quarter-final line up couldn't be better.

Switzerland - Spain (Friday at noon) - The Swiss have arguably punched above their weight.  Spain have 10 goals in their last two matches.

Belgium - Italy (Friday at 3 pm) - Another match worthy of being the final.  Belgium will likely be missing Hazard (Eden) and De Bruyne.  Italy finally yielded a goal after 384 tournament minutes when Austria scored late in extra time.  

Czech Republic - Denmark (Saturday at noon)  This interesting quarterfinal ensures at least one dark horse gets to the semis.  Hard to root against either side here.

They say it's the hope that kills you but Ted Lasso begs to differ

Ukraine - England (Saturday at 3 pm) The Three Lions have yet to concede a goal in this tournament. Also, Ukraine is not Spain, who were England's expected opponent for this contest except Sweden topped Spain in the group before losing to Ukraine.  That said, it would be so like the English to lose this golden opportunity to get to the semis.  Ted Lasso (right) offers an alternate view to that kind of negative thinking.   

If you're still looking for football after those quarters, the Union take on Nashville at 8 pm Saturday.  A draw on the road would probably be a good result.  Even before that, you could look in on Columbus New England at 5 to see the Crew's new digs, Lower.com Field.  For the curious, Lower.com is a Columbus-based real estate company.

Housekeeping note: Blogger (the host of BFS) is ending the email notification service sometime soon.  Fortunately, BFS co-founder and Director of IT Dennis is really good with this kind of sh..tuff.  He found an alternative and has been testing it over the last few months.  We believe it is ready to go.  You'll still see "Booked For Simulation" as the sender, though if you look closely you'll notice the email address is different.  Otherwise, the switch should be transparent to our loyal readership.  For his work, Dennis was handsomely compensated with a variety of craft beers.