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.