Making Hay

Back from Eugene.  With 10 days of track and field plus four Union matches over the last few weeks, I'll do my best to recall what happened.   I didn't miss any matches thanks to full event replays on ESPN+.

In our last post - which seems forever ago - we suggested that this part of the schedule was a chance for the Union to put up some points, making hay while the sun shines as it were.  We can report that it was a full harvest - 12 points in four matches, perhaps even more than we could have asked for.

Missed the Extra Point?

The sequence began  with 7-0 trouncing of DC United.  The score was 3-0 by the 25th minute.  Every pass, every shot (except  Gazdag's missed PK!?) seemed to work.  It was like all the luck that had eluded them for weeks showed up.  Dennis wondered if we would have preferred to save some of those goals for upcoming matches.  We decided it was better for the scorers to get the feel of putting the ball in the net and worry about the consequences later.

One Night in Miami

My memory is less clear on the 2-1 win in Miami.  Gazdag got the first on a PK and Burke scored the second on a nice header.  I remember the final minutes were not as comfortable as we would have liked thanks to a tremendous shot from Higuain.  The stats say this was close so there was some argument that a draw would have been a fair result.  On the other hand, xG (shot and non-shot) at 538 reads 1.75 - .95 for the U so maybe this was fine.  

You Say You Want the Revolution (apologies to The Beatles)

Back home Saturday for their third match in nine days, and a tougher opponent in the New England Revolution to boot.  I returned from action at the World Championships and watched the replay with the volume turned down low so as not to wake the rest of the house.  Disappointed when Bou put New England up in the 61st as we hadn't looked all that dangerous.  Fortunately, they leveled things with a Uhre header off a Wagner corner at 75 minutes; we'll make it this edition's YouTubeableMoment, as seen by the Sons of Ben.  Then, Kessler fouled Gazdag in the box; one of the easier PK calls this year - Kessler with fully extended arms pushed Gazdag, right in front of the referee.  Gazdag converted again and the Union were winners here too.  Not much doubt for me that they stole the extra two points.  Almost everything is dead even - except of course possession, which the U always suck at.

One Night in Orlando - The Sequel?

Daniel Gazdag had 3 goals and 2 assists
over the four matches
Photo:Nathan Ray Seebeck-USA TODAY Sports

One more to go but at least they got some rest for this one against Orlando.  Again, I watched late in Eugene after the evening's track events.  The theme here is VAR continues to be our friend.  First, Gazdag's goal was initially ruled out for offside.  MLS doesn't use lines like the EPL so this is still in the realm of should be clear and obvious error.  The replays I saw did nothing to make me think it was in the clear and obvious category.  But, referee Chilowicz was emphatic and kept pointing to his hip to the complaining Orlando players, as in the defender's hip kept Gazdag on side.  Maybe he saw a view we didn't on TV.  I don't think he was saying I have a new artificial hip.   Also, I may have woken up a few with my "YES!"  VAR came to the rescue late in the match too.  More accurately, VAR did not screw us.  There was contact between Gazdag and Carlos in the Union box.  By contact, I mean Gazdag had two fistfuls of Carlos's shirt and clearly kept him from jumping.  But the call on the field was no foul.  I was sure this was going to be overturned and would be a PK for Orlando.  And the video did show that Gazdag clearly fouled Carlos.  Good on Chilowicz to notice however that Carlos in fact grabbed Gazdag's shirt first. The revised call?  Foul on Orlando, free kick coming out.  I saw lots of whining about that one but it was clearly the correct call.  This was not a pretty game to watch.  Each side had one shot on goal.  MLS had xG at .9 -.7 in favor of the U.  On paper this looks like a draw, a boring one at that.  

On the positive side, the passing has improved; except for the Orlando game, they've been over 80% in this streak.  They had three multiple goal matches in a row and two more shutouts.  Maybe they were a little lucky to come away with 12 points instead of 8 or 10.  Maybe the table flatters them a little right now but not that much.  They head into the weekend top of the table, with a one point advantage over NYCFC, who have a game in hand.  But there is a gap of six points down to third place Red Bulls.  

When Life Gives You Lemons, You Find Someone Else to Boo

Richarlison's transfer to Tottenham meant that Dennis would be denied the chance to boo him when Everton visited Minnesota United for last week's friendly.  No worries, another on his "boo worthy" list - Dele Alli - did make the trip.  And what a performance from the former Spurs star.  He got booed by the crowd for some shithousery and missed a wide open net from a yard out; check out that miss here.  The evening was topped off by a 4-0 win by the home team.  A good time was had by all despite Richarlison's absence.

 

Life Imitates Art

In transfer news, Newcastle continue to be linked with every breathing attacking midfielder (except Dennis - WTF?).  I can't really take the articles seriously at this point.  However, two names did catch my eye - Arnaud Kalimuendo and Alan Virginius - who both currently play in France.  In my Football Manager virtual world, I signed both of these players in 2021 for my Forest Green side.  Kalimuendo  (a free transfer) really wasn't good enough to start when we were in the Championship Division so he went out on loan. He's improved but is not good enough to start as we play in the Premier League this season and has been loaned out again; frankly, not sure he will ever be good enough but we'll see.  Virginius ($200k transfer fee!), on the other hand, logged considerable time at right attacking midfielder last year and will start for us this season.  He has enormous upside potential.  

Given the overlap of Newcastle and Forest Green transfer targets, I wonder if 1)that's proof that Genie Scout (the FM add-on that rates players) is really good or 2) that means Newcastle use Genie Scout to identify targets.  I'm going with the former as the latter is too distressing to even ponder.

How Track and Field Is Like Soccer

1. For in-stadium viewing, higher up is better

For half the meet we had second row seats the first turn, the other half we were in the upper section looking down the home straight.  While you can see and appreciate the intensity and speed (and in our case, the high jump) from the track side seats, you lose too much perspective on the events.  For the field events, we could only go by the crowd reaction as to the quality of the attempt.  It was hard to see the action on the far turn and though we could see the finish line, it was impossible to sort out finish order.  I've found soccer to be the same - the close ups are cool but it's hard to follow the action anywhere but in front of you.

2. You can't blame on field officials for what it says in the rule books

We've been through this many times.  People get upset at the referees for applying the rules as written.  Your problem isn't with the referee, it's with the rules.  This happened at the World Championships to Devon Allen, US hurdler who had an excellent chance to medal.  Unfortunately, he was disqualified for a false start because his reaction time to the gun was .099, or .001 faster than allowable.  No doubt it sucked, on many levels.  But how is the starter supposed to make an exception?  He's a medal contender so we'll let it slide?  Or, this is his hometown crowd so we'll ignore it?  That's a dangerous road to go down.  Not saying it's a good rule, but fix the rule, don't apply it only when you feel like it.

3. Announcers will frequently say his first attempt was way over the bar

I realize that's a good thing in the high jump but lousy in soccer but the announcer do say it both sports.

4. There are guys named Przybylko

There's a shuh-BILL-koh
at the World Championships

Speaking of high jump, the brother of MLS striker Kacper Przybylko, Mateusz, competed in the final in Eugene.  He cleared the first two heights but went out at 2.27 meters (7 ft 51/4 inches) to finish 12th out of 13.  At 30, he is in the twilight of his career.

Oh, and though it was hard to hear, I think the stadium announcer butchered the pronunciation. 

5. Sausage sandwiches!

Just like Subaru Park, right down to the production delays and supply issues.  By the time we got to the front of the line, the only choice was chicken basil sausage topped with tomato salsa.  The good news though is that it was really good.

Offside Reinterpreted Again

The IAFB (rule making authorities for football) has issued a clarification on the offside rule.  Technically, the rule has not changed; an attacker in an offside position receiving a ball that was deliberately played by a defender will still be ruled onside.  But, what constitutes deliberate play has been more explicitly delineated.  From Athletic Weekly:

IFAB’s new laws state: “‘Deliberate play’ is when a player has control of the ball with the possibility of passing the ball to a team-mate, gaining possession of the ball, or clearing the ball.

“If the pass, attempt to gain possession or clearance by the player in control of the ball is inaccurate or unsuccessful, this does not negate the fact that the player ‘deliberately played’ the ball.”

In addition, IFAB provided the following indicators that a player “deliberately played” the ball:

• The ball had travelled from distance and the players had a clear view of it
• The ball was not moving quickly
• The direction of the ball was not unexpected
• The player had time to coordinate their body movement
• A ball moving on the ground is easier to play than a ball in the air

I think there may still be trouble with the phrase "clearing the ball."  Much of the annoyance of the existing interpretation has been when the defender strains to head or kick the ball clear, makes contact, but gets an uncontrolled result.  We'll see how this plays out.  Geoffrey Rush may have the best explanation of the announcement here.

Last Week of Summer Break?

Yikes, the EPL season opens next Friday.  And Newcastle without an attacking midfielder to wear.  I hope I can get you a sample of previews/predictions for the league in next week's post.

This weekend we'll be back at Subaru Park to see the U take on Houston.  That's at 7:30 on Saturday.  Those without tickets can watch on PHL-17.  Houston are 11th in the Western Conference and 538 has the U as serious favorites (64/14/22).  Anything but three points here is a disappointment.

Maybe we can get some help from Montreal as they host NYCFC; that's at the same time as the Union match.  

If you need a little more to watch, check out the UEFA Women's Final between England and Germany.  That's Sunday at noon on ESPN.

Starting next week, you'll have no trouble finding a game.

For Whom Does the Ball Not Lie?

The Union clearly steal a point in Columbus.  The USMNT U-20s win the CONCACAF Championships with Union players contributing mightily.

Rasheed Wallace, as far as we know, was the first to use the expression "ball don't lie" in response to a missed free throw for what the person believes was an unjustified foul call.  The original use is seen here.  The phrase works well in other settings, perhaps no more so than for, ahem, soft PK calls in soccer.  For our money, the call against Gazdag in the 18th minute of the Union's contest with Columbus falls into that category.  You can see the play here.  Santos' effort wasn't great but Blake's save was still pretty good.  Ball don't lie.  

Interference?  Was the shot unsavable anyway?

That was but one piece of the Union's lucky escape from Columbus with a 0-0 draw.  I don't need the stats to tell me who had the run of play but they do paint the picture well.  Possession was 35/65, shots were 4/16, shots on target 2/5 and xG .3 to 1.5.  The U's passing accuracy continued to be abysmal at 70.5%.  Columbus also had a goal pulled back after VAR review for offside.  You can see the play here. No doubt that Hurtado was in an offside position.  My first thought was that there was no interference.  Clearly Blake's reaction suggests there was not.  The picture provides some support for the decision; when the shot was taken, Hurtado was on the "shot side" of Blake.  But did it matter?  As in, even properly sighted, would Blake have gotten to the ball?  Columbus not happy but that's their problem.

Playing spin doctor here, remember this was the third match in 8 days and the "kids" were still in Central America playing in the CONCACAF U-20 Championships.  Martinez was serving a one-game suspension for his two yellows on Wednesday.  As we noted last week, a draw here was always about the best outcome possible.  If you take away the PK attempt, the xG differential drops to .3 - .7; as in the U defense wasn't all that bad.  Curtin also trotted out a new formation (5-3-2 or 3-5-2 depending on whether we had the ball - Curtin called it a 3-4-1-2) and he gave Harriel, Uhre and Carranza much of the night off.

The lack of offense and the passing accuracy do need to be addressed though.

The Kids Are More Than Alright (apologies to The Who )

With a 6-0 thrashing of the Dominican Republic the USMNT U-20 team took the CONCACAF U-20 Championships.  Their performance in this competition had two extra benefits - the team is now qualified for the 2023 U-20 World Cup and more importantly, for the 2024 Olympics.  

Paxten Aaronson was indeed No.1 at CONCACAF U-20

The Union's teen crew fingerprints are all over this hardware.  Paxten Aaronson was MVP and leading scorer with seven goals in the tournament.  Quinn Sullivan had six plus three assists.  Jack McGlynn appeared in all seven matches logging 333 minutes while Brandan Craig got 425 minutes in five appearances.  

We awaited with bated breath their return tonight and hope that they add some scoring punch to the Union's attack.

Time to Make Hay?

The Union sit second in the table, two points behind the Harrison Pink Cows but we have game in hand.  There's also a bit of a gap between 1-4 and the rest of the division.  The U's next two matches are DC at home (tonight at 7:30) and Miami away on Wednesday.  DC are 13th in the table while Miami sit in 9th.  This really should be six points but at a minimum, they must get four points from these two matches.  The week after things aren't as easy with a home match vs New England, then Orlando on the road.  Three matches in nine days, four in 16.  A crucial period for the Union.

A busy period yet BFS will probably be silent until 7/29.  This year's World Championships in track and field are in Eugene and we will be there.  A slight chance we'll fire something out before boarding an early morning flight on Friday but definitely nothing the following week.  

A Butting Rivalry

The Union and NYCFC continue to find new ways to dislike each other but the U get the win.  The trip to Chicago wasn't as much fun.  

Twenty Minutes of Chaos

There were plenty of good reasons to be a Subaru Park Sunday night.  Two top teams in the East facing each other, full house, great energy, Brendan Aaronson in the building, and, of course, sausage sandwiches (more on them below).  But the last 20 minutes of the match were chaotic and confusing to those of us in the stands.  Even with some explanatory texts from Dennis, it was not always clear what was happening.

The match to that point had certainly held our interest, even if it wasn't the highest quality football.  These two teams don't like each other and they play like it.  The U had a 1-0 lead thanks to an Elliott to Bedoya to Uhre hook up.  Except for one flurry in the first half, we commented that it looked like the only way NYCFC was going to score was with a PK or maybe a set piece.

Things got a little harder for us to follow when Carranza went down after some contact to the head in the 76th minute.  On comes the trainer - Paul Rushing.  Suddenly, a hockey match breaks out and Rushing is in the middle of it.  We didn't see exactly how it started but Dennis told us that Rushing shoved Acevedo.  Watching the replay on the DVR at home, I saw the NYCFC players getting in Carranza's and the Rushing's faces, claiming Carranza was milking the contact (which is entirely possible).  Rushing had enough and pushed Acevedo twice.  Pretty tame stuff actually.  A few players got yellows but Rushing was the one to see red.  I'm guessing it might have been based on language rather than physical actions. He got a standing O on the way out.  

Unfortunately, a PK was on the way.  Wagner looked to a have blocked a shot on the goal line out for a corner, which was what referee Villareal signaled.  But after some discussion in the corner, the next thing we see is Villareal pointing to the spot.  We thought it was the VAR who intervened but later found out it was the AR who convinced Villareal that it was handling.  You can see the play here (should open to the right spot).  I don't think that's handling because his arm was moving back towards his face as the ball was played and because of how close Wagner was to the kick.  Oh well.  

Burke is the Union player closest to Martinez;
yeah, he is way onside

With the score now tied at 1-1, on we go into seven minutes of stoppage time - the "fight" remember?  Late in stoppage, Martinez took one of those shots he is wont to unload from about 25 yards out.  Usually they go wide or high.  This one was on frame.  Except it deflected off of Corey Burke, past Johnson for the game winner.  But, no, the other AR has this one offside.  Fortunately, the VAR told Villareal he better check this.  As you can see from the picture, Burke wasn't even close to being off; there were at least three plus the keeper behind him.  We didn't get much off a look at the stadium but Dennis said it was looking like a good goal.

Play continued on for a bit, with NYCFC getting the ball into the Union penalty area in the closing seconds.  We see Villareal raise his arm as if he's called full time.  Except he hasn't.  We believe that he is checking with the VAR, for what, we have no idea.  Dennis texts to tell his they're looking at another possible handling call.  Fortunately, the decision is that it wasn't handling and the match over.

So the Union survived being down one trainer to claim all three points in a wildly entertaining, if confusing match.  The win catapulted them past NYCFC and back into first.

The Quintessential Trap Match

After the thrill of the NYCFC win on Sunday, the trip to Chicago to face the last place Fire on Wednesday had all the makings of a trap game.  A short turnaround and a short bench with the kids (McGlynn, Sullivan and Aaronson) away on international duty (U20 CONCACAF) didn't help.  The Przycago squad featured two Union alums in CATSpurr shuhBILLkoh and Fabian Herbers.  Even with the short rest, Curtin started the same XI again.  Except for a few minutes in the first half, there wasn't too much offensive punch.  Chicago weren't much better but did get a goal in the 67th minute.  When Martinez got himself a second yellow at 72 minutes, the nine game unbeaten streak looked in jeopardy.  There was a penalty shout when Burke looked to have been fouled in the box but the claim was dismissed without a trip to the monitor.  The xG was .7 to .5, which tells you pretty much how unexciting this match was.  WL is better than DD but with the NY win already in the bag, WD or WW were on the table.  That was deflating.

Redo the Halftime Talk

On Wednesday, NYCFC was about to head into the locker room down 0-3 at halftime to Cincinnati.  They proceeded to score at 45, 45+2 and 45+7 (a little stoppage time there).  I'm assuming it made Nick Cushing's halftime team talk a lot easier.  NY even came out and took the lead at 52 minutes before Brenner completed his hat trick at 70 minutes to level things.  Sounds like a lot more fun than the Union match.

The draw kept NYCFC from passing the Union in the standings.  However, Montreal did get a road victory at Seattle and sit atop the division.  The Red Bulls got a home win against Atlanta to also move past the Union.  Here's the thing - all three have 29 points but the other two have more wins than the Union.  All those draws hurt the points total but also put them in a weaker position on tie breakers.  Somehow, that seems ironic.  

Ask and Ye Shall Receive

Looks like somebody reads this blog

So last week we posted about the production problems at the sausage sandwich stand behind Section 104 at Subaru Park.  I guess management heard our complaints.  Jeff H and I arrived about 30 minutes before game time to find no line, a full complement of sweet or spicy sausages ready and waiting as well as plenty of peppers and onions.  We got our sandwiches in mere minutes.  The buns were not toasted but everything else was just as you would want.  If I knew it was this easy to get things changed, I'd have said something long ago.  

Newcastle Get Their (Bot)man

This one feels important.  Newcastle had been clear in their desire to sign Sven Botman from Lille but couldn't seem to get the deal over the line; with AC Milan also interested, I was never fully confident this would happen.  The 22 year-old center back will shore up the Magpie defense.  With Targett and Pope previously signed, this has already been a pretty good window.  Adding a winger like Rapinho, Diaby or even Ekitike would make it about as good as we could have asked for.

 

Bucket List Denied

Richarlison is taking his baggage to London

It's no secret that Dennis and I don't like Richarlison.  Not much of team player, an inflated view of his talents and prone to on-field theatrics.  This article makes several of the same points about him.  Dennis has tickets to the July 20th friendly between Minnesota United FC and Everton at Allianz Field and was so looking forward to booing him in person.  Except, Spurs just announced that they have have agreed in principle to a £60 million transfer fee to acquire Richarlison from Everton.  Dennis is not happy, noting "now I am seeing a bad MLS team play a bad EPL team with no upside."

I, on the other hand, am thrilled because I'd seen a few too many articles linking him to Newcastle.  We have dodged that bullet.

Hello Columbus

No rest for the Union as they are back in action Saturday night, again on short rest and again without the kids. Having beaten Costa Rica 2-0 on Tuesday - with Paxten Aaronson scoring both goals - they play Friday night in Honduras, against Honduras in the CONCACAF U20 semi-final.  If they win that one, the final is Sunday.

Though this isn't the best Columbus side, Saturday looks like a tough test for the Union.  In fact, 538 has the Crew favored 42/30/28.  Three would be great but one may be all we should hope for.  That game is 7:30 on PHL.  

Sorry, no book review this week.