Euros!

Hope your DVR machines are clear and ready to record the group stage matches that start today with Germany v Scotland.  Then we have 12 straight days of two to four matches per day, running through Wednesday June 26.  Matches look to be either on Fox or FS1.

Are You Kidding Me?

Lloyd Kelly: The Callum Wilson of Defenders?

Newcastle have made their first summer signing - defender Lloyd Kelly from Bournemouth on a free transfer.  People are talking it up but I'm perplexed.  According to whoscored.com, he's never averaged higher than a 6.83 rating for a season.  But way more distressingly, check out his injury record here; he's missed an average of 16.2 matches a year over the last five seasons.  He has missed time due to ankle, hip, calf, and hamstring injuries plus unidentified muscle and ligament problems.  Coming off a season defined by how many key players were absent due to injury, this seems like an incredibly irresponsible signing.  We are big fans of Callum Wilson but would be even bigger fans if he stayed healthy.  Kelly may be cut from the same cloth.

Speaking of Injuries

BFS Track and Field Correspondent Jack W sends along this report of Usain Bolt rupturing his achilles in a charity soccer event.  He cites this as proof that soccer is more "physically damaging" than track.

Taking Their Ball and Going Home

BFS Artistic Director Laura O sends along this clip from Portsmouth in which the ball going into the net generates a huge cheer, just not for the reason you expect.  They were also less than happy with the ball's eventual fate.

Gimmicky Gimmicks

Mostly by accident, we happened to tune in for the final of The Soccer Tournament, an eight-team women's 7 v 7 tournament.  Details are here.  No doubt there was talent all over the place.  And the money was great - the winning team split 1 million dollars evenly across 25 members.  But the format of the final was the gimmickiest thing you could find - very close to last goal wins.  At the end of regulation they went into "target time."  The "target" was the number of goals the team in the lead had at the end of regulation plus one.  To win the match you had to be the first team to reach the target.  For example, if the score was 4-3 at the end of regulation, the winner was the first team to five.  But wait, did we mention that after three minutes, each team had to take a player off the field?  Then another at six minutes, and again at nine minutes and so on.  Mackenzie could only sputter "that's not soccer."  This is why we can't have nice things.  Sure somebody put the money up but then turned it into some goofy spectacle that only had drama because of the money.  

No Messi No Fuss?

The Union have a tough home match, facing Miami at 7:30 on Saturday night at Subaru Park.  No word on whether fans will get refunds when they find out Messi will not be playing as he is away on international duty.  They're also missing a few other key players while the Union may have Julian Carranza back in the line up.  Seems like our best chance to knock these guys off.  

Yeah, not much this week but we were shortstaffed.  Not sure about the schedule for the next two weeks.  Thursday and Friday involve travel.  My best shot may be to check in after the second round of group stage matches to see what the advancement scenarios look like.  That would put me on target for a post a week from Sunday.