What To Do While Waiting for EPL and MLS

Apologies to those who read the early edition of last week's blog and didn't know the Union were actually playing Nashville in an MLS game on Saturday, not Charlotte in a Leagues Cup game.  Dennis didn't find out until a friend at the match texted him, asking if Dennis saw a replay on Uhre's BFS early in the first half and whether the call was legit.  That prompted this week's:

Conversation That Could Have Taken Place and Most Assuredly Did

Steve: You were supposed to be watching live but weren't because of the mistake in the blog? Heads will roll.

Dennis: Exactly.  The whole system is in shambles.

Those who did tune in saw another respectable performance from the Union.  The 3-0 final is a bit (a lot?) misleading though.  The U were the better side in the first half and basically deserved the 2-0 lead on a brace from Gazdag.  The second half was more in Nashville's favor.  There was one off the crossbar and then a solid save from Blake that kept the two goal cushion.  Had either of those gone in, the game might have played out differently.  Gazdag got his hat trick late on a sloppy play by Nashville in their own box to make the match look like the rout that it definitely wasn't. We'll make the collective highlights of Gazdag's three goals this week's YouTubeableMoment.  Nashville had better possession (56/44) and outshot the U 20/19.  But the U finishing was more clinical has shots on target were 10/3 and xG was 3.2/1.8.

At 6'5" with speed to burn, is Adeniran a target striker or fast striker?
He's both

A top four finish is pretty much out of the question and barring big collapses from NYCFC, Charlotte and Orlando, making the top seven is a long shot too.  But getting the 8th or 9th slot for the play-in game and a spot in the playoffs is easily within reach.  Of course, so is last place.  I'm also thinking that Martinez has been as critical to the recent turnaround as Blake.  The addition of Sam Adeniran, who had a decent shift in his first appearance, gives us some depth up front that we were missing.  I am sticking with last week's optimism.  

Injury Update

Several concerning moments at Subaru Park but so far no serious fallout.

Slight bruising that will not affect viewing

Andre Blake - Sat down with some sort of issue with his "good" knee but was able to continue and
made some key saves.  Note however that late in the match, Glesnes was taking the goal kicks.

Jose Martinez - Suffered some sort of leg injury late, soldiered on for a little but was eventually substituted

Steve - Spectactor walking in the row behind him fell and smashed Steve's arm into the top of the seat.  He was able to continue watching and is listed as probable for this Saturday.

Things To Do As We Wait for EPL and MLS

Listed in no particular order

1) Watch for developments in the choice of USMNT manager - Names continue to fly all over the place.  The top domestic choices appear to be Cherundolo, Nancy and Curtin.  Other options include any unemployed big name foreign manager.

2) Watch for developments in the choice of English national team manager - Applications are due by August 2nd.  Howe, Potter and Lampard are the most frequently heard domestic names while Klopp, Pochettino, and Tuchel are mentioned as well.

3) Watch the men's Olympic soccer tournament - The tournament is essentially a U-23 affair, with each team limited to three players born before 1/1/2001.  There are four groups of four with each team playing the others in their group once.  The top two in each group advance to the quarterfinals.  Semi-finals are Monday 8/5, the bronze medal game is Thursday 8/8 and the final is Friday 8/9.

The betting odds like France, Argentina and Spain.  The US odds are very long, though they do look likely to make it out of the group stage.  The US team does feature two current Union players (Jack McGlynn and Nathan Harriel) and a former Union player (Paxton Aaronson).  Their group stage matches are France (Wednesday 7/23 at 3 pm), New Zealand (Saturday 7/27 at 1 pm) and Guinea (Tuesday 7/30 at 1 pm).

4) Watch the women's Olympic soccer tournament - The women's tournament does not have the age restrictions so is more like a true world championship.  There are three groups of four with each team playing the others in their group once.  The top two in each group, plus the two best third-place teams make it to the knockout phase.  Ah yes, the old group stage to eliminate just one-third of the field format.  Semi-finals are Tuesday 8/6, bronze medal game is Friday 8/9 and the final is Saturday 8/10.

The oddsmakers like the US, followed by Spain and France.  However, I've seen several pick France over the US, including The Inquirer's Jonathan Tannenwald.

5) Watch the Leagues Cup (only if you're desparate?) - My favorite quote with respect to this competition comes from Tannenwald, who notes that the competition is: 

with conquering hero Lionel Messi sidelined by an ankle injury, perhaps an event widely derided as a cash grab and will be properly exposed. 

Sounds about right.  Very unfortunate timing for the Union, who may have found some consistency to their game but now don't have a league match for five weeks.  A possible fun aspect is that we might get to see more of Cavan Sullivan.

6) Spend an inordinate amount of time at datamb comparing players.  For example, Aston Villa had to sell Douglas Luiz to meet financial regulations but have now signed Amadou Onana.  The radar graph (left) provides insight on how the two players differ.  Off that chart, we might conclude that Villa have traded some attacking skills for defending skills, though several have mentioned that Onana's numbers may reflect the philosophy of Sean Dyche and that we might see a different Onana under Emery.  Anyway, the site is good for endless hours of timewasting in-depth analysis.

With those suggestions, we will sign off until August 9th, when we will return with a look at the upcoming EPL season.