While We Were Away

Apparently the world went on without us. 

Sister Can You Spare A Sub?

Naeher says "nein"

The USWNT navigated the Olympic group stage just fine, then went to added extra time in 1-0 wins over Japan in the quarters and Germany in the semis.  The extra time goals came from Rodman and Smith but we'd be remiss in not mentioning Naehar's late save against Germany to preserve the win.

Emma Hayes's substitution protocol has drawn considerable attention, most of it unfavorable.  With the US guaranteed advancement to the knockout round and an unlikely confluence of results needed to deny them first place in the group, Hayes passed on a chance to rotate the lineup at all for the final group stage match. She made only one change for the Japan quarterfinal but that was driven by Coffey's suspension for yellow card accumulation.  She made no subs in regular time and only three in added extra time - and one of those was in the 121st minute.  Hayes did make two changes for the Germany quarterfinal and did use five subs throughout the course of the match.

Dennis and I discussed the difficulty in assessing the success or failure of Hayes's strategy.  Her view is that the US wouldn't have advanced if she had made liberal use of subs.  In her defense, she gets to point out they are in the gold medal match.  Even if they win that match, we're not sure that's the end of the discussion though.  We'll never know if they would have made it anyway with more substitutions.  More than one person has pointed out that unwillingness to put subs in could be very damaging to their morale and their long-term development.  What if the real cost of the strategy doesn't show up until future international competitions?  Of course, the answers to those questions are essentially unknowable.  I would have preferred she do the rotation for the final group stage match against Australia but I only manage a team on the computer.

Participation Trophy

The USMNT did almost exactly what was expected of them in Paris.  Lose to France, beat New Zealand and Guinea, bow out in the quarterfinals.  The 4-0 final to Morocco is slightly misleading as the score for 60 plus minutes was just 1-0 on a soft PK call.  But Morocco were clearly the better side.  It was fun to see Nathan Harriel have a solid tournament and watch Jack McGlynn and Paxton Aaronson make some contributions. 

The Dreaded Leagues Cup

Though my head was telling me an early exit from this silly competition would have been just fine, there I was at Subaru Park hoping for good results against Charlotte and Cruz Azul.  The 1-0 win over Charlotte was a snooze fest.  Attending the Cruz Azul will go down as one of my more interesting soccer experiences, as explained below.  The match itself was okay.  The Union were guaranteed advancement to the knockout phase and that showed in their early play.  Actually, they were outplayed for most of the match, and fully deserved to be trailing late.  Kudos to the team for not quitting and getting the equalizer late, a scruffy looking goal from Gazdag.  Though they lost the PK shootout, the 1-1 draw was enough to secure them first in the group and presumably a better draw in the knockout phase.  

Mi Subaru Park, Su Subaru Park

Representative of about 75% of fans on Sunday night

I have always wanted to see a match in Mexico and Sunday night I got the chance to do just that without leaving the comfort of Pennsylvania.  Say what?  So the Union were playing Cruz Azul in the group stage of the Leagues Cup.  Walking to the stadium it felt like an away game as Cruz Azul fans 1) outnumbered Union supporters and 2) were way more vocal.  Street vendors offering food and souvenirs were out in force, probably ten times more than usual.  The feeling continued in the stadium as the bi-lingual announcer did his best to make the Cruz Azul fans feel right at home, offering a full-throated introduction of the Cruz Azul starting XI.  We didn't really need the goal to know we were outnumbered 3 or 4 to 1.  The goal just made it more obvious, especially when the scorer and time of goal were announced with a lusty GOALLLL!!!! that would have made Andres Cantor proud.  I swear it felt like Union management was treating this as a Friendship Tournament.  

There was one part that we thought strange and didn't really understand until the next day.  At certain breaks in the match, they would play what we thought were Mexican commercial jingles over the PA.  Wow, really making them feel at home.  Uh, not so much.  What was actually happening was that a number of Cruz Azul fans were doing the infamous homophobic chant on goal kicks and the stadium officials were trying to drown it out with the music so it wouldn't be obvious on TV.  Now I am not amused.  There is a protocol for this and it does not include playing music over the chant:

In addition, match organizers are required to implement a new three-step protocol introduced by FIFA in 2019 for any discriminatory incidents:

• Step 1: Match stoppage and warning to fans
• Step 2: Match suspension and players moved to benches
• Step 3: Abandonment of the match

Bob Newhart has this right answer for these 
offensive chants on goal kicks

We will probably get some lame excuse that this policy only applies to international matches.  Oh, and while we're at it, why not take action on the "you suck asshole" chant that Union fans employ in the same situation.  Enough already, it's not funny.

Fortunately, with the result (by winning the PK shootout Cruz Azul also advance) neither group of fans left the stadium disgruntled.  What I don't understand is how I passed up on the churros.  I mean, fried dough, how can you go wrong?  

Who's Your Gaffer?

Unfortunately, many of the progniators pronounhaters people who predict things have not weighed in with their projections for the season.  But, we do have an exercise to help prepare you for the new season.  Significant post-season turnover and the unfamiliarity with the promoted teams means a host of new managers.  I could only name 11 from scratch.  We'll make it slightly easier, giving you all the names and letting you see if you can match them with their teams.

Answers next week.

Also, a few procedural type changes that you can read about here.  I didn't know they were limited to just three subs warming up at a time.  I'm used to seeing the whole Union bench head to east end of Subaru Park to warm up.  The plan to allow 30 seconds as the natural time between when a goal is scored and the restart should reduce stoppage time by an average of about 1:30 per game given the average goals per game of 3.28.   

A few other changes are noted here.  The move to semi-automated offside calls isn't scheduled to take effect until after the autumn international break but that could help on those lengthy VAR delays.  The points related to VAR read more like a mission statement than specific reforms but okay.  They are ditching the "winter break," which consisted of one weekend off in January.  And I'm sure we're all pumped that teams will now be required to announce their starting XI 75 minutes before kick-off as opposed to the previous 60 minutes.  

Wrapping Up Summer Break

France and Spain will play for the men's gold medal today at 12 (USA I think).  The women's gold medal match between the US and Brazil is Saturday at 11 (USA).  There was an extra day of rest between the semis and the final but figure both teams are tired.  I did see a few of the Brazil matches and they prove the exception to my belief that shithousery is significantly less prevalent in the women's  game.  Expect an ugly match.

The Union drew CF Montreal for the round of 32 knockout stage in the Leagues Cup.  My phone says I have tickets to this contest but the weather forecast may have other ideas.  Rain, wind, thunderstorms, isolated tornadoes.  We'll see.

EPL is a week away.