I Got Sucked In

I must ashamedly admit that I have been taking in way more of the Club World Cup matches than I intended.  Yeah, I got sucked in.

In my defense, the tournament has been much more competitive than expected.  The big guys are not just going through the motions and the underdogs are having their moments too.  I wasn't there but on TV you could tell that the 54,000 or so at the Linc in Philadelphia thoroughly enjoyed the Flamengo - Chelsea match that ended 3-1 favor the Brazilian side.  Miami's 2-2 draw with Palmeiras was excellent too, though Miami fans can't have been too happy watching the home side cough up a 2-0 lead.  Of course, the downside of the tournament's success is that FIFA will be encouraged to try it again.  Just because it may have worked this time doesn't mean it's a good idea.

Looking ahead the July 4th quarterfinal - to which I, Jeff H, Jeff K and Graham R have nosebleed seats - will feature the winners of the Palmeira - Botafoga and Benfica - Chelsea quarterfinals.

Step One - Get Out of Group Stage

Not that it means the tournament is a success for the USMNT, just they did what they needed.  They survived a howler from keeper Matt Freese to beat Haiti 2-1 and finish first in Group D.  Patrick Agyemang hasn't had a great tournament so far but we make his game winner this week's YouTubeableMoment.

The group stage of the Gold Cup went largely according to form, though Jamaica may wish to differ.  The top five in terms of FIFA rankings - USA, Mexico, Canada, Panama and Costa Rica - all advanced.  Guatemala might be considered an interloper.  The Mexico - Costa Rica match was a bit of a let-down but maybe because both teams knew they were advancing?  

Quarterfinal match ups are:

Panama - Honduras (Saturday 7:15)

Mexico - Saudi Arabia (Saturday 10:15)

Canada - Guatemala (Sunday 4 pm)

USA - Costa Rica (Sunday 7pm)

Hmm, one of these is not like the others.  On paper, Panama, Mexico and Canada are solid favorites.  The US maybe not so much. Should they advance, the US would play the winner of Canada - Guatemala.

Deliberating the Meaning of Deliberate

Late in stoppage time against Costa Rica, Santiago Giminez had appeared to win the match for Mexico with an awesome scissor kick goal.  You can see the play here (should open to 8:09).  After much rejoicing, the play was eventually ruled offside.  Pay no attention to Dr. Joe Machnik's explanation; I think the play woke him from a nap.  Landon Donovan was more on point - didn't the defender's header reset the play?  That is, Giminez was clearly off when the ball was kicked but he was on if you consider the defender's action a "deliberate play."

And here we go again.  I won't post the whole clarification but here are key factors the referee is supposed to consider that would make a play deliberate: 

The following criteria should be used, as appropriate, as indicators that a player was in control of the ball and, as a result, ‘deliberately played’ the ball:

• The ball travelled from distance and the player 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, i.e. it was not a case of instinctive stretching or jumping, or a movement that achieved limited contact/control
• A ball moving on the ground is easier to play than a ball in the air

Hmm, inititally I thought this was a terrible call.  After multiple looks at the replay, I'm not so sure anymore.  Off the first three points, you'd have to say it was deliberate.  It was in the air so that leans against deliberate but as I read it, that point seems to suggest how you evaluate the first four.  The key on this play is the fourth one.  The defender was leaping and falling backwards as he headed the ball.  Seems like you can suggest with a straight face that it was "instinctive stretching and jumping" and also a "movement that achieved limited control."  Personally, I'd like to see more guidance on this.  Does failure to meet just one of the first four points mean it wasn't deliberate?  Or maybe just drop them all except the fourth.

Consorting with the Devil

Besides watching too much Club World Cup after trashing the concept, I also took in the Union's 1-0 win over Chicago on Apple's much maligned and despised (at least in these parts) MLS Season Pass.  Jeff H reminded me that as Union season ticket holders we get access to that service and he set me up with the appropriate information.

Ya done good Alejandro: Bedoya deputized as right back
Photo: Barbara Calabrese/MIR97 Media

Recall that the list of absences is still quite long due to various factors and includes Blake, Quinn Sullivan, Harriel, Westfield, Danley, Uhre and Baribo.  Despite being shorthanded, the Union moved the ball quite nicely for most of the match so that part was pretty good.  There was little service into the box and few (no?) quality chances.  Each side racked up 21 fouls.  The result turned on a PK in the 10th minute that was well-taken by Bruno Damiani.  I'd be remiss if I didn't give credit to Bedoya for a decent job as a substitute right back.  

Also, as Jeff H pointed out, it was weird seeing Jack Elliott in a different uniform.

Annoying Stat of the Week

The Union scored as many goals as the Phillies got runs in their three-game series with the Astros.

More Hardware?

Sportif Allentown Armetta Financial Services wins LVOTSL
Dennis F 4th from left in second row, in front of their keeper

Wasn't it just a few weeks ago that Dennis's team was celebrating their win in the Friendship Cup?  Well they were back at it again Saturday, taking the Lehigh Valley Old-Timers Soccer League title with an easy 6-0 win over El Deportivo.  I have been calling his team Sportif Allentown but apparently they have a real sponsor so I need to refer to them as Armetta Financial Services.  They pretty much ran through the league, going 10-0-0 in the regular season, then cruising through the play-offs with a 12-0, 9-1 and 6-0 wins.

What Are You Doing Sunday Evening?

Uh oh, I smell a rant coming and it probably means Apple is going to get trashed once again on this blog.  So Apple has this big deal Sunday Night Soccer thing that features a marquee match-up each week.  The Union play their one match in that series this Sunday night in Columbus at 6 pm.  Sharp-eyed readers will note that the USMNT quarterfinal match vs Costa Rica is at 7 pm.  Nice work guys.  And by guys I mean MLS and Apple.  The quarterfinals were set for June 29 months ago.  Although no one could know the teams in those two contests back then, there was always a high likelihood that the US would be playing this Sunday.  Once it became clear that the US had a good chance of winning the group after the second win, there was a chance to change the time.  Sure, we can DVR our way out of this and watch both but this lack of coordination and stepping on the USMNT's space is another sign that MLS and Apple interest's are necessarily aligned with US soccer's.

As for the Union match, they will still be shorthanded, though I'm pretty sure they'll get back Blake, Danley and maybe Westfield.  On the other hand, Glesnes is suspended due to yellow card accumulation.  

We also have Club World Cup Round of 16 matches (two a day) on Saturday thru Tuesday.  Full schedule and some thoughts are here.

Then we have the Gold Cup semi finals at 7 and 10 pm on Wednesday.  

Pretty busy for the slow period.

Stuff Happened

Lots of results but are they all blogworthy?

Never Too Late

Ignore the fact that the winning goal came in the 98th minute (stoppage time on top of stoppage time); the Union's 2-1 victory over Charlotte was a fair result.  I didn't see the whole match but in the highlights provided by MLS, Philly looked the better team.  Charlotte did have a slight possession advantage (54/46) but shots (20/8), shots on target (9/2) and most importantly xG (2.2/.7) favored the Union.  Recall this was a Union line-up that was missing key players to international duty.  

Bueno has made regular appearances so he wasn't a newbie.  He had a laser strike for the first goal.  Markus Adeniyi Anderson Adedeji (M.A. Anderson in the line up sheet) was making his MLS debut.  He celebrated in grand fashion with the winning goal, seen here as this week's YouTubeableMoment.

The chase pack all got wins too so the Union lead at the top remains four points.  Cool.

The Storm Before the Calm

The final friendly for the USMNT before the Gold Cup was an ugly 0-4 loss to Switzerland.  Multiple sets of fingerprints were found at the crime scene.

1) FIFA Club World Cup - Several key players were not released from their clubs due to that competition.

2) Vacation - Christian Pulisic controversially declared that he needed a break.  He got reamed for his decision but not sure it's fully deserved.  First of all, Landon Donovan is in no position to comment based on his 2013 sabbatical.  Second, I count 53 appearances for Pulisic between 8/17/24 and 5/24/25.  If he played in the Gold Cup, he'd get up to seven more games between June 14 and July 6.  He would then be scheduled to arrive at Milan's training camp on July 7 and then proceed to play another 45-50 matches before the World Cup starts. Isn't this possibly a smart idea to reduce the likelihood that he gets hurt or burned out before the 2026 World Cup?  But, but, aren't others at the same risk of overwork?  Looking at players on the Gold Cup roster who play in Europe, only Brenden Aaronson (51) and Johnny Cardoso (48) are even close to Pulisic's workload; the others all had 36 or fewer appearances.  It's not an issue for MLS players, who are simply getting some extra mid-season games and they will get a break in the late fall and winter.  Those on teams playing in the Club World Cup, well, we can't do much for them but just because FIFA is nuts doesn't mean we have to risk another player.

Pulisic didn't need to post pictures of his vacation the day after the Switzerland loss.  And the issue between coach and player can admittedly be touchy.  My point is just that Pulisic's decision has been characterized as totally selfish but given his workload it might be the right decision for the USMNT's chances at the 2026 World Cup.

3) Pochettino -  He rolled the dice with an inexperienced line-up and got a ton of crap for it.  Again, not sure it was warranted.  He had a compromised roster to start with.  Also, isn't the year before the World Cup the time to find out how deep the talent pool is?

4) The players - Certainly this was not the most talented roster and some players were overmatched.  On the other hand, there was a clear lack of intensity in this performance.  That used to be the hallmark of US teams - we might not be the most talented but nobody will outhustle us.

So there was much handwringing and finger pointing.  Not the best way to go into a tournament. 

The Gold Cup

Chris Richards scored the only goal against Saudi Arabia
and probably saved a goal with a sliding shot block (Getty images)

That has gone better for the USMNT.  They opened with an easy win over Trinidad & Tobago, then stumbled to a 1-0 win over Saudi Arabia, the guest country for this edition of the Gold Cup.  The good news is that they are onto the knockout round, though that is truly a low bar for the US in the Gold Cup.  The bad news is that unless they up their game, this team will not make it to the semi-final, as they will have to beat either Costa Rica or Mexico to advance.   

Club World Cup

Maybe not as many mismatches as I expected but that may have just been the favorites taking it easy.  Through Matchday 1 of 3 we saw:

Bayern 10-0 over Auckland City

PSG 4-0 Atletico (on paper that was not a mismatch)

Juventus 5-0 over Al Ain

Man City had a tepid 2-0 win over Wydad AC and Chelsea didn't run wild over LAFC.  The Fluminense - Dortmund contest was an entertaining 0-0 draw.  Real Madrid can't have been pleased with 1-1 draw vs Al-Hilal.  Same for Inter, who drew 1-1 with Monterrey.  Inter Miami edged Porto 2-1 on a free kick by Messi in another decent watch.  Matchday 2 and 3 run through next Thursday, with the Round of 16 kicking off next Saturday.  I still think the competition got too big for its britches but will also concede there have been some fun matches.

Ange, We Hardly Knew Ye

Thomas Frank; Daniel Levy is now his cross to bear

Well, the ax finally fell and Ange Postecoglou is out and Thomas Frank is in at Spurs. On the one hand, Spurs did win the Europa Cup and earned a spot in next year's Champions League.  On they other hand, they finished 17th with just 38 points, a total which in many years would have seen them firmly in the relegation battle.  On the one hand, they did play a largely entertaining brand of football under Ange.  On the other hand, that style and the rigorous training required to play it, very likely was the reason they were plagued with injuries.  

Frank became manager at Brentford in the Championship during the 2018-19 season.  They just missed promotion in 19-20 but made it 20-21.  Since promotion, the Bees have finished 13th, 9th, 16th and 10th, generally regarded as overachievement for a small club.

Show Me the Way (apologies to Peter Frampton)

BFS Artistic Director Laura O sends along this oldie but goodie in which the fans a German football club desparately try to help their team find the net.

The Week Ahead

Well, we will definitely check out US Haiti and 7 pm on Sunday.  Probably look in on Mexico - Costa Rica at 10 pm the same night.  Panama - Jamaica, Tuesday at 7 pm, might be worth watching.

As for the Club World Cup, Flamengo - Chelsea on Friday at 2 pm might be good.  Benfica - Bayern Tuesday at 3 could be worthwhile.  Definitely plan to watch Juventus - Man City on Thursday at 3.

The Union don't have a match this weekend but play away at Chicago on Wednesday at 8:30.

Just enough stuff that I won't get rusty.

 

What Now?

The frantic spring is about to be replaced with a relatively quiet early summer.  A month or so of light viewing might not be a bad thing.

PSG Celebrate: This is definitely a major award

I managed to get through the weekend without hearing the Champions League result so it was with some anticipation that I sat down to watch the DVR late Sunday afternoon.  The excitement was short-lived.  PSG was on the front foot from the opening whistle and had a 2-0 lead on Inter within 20 minutes. Though the match wasn't officially out of reach until later in the second half, it was essentially over.  With the third goal at 63 minutes, I started fast forwarding, pausing only briefly to check out the goals at 73 and 86 minutes.  The final 5-0 score seemed about right.

Desire' Doue had two of the goals in the 5-0 rout and got Player of the Match for his efforts but this felt like a true team effort.  Not to minimize the individual effort, the goals seemed like inevitable result of good passing and players knowing where they needed to be on the pitch.  Check out the first goal, this week's YouTubeableMoment.  Note that had Hakimi not been there to put it away, it would have simply rolled to another teammate who would have put it away.  "Put it in the Louvre" indeed.

Always A Bridesmaid

Dennis points out that Aston Villa fell to PSG in the Quarterfinals, 5-4 on aggregate. They also lost to eventual FA Cup winner Crystal Palace in the semis of that competition.  He is using that information to claim that Villa are the second best team in the world.  

Opportunity Missed

This is by no means a comment on the wedding reception - it was an awesome party - but Dennis's teammate Jeremy and I did check in on the Union's progress.  Our expectations were stepped up when a Dallas defender got a second yellow late in the first half.  By the second half we were watching on Jeremy's phone.  And growing more disappointed by the minute.  The final, 0-0, was a lost opportunity for the Union.  A few stats tell the frustrating story.  Possession was 63/37, shots were 23/7 and xG was 2/.6.  On the other hand, shots on target were 1/2; that's right, out of 23 shots, just one was on target. Clinical finishing was in short supply.  The lineup was heavily rotated and maybe the congested match schedule finally took its toll.

Turning to the positive, Cincinnat lost to DC United so despite the less than thrilling result, the Union have a four point lead at the top of the conference at the halfway mark.  

What Are You Doing for Summer Vacation?

Well, the MLS schedule continues.

Looking forward to Sullivan's USMNT debut
Photo: Elizabeth Robertson/The Philadelphia Inquirer/TNS

Then there's the Concacaf Gold Cup, which runs from 6/14 to 7/6.  Details can be had here.  Key points are there are four groups of four, top two in each advance from group stage and it's three knockout rounds from there (quarters, semis and final).  This competition is only about money and bragging rights.  For the USMNT, it is their only "competitive" action before the 2026 World Cup because, as a host country, they do not have to go through qualifying.  The team has a noticeable Philadelphia Union flavor with seven current or former players on the roster for this competition.  Current starters Quinn Sullivan and Nathan Harriel will make their USMNT debuts.  Union alumni include the brothers Aaronson (Brenden and Paxten), Mark McKenzie, Matt Freese and Jack McGlynn.  I guess we could count Zack Steffen as well since he was briefly with the Philadelphia Union academy.

The other competition to follow is the FIFA Club World Cup.  The tournament was originally set up as a competition limited to just the winners of each confederation (Europe, South America, Africa, Asia, "North America" and Oceania) championship.  But, like everything in soccer, if it's worth doing, it's worth overdoing for the purpose of making more money.  So now we have a 32-team tournament that runs from June 14th to July 13th.  This year the tournament is being held in the US, with several matches at Lincoln Financial Field.  Our group decided to pass on the group stage mismatches and even the Round of 16 knockout match.  We did however score tickets for the Quarterfinal match on July 4th.  We can't be exactly sure of who will be left at the point but potentially it could include two of Bayern Munich, Benfica, Chelsea, Porto, Atleti and PSG. 

The full schedule for Club World Cup can be found here.

There are also two more match days in European WC qualifiers running from June 6-10.

So, it won't be a desert but it won't be the daily viewing we got used to over the last few months.

We are going to take a two week vacation so the next post will be June 20th.