The Beat Goes On

There was a crap-ton (technical term, look it up) of football in the last 10 days.  Sorry if your team isn't mentioned below as we report on what struck us as noteworthy.


To The Union

As expected, they went down in Toronto.  The 3-1 final is a fair representation of the match.  Credit to the players for not packing it in at 0-2.  Their goal in the 73rd minute, just as Jeff H was about to leave the viewing party here at 6911, gave us the prospect of an entertaining finish.  A third defensive mistake restored the two goal deficit in the 85th minute, prompting Jeff to leave for real this time.

So what do we conclude of this season?  Compared to pre-season expectations, it was a success. They were supposed to be better but still not considered playoff material.  They were better and made the playoffs to boot, without one minute of playing time from one of their designated players, Maurice Edu.  But it's hard to paint a rosy picture of the future.  Two players - Nogueira and Barnetta - instrumental to that success will be gone.  Bedoya wasn't bad but also not the player we hoped for. This may be because he didn't have time to fit in and/or was asked to play out of position.  Maybe he's just better on the wing.   Herbers is fast and does a great job tracking back on defense but doesn't seem to be a scorer; he did have a lot of assists though.  Pontius was fine.  The back line was inconsistent.  Tribbett had his troubles and Yaro, though seemingly a more consistent player, missed time because of multiple injuries.  Sapong now seems to struggle up top as teams body/foul him constantly; maybe we need to employ two up top?  Alberg had flashes of brilliance but was not consistent enough.  Ilsinho looks like a role player who can shake a game up when he tries to beat one man instead of three on the dribble.  Certainly Blake is fine in goal.

Earnie Stewart's job to me seems the same as last year - he first has to find talent to stock the central midfield.  Without that, any other changes just aren't going to matter than much.  My order would be two center midfielders, a striker and another central defender.  Of course, quality players in these positions are just lying around waiting to be signed by teams so I will not underestimate the task ahead for Stewart.


Stupid Playoffs

Once again, the two best teams over the season are in danger of not even making the conference finals.  The Red Bulls, down 0-1 to Montreal, are probably okay as they return to Harrison for the second leg but have no margin for error.  Not so much for Support Shield winner FC Dallas, who are down 0-3 to Seattle.

Oh Christ here comes the soap box.  The last time a conference winner was in the MLS Cup Final was 2011 with the LA Galaxy.  Why even bother with the regular season if you're going to let 12 teams into the playoffs?  Over the course of 34 games, FC Dallas clearly established that they were a better team than Seattle but the Sounders are on a bit of roll so Dallas is likely going down.   Is this playoff centered approach exciting?  Probably.  Does it reward quality?  Not so much.

At least for once after belly aching I at least have a proposal that might offer a compromise between playoffs and no playoffs.   In its simplest form, I would have a post season in which two groups of four teams are formed - the top team from one conference and second through fourth from the other conference.  Group play involves the standard home and home matches among all teams with three points for a win and one point for a tie.  At the end, the top two in each group advance to the MLS Cup Final.  You could vary it by having play-in for the lower slots of each group or by having a preliminary rounds and use groups of three.

This preserves a post season and all the excitement that goes with that.  But it reduces the "cost" of a bad game, which presumably makes it more likely that the best teams advance to the final.  There would be more games to get to a champion - seven as opposed to five or six in the current format if you go with the four-team groups.  Probably still susceptible to capture by a mediocre team that gets hot late but certainly not so much as the current approach.  Yeah, I'll wait to hear from MLS on this one.


Stupid Fox Pundits

No, not the political ones, though if the shoe fits..., the soccer ones.   A panel of Fox "experts" is reviewing the Champions League highlights and gets to Atleti's 2-1 win over Rostov which featured a goal in stoppage time by Griezmann.  Their voices are dripping with sarcasm about the mistake by the officiating crew.  Griezmann was clearly offside in their not so humble opinion and we all know it right?  Wink, wink.  If you're interested reviewing the play before I go into my second rant of this post, check out the different link -go to 3:35. [video here - go to the -1:11 mark to see the play].  What happened was the Atleti player launched a ball towards the box.  An Atleti player (Godin) and a Rostov player both jump and the ball goes off a head to Griezmann, who is past the last defender.  The Atleti striker calmly lofts the ball over the keeper's head for the game winner.  The AR's flag is up (see picture as every Rostov player is pointing to the AR) but the referee overrules.  He does so because the ball came off the Rostov defender, not Godin.  The revised rules say you cannot be offside from a ball deliberately played by the defender.  The Rostov player went for the ball; it was not a random deflection.  But, even if you want to go that route, it's still not offside.  If you view the touch by the Rostov defender as a deflection, you then have to assess Greizmann's position at the moment his teammate played the ball.  If you check that out on the video, you'll see he was clearly onside.  The only way there can be offside on this play is if Godin touches the ball; videos pretty clearly indicate he did not.  The guys at Fox were likely just being too smug to have noticed these minor details.  Is there something in the water there that affects every Fox pundit, sports or otherwise?


Happy Tyneside

Damn, those rants get tiring.  Probably a pain to read too.  Anyway, Newcastle had a good few days, first pounding Preston North End 6-0 in the League Cup, then hanging on for dear life for a 2-1 win in a rematch on Saturday in Championship Division play.  The best news may be that with top scorer Dwight Gayle being rested for precautionary reasons, Aleksandar Mitrovic jumped in with four goals in two games.  I got a small taste of live TV when beIN Sports lost the feed for the Liverpool Tottenham match and they moved around to the other venues until the signal was restored.  Saturday it was back to the Live Chronicle feed.  The Magpies lead the Brighton by three and Huddersfield by six.  And they got a favorable draw for the League Cup quarterfinals in which they'll face Hull City.


Other Stuff

Apologies to any Man United followers out there but damn it was fun when MSNBC cut to Old Trafford for the end of that match and we see Jose Mourinho in the stands and Wayne Rooney whining to referee Mark Clattenburg.  You know things have not gone well for the Red Devils.  And they didn't, as Manchester could only manage a draw at home against Burnley.  Mourinho had been ejected for arguing a non-PK call and Rooney was complaining about a missed call late in stoppage time.  It's a shame...

Tottenham seem to have lost the plot a bit right now.  First a 1-2 loss to Liverpool in the League Cup, then a 1-1 draw vs Leicester, and topped off with a 0-1 lost to Leverkusen in Champions League.  Sure looks like they miss Harry Kane.  But notice they are still unbeaten in EPL play and sit fifth, only three points out of first.

To which Luke P says f Spurs, likely noting that his Gunners are playing well with wins in League Cup, EPL and Champions League play.  They sit second in the table, behind Man City on goal differential.  With Liverpool and Chelsea rounding out the top four, one fears that the glass ceiling, shattered last season by Leicester and Tottenham, may have been replaced with plexiglass.


The Weekend

Despite a calendar mostly devoid of marquee match-ups, there could be some interesting stuff nonetheless.  There is of course the North London derby at 7 am on Sunday morning.  Just remind yourself it will feel like 8 am because of the time change and drag yourself out of bed to see Arsenal-Tottenham.  Chelsea host Everton at 1:30 on Saturday; the Blues seem to have found themselves again but the Toffees should be a good test of how solid a contender they really are.  Liverpool-Watford is a match between two in-form teams that might be worth a look at 9:15 on Sunday on NBCSN; the Hornets sit 7th in the table!   For those who want to see if the car crash that is Jose Mourinho continues, you can watch Swansea-Man United, also at 9:15 on Sunday on CNBC.

Those MLS playoffs that I love so dearly also continue on Sunday at 2 pm (Colorado down 0-1 to LA), 4 pm (Red Bulls down 0-1 to Montreal), 6:30 pm (NYCFC down 0-2 to Toronto) and 9 pm (FC Dallas down 0-3 to Seattle).  I don't really have a horse in the race but I would like to see the Red Bulls do well.  I usually root against the home team at Yankee Stadium and even though I think Toronto has a bunch of whiners (looking at you Bradley and Altidore) I'll still cheer for the visitors; plus the pitch at Yankee Stadium probably isn't big enough for 8 v 8 let alone professional soccer so having no more games there would be fine with me.  Will probably pull for Dallas just because it would be an unprecedented come-from-behind in MLS history.

And the Magpies will be the heavy favorite as they host Cardiff City, who have returned to their traditional blue uniforms after a very unpopular stint wearing red.  They are the Bluebirds for crissake, what were they doing in red?

Apologies for items not covered this week but there was a lot going on.  Even with a DVR, it's hard to keep up.

Man, The Matches Are Non-stop

Coming to you early this week because there's a packed Tuesday-Thursday agenda that might be of interest.  And yes, this post's title is a Hamilton reference.

Slumping Towards the Playoffs

The Union continued their descent into post-season with a 0-2 loss at home to the Red Bulls.  This was better than last week's stinker against Orlando but not by much.  Since they only had to keep the goal differential change to no more than 12 and with a playoff match on Wednesday, Curtin rested several players.  I would have done the same but unfortunately, they enter the playoffs on a seven game winless streak, with five of those being losses.  The offense continues to be punchless.  We have concluded that a successful corner for the Union is one that doesn't turn into a good counterattacking opportunity for the opposition.

Before the match Jeff K and I noted that while Maurice Edu never appeared in an MLS match this year, at least he didn't get hurt.  Wrong.  No sooner were the words out of our mouths than we see Edu coming out of the tunnel on crutches.  He fractured his tibula in training.

One of the ARs for this match was Kermit Quisenberry, who was an instructor at a referee recertification clinic I attended a few years ago.  He was roundly booed by the crowd for not calling Bradley Wright-Phillips offside on the first goal.  I was pretty sure he got it right.  Graham R, Chief Referee Consultant for BFS, checked the tape and confirmed that it wasn't even close to offside, which again shows that the fans either don't know the rule or are blinded by their partisanship.  Or both.  Ya done good, Kermit, though not sure about that handling call on Fabinho.

BTW, kudos to the Red Bulls for overcoming a horrendous start to win the East and getting within three points of a second consecutive Supporters Shield. 

Nil-Nil Is Not Necessarily Boring

At least that's my view after watching Bournemouth-Tottenham and Arsenal-Middlesbrough back-to-back.  The fact that these were underdogs going toe-to-toe with two of the big boys probably helped, as you could see the effort put forth to hang on to a precious and unexpected point.  The games were end-to-end and neither Tottenham or Arsenal had a monopoly on good scoring chances.  And they were, um, shall we say spirited.  At Bournemouth, Craig Pawson handed out six yellows and could have easily shown Sissoko a red for an elbow in the face to Arter; Sissoko's likely looking at a three match ban anyway once the post-match disciplinary review is finished.  

Not a back weekend overall for underdogs.  Besides Bournemouth and Middlesbrough, Burnley picked up a win at home against Everton, Swansea snagged a point at home versus Watford and Southampton came away with a draw at Man City.  The latter match wasn't quite as pretty as I had hoped but it was intriguing.  

If I Had Picked Southampton, I'd Be in the Premier League Now

A brief comment on the Saints.  Southampton have seen a steady departure of coaches (Pochettino, Koeman) and quality players (check out this starting 11) yet continue to finish higher and higher up the table each year.  Somebody is doing something (many things) right there.  This suggests an institutional culture and systems as opposed to a club that can't survive the departure of key management or players.  I'm not trashing Man United per se but they have been wildly inconsistent since Fergie's departure.   And if I had picked Southampton instead of Newcastle, I wouldn't be following my team on ChronicleLive, getting updates every five minutes or so.  But I'm not complaining.

Is Mourinho the Donald Trump of Football?

I usually stay away from politics here but sometimes the obvious must be pointed out.  His team was thoroughly dismantled 4-0 by a superior Chelsea side and the story is that The Special One thinks Chelsea manager Antonio Conte humiliated him with wild celebrations after each goal and by encouraging the crowd to join in.  Funny aside, as Mourinho spoke into Conte's ear on the touchline after the match, we laughingly speculated that Jose was saying something like "You're dead to me."  Turns out we were basically correct.  And there may have been some unpleasantness between the staffs in the tunnel on the way out. 

To be fair, he did take some responsibility for the disaster in subsequent post-game remarks:

"Every time they went up, they scored. But I told to the players that we should take the risk in the second half even though we know they are very good on the counter-attack."  He later told United's official website: "I have to apologise for that as the leader of this dressing room. But there is only one answer: training and keep fighting."

BFS was able to obtain secret footage of Mourinho's reaction to events at Stamford Bridge (NSFW) here.  Yeah, that probably sums it up.

Newcastle Clear

Matt Richie celebrates scoring his side's third goal - PA Wire

Ayoze Perez had the Magpies up 1-0 in 60 seconds in the home match against Ipswich.  But the Tractor Boys are a good defensive side and things remained tight until well into the second half.  But then Perez got a second and Ritchie (right) added a third and things calmed down at St. James Park.  Meanwhile, Norwich were losing at home against Preston and by day's end, Newcastle were top of the table by three points.  Will try to keep calm and continue watching following updates on Chronicle Live but things certainly seem on track.

No One Said This Would Be Easy

So what's all this about a jammed mid-week schedule?  Let's start with the Round of 16 League Cup matches on Tuesday and Wednesday.  I know I have dissed this competition more than once regularly but this time Newcastle are still in it!  Among Tuesday's fixtures we have Liverpool-Tottenham (2:45 beIN Sports) plus Newcastle-Preston and Arsenal-Reading.  Wednesday has some derbies with West Ham-Chelsea and Man United-Man City (2:45 beIN Sports) plus Southampton-Sunderland.

Wednesday-Thursday see the MLS knockout games involving the third through sixth finishers in each conference.  We'll be following the Union up in Toronto at 7:30 on Wednesday.  Paraphrasing musician Steve Forbert, "you cannot win, if you do not score."  If they do advance, they'll face...the Red Bulls in a home and home series.  Conference semi-finals start Sunday 10/30 with games at 3, 5, 7 and 9:30.  Check your local listings.

And of course we have the regular weekend happenings in England.  Newcastle will face Preston again.  This is the second time this season their league cup opponent and regular season opponent for the week are one and the same.  Last time they won the cup game and lost the conference match.  If they can't win both, can we please get the points in Championship play as winning the league cup is a pipe dream?

EPL fixtures are a mixed bag.  There is Tottenham-Leicester at 10 am Saturday; both teams have been listless but somehow Spurs are one point out of first.  I fancy the Southampton-Chelsea match on Sunday at noon (? - right, they end daylight saving time a week before we do); Chelsea are also just a point out of first while the Saints sit in 8th.  Other matches involving the top of the table may or may not produce interesting football.  Sunderland (with 2 points in 10 matches!) host Arsenal, Mourinho gets to return to Old Trafford to face Burnley, Man City travel to West Brom, Liverpool goes to slumping Crystal Palace (Pardew might do well to stop talking about Newcastle and focus on his team), and Everton try to bounce back against a revived West Ham side.

I'm guessing you'll find something in there that interests you.  

PS - I understand there were matches in Spain and Italy but I'll let the NY Times - or BFS readers - handle them.

Parity vs Parody

A stinker from the Union, good news from St. James' Park and what kind of manager are you?


Backing Into the Playoffs

Yes there were a lot teams in the playoff hunt in both conferences until the very end.  Yes that sounds like parity.  But we shouldn't confuse that with good football.  Take the Union for example. They were in position to clinch a playoff spot on Sunday at home but turned in a generally uninspired performance, losing to then 9th place Orlando 0-2.  But no mind, because at the same time the Union were handing the opening to the Revolution, New England was in the process of losing 1-2 to last place Chicago.  So the Union are in good position to take the last playoff spot even if they don't win on Sunday because of the tiebreakers.

Ze Roberto notes that the Union have four losses and two draws in their last six matches.  This is, in the end, a mediocre team.  I'm not forgetting that they used to be an awful team and most pundits, while expecting progress this year, did not expect the Union to make the playoffs.  I can only hope that management realizes that making the playoffs in the MLS is a pretty low bar, given that 60% of the teams get a spot in post season and the rampant mediocrity in the league and will set their sights higher.  The league is expanding - two teams for 2017 and two more for 2018.  Though existing teams likely will have improved records, in the short run at least, they won't actually be better teams. In fact, the expansion draft means they might actually be worse.  I know I tell people we have to support MLS because that's all we have here but it's hard when they seem intent on diluting the product.


Six More Points for Newcastle

Very good news for the Magpies as they win on Saturday (over Brentford 3-1) and Tuesday (over Barnsley 2-0), thanks in part to a boatload (bootload?) of goals from Dwight Gayle.  At the same time Norwich got a win and a draw and Huddersfield Town lost twice.  So going into the weekend, Newcastle sit atop the Championship table.  According to The Newcastle United Blog, they are four points ahead of where they were seven years ago when they won promotion from the Championship to the Premiership.  A long way to go before I can open that special bottle of beer but I like how things are progressing.  Maybe it sounds a bit snotty but I do believe that the only team that can stop them from winning the division is themselves.



DVRed But Unwatched

I recorded a bunch this weekend but many went unviewed.  Some, like the Sunday EPL matches just weren't that interesting.  I saw the results from the other key MLS East matches while watching the Union so I didn't need to go through them.  I was hoping to sit down to enjoy the Liverpool- Manchester United contest but saw the result of that one too - gotta change my home page from Yahoo.  In that case, the spoiler was a good thing because by all reports, the match was uninspiring and I didn't have to waste 90 minutes on it.  Paradoxically, the YouTubeableMoment, actually two of them, come from this match; we present DeGea's saves Part I - Coutinho and Part II - Emre Can.

I did catch Chelsea-Leicester, where the Foxes looked spectacularly mid-tablish as they fell 0-3 at Stamford Bridge.  The 1-1 draw between Man City and Everton was well worth the time.  Two PK stops from Maarten Stekelenburg saved the Toffees asses in a taut, well-played contest.  Though I hadn't been watching the match, I covered up the out of town scores on the TV screen when I saw Arsenal-Swansea at 3-2 with the Gunners down a man; took in the last 20 or so minutes of that one, which ended 3-2 despite the Swans man advantage.  Also "saw" Crystal Palace-West Ham, that is, if you count fast forwarding to get a sense of the game; that may have been more attention than the 1-0 win for the Hammers deserved.  Didn't see it but Spurs came away with just a draw at West Brom, losing a chance to gain on Man City.


Midweek Football

A lighter work schedule allowed for some Champions League and Europa Cup viewing.  It was pouring rain in Leicester, the Foxes were outpossessed by Copenhagen - you knew those things without me telling you, right? - and they looked no more than competent but got a 1-0 win.  Somehow they are undefeated and unscored on in Champions League play and look like good bets to advance to the knockout stage, even as they languish in 13th in the EPL. Man City wasn't totally out of it at Camp Nou until keeper Bravo got a red card for DOGSO.  Pretty soon it was 4-0 Barcelona.  Spurs completed a week of draws with a 0-0 result against Leverkusen; they've been slighly less than awesome recently but haven't paid a price for it yet.  Thursday I sampled Europa league action, watching the 1-0 win by Inter Milan over Southampton; never mind the score, it was an intriguing match.



What Kind of Football Manager Manager Am I?

Scott and Katie got me this book called The Football Manager Guide to Football Management.  I was expecting a guide on how to be better at Football Manager but instead found a primer on aspects and characteristics of real football management.  Still a good read with loads of anecdotes about current and former managers.  Near the end, the author does ask what kind of manager are you. The choices:

Dynastic - not thinking about the next match or even the next season but several seasons ahead
Tactical - knows that the left full back is slow and will pound that side with a speedy winger
Transformative - change the way the club does everything
Dictatorial - my way or the highway
Wheeler-dealer - there's this striker in Mexico we can get for about $1m
Media Darling - make nice with the press
Ideologue - who cares if we win, was it attractive football?

I'd say I'm 35% wheeler dealer, 35% dynastic and 30% tactical.  With limited resources I've had to rely on transfer bargains and loans, even now in our third season in the Premiere League.  Always keeping on eye on which players will need to be replaced in a few years.  And though I don't get way into player details, I do spend a lot of time assessing which formations and touch line instructions make a difference.

Chester had a good week with a clinical 3-0 over Preston North End to advance to the League Cup quarterfinals and a sweet 2-0 win over Man City in league play.


The Weekend

I'll be at Talen Energy Stadium Sunday to see the Union take on the Red Bulls.  Since both teams merely need to be sure they don't lose 12-0 to meet their objectives - Red Bulls top of division, Union in the playoffs - this has all the markings of a 0-0 draw.  Perfect.

Newcastle are heavy favorites against Ipswich.  Again, complacency is probably the bigger opponent here.

Sunday looks like a tasty doubleheader for the EPL.  At 8:30 Man City takes on Southampton at The Etihad.  As you know, I've been wrong before but this could be some fun watching.  Then at 11, The Special One returns to Stamford Bridge as Man United under Jose Mourinho take on Chelsea.  Both contests can be seen on NBCSN.

Saturday's action looks like some mismatches, except maybe not.  Tottenham travel to Bournemouth, who haven't been awful so maybe Spurs need to be careful, that's at 7:30 on NBCSN.  Arsenal host Middlesbrough at 10 on NBCSN and the Gunners should be favored here.  The 12:30 NBC match is Liverpool at home to West Brom; the Baggies are on a good run so Liverpool need to be careful.

Better to have dvred and not watched than to never have dvred at all.

International Football

Random thoughts on matches from Europe, South America and Africa.  I won't represent it as comprehensive review, just a survey based the smattering of matches I saw.


Keep Your Pants On

That proved to be difficult in Colombia as monsoon rains turned the pitch into a quagmire. Check out Yerry Mina after scoring the tying goal in the 2-2 thriller with Uruguay.  Great match to watch, and not just because Ray Hudson was doing color.  Colombia was up 1-0, then down 1-2 before Mina's tally.

Chile did themselves no favors with a 0-3 loss to Ecuador.  Then they struggled against Peru, pulling out a narrow 2-1 win with a late goal from Arturo Vidal.  They are certainly not out of the picture but have left themselves plenty to do in the last eight games of qualifying.  Argentina, without Messi, didn't have a great break with a draw at Peru and a loss at home to Paraguay and now sit in the fifth spot.

Still eight matches to go but the play of Uruguay and Ecuador so far suggest that one of Argentina, Chile or Colombia might find themselves in that fifth spot which means a playoff series instead of an automatic ticket to Moscow.


Can't Anybody Here Spell?

As players exited the tunnel in Reykjavik, did you notice their warmups - Island and Turkye? Hopefully they didn't pay for those.  A very good international break for "Our Boys" always a favorite here at BFS.  First they put in two stoppage time goals to turn a potential 1-2 loss into a 3-2 win over Finland.  Then, they disposed of Turkey (or Turkye or however you're supposed to spell it) 2-0 to move into second place in the group, behind Croatia on the tiebreaker.  This is a competitive group but Iceland should be in the mix, along with Croatia, Ukraine and Turkey.

Several of us gathered at Michael B's new pad to watch but Spain-Italy was hardly an advertisement for the beautiful game.  Keeper Buffon absolutely butchered a clearance, missing the ball completely and giving Spain the opening goal.  Italy gave little indication that they would tie the match but amazingly they did.  Overall, not enough attacking football to make the match enjoyable and the takeout food from the Co-op was the highlight of the evening.  France-Netherlands was only 1-0 but it was much more watchable as the Dutch made a match of it in the second half.  Belgium defeated Bosnia and Herzegovina 4-0 then Gibraltar 6-0 to stay atop their group.


Didn't You Used to Play for the Union?

Checked in on the Algeria-Cameroon match as it looked to be the most competitive of the offerings from African qualifying.  And there was Rais M'Bolhi in goal.  He was perhaps Exhibit A in the clusterf*** [Ed Note: Although the NY Times and the Philadelphia Inquirer both broke historical precedent in the last week by fully spelling out the f-bomb, we at BFS will not follow their leads.  We note that Donald Trump and Chris Christie were the subjects of  the articles in which the word appeared.  Probably just coincidence right?] that was Union management prior to the arrival of Earnie Stewart.  It wasn't that he was awful - which he was - it was we already had two potential number one keepers and his arrival made no sense.  Anyway, he wasn't terrible in this match, though he did let the tying goal through the five hole and made me happy that Blake is our keeper.  Cameroon was more than happy to leave with a 1-1 draw.


Chester Scoring Drought

The Blues are having trouble putting their shots on frame but haven't paid a disastrous price yet.  We beat Atletico 1-0 in Champions League group play but followed that up with a lackluster 1-1 draw at Newcastle. Chester sit third in the table, behind Aston Villa and Tottenham, but we better sort out the offense before we face the heavies.  The manager probably needs to adjust the training regimen.


Back to Work

MLS league play resumes with four teams competing for three playoff spots open in the East. The Union can clinch one of those with with a win at home against Orlando this Sunday.  And really, if you can't beat this team at home, do you deserve a playoff spot?  I believe the Union could also back into a spot if Chicago can beat New England on Sunday.  And the Red Bulls still have a legitimate chance to win the East, especially with home match vs Columbus and a road game with the Union to conclude their season.

In the Championship division, Newcastle are a huge favorite at home against Brentford; anything less than three points here is a disappointment.  Huddersfield Town (vs Sheffield Wednesday) and Norwich (vs Rotherham) are also favorites so the Magpies likely stay in third through the weekend.

In the "really big shew" (as Philip S calls it), we have another mostly underwhelming card.  Chelsea Leicester at 7:30 Saturday morning (NBCSN) is probably worth a look.  NBCSN agrees that Man City Everton is the best of the 10 am games, though you can check out Bob Bradley's debut as Swansea manager (first American in the Premier League managerial ranks) against Arsenal on CNBC.  Tottenham fans can only live stream their beloved Spurs as they travel to the Midlands to face West Brom.  Monday's Liverpool-Man United match looks like a good dvr game for those with full-time jobs.

Now get out there and watch.

Roads to Moscow

Not too much league play for the next few days as World Cup Qualify continues in earnest.

The path to the finals in Moscow varies, depending on which continent you come from. South America may have the simplest but the toughest.  With only 10 countries participating, they can go with a simple home and away match against each side.  At the end of the 18 matches, the top four go to finals and fifth place plays the winner of the Oceania confederation qualifying process in a two match playoff.  The bad news is that there are four sides ranked in the world top 10 - Argentina, Colombia, Brazil, and Chile - so getting one of those top four spots is a tough proposition.  After eight matches, form is sort of holding but not exactly as Uruguay sits atop the standings followed by Brazil, Argentina and Colombia, with Ecuador in the playoff spot.  Chile is just 7th but with matches against Ecuador and Peru over this break, they could easily move into the top four.  You can follow South American qualifying on beinSports on Thursday and Tuesday.

With 53 nations competing for spots, Africa's qualifying is more complicated.  The bottom 26 teams played a home and away first round.  The 13 advancing from that round are joined with the 27 sides that got a first round bye for a second round of home and away matches.  The 20 surviving the second round are then divided into five groups of four for group play.  The winners of each group get WC final spots.  Group play begins during this break.  No surprises so far.  The top ranked sides - Algeria, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Tunisia and Senegal are in separate groups.  Cameroon, not a bad side, is in the group with Algeria.  Tough break.

Oceania's process seems really complicated for a small confederation.  I will simply state that New Zealand will face Papua New Guinea in a two-legged final to determine who gets to play the fifth place country from South America.  I must also ask why Australia is not part of this confederation.

Apparently because they are part of the Asia confederation.  Last time I checked Australia was its own continent but never mind.  Talk about a complicated process to get to four teams from 46.  First round is lower ranked teams.  Second round is eight groups of five.  Eight winners plus four best second place advance to third round, which is round robin play in two groups of six.    First and second from this group play get a WC spot.  The two third place sides play a two legged tie to determine who gets to play the fourth place team from CONCACAF.  Australia, Japan and South Korea look like good bets for three of those spots.  Iran, Uzbekistan, and Syria are in the mix too.

Still with me?  Good.

Europe, even with 54 countries competing for 13 slots, is not that complicated. Teams are divided into nine groups of six for round robin play.  The nine winners get spots, the eight best second place teams are paired for home and away matches, with the four winners getting the other four slots.  We're only at match day two there so there's a long way to go.  Scroll around Fox Sports and ESPN between now and Wednesday and you'll find plenty of these matches.

CONCACAF is fairly complicated.  Early rounds are home and away matches for the lower ranked teams in the 35 nation confederation.  Then we get to the fourth round with three groups of four, who do round robin play with the top two in each group advancing to what is affectionately known as the "hex."  Six teams play home and away.  Top three are into the final, fourth place plays third place from Asia for a final spot.  Hex play doesn't start until the November break.

And there you have it, more info on World Cup qualifying than you could ever want.


The Good, the Bad and the Ultimately Still Bad

Full credit to the Union for a tough match against the Red Bulls.  They took an early lead, came back from 1-2 to tie.  Yes, they played hard, which was good.  And against possibly the hottest team in the MLS right now.  But they still lost 2-3.  And the score kind of flatters them.  How many errant passes?  The 50-50 challenges seemed to go against them about 90-10.  Results from other precincts were not helpful either and we now sit in 6th, three points up on New England.   Still, a win over Orlando seals the playoff deal though.

Afterwards I was thinking positive spin - tough result against a top team, playoffs still possible, etc. Upon further review, I'm less upbeat.  Yes, the team is not bottom of the table material but maybe has only progressed to also-ran status.  And Barnetta's departure at the end of the season to return to his hometown team, along with Noguiera's exit earlier this year threatens the progress we have seen.  No other player, except maybe Blake, has been as important to this team as Barnetta.  Without a number 10 of higher or similar quality to replace him, Blake's heroics will only serve to keep the margin of defeat lower.


We. Can't. Watch

Hey, that works on two levels.  With no streaming available, I was left to follow Newcastle-Rotherham on The Chronicle's live blog.  Christian Atsu's goal (this week's YouTubeable Moment) had the Magpies up 1-0 but they couldn't find a second and had some serious defending to do later on.  Apparently it got hairy enough that the blogger posted the header We. Can't. Watch.  But they held on for the three points and remain in third place.


Worst Prediction?

Apologies to whomever may have tuned into Leicester-Southampton on my recommendation.  Who would have expected a 0-0 draw from those sides?  There was more interesting stuff elsewhere.  Certainly Tottenham dismantling Man City 2-0 was noteworthy.  There was no aspect of the game in which Spurs weren't top drawer.  Except PKs.  Should have been 3-0.   Friday's Everton-Crystal Palace 1-1 draw had some spirit to it.  Man United couldn't have been too pleased about a 1-1 draw with Stoke.  Chelsea eventually tamed Hull 2-0.


And then we have Arsenal's 1-0 defeat of Burnley on a Koscielny goal at 90+3.  What a kick in the teeth for a game Burnley side.  The goal came with controversy, except most focused on the wrong aspect.  See the picture to the left. Oxlade-Chamberlain kicked the ball and it hit Koscielny's arm and went into the goal.  Most of the immediate post game commentary was about whether it was handling.  Though it would seem unfair to allow a goal that clearly came of off Koscielny's arm, that's not the test.  The question is whether Koscielny deliberately handled the ball.  For me the evidence says no.  But, there's a second, more important problem that you can see from the picture. Where is Koscielny at the time the ball was struck?  Yes, he's ahead of the ball with only one defender between him and the goal line.  Clearly offside.  I was surprised it didn't come up in immediate post game analysis but there was plenty of discussion on the web.


Sack Race

The ax fell on Swansea's Francesco Guidolin after a 1-2 loss at home to Liverpool. Recall that the oddsmakers had him as mostly like to be first to go.  With Guidolin's departure, West Ham's Slaven Bilic moves to top with David Moyes (Sunderland) and Tony Pulis (West Brom) in "hot pursuit." The historical accuracy of these odds would give me pause if I was one of these guys and considering buying a house in the city where I managed.


International Break

Scan your local listings and you'll find plenty of international football to watch for the next week.

The Rafa-lution Will Not Be Televised and Will Only Occasionally Be Available on Live Stream

And that's a shame given Wednesday's match with Norwich.

A disappointing draw and a stunning win for the Magpies, a retrospectively satisfying draw for the Union and a bunch of eyebrow raising results in the EPL.  In short, a great first week of fall.


The Rafa-lution Starts Now?  (Musical Accompaniment here)

We were two minutes away from a real downer of an opening paragraph here.  On Saturday, Newcastle were both unlucky not to win and lucky not to lose.  They completely dominated Aston Villa for about the first 55 minutes but only led 1-0 - on an own goal at that - because of a complete failure to convert chances.  By that point it should have been 3-0, 4-0 and no worse than 2-0.  The tide turned and the Magpie possession dried up.  First a goal called back on offside.  Then a real goal at 88 minutes.  Then an onslaught that Newcastle barely survived.  One point on the road isn't terrible but this match was winnable.  Of course what made it all that much worse was that I got to watch this on beinsportsconnect; just like the good old days of 2015, watching the Magpies underperform.

Move forward to Wednesday night back at Saint James' Park (packed with 48,000 on a weeknight!) to face second place Norwich.  No live stream for this one.  Things started out brightly enough with Gayle providing a goal in the 24 minute.  A PK surrendered by Gouffran left things level at halftime.  At 69 minutes, despite apparently outplaying the Canaries, a deflection off of Laschelles had Newcastle down 1-3.  Gayle got one back two minutes later but entering stoppage time, they still trailed 2-3.  At 90+5 Gouffran tied it.  At 90+6 Gayle won it, completing his hat trick and sending the raving lunatics St James' faithful into delerium.  I wish I could find a suitable video but seems like the good stuff is blocked for us US surfers.  Now, is this a season defining moment, one they can draw on in the months ahead?  Or is it another indication that Newcastle will be their own worst enemy and make this promotion effort a bigger struggle than it needs to be?  Wait, the answer could be both, couldn't it?

Dwight Gayle celebrates scoring the fourth goal for Newcastle United. Photograph: Owen Humphreys/PA

Upon Further Review...

...the Union's draw in Toronto isn't all that bad.  Certainly I wasn't expecting any points from the trip up north.  But the first half was possibly the Union's best of the season, highlighted by a cheeky chipped goal from Alejandro Bedoya, taking over the #10 role with Barnetta out with an injury.  They were so good, Jeff K texted me at half time "Who are those guys?"  Second half not as good as the first, possibly in part due to the knock that Bedoya took that clearly slowed him down.  No, the second half saw the Union on the back foot for most of the time and the tying goal at 70 minutes was hardly a surprise.  Were they lucky to hold on for the draw?  Maybe.   Was 1-1 a fair result?  I thought so. Was that a foul on Altidore in the box in the closing seconds?  If by "on Altidore" you mean he tripped Sapong, then yes.  I'll admit it looked squirrelly so when the whistle blew I feared the worst.  But the replay shows the ref got it right.  That didn't stop Altidore from going ball-istic; he booted the ball into the stands and deserved a yellow card and then continued to berate the official as the final whistle sounded, earning him that yellow card.  Michael Bradley and manager Vanney were livid too.  Calm down guys and check the replay.

Other teams were mostly accommodating over the weekend to our needs as well.  The Red Bulls beat Montreal, DC United thrashed Orlando and Columbus upset New England.  Tuesday and Wednesday weren't as helpful as Toronto could only tie Orlando, Montreal got a win over over San Jose and DC pummeled Columbus.  So with most everybody's games in hand taken care of, the Union sit in 4th with 42, Montreal is 5th with 41 and DC is 6th with 40. On the outside looking in are New England at 36 and Orlando with 35.  Even with no more points for the Union, Orlando must win all three of its games to pass them - because we have the tiebreaker - and of course, one of those games is at Talen Energy Stadium.  New England can't afford to lose any games if it wants to catch the Union, but two wins and draw could in theory.  A win against Orlando and none blow-out losses to the Jersey Cows should be enough.


Didn't See That Coming

The EPL feature a pile of results that were not obvious going into the weekend, at least to me.  Reports about Chelsea's revival (by me?) may have been greatly exaggerated.  They were taken apart by Arsenal 3-0 and that score flatters Chelsea.  Leicester haven't been great but Man United have struggled just as badly.  So they bench Rooney and come away with a 4-1 win over the Foxes.  Huh.  Everton have been cruising but they fell to Bournemouth 0-1.  Can somebody explain West Ham to me?  A 0-3 loss at home to Southampton leaves them with just one win in six matches and 18th in the table.  Some are theorizing that the converted Olympic Stadium is too big and leaves them feeling like a team with without a home.  This article from the Guardian offers some insights - underwhelming performance from summer signings (very Newcastlish) plus injuries and key departures on the defensive side are among the reasons mentioned.  I will note the Chester Blues picked up one of those disappointing signings - Gokhan Tore - in the summer transfer window and he is performing admirably on the cyber pitch; with 3 goals and two assists in six appearances, often as a sub, the head of the fan club has labeled Tore's signing "a marvelous piece of business."

My favorite unexpected result is Alan Pardew getting some measure of satisfaction against Sunderland, at the Stadium of (Fading) Light no less. The method of the madness might make it even better.  Down 0-2 at 60 minutes, Crystal Palace tallied at 61, 76 and 90+4 for a stunning come from behind win.  Thank you to NBCSN for getting to that match just in time for Benteke's winner.

On the less surprising side is Man City's 3-1 win over Swansea, keeping them perfect through six matches.  Hull offered little resistance to Liverpool, going down 1-5.  Tottenham also was business-like in a 2-1 win over Middlesbrough.  So not everything was eyebrow raising.


Downa Shore

A quick treat to the beach will likely limit viewing this weekend.  Not a great set of fixtures so maybe that's okay.  My choice would be Tottenham hosting Man City Sunday at 9:15 (TV?).  Many of the top teams have "softer" assignments this weekend - Liverpool traveling to Wales to face Swansea, Chelsea on the road to Hull, Man United at home versus Stoke and Arsenal traveling to Burnley.  Another match to check out might be Leicester-Southampton; given their styles and relatively standing, this could be an entertaining match for the neutral.

MLS schedule has plenty of key match-ups.  The Union travel to Harrison NJ to face the Red Bulls, while DC goes to Toronto, New England hosts Sporting KC and Orlando hosts Montreal.  With the right set of results (say a draw for the Union and losses by New England and Orlando), the Union could be set for the playoffs by Sunday night.

Going to have a pile of dvred matches to go through Sunday night and Monday.

At Least There's Still Football Manager

Pretty much the only good results I got this weekend were Chester's on the virtual pitch.


When It Rains It Portlands

Playing in a steady rain downpour monsoon in the City of Roses, the Union failed to come away with any points in their match with the Timbers.  Though their play was not terrible, the 1-2 loss probably is a fair reflection of the match.  A 0-0 draw through 45 minutes and the terrible conditions gave me hope that a point might be possible.  Such hopes looked silly when Portland scored in the opening minute of the second half.  Even the quick response by the Union to level things a minute later didn't restore my optimism.  And sure enough, in the 53rd minute Portland scored again.  The Union were not punchless; they are creating good chances.  They're just not converting them.

Soccer America had this article on the playoff race in the Eastern Conference.  After making this statement:

Conference leader Toronto FC (47 pts.) and co-second place New York City FC and New York Red Bulls (both 45 pts.) can confirm their slots this weekend. Philadelphia is another four points back in fourth and will probably need at least a couple of games to nail down its slot but fifth-place Montreal is not assured of anything.

So it seems four teams will  battle for the two remaining slots and to thanks the schedule-makers, there are four head-to-head meetings on the docket along with several games against common opponents to further muddle the picture.

Mahoney then analyzes the schedules of New England, DC United, Montreal and Orlando, concluding that they will finish 5th through 8th with 44, 43, 42, and 41 points respectively.  Anybody see a potential flaw in this modeling?  Right.  The Union need at least 43 points to make the post season (fortunately they are in good stead on the first tiebreaker - number of wins).  But that means at least two points from the following four matches - Toronto away, Red Bulls away, Orlando home, Red Bulls home.  A win over Orlando is probably enough but what if they only draw that match.  Even a point is a long shot in the other three matches.  Mahoney's a good writer but I am reminded of all the pundits last year that scoffed at the prospect of Newcastle being relegated.

The Union did get a bit of help from other quarters.  DC United could only manage a draw vs Chicago and Columbus thumped Orlando 4-1.  New England's 3-1 win over Montreal was neither here nor there as they continue to sit in 5th and 6th. Toronto - Red Bulls was a great watch, though maybe less so for Red Bulls fans.  Up 2-0 and 3-1, the Jersey Cows came home with just a point after Altidore scored at 68 minutes and again at 86.


Told You We Should Have Saved Some

Newcastle could have used at least two of the six tallies against QPR as they fell, at home, to the Wolves 0-2.  In front of 52,000 raving lunatics loyal fans no less.  There will be hiccups in this campaign but this one seemed unnecessary.  Especially when three days later the Magpies reversed the score in the League Cup tie.  Changing the order of the results would have been okay by me; I'd much rather have the three points than a spot in the round of 16 for the league cup.  The bright side could be that Benitez learned a little more about the team that will serve him well as the season progresses.


Maybe It's Better As A Neutral

This was the first weekend I had a chance to watch multiple games.  Not having to put each match in the context of what it means to Newcastle increases the enjoyment, as I take each match based on how I feel about the teams.  This was most obvious as I tuned in late to see Watford and Man United tied.  Then, two goals by the home side at 83 and 95 minutes doomed the Red Devils to another loss.   In previous years the joy of seeing the underdog win would have been tempered by the realization that a Newcastle relegation rival had just picked up three unexpected points.

Friday night's Chelsea-Liverpool was a cracker, featuring Jordan Henderson's (left) amazing strike; Liverpool were the deserved 2-1 winners there. (Henderson's goal, while awesome, will not be the week's YouTubeable Moment though as that honor will go to Azpilicueta's incredibly pure strike in the league cup match vs Leicester.)  Crystal Palace may be slowly finding their game but the 4-1 thumping of Stoke might put Mark Hughes in front in the Manager Sack race (nope according to this listing he's second behind Swansea's Guidolin).

Top table teams had a relatively easy weekend with Man City beating Bournemouth 4-0, Arsenal handling Hull 4-1 and Spurs edging Sunderland 1-0; the latter may not have been as close as the score suggests.  Question - what happened at West Ham?  After just one win against four losses, they may wish they were forever blowing bubbles back at Upton Park instead of Olympic Stadium.

Chester Comes Through

The prospect of Arsenal at the Emirates suggested even Football Manager might not provide any consolation after the mostly unsatisfying string of results in the real world,   We played a defensive 4-1-3-2 but still fell behind 0-1.  We leveled things midway through the second half and the possibility of taking a point became real.  We kept the formation tight and I pushed the time wasting slider to the max.  Next thing I know we're scoring off a corner and take all three points.  Even a 0-0 home draw at Liverpool the next match didn't diminish the luster of the win.  The Blues sit in second, two points behind Tottenham after eight games.  Much better than reality...

Lusterless BFS Derby

What's worse than derby (the once passion-filled Newcastle-Aston Villa match) that only two people knew about to begin with?  A derby in the championship division that only two people know about.  Worse than that?  It's probably a derby that only one person cares about anymore since Dennis likely isn't spending too much time on the Villans.  The Magpies fell to 3rd in the table but Aston Villa are really struggling, sitting in 18th in the table.  The only good news there is that there are 24 teams in the championship division so they are not currently in the relegation zone.  Sigh, longing for the days past when the match was interesting, at least from a relegation race perspective.

Mixed bag in the big boys division.  On the one hand, there's Man United-Leicester (7:30 Sat on NBCSN) and Arsenal-Chelsea (12:30 Sat on NBCSN).  But the other heavies have lighter match-ups, possibly made a bit more difficult since they're all road matches; Totteham is away to Middlesbrough, Everton heads south to face Bournemouth, Liverpool is away to Hull and undefeated, undrawn Man City travels to Wales to face Swansea City.  

MLS action includes the Union at Toronto (a point would be so sweet but doesn't seem likely), DC United takes on Orlando (a draw might be the best result for the Union), Red Bulls vs Montreal (easy to root for the Jersey Cows here) and Columbus plays New England (let's go Crew).  Check your local listings for which of those may be televised.

Fall is here so it's a good time to watch some soccer.