Kinda Slow

 Union, USMNT and transfers.  Not tons to discuss...

The One That Got Away

The Inter Miami faithful could not have been too happy watching their former prospect Julian Carranza score one goal and force an own goal in their 4-1 loss to the Union.  Perhaps they can draw comfort that Lionel Messi will be arriving soon.

Glesnes shows he can score from closer than 40 yards out

You can't call a June match a must-win game, but the Union really did need to secure all three points in this home fixture against one of the conference's weaker sides.  The 4-1 final makes it look like Philly more than took care of business.  And yet...

I was getting game updates on the phone.  For much of the match, Miami were outpossessing (over 75/25 at times!) and outshooting the Union. Final stats weren't that much better.  xG was only 1.00 -.96 favor the Union.   This doesn't look like a 4-1 pasting.  Sure, Wagner's corner delivery was near-perfect for Glesnes to flick on for the first goal.  Carranza showed clinical finishing skills on the second but was lucky the ball came to him when it did.  Flach's goal (seen here) to make it 3-0 was a classical miniature golf shot - he got it through just before the swinging gate closed and the wind mill vane swept by.  The fourth was an own-goal.  High quality finishing or luck?  Both probably.  Miami's only tally was an own goal too, meaning much of their possession was toothless.  But we only managed three shots on goal.  

Credit to Jim Curtin.  His post-match comments suggest he was not fooled by the final score.  His observations included::

They gave us some problems. It was difficult for us to get around the ball. We chased a lot and we talked at halftime about how we're at our best when we're all sprinting together 10 yards rather than jogging around for 100 plus yards, and I think they understood that. Didn't  really fix it in the second half, but give the guys credit for grinding out a 4-1 that maybe wasn't indicative of the game.

That's exactly what I want to hear after a performance like that.  We like the points but have work to do.

Note that the Union also got some outside help with DC United beating Cincinnati and Columbus edging Nashville.  We're one behind 3rd place Nashville (with a game in hand to boot) and two behind second place New England.  Cincinnati are still a distant nine points up.

Jamaica Almost Said You Won't (apologies to Jackson Browne)

The USMNT had their hands full in the Gold Cup opener against Jamaica.  They needed a goal in the 88th minute from Brandon Vazquez (this week's YouTubeableMoment) to rescue a 1-1 draw with the Reggae Boys.  Jamaica spent most of the match with a lead thanks to the Union's Damion Lowe (header goal at 13 minutes) and Andre Blake (several game saving stops like he usually provides for us).  This shouldn't be a complete surprise given that the US is going mostly with the new guys while Jamaica's squad includes the likes of Demairi Gray, Leon Bailey and Michail Antonio.  A loss wouldn't have been a total disaster given the strength of the rest of the group but snatching the draw will make things less scary.  By the way, I  was going to open with the classic line about ties and sisters but Ted Lasso's right - it's a creepy expression.  

Things were much easier Wednesday night as the team scored early and often in a 6-0 rout of Saint Kitts & Nevis.  It was 3-0 by the 16th minute.  Shots were 34-2 and shots on target were 15-0.  Now, a draw with Trinidad & Tobago on Sunday will be enough to advance to the knockout stage.  If I have deciphered the brackets correctly, it would be better to win the group as that would likely mean the US wouldn't face Mexico until the final (that's assuming Mexico win Group B).

Mexico Learned How to Play.  Uh Oh

So I watched Mexico dismantle Honduras 4-0 on Sunday.  They looked like a team interested in doing well this tournament.  I have their match wtih Haiti on now. Lots of shots but no goal in the first half.  El Tri got two fairly quick goals in the second and I was ready to hit publish but then Haiti scored to make it 2-1.  So now I have to wait for the match to finish.  I forgot that Mexico traditionally do well in the group stage of the Gold Cup so maybe I shouldn't make too much of it anyway.  Oops, two goal lead restored as I write.   

Quarters are next Saturday and Sunday so we'll have the line ups in next week's post.

EPL Players Joining the LIV Golf Tour Saudi Pro League

Saudi Arabia is making more moves into the world of soccer, this time by signing big name players to the Saudi Pro League.  Ronaldo started the trend, signing in January.  Since then, the likes of Benzema, Kante, Koulibaly and Neves have followed suit.  Rumors on other signings abound.  

Spurs pay $50 million to sign Madison

The pace of transfers has also picked up.  Havertz has gone from Chelsea to Arsenal.  Gundogan has gone
to Barcelona.from Man City, who picked up Kovacic from Chelsea (wait, who's left at Stamford Bridge?).  Of interest to Newcastle fans was the transfer of James Maddison from Leicester to Tottenham for $50m.  He had been on the Magpie radar.  I wasn't all that keen on him when the price tag was like $80 m but wouldn't have minded signing him for that fee.

A Test Down South

The Union have a tough fixture on Sunday down in Atlanta.  I'll actually get to watch that one as it is the national game on Fox at 4 pm.  Atlanta are a prohibitive favorite and a performance like last week will result in zero points.   

You can go right from that match to the USMNT final group stage match vs Trinidad & Tobago at 7 pm also on Fox.  The Group B final matches are later Sunday.  There are also final group stage matches on Tuesday for C and D.  Hard to know which ones will be the most relevant since those groups haven't even played their second matches yet.

Yeah, not a lot to work with.  Miss those spring weeks when there was good stuff on every day.

Isn't It Nice To Be Back Home Again?

apologies to James Taylor

Back from California, not completely sure what day or time it is.  Just the Union result to report on but figured I'd get back to something close to a normal schedule.

Keep Shooting

The Union were in Orlando Wednesday night but I was in Santa Monica so all I could do was follow the updates on my phone while drinking Topa Topa Brewing Company's Dos Topas Lager.  Dismayed to see them fall behind 2-0 in the second half but then Jack McGlynn slipped in this long shot in the 60th minute to cut the deficit in half.  At first you wonder why the keeper didn't move but as Danny Higginbotham explains, he was anticipating a touch from Carranza or someone else in the box.

The 107th career shot is a charm for Martinez

With time running out, I was getting ready to accept the loss when the screen changes and the score is 2-2 on a 90th minute shot from Jose Martinez.  I had no idea how amazing the goal was until I saw the highlights.  This is an easy choice for this week's YouTubeableMoment (linked fixed); it could end up being a candidate for Goal of the Year.  

In our section at Subaru Park, we sort of make fun of Martinez whenever he takes a shot.  So many end up high or wide or high and wide.  Jim Curtin summed it up well:

Incredible, incredible goal, obviously from Jose. He's now 1-for-286, I think.  The guys are just giving him alot of stick in the locker room.

For the record, Martinez now has one goal in 107 shots.  I fear that at Subaru Park, we will hear cries of "shooooot" whenever Martinez touches the ball in the attacking half.  Also, for the record, Martinez does a lot of other things well, mostly defensively; we just have low expectations about his shooting.  

A good point on the road, especially after the loss on the weekend.  The march to the top of the table, or at least second place, has slowed but sitting in fourth, four points out of second isn't so bad after that earlier slump.

Plundering Scots

Sorry I didn't alert everybody to Matchdays 3 and 4 of qualifying for next year's European Championships.  Recent results are here and group standings are here.  We note that both England and Scotland have four wins each so far.  As a reminder, Germany are in as the host nation, the top two in each group make it and then three more are added in a playoff process that includes 12 teams based on their performance in the UEFA Nations League, slightly countering my argument that Nations League are glorified friendlies.

Scotland's win over Norway was a bit improbable.  They trailed the hosts 0-1 late but scored in the 87th and 89th minutes to take all three points.  Check out this call of Kenny McLean's game winner, possibly the best use of sheep in color commentary.  

Speaking of Glorified Friendlies...

The 2023 CONCACAF Gold Cup kicks off on Saturday.  I guess technically it is the championship of our federation but it has no where near the cachet of, say, the European Championship.  An article in Goal said something to the effect that "besides bragging rights for the continent, the winning nation gets $1 million."  It used to be a bigger deal when it got you into the FIFA Confederations Cup, a very useful competition for World Cup preparation.  That competition is no more so it's just bragging rights and money.

There are 16 countries who qualified through various routes divided into four groups.  After group stage play (6/24 through 7/4), the top two from each group go on to the quarterfinals (7/8-9) with the semi finals on 7/12 and the final on 7/16.

The USMNT (defending champions by the way) are in the group with Jamaica, Trinidad & Tobago, and St. Kitts & Nevis.  Odds are pretty good they make it out of the group.  Note that there are just five players from the recently concluded Nations League competition and the roster has many players looking to make a name for themselves in this World Cup cycle.  In other words, this could be considered the B team.  US matches on 6/24 and 6/28 are at 9:30 on FS1.

We prefer Blake in his Union kit thank you

Somewhat annoying is that the MLS schedule continues unabated whilst the Gold Cup competition is running.  For the Union, this means no Andre Blake or Damion Lowe for at least four matches and up to six if Jamaica make to the finals.  Other teams are hurt too but it's hard to understate the difference Blake makes for this team.

I rag on the competition but you know I'll probably be watching.

The Silly Season aka The Summer Transfer Window

Type in EPL transfer news and you'll get a long list of stories and rumors that we will ignore for the time being.  Our policy will be to discuss once they've actually occurred.  The full list so far is here.  Most of the action to date has been players released.  Newcastle have signed Yankuba Minteh but he will go right out on loan.  Chris Wood's loan to Nottingham Forest was made permanent.  Dennis and I are giving thumbs up on Aston Villa's free transfer of Youri Tielemans; a good addition for their congested schedule this fall. 

Not Messi Around

The Union host Inter Miami tomorrow at 7:30.  Not my turn to go and it's behind the paywall so this is a WPEN 97.5 match for me.  Lionel Messi probably won't be playing for Miami until July 8th at the earliest.  Happy to see he's coming over but also happy we won't have to face him.  The U are big favorites here and I'd like to see them get all three points.

Now, if I can just get my body back on EDT...

So What'd I Miss?

 apologies to Lin-Manuel Miranda and Daveed Diggs

Our first Hotel California

Left for SF on Thursday 6/1.  Not totally off the grid so I saw a few things live and saw highlights of other stuff as we made our way from San Francisco to LA over a leisurely two weeks.  Stops in Berkeley, Monterey, Big Sur and Pismo Beach so far.  Definitely not in Kansas anymore.

FA Cup Final - Part II of the Treble

I did get to see that one live since it was before we left.  Decent enough match/Manchester derby.  Gundogan had two goals but don't forget DeBruyne had two assists before leaving at 76 minutes.  Thought the handling call on Grealish was incredibly harsh (exactly what is a natural position of the arms when making an off-balance leap?) but it did make the game more interesting.  At 2-1 in the closing minutes, Garnacho (who made United much more competitive coming on for Eriksen) hit the crossbar. So City were the better side but it was still close.

No World Cup For U-20

Also before I left, the USMNT U-20 side went rather quietly into the night, falling 0-2 to eventual champion Uruguay.  The match was closer than the score indicates as the second goal was an unfortunate own goal.  On the other hand, they didn't look especially threatening, so it was probably a fair result.

Desparate Enough

On the Wednesday before we left, I did take in the second half of the Europa Conference League Final between Fiorentina and West Ham.  That one looked headed for extra time until Jarrod Bowen took a beautiful through ball from Paqueta to steal the match in the 90th minute.  Yeah, it's a lower tier competition and I watched only to kill time waiting for the laundry to dry, but as you can see here, David Moyes was happy enough.

Champions League Final - The Treble is Complete

This one was tougher, with kickoff at noon but departure time for the wedding at 1:30.  Saw the first half and a little of the second in the hotel room.  Had the live stream on the phone on the drive to the church.  Still about five minutes to go when we headed to the pews.  Checking the phone as discretely as possible as we waited for the bride to come down the aisle.  Fortunately, the final whistle came before the first notes of Pachelbal's Canon in D.  Very happy I was not that guy who yelled "Goal" in the middle of the ceremony.  

Probably due to the disrupted viewing, I don't actually remember much of the match.  I want to attribute that to Inter's execution of catenaccio.  Maybe a bit unfair as Inter had more shots and more shots on goal than City but as the announcer pointed out, going in 0-0 at half time, Inter probably felt they were winning.  They did not however have the moment of perfection provided by Rodri, who scored the match's only goal on a laser from the top of the box; we make it this week's YouTubeableMoment.  City get the EPL title, the FA Cup and the Champions League.  Sure they spent a lot of money and have more resources than just about anybody but it's still a signature achievement.

I Know the Way to San Jose

Ironic that I'm out here in California, about 30 minutes up the road, as the Union are taking on San Jose.  But I'm still at the wedding reception.  I could only check in the progress of the match throughout the night.  The stats suggest the U were the better side, outperforming San Jose on most metrics; notably xG was 2.05-.8 favor Philly.  But without seeing the match, it's hard to know if that's a fair assessment.  Probably didn't help that they had to abandon the 3-5-2 after Lowe got hurt.  The 1-2 final was their first loss in a while.

CONCACAF Nations League

Speaking of lower tier competions.  I still maintain that these Nations League formats are glorified friendlies.  The US took care of Mexico 3-0 in the semis and Canada 2-0 in the final.  I didn't see the semi but Dennis tells me the US were dominant in building a 3-0 lead and then the match descended into various forms of shithousery.  Unfortunately the US got caught up in too, losing Dest and McKennie for the final via straight red cards.  Didn't seem to matter in the final.  I did see the second half; Canada had a few chances but not many - the result looked right to me.  It is a trophy I guess.

No Treble For Sportif Allentown

Sportif Allentown will listen to offers

Dennis's Over 30 team picked up the indoor title a few weeks ago, building on their win in Canada.  Alas, they came up short in the outdoor league semis so they will have to settle for just two trophies this year.  The EPL transfer window is open and BFS Co-founder Dennis F (pictured right) is said to be available.  

A"Bolt" of Lightning

BFS Track Consultant Jack W sends along this video of Usain Bolt scoring in a charity soccer match.  Clearly the guy could have been a football star too.

Sport Imitates Art

BFS Artistic Director Laura O sends along this picture (left) 

from the website artbutmakeitsports.  Who knew that Pep Guardiola was the inspiration for William Blake's Nebuchadnezzar?

Trail of Beers

The beach at San Simeon, not the
Sacrilege taproom after Happy Hour

As an aside, we've been sampling the offerings of the various breweries along the way.  I was already familiar with Anchor Brewing Company in SF, but discoveries include:

- Almanac Brewing Company in Alameda - TRUE Kolsch

- Sacrilege Brewing in Half Moon Bay - Spring Tour Pale Ale (we passed on the FukWit sour); their motto is What Would Jesus Brew?

- Barebottle Brewing in Bernal Heights - Hefe Moon Bay

- Anderson Valley Brewing Company in Boonville - Boont Amber Ale

- Firestone Walker in Pasa Robles - Cal Poly Lager, Mind Haze IPA, Pivo Pils and 805 Blonde

- Figueroa Mountain Brewing Company in Buellton - Danish Red Lager

- Antigua Brewing Company in San Luis Obispo - Ragged Glory (American Lager) and Hazy Baby

- There Does Not Exist in San Luis Obispo - Sowing the Sun (Kolsch)

Geez, you'd think we didn't do anything but drink beer.  Not true, we've also been drinking wine.
 

What's Next?

Monday we head out for Thousand Oaks and LA.  Probably includes a stop in the Santa Monica Mountains.  Then various activities (museums, gardens, comedy clubs, etc.) in LA proper.

Oh, you meant soccer-wise.  Well, the Union are in action on Wednesday night versus Orlando in Florida. Recall that Philadelphia lost to them at home in March during their celebrated blue period.  Orlando are slight favorites this time, likely due to the home field advantage.  Probably won't get to see that one.

And there are various competitions coming up like the Gold Cup and the Leagues Cup (all MLS and Liga MX sides) but we will defer discussion of those until I have a real keyboard to work with. 

All Done (Well, EPL Anyway)

The highly entertaining 2022-23 season concluded Sunday with a little more drama.  The Union got wins at NYCFC and at home versus Charlotte.

Championship Sunday

Never mind that the league title and Champions League spots were all wrapped up, we still had three teams - Everton, Leicester and Leeds - fighting for the last spot to stay up in the Premier League.  Leeds put themselves in a hole early, surrendering a goal to Harry Kane in just two minutes.  We  kept on eye on that one anyway, since Tottenham have given up Leeds leads this year; however, we were pretty sure Leeds were toast at that point.  So we had Everton - Bournemouth on TV and Leicester - West Ham on the phone. The Foxes had to win and hope that Everton lost or drew.  Leicester made things interesting with a Harvey Barnes goal in the 34th minute.  They got to hold onto the last spot for a while but when Doucoure blasted a shot a shot from the top of the box, Everton took the spot back; we make it this week's YouTubeableMoment.  Needless to say there was much rejoicing at Goodison Park.  No, I mean there really was much rejoicing.  Since an equalizer from Bournemouth would have switched things again, there was drama to the final whistle but Everton did hang on.

The reaction at Goodison Park was a curious mix of relief and anger.  Clearly the fans were happy the club was staying up but there was also anger at how a club of this stature has had to fight against relegation two years in a row.  A volatile situation that one, though we hope Sean Dyche gets to come back as manager.

The other issue still in question was the Europa Conference League spot.  Aston Villa ended most of the drama for that slot early with goals from Luiz and Watkins.  Brighton's goal in the 38th minute only served to make Michael B nervous; his worst fear was that Spurs would qualify for this third tier European competition and spend Thursdays next fall competing in out of the way towns on the continent.  Villa held on for the win, so Dennis is the one complaining.

Manager of the Year

For what it's worth, here's my ballot:

1. Unai Emery

2. Eddie Howe

3. Roberto De Zerbi

Emery gets the nod given how much better Aston Villa were after he took over (see below) and that he did it with minimal resources.  De Zerbi did a nice job of getting Brighton to Europa League but Howe took Newcastle from lower half of the table last year to fourth place and a Champions League berth.  Certainly he had money to work with but he made wise choices to strengthen the team.  I don't think anybody's forecast had Newcastle finishing in the top four.

How'd That Sacking Work Out For You?

As you can see from the table below, it depends.

Ten sides made a total of 14 sacks.  In eight of the changes, results did get better, although it some cases the improvement was small.  Five of the sides can be said to have met their goal at the time of the sacking.  Clearly, Emery's performance stands out here; they were 1.11 points per game better after he took over.  Bournemouth, Wolves, Everton were on course for 29 points so the increased point production by Gary O'Neil, Julen Lopetegui, Sean Dyche respectively made the difference between staying up and relegation.  Palace were probably always going to be safe so the big jump under Hodgson just made it less dramatic. 

On the flip side, Graham Potter probably wonders why oh why didn't I take the blue pill; he could have woken up in his bed with Brighton qualified for Europa League.   Two managerial changes at Southampton and Leeds didn't save either of those clubs.  

This is the second year I tracked this.  Last year there were nine sides with 10 sacks; results improved in eight of 10 situations and five of nine clubs met their goal.  In the two years, we have seen seven sackings after March 1 and in only one case was the team's goal realized.

2-0-0 On the Radio

Still holding fast on the "No MLS Pass" policy here so I took in Saturday's match with NYCFC on WPEN radio.  Spared me from having to watch soccer on a baseball field.  The U fell behind on a give away from Martinez.  They were lucky not to be down 0-2 minutes later.  Then, Julien Carranza scored a brace.  In two minutes.  In first half stoppage time.  Curtin had to re-write his halftime speech twice.  Philly added an insurance goal on a second half PK to make the win seem easy.  It really wasn't.  The game I ssw heard sounded much more even.  The stats say so too.  Possession was 40/60, shots 13/16, shots on target 6/7 and xG 1.55/1.80, all favoring NYCFC.  

Wednesday versus Charlotte was free on Apple so I streamed that one live.  The final there was 1-0 Union on an own goal in the 70th minute. You can see the goal here.  Good cross, good header, good luck that it came off the post, then off the keeper, then into the goal.  Okay, Philly didn't exactly dominate but Charlotte never really threatened to score; xG was 1.15 to .25 favor the Union.  

They are 6-0-2 in their last eight and have crept up to third in the standings, just one behind Nashville.  Alas, hot Cincinnati are still nine points ahead.  

Young Americans (apologies to David Bowie)

BFS Scandinavian Correspondent Philip S reminded me that the U20 World Cup is in full swing.  The Young Americans are doing just fine, thank you.  They went through the group stage unbeaten and unscored upon.  They did keep the matches close, getting the game winners or insurance goals very late.  Tuesday though they got down to work against New Zealand, scoring in the 14th minute before adding multiple insurance goals in a 4-0 rout.  They'll face Uruguay on Sunday at 5 pm.  Note that three Union players - Jack McGlynn, Quinn Sullivan and Brandon Craig - feature regularly for the team.

Still Some Mid-week Action Left on That Bone

Last week's lament about no mid-week football was somewhat misguided.  Tuesday we had US U20.    The U also had a mid-week match.  And, Wednesday we had what was purported to be the Europa Conference League final between Sevilla and Roma, a 1-1 draw won by the Spanish side on PKs.  There were moments that looked like football but there was shithousery of the highest level too.   Forty fouls (okay there was extra time but still), 13 yellow cards (including one player who entered the match as a substitute already carrying a yellow), 30 minutes of stoppage time over the 120 minutes.  Anthony Taylor probably needed to show more yellows than he did.  They are still tolerating far too much dissent, especially of the physical kind when they crowd the referee to protest.  Multiple yellows may be the only way.  And the coup de disgrace was Mourinho's behavior afterwards.  Forget fining or suspending this guy - the sanctions need to go against the team to have any effect.  Points deductions, transfer window restrictions, bans on European competition.  Something.

Do You Have Anything to Declare?

Smugly Americans: Sportif Allentown with CanAm Cup Trophy
Dennis in back row, 5th from the right

Dennis and his Sportif Allentown Over-30 side were in Kingston Canada last weekend for the 42nd Annual Canadian American Friendship Soccer Tournament.  He reports that the hosts could have been a touch more friendly as they were fouling a lot and picked up four yellows during tournament play.  No matter, Sportif still ending up winning the tournament.  The squad is pictured left.  I thought the Canadians would be more about participation but apparently the win came with some hardware.  That led to this Conversation Which Could Have Taken Place and Did:

Border Agent: Is there anything in the car that wasn't with you when you entered Canada?

Dennis: Yeah, this big ass trophy we won in a soccer tournament.

All that plus an exchange rate that meant prices were about about 25% off.  Sounds like a good trip.

A Word About Forest Green (Virtual Edition)

Probably not FM Manager of the Year

I just wrapped up the 2022-23 season in Football Manager and am happy to report that I guided Forest Green to 6th place and a spot in Europa Cup in our first season in the Premier League.  In earlier posts I had suggested that some slippage was expected based on what I thought were some lucky results and a tougher schedule for the second half of the season.  Fortunately, these were mitigated by a change in the system of play (basically switched from distribute to defenders to distribute to the flanks) and to a marvelous second half of the season from our Barcelona loanee Pedri.  Maybe he blended in better after some time with the team, maybe I used him in more natural positions based on his skills.  Whatever, he was a force in our last 15 games.

Prospects are mixed for next season.  We clearly benefited from loanees Pedri, Gavin Bazunu (keeper) and Kun Temenuzkov (leading scorer); at this time it looks like none of those guys will be playing for us next year as their parent clubs want them back.  The good news is that we made a sh-- ton of money and I now have a transfer budget of $55 million (compared to $10 m last year), so I will be able to do some things in the transfer market.  The coming season will be my 5th with this version of FM, which means that the younger players I'm looking at are "regens" or players created by the game as opposed to real players who were known at the time this version was released.  

The real Forest Green were not so lucky.  In their first season in League One, they finished last with just 27 points, just 17 points behind their next closest rival.  

Here's What You Can Do With Your F***ing Super League (warning Ted Lasso spoiler alert)

One of the plot lines in this season's Ted Lasso was an attempt to create a Super League, similar to the plans we saw in real life last year.  Though on the back burner right now, I do expect we will see continued attempts to create such a monstrosity.  And when those plans get resurrected, we should trot out this speech from AFC Richmond owner Rebecca Welton.  She had me at "Is this a f***ing joke?" Also, the violin playing supplied by Nate the Great in the scene is 1)a perfect soundtrack to the speech and 2) part of another solid story arc in Season 3.

The critics have found plenty to complain about this season's episodes.  I will respond with a longer rant in a future post about how lazy I find their critiques but I will offer one thought.  More than once, I've read someone say "that's totally unrealistic."   Wait, as opposed the central premise of the show - an American college football coach plucked from the mid-west to take over a Premier League club?  It was always a vehicle to look at how people relate to friends, lovers, work colleagues, society despite all of our - and their - flaws.  

Now What?

Well, there's the FA Cup Final between Manchester and Manchester Saturday at 10 am on ESPN+.  The Union are still playing.  They have a match Saturday night at 7:30 against Montreal (WPEN for me again as that one is behind the paywall.)  The US U20 have a quarterfinal World Cup match Sunday at 5 pm versus Uruguay.  The semi finals are Thursday.  Next Wednesday you can watch the Europa Conference League final between West Ham and Fiorentina, if you are desperate.  

Not sure about posting schedule as I'll be traveling next few weeks.   Looking ahead in case I don't get back to you, don't forget the Champions League Final featuring Man City and Inter on Saturday 6/10 at 3 pm (hey that's noon PDT which means I may be able to see it before the wedding.).  The U20 World Cup final is Sunday 6/11.  The Union have matches on 6/10 (away to San Jose) and 6/21 (also away at Orlando).     

Looks clever how I planned this trip at possibly the slowest part of the football calendar.  Dumb luck.

Doors Are Closing But Some Windows Are Still Open

The week's results closed many of the season's open doors.  The list includes:

- Man City clinching the title when Arsenal lost to Nottingham Forest

- Newcastle earning a Champions League spot with a 0-0 draw versus Leicester

- Man United wrapping up a berth in the Champions League with a 4-1 win over Chelsea

- Brighton qualifying for Europa League with a win over Southampton and a draw with Man City

- Nottingham Forest dodging the relegation bullet with the aforementioned win over Arsenal

- Chelsea ensuring that they will finish in the bottom half of the table after losing to Man City

At the same time, there are still a few windows left open, even if only a crack.  These include:

- Aston Villa, Tottenham and Brentford fighting to get (not get?) the Europa Conference League spot

- Everton, Leicester and Leeds hoping to avoid the last two relegation slots

A Lopsided Draw

Where I was when Newcastle clinched
the Champions League spot;
 kinda like the road Newcastle have been
on for the last 10 years

I did not get to see Newcastle's strange 0-0 draw with Leicester as I was hiking the Appalachian Trail. No, not that Appalachian Trail.  The real one, as seen in the picture left.  The stats are nuts - possession was 78/22, shots were 23/1, shots on target were 4/1 and xG was 2.20-.15.  Dennis, who did see the match, said it was more lopsided than that and also noted that Leicester still almost stole the win with their only shot in stoppage time.

The nature of the result did little to dampen the enthusiasm as you can see from this video from the field level as the final whistle blew.  This will be the Magpies first appearance in that competition in 20 years.  Though there is some decent money involved, the real advantage is that Newcastle can offer the prospect of Champions League football to transfer targets.  This is a much more attractive pitch than, say, come to the most northern and out-of-the-way franchise in the EPL to fight against relegation.  We're already hearing about this recruiting boost.  Great work from top management through the coaching staff to the players to get to this level faster than most predicted.

One of the Bears Stopped for Honey

A key reason that the draw with Leicester was good enough was that Aston Villa played Liverpool to a 1-1 draw.  The dropped points for Liverpool meant that Newcastle were in fact going to outrun the bear.  The match was another example of how Villa can play tough against any team any where.    Aston Villa's back line was so organized and executed the offside trap multiple times; they are so in sync, they raise their arms in unison to let the ref know it's offside.  Liverpool needed a goal in the 89th minute to even get the draw.  My text string with Dennis is littered with complaints about top six bias - I think we were both less than thrilled with some of John Brooks' calls but also the attitude of the commentators.   

Nothing Less Than They De Zerbi

The 3-1 win over Southampton essentially clinched the Europa League space for Brighton so the interesting 1-1 draw with Man City only made it official.  Roberto De Zerbi certainly showed us who wondered about the fate of Brighton after Graham Potter's departure.  Though he gets testy about it, we probably do need to cite Potter's work in bringing this franchise so far.

Recall that they came back into the Premier League at the same time as Newcastle in 2017-18.  Those early years were a struggle; their first four years went 15th, 17th, 15th and 16th.  Last year, Potter's third in charge, they flew up to 9th place with 51 points.  This year, they will finish 6th with at least 62 points.  And this progress occurred as they were losing players in the transfer market like Marc Cucurella, Yves Bissouma, Leandro Trossard, Ben White and Dan Burn.  For the last two years, they have a net transfer spend of -$85m or so.  We won't know for a few years if this will hurt them but so far, their record looks pretty good.

Ivan Who?

Brentford's Ivan Toney was recently handed an eight month suspension for breaking rules related to betting on football; details can be had here.  At the time of the suspension, Toney had 20 of Brentford's 54 goals.  It is perhaps a measure of Tottenham's difficult season that the Bees still managed three goals in Toney's absence.  The loss ended any discussion of Spurs' participation in next year's Europa League competition.  They still have an outside shot at Europa Conference League. Michael B suggests they would do well to skip Europe all together next year and work on getting things in order.

Kompany's Comin' (apologies to Poco )

Kompany set to return to EPL, this time as a manager

I forget what match it was but in one of them we saw Vincent Kompany in the stands.  The Burnley manager guided the Clarets to a quick return to the Premier League.  Their 101 points easily outdistanced second place Sheffield United by 10 points and they clinched promotion with seven matches to play.  Kompany's success got him quickly linked with a some Premier League clubs (most notably Spurs) but right now it appears he'll be staying with Burnley.

Scenarios

Everton avoid relegation for sure with win or draw; even if they lose, both Leicester and Leeds have to win.  Even if both win, Leeds have to overcome a three goal differential with Everton.  That is not as big a lift as it sounds.  If Everton lose and Leeds win, that's two right there; so if Leeds win by two or Everton lose by two, that's enough to swing the tiebreaker in Leeds' favor.  Leicester's fate is straightforward - they must win and Everton must lose. Leeds have to win and Everton must lose and the net margin has to be at least 3 goals.

For the Europa Conference League spot it's a little more complicated.  One scenario is clear; if Aston Villa win, they get the spot regardless of what Tottenham or Brentford do.  They also make it with a draw, as long as neither Spurs nor Brentford win.  And they can even make it with a loss as long as Spurs lose and Brentford don't win.  Brentford's chances are easily explained - they have to win and both Aston Villa and Tottenham have to draw or lose.  Anything else means Spurs get the berth.  Okay, more specifically, if Spurs win and Villa draw or lose, they get the spot.  Also, if they draw and Villa lose, and Brentford don't win, they have the honor of representing the EPL in the Europa League.

A More Perfect Union

I should know by now to trust 538.  They had the Union as solid favorites over New England but I was skeptical.  Though, the 3-0 final may be a bit flattering, the Union were clearly the better side.  Both teams had some good chances in a 0-0 first half.  Gazdag put the Union up in the 56th minute, taking  a throw-in from Uhre and beating Petrovic on the near post.  He also got the second after Uhre earned a PK at 71 minutes; at the stadium the call looked softish but watching replays it looks like the contact was slightly from behind, not shoulder to shoulder.  Nothing cheap about the third goal, a two on one break from Carranza and Donovan.  We make it this week's YouTubeableMoment.  Check out Donovan's speed to ensure that it would be two on one and the pass that put the ball on a platter for Carranza.

Shots were 17-8 and shots on target 7-0; xG was 1.95 - 1.35.  That last number is the clue as to why the final might overstate the Union's dominance.  Zero shots on target but xG of 1.35 tells us they put some good chances wide; I can remember at least two. Overall though, this was likely the best Union outing of the year.  They have done well so far with the 5-3-2 or 3-5-2; it takes some of the defensive load off Wagner and Mbaizo freeing them to attack from the wings.  Still nine points behind Cincinnati but just four behind second place Nashville.  Things are moving in the right direction.

What About Jesus' Cat?

BFS Token Arsenal Fan Luke P sent along the picture (above) showing the dangers of phonetically typing in players' names. Close enough for Apple I guess.

  

Matches That Matter

They call it Championship Sunday but there's not so much left now.  All matches are at 11:30 on various stations in the NBC network.  All but one are on Peacock.

The two key fixtures are Aston Villa - Brighton and Everton - Bournemouth - if the two home sides win, all the other results are meaningless.  The other match ups that could matter are Leeds - Tottenham (this one is on CNBC), Brentford - Man City and Leicester - West Ham.  Though we have a rooting interest in Aston Villa, I think we'll be going with a match involving the threat of relegation, probably Everton-Bournemouth.  Hard to know exactly how motivated Villa might be to get to a third-tier European competition whereas we know Everton, under Sean Dyche, will leave nothing on the pitch.

The Richest Match in Football

Also known as the EFL Championship Promotion Playoffs - Final.  This is the match for the last spot for promotion from the Championship Division to the Premier League.  We are guaranteed a fresh face in the EPL next year as the final pits Coventry against Luton Town.  You can see that one on ESPN+ at 11:45 on Saturday.  Usually a good watch.

Another Baseball Field

Saturday also has the Union traveling to face NYCFC.  That one is at 7:30 behind Apple's paywall.  NYCFC still do not have a real home; they've merely switched from one baseball field (Yankee Stadium) to another (Citi Field).

Really?

Also, it must be close to summer because mid-week football is gone. 😔

Outrunning Two Bears

Newcastle are in third and have a better goal differential than 4th place Manchester United and 5th place Liverpool.  So, we really only need to finish ahead of one of those two.  That is, we don't need to outrun the bear, just Man U.  Except, Man United are chasing us too so that makes them a bear as well.  The task of outrunning two bears is a bit more difficult.

The 2-2 draw at Leeds on Saturday did not help matters.  Damn those relegation teams play hard.  Luck kinda evened out in this one.  Bamford had a PK saved by Pope that would have given Leeds a 2-0 leed lead.  But, after we got two PKs of our own (Wilson converted both) , Leeds got a 79th minute equalizer on a deflection.

Kieren Trippier's deliveries into the box led to two goals;
unfortunately he only gets one assist because one was an own goal.
Doesn't mean the cross wasn't good though

Thursday was much better as the Magpies were clearly the better side in a 4-1 win over Brighton at Saint James' Park.  Except, there were about 30 minutes when it didn't feel so obvious and the Seagulls possession advantage (66/34) provides part of the explanation.  Newcastle were up 2-0 at half on an own goal plus Dan Burn's first ever for Newcastle.  We make Burn's goal this week's YouTubeableMoment.  The delivery from Trippier was excellent and so was Burn's header but what we really liked was you could see what it meant to Burn, who grew up a Magpie fan.  In the best Newcastle tradition the Magpies conceded an early second half goal.  For the next 30+ minutes, Newcastle did not see all that much of the ball.  Not that Brighton were all that threatening, it was just that a draw seemed one missed tackle away.   Late goals from Wilson and Bruno salted away the three points.

Not officially over the line yet but the bears are further in the distance than they were.  A win at home versus Leicester on Monday would clinch it.  Two draws (Leicester and Chelsea) might be enough too with our goal differential.  Or, maybe Villa could beat or draw with Liverpool on Saturday?

City Poised for Another Title

With a four point lead and a game in hand, Man City are all but in as Premier League Champions again.  They were clinical enough at Goodison Park, taking the measure of Everton 3-0.  Meanwhile Arsenal were losing at home to Brighton 0-3.  City just need two points from their final three matches against Chelsea, Brighton and Brentford to seal the deal.  

Four Players and Two Chairs

Taiwo-Awoniyi delivers two more for Nottingham Forest

All of the bottom five dropped points this weekend, though some dropped more than others. Southampton lost 0-2 to Fulham and are officially toast now.  Leicester and Everton also lost.  Leeds as mentioned got a point off of Newcastle.  And Nottingham Forest gave themselves just a little more room with a 2-2 away draw at Chelsea.  That featured two more goals from Taiwo-Awoniyi, who may be remembered as the guy who kept Forest in the top tier. They have 34 points, Everton are next with 32, then Leeds with 31 and Leicester with 30.  Remaining fixtures:

Nottingham Forest - Arsenal, at Crystal Palace

Everton -  at Wolves, Bournemouth

Leeds -   at West Ham, Tottenham

Leicester -  at Newcastle, West Ham

West Ham look like the "kingmakers" now.

Three Players and Two Chairs

Five of the European spots are taken by Man City, Arsenal, Newcastle, Man United and Liverpool. That leaves basically Brighton, Tottenham and Aston Villa for one Europa League spot and one Europa Conference League (NIT Lite?) spot.  We can thank Villa's 2-1 win over Spurs for this logjam.  Dennis points out that Brighton and Villa play each other on the final Sunday.  We note that Brighton has a game in hand but it is against Man City; like walking away from the ATM with your pocket full of $20s only to be mugged?

Fourth Manager?

Hello boys, I'm back

Chelsea announced they have hired Mauricio Pochettino as the permanent replacement for Graham Potter.  Permanent doesn't seem like the right word but anyway.  Since Pochettino doesn't take over for interim manager Frank Lampard until after the season, technically Chelsea will have had just three managers this season.  As noted above, their fun season continued with a 2-2 home draw to relegation threatened Nottingham Forest. 

Manager of the Year

I was planning to discuss this anyway but the Premier League just announced the six nominees for Manager of the Year.  And you can vote if you want.  Check the link here for details; fan votes will be combined with sportswriter votes.  Your choices are Guardiola (Man City), Arteta (Arsenal), Howe (Newcastle), De Zerbi (Brighton), Emery (Aston Villa), and Silva (Fulham) 

Guardiola is a hard pass for me.  Man City won the title last year (albeit by only a point over Liverpool) but they were 19 points ahead of third.  In the offseason, they added the Norse God of Goalscoring -  the one who probably does the reverse of Jamie Tartt in Episode 7 of this season's Ted Lasso: Don't pass it threww meh, pass it to meh.  Trying to imagine Jamie Tartt with a Norwegian accent and it's not working.  Anyway, the title was City's to lose and not blowing it doesn't feel like Manager of the Year stuff to me.

The late season slump takes some of the luster of Arteta's case.  But think about where they were a few years ago.  Arteta has been guiding the Gunners slowly up the table after consecutive 8th place finishes in 19-20 (56 points) and 20-21 (61 points); last year they were 5th with 69 points and this year they have 81 points with two matches to play.  Certainly, Arteta was under the gun, so to speak, for those early years.  We had him on the endangered list and poked fun when, in December 2020, Jamie Carragher counseled patience, suggesting all Arteta needed was to pick up six or seven players in the January transfer window.  Their roster does look dramatically differently and finding Jesus didn't hurt.  We do note that Arsenal have consistently been in the top five in net transfer spend so Arteta has had resources.

Howe is like Arteta in some respects, just a shorter timetable.  Certainly, the new owners have taken some of the reins off the transfer spending and we've seen some record signings Tyneside.  But not the crazy, undisciplined spending that many expected with the PIF money.  And Howe has gotten more mileage than his predecessor out of players like Joe L Linton, Schar, Longstaff and Murphy.  

DeZerbi has done a lot with less resources than others.  In fact, over the last two years, they are net seller in the transfer market.  The argument against him is how much is he just benefiting from everything Graham Potter did during his tenure there.

Emery may be the top of my list.  This was a club that looked headed for the relegation scrap heap and is now contending for a spot in Europe.  There was some spending but one of the big ticket items (Diego Carlos) spent most of the year on the DL.  They were also a team that seemed to have no direction and Emery has them playing well enough that Villa are really in every game.

Marco Silva wasn't on my list but I can see the case for him as well.  Silva  got them out of the Championship last year and he's kept them in the top half of the table.  After a good start, I fully expected them to slide steadily down the table in the second half but it didn't happen.  Silva must have done something right, without the same transfer budget as some of the bigger clubs.

Silva and Goals

Well both the second legs of Champions League semis were busts.  I didn't hold out much hope for Inter vs Milan and pretty much nothing happened.  Inter came in with a 2-0 lead, held it for most of the match before adding an insurance goal late.

Silva: I can score too.  It's not just Haaland, DeBruyne, Foden,
Mahrez, Alvarez, Grealish and Gundogan

But Man City - Real Madrid, level at 1-1?  Big expectations that were not met.  City came out flying, with Real Madrid getting only glimpses of the other half of the pitch.  Bernardo Silva cashed in on that dominance with goals at 23 and 37 minutes.  We know RM has a history of pulling a rabbit out of their hat but this one felt over.  And it was as they added two more for a 5-1 aggregate win.

So Inter will face Man City on June 10th in Istanbul (not Constantinople),  Turkiye (not Turkey).

Attacking From Left to Right on Your Radio Dial

Saturday's Union match with Colorado was behind the paywall so I tried something new - listening on 97.5. Dave Leno and Sebastien LeToux had the call. So it's not like baseball, at least not yet.   I found it hard to translate the play-by-play into mental images.  Also, I couldn't use my own eyes to judge good plays vs bad plays, good calls vs bad calls, etc.   Take the PK call against Lowe.  Leno and LeToux thought the Union got a raw deal.  Looking at the video later, I'd say it was a tough call but if the referee called it a foul on the field, the review sure made it look like it occurred right on the line, meaning it was a PK.  There was no doubt about the goal calls.  Leno got excited enough.  Wagner's equalizer in first half stoppage time, seen here, was a bolt and a timely one at that. Leno also got appropriately worked up for Carranza's early second half tally, seen here.  One problem with the radio is that without visuals, my already faulty memory doesn't remember much except key plays.  I do remember the final was 2-1 and it was a sweet road win for the Union.

Wednesday we were freed from the tyranny of soccer behind a paywall as the home contest with DC United was available on FS1.  Though I did have plenty of visuals, all I remember now is Blake saving the Union's bacon multiple times.  The xG stats - 1.00 to 2.15 in favor of DC - provide some back up to that conclusion.  The 0-0 draw felt a touch lucky.

At first blush four out of six points doesn't sound bad. And it really isn't.  Maybe after taking all three in Colorado and coming home to face the not-so-highly-rated DC United, visions of six points danced in our head.  The good news is that we wake up to see the Union not buried too far down in the standings to recover.    

The Penultimate Match Week

The next-to-last one too.  At least as of now, every match has at least one team with something to play for.   

Start with the 7:30 Saturday match on USA with Tottenham hosting Brentford. Spurs are fighting to play Europa League, not Europa Conference League while Brentford are also mathematically not eliminated from European football yet.  Surprisingly, Spurs are only very slight favorites.  Four choices at 10 am.  Frankly, the USA option - Bournemouth vs Man United - is probably the least interesting of the lot.  Both Liverpool and Aston Villa have everything to play for but I fear that Villa might be overmatched here.  Fulham are not eliminated from European football so their match with Crystal Palace could be tight.  My choice however is very likely going to be Wolves - Everton; a win for the Toffees would make things difficult for Leeds and Leicester.  Saturday concludes with a long-lost NBC feature match at 12:30 between Nottingham Forest and Arsenal.  Not expected to be competitive but both have everything to play for.  Anything but an win for Arsenal and the title race is effectively over; Forest need anything they can get to keep Everton, Leeds and Leicester at bay.

Sunday has three more fixtures.  An early (for me anyway) match has West Ham hosting Leeds at 8:30 on USA.  Brighton and Southampton start at 9 on Peacock.  The day concludes with Man City Chelsea at 11 on USA.  I'm sure the schedule makers saw great things for this one but with Chelsea 42 points  behind the league leaders, there's not much here.  City clinch the title with a win; any dropped points for Chelsea means they finish in the bottom half of the table.

The match week finishes with Newcastle - Leicester at St. James' Park.  Hopefully this will end up as a victory lap for the Magpies.  Depending on results elsewhere, it could be the swan song for the Foxes.

Two mid-week clashes with Brighton - Man City on Wednesday at 3 pm on USA and Man United hosting Chelsea at 3 pm on Thursday on Peacock.  By my reckoning, that means EPL football for five of the next seven days.

The Union have a big match of their own Saturday at Subaru Park against second place New England.  I am completely baffled that 538 has this as 59/18/23 favor Philadelphia.  I'm hoping we can get a draw.  I will be at the Subaru so Apple TV can kiss my butt for this one... 

These Are Not the Results You Are Looking For

 apologies to Obi-wan

Except for the Union, not a great weekend.  And even that Union win was ugly.

A Hit-the-Post Kind of Fixture

This is what the aftermath of an own goal looks like
IMAGO / PA Images

I mentioned that Newcastle's history with Arsenal is worse than checkered - it's just awful.  So when Jacob Murphy hit the post in the opening minutes, the feeling of deja vu was inevitable.  It was overwhelming shortly thereafter when a call for handling in the box was overturned (correctly - damn it - as seen here) by VAR and another opportunity was lost.  By the time Odegaard scored in the 14th minute, almost completely against the run of play, the outcome seemed a foregone conclusion.  Schar's own goal at 71 minutes sealed their fate and on the face of it, the 0-2 final could hardly be a surprise.

Except there is more to the story.  Though I can't argue with the result, the match was closer than the final suggests.  Newcastle had several good scoring chances that hit the post or were saved.  So did Arsenal for that matter.  I thought the final should have been 2-3 or 3-4, which made me a bit surprised when I saw that xG was 1.7-1.1 favor the Magpies.  In short, this was not a Newcastle side that went meekly into the night.  Certainly, Newcastle have established their bona fides as a top six club right now.  The bad news is that anything less than a slot in the Champions League will feel like a letdown at this point.

Other Less Than Thrilling Results

Liverpool were the better side but Brentford made them work for the 1-0 win.  Yes, we got a lift when West Ham grabbed all three points from Man United in a 1-0 win.  But, I would rather have seen Liverpool stumble and stay farther away.  Now, 3rd through 5th (Newcastle, Man United, Liverpool) is 65, 63 and 62 points, though Liverpool have played an extra match.  While 538 has Newcastle at 92%, this is way too close.  

Also, though we didn't see it, Aston Villa lost 1-0 to Wolves.  Dennis did watch it and warned me to look elsewhere for entertainment.  This was a blow to their chances for European football, but not a knockout punch.  They are three behind 6th place Tottenham and one behind Brighton (though the Seagulls have two games in hand).  So as Lloyd Christmas would tell us, there's still a chance - no matter how much Dennis would prefer there wasn't.

Another Manic Monday (apologies to The Bangles)

Thank you to Charles III for making last Monday a bank holiday in England, meaning we got a full slate of EPL fixtures, with four of the five relegation-threatened sides in action.  And what a strange, if not always competitive, set of contests they turned out to be.  Leicester were first up against Fulham and came roaring out to a two goal deficit which grew to 4-0 by the 51st minute.  Hardly the effort you would expect against a mid-table side with so much on the line.  The final ended up 5-3 and there was a moment when a Jamie Vardy PK could have made it 4-2.  But he missed, Fulham added a fifth and the two late goals make the final look closer than it really was.

On to the south coast, where Everton did exactly what you'd expect from a bottom three side fighting for its EPL life.  They scored at 35 seconds, then used effective counterattacks to build a 3-0 by 35 minutes.  The final ended up 5-1.  The stats are most interesting; possession was 78/22, shots were 23/10, shots on target 5/5 and xG 3.35/2.1, all favor of Brighton.   It was a wide open match given that the Seagulls fell behind early.  

Deliver us from the relegation zone: Taiwo-Awonyi brace does just that
 (Image: PA)

Saving the best for last, Nottingham Forest hosted Southampton in the late game.  Forest established a 2-0 lead quickly on a brace by Taiwo-Awonyi but the Saints grabbed one back soon after to make it 2-1.  Forest got a PK before half and went to the locker room with a two-goal lead.  That didn't last long as Lyanco reduced the deficit early in the second half.  Danilo restored the cushion at 73 minutes and the match drifted into stoppage time (11 minutes of it) with the score 4-2.  James Ward-Prowse converted a PK to make things interesting but the Saints couldn't level in the remaining minutes and Forest got a 4-3 win and all three points.

Where does this leave us?  Southampton are up the English Channel without a paddle. they're eight points from safety with three to play.  Leicester and Leeds (who lost 2-1 at Man City) - 18th and 19th respectively -  have 30 points but are just two from safety; though Leeds have a worse goal differential than 17th place Everton.  Nottingham Forest have 33 points but the worst goal differential of the four.  The remaining fixtures:

Nottingham Forest - at Chelsea, Arsenal, at Crystal Palace

Everton - Man City, at Wolves, Bournemouth

Leicester -  Liverpool, at Newcastle, West Ham

Leeds -  Newcastle, at West Ham, Tottenham

Southampton - Fulham, at Brighton, Liverpool

Newcastle could play the opposite of kingmaker.

Conversation That Could Have Taken Place But Didn't

Dennis: Did you say that Crystal Palace missed a tap-in?

Steve: No, I said they failed to score on an Eze shot.

Saved By A Canceled Subscription

Thank you MLS Season Pass for getting me to drop my subscription so I couldn't watch whatever sport they were playing in Harrison NJ on Saturday night.  I followed the match on line and did not need video to understand how bad it was.  Selected halftime stats included one shot on goal each (and the U's was a PK), total shots were 1/9, and the Union's passing accuracy was 43%.  That last one seems impossible - it's U8 level.  So of course the score was 1-0 favor the Union.  And that ended up being the final score as well.  Get a load of these final stats; shots were 3/17, shots on goal were 2/3, possession was 47/53, passing accuracy was 52/62 (meaning the U upped their game in the second half) and fouls were 18/23 (yes 41 total fouls - surprised they even had time to pass or shoot).  According to MLS, xG was 1.1/1.8; taking out Gazdag's PK, it becomes .3/1.8

Not in the Hunt After A Shootout

Tuesday's Lamar Hunt US Open Cup match versus the Minnesota Loons, which I did stream on YouTube, was highly entertaining but ultimately unsatisfying.  The US Open Cup is the American equivalent of the FA Cup, except with way fewer teams.  Curtin went with a heavily rotated line up that worked well for a 0-0 first half.  Eventually though, they fell behind 2-0.  More regulars drifted in and they got one back before Kai Wagner put in the equalizer at 94 minutes.   The U fell behind in extra time but were kept alive again by a late free kick goal from Kai Wagner, this  week's YouTubeableMoment.  On to PKs, but the U were eventually bested 7-6.  Ironically, Wagner's was one of the misses in the shootout.

Though it's embarrassing to go out in the Round of 32, 1) they weren't alone among the better MLS teams exiting and 2) given they need to focus on the regular season, this is probably for the best.

Keep 'em Coming

A full slate for the weekend plus enough mid-week action to keep even the most serious fan happy.

Apparently Charles III only temporarily halted the 7:30 Saturday morning fixtures.  I hope he doesn't get re-elected.  Worse, the match is Leeds - Newcastle so I'll be up.  As Dennis notes, if you don't beat sides like Leeds, you can't expect to be in the Champions League.  

Curiously, we have five matches at 10 but no 12:30 feature match.  Though most involve at least one side with something to play for, some of the match-ups are more meaningful than others.  The USA game is Chelsea - Nottingham Forest but we'll probably go with Aston Villa - Tottenham; Spurs are trying to avoid the Europa Conference League and Villa still have an outside shot at one of the two secondary European competitions.  Mildly surprised to see the Villans favored here (44/32/25).  Your other choices are Crystal Palace - Bournemouth, Man United - Wolves and Southampton-Fulham.  We wouldn't mind seeing Wolves grab a point or three at Old Trafford but probably not happening.  Southampton are down to their last gasp and might see Fulham as a chance for a result, except how'd that work out for Leicester last week?

Three more on Sunday. Brentford host West Ham at 9 on Peacock (not much to play for there).  Everton take on Man City, also at 9 but on USA.  Yes, both are in need of a result but one side is much better than the other.  The 11:30 match, also on USA, is Arsenal - Brighton; the Gunners can't afford to drop points here but we wonder if Brighton might be a bit testy after their performance against Everton.  The match week concludes with Leicester hosting Liverpool Monday at 3 pm.  Like we said earlier, both teams will be desperate for a result but one side is much better.

In mid-week action, Newcastle will cash in their game in hand, playing Brighton Thursday at 2:30.  This will be tougher than Leeds but, at home, this is a match the Magpies should be winning.

Veni, vidi, Vinicius; I came, I saw, I scored
Vini Jr gives Real Madrid the lead
IMAGO/PA Images/Nick Potts

Don't forget the second leg of the two Champions League semi-finals.  Man City - Real Madrid is
perfectly poised for a cracking second leg, level at 1-1 as they head to the Etihad on Wednesday. A wonder strike from Vini was matched by an almost equally awesome take by DeBruyne.  All to play for there. Less optimistic of the chances for a good one in the other semi, Inter carry a 2-0 lead into that one and Milan didn't look all that competitive.

The Union are out in Colorado Saturday night at 9:30, then back to Subaru Park on Wednesday at 7:30 to face D.C. United.  No rest for the weary.  

That goes for us too.