Some Soccer News for Jul 20, 2017

It's Day 201 of 2017.


The VAR (Video Assistant Referee) is headed to MLS sometime after Aug 2. This should be interesting. By Ben Shpigel for the New York Times.

• It's official now, the time it will be used is Aug 5.

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MINNESOTA UNITED

My MNUFC Notes:

• Game highlights. [VIDEO]
• Clean Sheet.
• Yeah, they got a point. But it was awful to watch. Really awful.
• An incredibly thin roster makes things pretty rough.
• Only 16 players dressed.
• I hope Joe Greenspan is going to be OK. He clonked heads again and they took him out so my guess is that he failed the concussion test. That was bad looking.
• UPDATE: Greenspan has a broken nose and probable concussion. This 3rd this season. Oh no.
• 4 shots. That's all MN could muster. Ramirez had 1. ONE!
• And that is despite MNUFC controlling the ball most of the game, and pressuring a lot in the 2nd half.
• Late in the game when MN needed a goal in the worst way, and were applying healthy pressure, they really could have used another forward on the field. And guess what, they still had 1 sub left and newly acquired forward warming up. So what did the coach do... NOTHING.
• The Loons had the opponent on the ropes but couldn't get a clean shot off for the knock out. That's when you alter your tactics and finish them off.
• Houston was just sitting back. So not pull off a centerback and go for the win at home? 1 point does no good.
• The Dynamo got lucky when a penalty was not called on their goal keeper Tyler Deric who mowed over Ramirez when he was charging in on goal, but the referee made no call as both players went down with a little ding. It was a stone cold PK.
• Kadrii got hung out to dry by his coach. Yanked at halftime when he was far from the worst performers on the field. No, he wasn't good, but he wasn't bad and making mistakes constantly either. How can the coach ever find out if he is good enough when he only gets 45 minutes?
• I will just go ahead and say it again - Molino played half-ass. Near the end he did pick it up, but for too much of the game he is just stumbling around. They paid a lot for this guy.
• Ibson had a poor passing game too. Way to many misses per swing.
• Good news: Jome is the best choice at left fullback until Burch is healthy. Bad news, he is not very good. But he is better than Davis and as an upgrade that is worthy of note.
• Going back to the first half, HD had 6 very good scoring opportunities and only their ineptitude kept it scoreless.
• AJ De La Garza of Houston saved a big MNUFC chance off the line.

Media:

• Match report. By Andy Greder for the Pioneer Press.
• Match report. By Aaron Reiss for the Star Tribune.
• Match report. By Wes Burdinie for Fifty Five One.
• Minn United's Special Olympics Unified team played their first game last night, after the senior Loons match. They lost to Houston Dynamo 0-1. By Megan Ryan for the Star Tribune.

Stadium Cam

Results: -Wed Jul 19
Minnesota 0-0 Houston

Schedule:
-Sat Jul 22
Minnesota v New York Red Bulls - 3pm CT on ESPN
-Sat Jul 29
Minnesota v DC - 7pm CT on My29
-Sat Aug 5
Minnesota v Seattle - 7pm CT on My29

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USMNT

El Salvador has some nasty nasty players, and I don't mean that in a Janet Jackson way. But it wasn't enough as the USA won 2-0. Match report. By Steven Goff for the Washington Post.

A much better match review. By Brian Straus for Sports Illustrated.

USA coach Bruce Arena gives his appraisal of El Salvador - and says they earned red cards. By Jeff Carlisle for ESPNFC.

• Contains video of Arena press conference.

MY USMNT Notes:

• Game highlights [VIDEO]
• ES centerback Henry Romero gave Altidore a nasty nipple twister and bit him on the shoulder, in separate incidents. Unreal.
• Turns out ES's Darwin Ceren got in on the act too, biting OGonzalez during a set piece.
• Overall a pretty poor performance by the USA, but a win, two goals and a shutout are nothing to get worked up about.
• Zardes made up for his bad game last Saturday with a very solid night, especially in the attack. Its not his fault that his teammates were not up for making something out of what he was creating. He did his part.
• As the first half wore on Nagbe tried to get it going for the USA too. But like Zardes was not getting any help.
• Bradley's service on set pieces is as good as ever, and that's quite good.
• Lichaj made up for his horrendous errors with a crucial goal.
• Both teams flubbed major chances in front of goal, with ES flubbing several more. It could have been a much different game.

Quarterfinal Schedule:
-Wed Jul 19
USA 2-0 El Salvador - USA goals by OGonzalez + Lichaj

Semifinal Schedule:
-Sat Jul 22
USA v Costa Rica - 9pm CT on FS1
AT+T Stadium, Arlington TX

USA Roster

• G: Jesse Gonzalez - Dallas, Bill Hamid - DC United, Tim Howard - Colorado Rapids
• D: Matt Besler - Sporting Kansas City, Omar Gonzalez - Pachuca, Matt Hedges - Dallas, Eric Lichaj - Nottingham Forest, Matt Miazga - Chelsea, Justin Morrow - Toronto, Jorge Villafana - Santos Laguna, Graham Zusi - Sporting Kansas City
• M: Kellyn Acosta - Dallas, Paul Arriola - Tijuana, Michael Bradley - Toronto, Joe Corona - Tijuana, Dax McCarty - Chicago Fire, Darlington Nagbe - Portland Timbers, Chris Pontius - Philadelphia Union, Gyasi Zardes - LA Galaxy
• F: Juan Agudelo - New England Revolution, Jozy Altidore - Toronto, Clint Dempsey - Seattle Sounders, Jordan Morris - Seattle Sounders

My USMNT viewing spot in the Twin Cities is Town Hall Brewery in the Seven Corners neighborhood of Minneapolis. Look for your fellow fans in the back room.

After the Whistle - USA v El Salv post game show [VIDEO]. From MLS.

An interview with Kellyn Rowe who just completed his first run with the USA and looked good on the field. By Brian Sciaretta for American Soccer Now.

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Gold Cup

NOTE: If Qfinals + Sfinals are tied after 90 they go straight to Penalty Kick Shootout. In Final its 30 minutes extra time and then penalties. (Teams will also get 1 extra sub in extra time.)

Quarterfinals Schedule:
-Wed Jul 19
1 Costa Rica 1-0 Panama - CR goal by Anibal Godoy(OG)
2 USA v El Salvador - USA goals by OGonzalez + Lichaj
-----
-Thu Jul 20
3 Mexico v Honduras - 6:30pm CT on FS1
4 Jamaica v Canada - 9:30pm CT on FS1

Semifinals Schedule:
-Sat Jul 22
5 Costa Rica v USA
-Sun Jul 23
6 Winner 3 v Winner 4

Final Schedule:
-Wed Jul 26
Winner 5 v Winner 6

-Follow the entire Gold Cup here.

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MLS

My MLS Notes:

• 26 goals scored in 7 games on Wed night. And 2 of those 7 games combined to score 1 goal. Imagine if those two had put some numbers on the board?!?!
• DC became the first team in MLS history to lose after leading 0-3. Oof.
• Portland is in trouble, and RSL is turning it on. A switcheroo from early in the season.

Week 20 schedule/results:
(18 Games)
-Wed Jul 19
Montreal 2-1 Philadelphia
New York Red Bulls 5-1 San Jose
New York City 2-2 Toronto
Minnesota 0-0 Houston
LA 0-1 Vancouver
Portland 1-4 Salt Lake
Seattle 4-3 DC
-Fri Jul 21
Orlando v Atlanta - 6pm CT on ESPN
-Sat Jul 22
New York City v Chicago
Minnesota v New York Red Bulls - 3pm CT on ESPN
DC v Houston
Toronto v Colorado
Columbus v Philadelphia
Montreal v Dallas
New England v LA
Salt Lake v Kansas City
-Sun Jul 23
Vancouver v Portland - 5:30pm CT on FS1
Seattle v San Jose

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Crumbs: du Nord Music Mix Vol 130 (download + extract)

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LIGA MX

Schedule:
-Fri Jul 21
Morelia v v Monterrey
Tijuana v Cruz Azul
-Sat Jul 22
Lobos BUAP v Santos Laguna
Tigres UANL v Puebla
Leon v Atlas
America v Queretaro
Guadalajara v Toluca
-Sun Jul 23
Pumas UNAM v Pachuca
Veracruz v Necaxa

dN

All of my columns for 1500ESPN.



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