Monday, September 25, 2017

Some Soccer News for Sep 25, 2017

It's Day 268 of 2017.


Puerto Rico is in dire need. Please give if you can: Hurricane Maria Community Recovery Fund

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The owners of the New England Revolution, Robert + Jonathan Kraft, continue to embarrass their fans, their players, the league, and all of American soccer, with their horrific looking and playing field, their lack of any real plan to build for the future (no stadium, no plan for a stadium, no real academy, no youth movement) and no management team worth its salt. The league needs to put some pressure on the free loading Kraft's. They stink to high heaven.

dN

MINNESOTA UNITED

For the first time in MLS the Loons have won 2 games in a row.

And it sounds like there has been an airing of grievances and a resolution inside the club for Miguel Ibarra. By Megan Ryan for the Star Tribune.

MNUFC announced late Sunday night that they had fired goalkeeping coach Marius Rovde who the hired away from Vancouver last winter. The team gave no indication as to why the coach was fired.

Results:
-Sat Sep 23
Minnesota 4-1 Dallas

My MNUFC Notes:
  • Game highlights [VIDEO]
  • Match report. By Andy Greder for the Pioneer Press.
  • The stadium was very boisterous again. That sure makes it fun being in the stands.
  • The game was a lot closer than the scoreline would indicate.
  • First 20+ minutes of each half were completely dominated by Dallas.
  • And like in so many games this season (See below) Minn have up an early goal - this time in the 14th min, after a 9th min goal was for Dallas was waved off due to interfering with the goalkeeper.
  • The biggest moment of the game happened in the 68th min when Shuttleworth saved a PK by Mauro Diaz. Minn was on their heals at that moment and it seemed like Dallas was about to tie the game at 2-2. Jeebus makes the save and 2 minutes later Finlay scored for Minn to make it 3-1 - game over:

  • Ramirez with big offensive contributions - 1 goal and 2 assists.
  • The interplay with Ibson, Ramirez and Ibarra for goal #2 was exactly what was starting to happen 2+ years ago when Minn sold Ibarra to Leon.
  • Watch this clip about 5 times and look at the run Ibarra makes - it start with him nearing the middle of the field headed back toward his own goal:

  • Dallas defender Maynor Figueroa is one the leagues top HACKS! Watch him fake an injury when he gets torched by Danladi for goal #4. Yes, he faked it:

  • Finlay has scored 3 goals since his trade from Columbus.
  • Thiesson is becoming more and more prone to guys sliding past him to the back post - his partnership with Boxall is not a good one.
  • Martin was lucky to stay on the field after getting a yellow and committing a foul for the PK.
  • Good game: Shuttleworth, Ibson, Finlay, Ibarra, Ramirez, Danladi
  • OK game: Boxall, Calvo, Molino, Warner, JVenegas
  • Bad game: Thiesson, Burch, Martin
  • This game was only the 3rd time the Loons have lead at halftime all year.
  • Last 5 games the Loons have 3 wins, 1 tie and 1 loss.
  • If they had done even halfway decent in the summer when they played 7 out of 8 games at home they could be a legit playoff hopeful. Instead they are dead and buried no matter what anyone says. In that time they earned just 8 of 21 points. (2 wins, 2 draws and 3 losses.) Damn.

Schedule:
-Sat Sep 30
Houston Dynamo v Minnesota

Minn has given up a ton of early goals this season - a trait that started in game 1 and continues to this day:
14th min - Dallas
9th min - Montreal
9th min - Vancouver
5th min - Philadelphia
10th min - Seattle
16th min - Red Bulls
17th min - Vancouver
14th min - Houston
4th min - Salt Lake
4th min - New England
18th min - Colorado
3th min + 13th min - Atlanta
14th min - Portland

Academy teams went to Chicago to take on Sockers last weekend:
U13: Sockers 3-3 MNUFC
U14: Sockers 5-0 MNUFC
-Another road trip without their first win at either age level.

New Loons CEO Chris Wright did an interview with Ian Thomas‏ for SportsBusiness Journal - but its behind a pay wall which I can't access. Here's the link if you have a subscription.
  • Thomas did post this on Twitter though:


dN

MLS

My MLS Notes:
  • DC and San Jose were scoreless at the half - then Patrick Mullins went nuts, scoring all 4 DC goals! 57th min, 60th min, 68th min and 88th min. Incredible.
  • NYCFC only tied but still clinched a spot in the playoffs.
  • Diego Valeri has now scored in 9 games in a row!! He got 2 in the Portland win. He is now the 1st midfielder in MLS history with 20 goals in a season. And he also leads the Golden Boot race too.
  • Atlanta has won 4 of the past 5, they tied that one and gave up the only 3 goals of the 5 game run. The 4 wins have a combined score of 16-0.
  • Of all the team currently in the playoff positions the most shocking to me is Salt Lake. Bringing Mike Petke in as head coach sure changed their previously miserable fortunes. They are looking like a lock yet though.
  • Since Red Bulls beat Cincinnati in the Open Cup Semifinals on Aug 15 they haven't won another game.
  • Toronto keeps resting guys and losing - 2 in a row.

Armchair Analyst for Week 29. By Matt Doyle for MLS.

The MLS XI for Week 29. By Avi Creditor for Sports Illustrated.

Week 29 Schedule:
(13 games)
-Wed Sep 20
Atlanta 4-0 LA
Toronto 3-5 Montreal
-Sat Sep 23
New York City 1-1 Houston
New England 2-1 Toronto
DC 4-0 San Jose
Philadelphia 3-1 Chicago
Columbus 3-2 New York RB
Minnesota 4-1 Dallas
Salt Lake 2-0 Seattle
Vancouver 2-1 Colorado
-Sun Sep 24
Kansas City 2-1 LA
Atlanta 2-0 Montreal
Portland 3-0 Orlando

48 goals in 13 games = 3.7 goals per game.

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AMERICANS ABROAD

USMNT World Cup qualifying roster watch from the weekend:
  • Geoff Cameron - out with hamstring
  • Timmy Chandler - played 90 minutes
  • Ethan Horvath - played 90 minutes
  • Fab Johnson - played 72 minutes
  • Eric Lichaj - on the bench
  • Matt Miazga - played 90 minutes
  • Christian Pulisic - played 64 minutes
  • Tim Ream - played 90 minutes
  • Bobby Wood - played 90 minutes
  • DeAndre Yedlin - played 90 minutes

dN

BIG TEAMS + GAMES IN EUROPES TOP LEAGUES:

4 of the big teams lost (Schalke, Sevilla, Milan + Monchengladbach), and 3 got ties (Bayern, PSG + Lyon). That leaves 15 big team winners.

Weekend Schedule:
-Fri Sep 22
Bayern 2-2 Wolfsburg
-Sat Sep 23
Alaves 1-2 Real Madrid
Girona 0-3 Barcelona
Juventus 4-0 Torino - The Turin derby
Manchester City 5-0 Crystal Palace
Southampton 0-1 Manchester United
Dortmund 6-1 Monchengladbach
Stoke 0-4 Chelsea
Roma 3-1 Udinese
Montpellier 0-0 PSG
West Ham 2-3 Tottenham
SPAL 2-3 Napoli
Hoffenheim 2-0 Schalke
Leicester 2-3 Liverpool
Atletico Madrid 2-0 Sevilla
Lyon 3-3 Dijon
-Sun Sep 24
Sampdoria 2-0 Milan
Inter 1-0 Genoa
Marseille 2-0 Toulouse
-Mon Sep 25
Arsenal 2-0 West Brom



The Bird Is The Word

posted by brucio at 17:36

1 Comments:

Blogger Nordy said...

Amen on the Krafts. God they suck. There's a reason why my fantasy MLS team name each year is "F J Kraft". Because, seriously, eff Jonathan Kraft.

9:43 AM  

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