Some Soccer News for Mar 14, 2016

It's Day 74 of 2016.


My trip to Kansas City on Saturday was my 13th consecutive Sporting KC/Wiz/ards home opener. And as usual it was a great time. We left Minnesota at the end of a gray Winter and arrived in KC six and a half hours later in the first burst of Spring. The soccer and BBQ were very good too. It was my first time eating at Jack Stack - and its worth it. All 3 goals in the SKC-VW game were scored right in front of us, and two were works of art! The streets of downtown KC were teeming with idiots at bar close time and we thoroughly enjoyed making fun of each and every one of them. We also spotted some Vancouver players on the late night prowl. Thanks to the Cauldron and everyone else for showing us such a great time. Again!

dN

Notes from a weekend in MLS:

• 2 goals by Dom Dwyer.

• 2 goals by Chris Pontius.

• 2 goals by David Villa.

• Second year professional Matt Polster is the captain of Chicago Fire. I like this player a lot.

• David Accam of Chicago is FAST!!! Just ask Seb Hines, who got burned for a breakaway goal.

• Marco Pappa comes on as a sub for Colorado and hits a spectacular volley for a goal 5 minutes into 2nd half stoppage time. Wow. Big win for the Rapids.

• What does it say about the Philadelphia back line when the only name I know is Fabinho? Who are those other 3 guys?!?! Doesn't matter when you are the only road team to win this weekend!

• Texas derby time: Houston explodes - Dallas implodes! It was 4-0 for the Men In Orange by the 27th minute!

• David. Horst. Super. Star. Game. Winner. Still. Terrible.

• I was surprised to see NYC play a genuine 3-5-2, not one of those hybrid 5-3-2's. Very interesting.

• Portland coach Caleb Porter called the Quincy Amirikwa (aka John Quincy Adams Jamiroqui) goal a fluke. I call Caleb Porter a sore loser. That goal was spectacular for San Jose. Watch it here and judge for yourself.

• Shockers after 2 games: 0 points for RBNY - 0 points for Columbus - 0 points for Seattle - 0 points for Vancouver!

Scores:
OC 1-1 CF
NER 0-0 DCU
MI 3-0 NYRB
RSL 2-1 SS
CR 1-0 LAG
CC 1-2 PU
SKC 2-1 VW
HD 5-0 D
NYC 2-2 T
SJE 2-1 PT
-27 goals in 10 games. 2.7 per game. Not terrible, but not much beyond good either.

Two bits of MLS off the field news for Portland: 1) Vancouver has sold inconsistent forward Darren Mattocks to Portland. 2) Portland has signed forward Fanendo Adi to a new 3 year contract extension.

New England Revolution has launched their annual "we would like to build a soccer specific stadium" bullshit routine. Every year at this time, for roughly the past 10 years, we have heard this song and dance. And then 12 more months go by with little to no news...

dN

Bobby Wood scored again for Union Berlin, this time on a penalty, and has scored 6 goals in the 7 games they have played since the winter break.

dN

And two Americans made European debuts: Perry Kitchen played as a sub for Hearts in Scotland, and Russell Cannouse made his professional debut at Hoffenheim! Terrific for him!

dN

Paul Arriola got his first start of the season for Tijuana. He has been a super-sub in every game until this one. They won 1-2 at Chiapas. That leaves Xolos in 8th place with 7 games to go.

dN

Edgar Castillo continues to play 90 every game for Monterrey which has opened up a 5 point lead at the top of Liga MX.

dN

Minn United faced off against the Mexico U20 national team on Saturday.

• The score finished 2-2 and played at Pachuca stadium.

• MNUFC went down 2-0 early on poor defensive mistakes - which has been the hallmark of the preseason. Are the fans going to have to show up at training with the Iron Skillets in hand? This lousy defending is unacceptable.

• The Loons came back with goals by Christian Ramirez on the counter attack (Ndjock to Anor to Laing to Superman), and Elbio Alvarez stealing the ball from the keeper and putting it into the open net.

• Continuing another terrible preseason trend, Damion Lowe was given a red card in the first half.

• Video highlights of the game.

Next up is Wed Mar 16 v Cruz Azul in Mexico City.

dN

UEFA Champions League - Rd of 16 2nd Leg matches conclude this week:
-Tue Mar 15
Atleti v PSV (0-2)
Man City v Dynamo Kyiv (3-1)
-Wed Mar 16
Barca v Arsenal (2-0)
Bayern v Juve (2-2)

• Already advanced: Wolfsburg, Real Madrid, Paris Saint-Germain, and Benfica.

dN

The last time Juventus lost in Serie A was Oct 28 - since then its been 19 games unbeaten.

dN

And if anybody actually cares, PSG has clinched Ligue 1 with 8 games still left to play. They have a 25 point lead. Sad really - a whole league has been hijacked by one wealthy owner.



The Bird Is The Word