Some Soccer News for Aug 8, 2016

It's Day 221 of 2016.


Minnesota United has teased that they will have a MLS announcement on Fri Aug 19. No other details are available at this time.

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USWNT Olympic Tournament

• Game 2 was unconvincing for the USA, but a win none the less over a very good France team.

• People quickly forget that in the group stage its ONLY about the points, never the fashion in which you get the job done.

• Yet another stiff test on coming up on Tuesday.

Group Stage Match Schedule:
-Wed Aug 3
USA 2-0 New Zealand - in Belo Horizonte - USA goals by Carli Lloyd + Alex Morgan.
-Sat Aug 6
USA 1-0 France - in Belo Horizonte - USA goal by Carli Lloyd.
-Tue Aug 9
USA v Colombia - in Manaus - 5pm CT on NBCSN

Group G Standings:
6 USA (+3 GD)
3 France (+3 GD)
3 New Zealand (-1 GD)
0 Colombia (-5 GD)

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Here are some impressive team stats for the USWNT in 2016 (courtesy of US Soccer):

• 16W - 0L - 1D

• 55 goals scored

• 4 goals allowed

• 15 shutouts

• 3 of the 4 goals allowed came in the only Draw, 3-3 v Japan on Jun 2.

• The only other goal allowed as against Germany in a 2-1 win on Mar 9.

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In the Men's Olympic tournament host Brazil laid its 2nd egg in a row, opening with a 0-0 game v South Africa and following it up with a 0-0 v Iraq!

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US Open Cup Semifinals:
-Tue Aug 9
New England Revolution v Chicago Fire - 7pm CT on ESPN2
-Wed Aug 10
LA Galaxy v Dallas - 9pm CT on ESPN2

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My Minnesota United Notes:

• Oh boy oh boy did Minn drop a stink bomb of epic proportions on Saturday night. 0-4 loss to expansion team Miami. One of the worst home performances in the last 10 years.

• Reluctant game highlights. [VIDEO]

• In the past 3 games Minn went in looking for 7-9 points and came out with 2. Brutal.

• Almost all of the credit must go to Miami who looked great.

• But... Ibson... What can I say? He simply can't be trusted in the #10 position. We have seen this multiple times over 2 seasons and yet the team keeps putting him in that spot. He is a defensive midfielder who can get forward. Period. Otherwise he is a big liability to the defense.

• Steward Ceus is not the answer in goal either. He just doesn't have all the tools.

• More injuries: Stefano Pinho and Damian Lowe both had to be subbed out due to knee and ankle injuries respectively.

• Speaking of Damian Lowe, the experiment of him at fullback must end as well. He simply makes too many mistakes in both directions to be effective.

• It doesn't get any easier: Minnesota travels to the hottest team in the league next weekend for a Sunday game against Edmonton. Plus 4 of the next 5 games are on the road where the team has only earned 5 points in 7 games so far this season. (That puts them on pace for 3 points in these road games.)

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The lack of mid-season signings by Minnesota really bothers me. The team has very obvious holes and none of them were filled during the transfer window. Lets hope the front office has some tricks up their sleeves.

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Jacksonville has fired head coach Tony Meola after just 18 games. Sure they only won 2 of them, but he had never coached a pro team before so what the fuck were they expecting? Alex Ferguson? Can anyone explain what they are trying to do on the field?

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NASL Week 16 match schedule:
-Sat Aug 6
Jacksonville Armada 2-2 Carolina RailHawks
Puerto Rico 0-1 Edmonton
Indy Eleven 1-0 Ottawa Fury
Tampa Bay Rowdies 2-1 Fort Lauderdale Strikers
Minnesota United 0-4 Miami
-Sun Aug 7
New York Cosmos 1-1 Rayo OKC

15 goals in 6 games = 2.5 goals per game.

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Tijuana is in 1st place after 4 round in Liga MX!

Michael Orozco has turned solid preseason performances in to a starting job in Tijuana. Good for him. They won 1-2 at Cruz Azul.

Omar Gonzalez (went the distance) but Pachuca took their first misstep of the Apertura losing 2-0 at Toluca.

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Danny Williams of Reading was named Man Of The Match as they won their season opener 1-0 v Preston North End.

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MY MLS Notes:

• Molto Impressionante: Sebastian Giovinco and Clint Dempsey both logged hat tricks, as Toronto won 4-1 at home v New England, and Seattle won 1-3 on the road at Orlando.

• The win is Toronto's 4th in a row - ALL at home. (TFC has 12 points from 12 road games and 24 from 11 homes games.)

• Colorado is even starting to look good while getting the job done. What is the world coming to?

• New York Red Bulls are hopping mad about 2 no-calls for penalties late in the game against LA. What should be a bigger worry for them is that they had a 0-2 lead entering the 80th minute and tied 2-2. Stop whining and get to work on the defense!

• That Portland v KC game was damn ugly. No surprise that there were 2 red cards for nasty plays. I wish it was better soccer, and a little less testosterone. But both teams have pretty macho coaches so don't expect it to improve.

• Do you have any unsung stars in MLS for this season? Lemme know. I am gonna put together my own list.

Top Goals:

• Sebastian Giovinco 1 - a blistering lightning bolt

• Sebastian Giovinco 2 - oh yeah, the curling back post chip

• Diego Valeri - here's the best of the batch - lasers

• Tranquillo Barnetta - nearly every free kick goal is fantastic

• Sean Davis - how's this for a first professional goal

• Javier Morales - not the prettiest sequence but huge offensive pressure and a fine finish

• Matteo Mancuso - Juggle Juggle Boom

• Steve Birnbaum - the tight angle back post header

• Taylor Kemp - a fullback runs 75 yards with the ball and scores

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The best wrap-up/break-down of MLS weekend action. By Matthew Doyle of MLSsoccer.

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MLS Week 22  Key Matches:
-Sun Aug 7
Portland Timbers 3-0 Sporting Kansas City - PT scored late and then 2 more around the 90th min.
LA Galaxy 2-2 New York Red Bulls - RBNY thought they had won but LA got both of their goals after the 80th min.

28 goals in 10 games - 2.8 goals per game.

Supporters Shield Top 5 Points Per Game Standings:
1.86 Colorado
1.83 Dallas
1.68 LA
1.57 Toronto
1.54 Salt Lake + New York City

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Sigi Schmid talks about getting fired by Seattle and what lays ahead for one of the best MLS coaches ever. by Scott French of Four Four Two.

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Remember when Toronto FC debuted 10 years ago and they were the darlings of the local media. After a decade of being a joke on the field this season they are legitimately good and they can barely get the time of day from the local press, tv, radio etc. What gives? By Kurt Larson of the Toronto Sun.

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Two years ago we thought the 9 year $900 Million deal MLS signed for broadcasting games on TV and streaming was a good step forward for the league. The previous deal was about $25M per season. But Japan has blown that out of the water with a 10 year domestic deal for streaming ONLY worth $2 Billion. By John Duerden of the New York Times

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Bob Bradley + Le Havre Tracker:

• After 2 rounds HAC is the only team with the full 6 points.

• Up Next: Matchday 3 (of 38) Fri Aug 12 at Gazelec Ajaccio

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When do the 5 biggest European Leagues begin the new season?

• Ligue 1 - Fri Aug 12

• Premier League - Sat Aug 13 - Arsenal v Liverpool on Sun Aug 13 is the big game of the round - 10am CT on NBCSN.

Only 2 teams will be automatically relegated from Ligue 1 at the end of this season. A 3rd team will have a playoff with the third best team in Ligue 2 for a final relegation and promotion spot.

dN

English Premier League team-by-team season previews. From the Guardian:

• Manchester United

• Middlebrough

(see previous day's blog entries for other team previews)



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