Some Soccer News for Sep 11, 2017

It's Day 254 of 2017.


The morning of Sep 11, 2001 is forever etched in my brain. And I can't imagine the feelings of those directly effected - remembering you all.

dN

Before we get into the Minnesota United section, I want to make this quick statement: I NEVER WANT TO SEE JOHAN VENEGAS ON THE FIELD FOR THE LOONS AGAIN. EVER!

dN

Jozy Altidore's girlfriend Sloane Stephens won the Women's US Open tennis championship on Saturday! Fantastic. Huge congrats to her.

dN

During the FS1 broadcast of the Seattle v LA game commentator Alexi Lalas lost his shit on the USMNT performances as of last. He is dead on. From Total Soccer on Twitter:

Alexi Lalas just called out basically everybody involved with the USMNT. pic.twitter.com/usPKcIO0vM

— Total MLS (@TotalMLS) September 11, 2017

dN

David Wagner, the American head coach of Huddersfield, has been named the Premier League Manager Of The Month for August!

dN

The shit storm tied to Qatar and hosting the 2022 World Cup never seems to end. By Tariq Panja for the New York Times.

dN

MINNESOTA UNITED

Results:
-Sat Sep 9
Minnesota 1-1 Philadelphia Union - MU goal by Ethan Finlay. PU goal by CJ Sapong.

My MNUFC Notes:

• Game highlights [VIDEO]
• Very happy for Finlay. After he had a poor 1st half of the season in Columbus with only 1 goal + 1 assist, he nabbed his 2nd goal to go with an assist since arriving here in Minn.
• Rough start - with Philly scoring in 5th min.
• It was as if Minn came out unprepared to play - the Union just took it to them from the opening whistle.
• The PU goal happened when Calvo ran into the center of the field with the ball and then got stripped. Now he was badly out of position. Fafa Picault flew down the wing, received a pass and out-hussled/muscled Nicholson. Picault sent a blistering cross on the ground 6 yards from the goal, finding CJ Sapong unmarked (Theisson sleeping) at the back post for a sliding tap-in tally. A truly pathetic opening to the game by Minn.
• Then Calvo made up for that one when he pulled off one of the best moves I've ever seen [VIDEO] from a MLS fullback, that turned into a goal for Finlay. Bravisimo.
• Molino had another all around poor/absent game - 1 real threatening pass, and 1 decent defensive play. Nothing else but lousy passing - 1/3 of his passes did not go to teammates.
• AGAIN the coach only used 2 subs.
• At least the coach finally took Molino out of the game. Unfortunately he replaced him with the far worse JVenegas.
• Subbing in JVenegas was about as bad a substitute move as you could possibly see. No effort. No desire. No quality. No running. Poor passing. Weak shot. No defense. No nuthin. Fuck. Many people were very mad at JV after the game..
• The other potential attacking subs Martin, Ibarra and Jome, would have been a 100,000% improvement over the horseshit we saw from JVenegas.
• Good game: Nicholson, Finlay, Kallman, Calvo
• OK game: Danladi, Ibson, Warner, Shuttlesworth, Leiton
• Poor game: Thiesson, Boxall, Calvo, Molino, JVenegas
• Service on set pieces was only slightly better than usual. Maybe a 10% increase. Maybe. But 10% up from Horrible still isn't very good.
• The atmosphere in the stadium was excellent. Lower bowl was full. People were into the game. Imagine if this team was good. Imagine! But please stop calling 22k a sell out when there are 28k empty seats in the upper deck. Its a little embarrassing.
• Tough week ahead - Wed at Vancouver and Sat at Montreal.

Media:

• Match report. By Michael Hughes of the Pioneer Press.
• Is Danladi in the race for MLS Rookie of the Year? By Andy Greder for the Pioneer Press.
• Match report. By Megan Ryan.
• Ramirez is expected to be in the gameday 18 in Vancouver on Wednesday. By Ryan.
• Some good quotes here: Lots of travel ahead for Los Loons - Vancouver to Montreal this week, and 6 of last 8 games on the road. By Ryan.

Schedule:
Two games coming this week:
-Wed Sep 13
Vancouver Whitecaps v Minnesota
-Sat Sep 16
Montreal Impact v Minnesota

A very good debut weekend for the 2 MNUFC Academy teams:

• Sat Sep 9 U13 v Campton United - 7-0 winners! Goals by Michah Burton(4), David Hernandez(2) + Drew Kalal.
• Sat Sep 9 U14 v Campton United - 7-0 winners! Goals by Daniel Lainsbury(3), Ryan Mahabadi(3) + Carlos Leatherman.

        ---

• Sun Sep 10 U13 v Cincinnati United Premier - 2-2 tie. Loons came back from 2 down. Both goals by Michah Burton.
• Sun Sep 10 U14 v Cincinnati United Premier - 2-2 tie. Loons twice gave up a lead. Goals by Daniel Lainsbury + Jacob Thao.

dN

I was reading one of the collections of writings by 70s rock critic Lester Bangs (Main Lines, Blood Feasts, and Bad Taste), and he derisively described Ringo Starr's post-Beatles work to Peter Max designing sets for Hee-Haw. He meant it as a cheap shot, but I would like to see that.

dN

MLS

My MLS Notes:

• President Jimmy Carter was at the Atlanta United game in their new stadium! Very cool. He is one of the great humanitarians of our day.
• The new Atlanta stadium was weird though. The lighting was odd. It made it look like the players were in front of a green screen the whole time. The crowd was into it, but at times the majority were a little behind the speed of the whole professional soccer thing. They were fully supporting their team, just not fully aware of all the details on how the game is played.
• Here are some comments on the opening of the new stadium in Atlanta from their coach and players and some Dallas players too. By Doug Roberson for the Atlanta Journal Constitution.
• Toronto is the first team this season to claim a playoff spot.
• Dallas has gone 8 games without a win.
• Diego Valeri of Portland has scored in 7 consecutive game. This ties a couple other players for a league record.
• Jordan Morris left the Seattle game with hamstring injury. No word on severity yet, but initial prognosis is not good at all.

Media - Weekend reviews:

• The Armchair Analyst. By Matthew Doyle for MLS.
• The XI. By Avi Creditor for Sports Illustrated.

Week 27 Results:
-Wed Sep 6
New York City 1-0 KC
-Sat Sep 9
Chicago 1-1 New York Red Bulls
Toronto 4-0 San Jose
New York City 0-1 Portland
DC 1-2 Orlando
New England 1-0 Montreal
Minnesota 1-1 Philadelphia
Houston 0-1 Colorado
Vancouver 3-2 Salt Lake
-Sun Sep 10
Columbus 1-1 KC
Atlanta 3-0 Dallas
Seattle 1-1 LA

27 goals in 12 games = 2.25 gpg.

dN

AMERICANS ABROAD

I am pretty sure you have never heard of this guy Jonathan Gonzalez, but at 18 he has become an instant starter for Monterrey in Liga MX. By Paul Kennedy for Soccer America.

dN

USMNT

The relationship between the USMNT and MLS gets more detailed and complex every year. By Paul Tenorio for Four Four Two.

dN

BIG TEAMS + GAMES IN EUROPES TOP LEAGUES:

Bayern, Monaco and Milan lost, while Real, Atleti, Dortmund and Man United were all held to a tie.

Overall, here is how those big teams fared: 13W - 3T - 6L

Premier League: 10 talking points from the weekend’s action. From the Guardian.

-Fri Sep 8
Hamburger 0-2 Leipzig
Metz 1-5 PSG
-Sat Sep 9
Manchester City 5-0 Liverpool
Arsenal 3-0 Bournemouth
Everton 0-3 Tottenham
Leicester 1-2 Chelsea
Stoke 2-2 Manchester United
Freiburg 0-0 Dortmund
Monchengladbach 0-1 Eintracht Frankfurt
Hoffenheim 2-0 Bayern
Real Madrid 1-1 Levante
Valencia 0-0 Atletico Madrid
Sevilla 3-0 Eibar
Barcelona 5-0 Espanyol
Juventus 3-0 Chievo
-Sun Sep 10
Schalke 3-1 Stuttgart
Inter 2-0 SPAL
Lazio 4-1 Milan
Bologna 0-3 Napoli
Nice 4-0 Monaco
Lyon 2-1 Guingamp
Marseille 1-3 Rennes

It kinda looks like The Guardian has given up on American soccer - there hasn't been a new article in a couple weeks now.



The Bird Is The Word