Happy Thursday, everyone. It should be a wonderful weekend for the unofficial begin to the summer season, so before you start looking ahead to leaving work early, here’s some of the news from yesterday.
US Open Cup: Columbus Crew, Charlotte FC exit in Round of 16 (MLS)
The Columbus Crew and Charlotte FC both became the latest Cupset victims in the 2023 U.S. Open Cup, with the Crew losing on the road to the Pittsburgh Riverhounds and the Birmingham Legion ending Charlotte FC’s run. The 2023 U.S. Open Cup quarterfinals are set: Chicago Fire vs. Houston Dynamo, FC Cincinnati vs. Pittsburgh Riverhounds, Birmingham Legion vs. Inter Miami, and Real Salt Lake vs. LA Galaxy.
The Sports Business Journal Awards were last night, and Y. Michele Kang took home the award for Deal of the Year for her purchase of the Washington Spirit. We will see if her purchase of Olympique Lyonnais’ women’s team will give her a repeat next year.
CF Montréal advance to 2023 Canadian Championship final (MLS)
Montreal advance to the 2023 Canadian Championship final by beating Forge FC, while they will face the Vancouver Whitecaps after they took care of Pacific FC.
Van Nistelrooy quits PSV amid reports of player revolt (ESPN)
Sounds like the players at PSV wanted Ruud van Nistelrooy gone, so the coach resigned yesterday. PSV won the Dutch Cup and will likely play in Champions League next season, but will be with a new coach in charge.
LaLiga chief Tebas apologises, says Vinicius tweet ‘not understood’ (ESPN)
I’ma put it plainly: Tebas has been a bum for many years, and he will forever be a bum. He needs to have been gone. Meanwhile, shouts to Real Madrid’s men’s and women’s teams both wearing Vini Jr. jerseys in support of the player.
Q&A with U.S. Soccer Sporting Director Matt Crocker (USSF)
Matt Crocker says that he doesn’t expect to name a coach until after the Gold Cup is done this summer, but that he has spoken with some candidates. Contrary to what the internet tried to say last week, no coaching signing is close, imminent or even in the home stretch.
Finally, looks like D.C. United has a new social media manager. Welcome Tamsyn and make her feel at home!
Stay safe this weekend, and remember to take a moment to honor those who made the ultimate sacrifice for our country.
Congrats to Benny and Hernan for taking their teams one step closer to a trophy!
Speaking of Benny’s team, I’m happy to see such a stout defense in Houston. 11 GA is 3rd best in the league. On the other side of the table are the 11 GF… 4th worst in the league. Soccer is hard.
Houston does not have a marquee forward. The have a good attacking center mid but have holes in the roster from years of futility.
DC is finally starting to earn some praise from MLS pundits. The jumped up 6(?!?) spots in this weeks’ power rankings to #10. Meanwhile, Lewis O’Brien was featured in “MLS players who deserve more hype”.
Along this same note. Tyler Miller deserves a ton of credit for 1) steadying a defense that leaked goals last season and more impressively 2) his fantastic distribution in a system that other teams are trying and their GKs aren’t quite there with the ball at their feet. Not only is Miller playing sweeper keeper with little repercussions so far, but also dishing the ball to the wings or straight to Benteke with near pinpoint accuracy. For an MLS journeyman to come in and put in these type of performances is really impressive to me. I’m not sure if this is a one-off season for him, but I’d be more than happy to have him in DC for a while.
He’s signed through next year, at least. Miller does have some heart-stopping forays toward midfield (shades of Louis Crayton), but I think it actually serves a couple of purposes. The first is obviously to snuff out attacks, and to begin United forays further up the field. But I think it also baits the opposition into trying for the spectacular long range goal. This was especially the case against Philadelphia. They would get the ball and immediately try to catch Miller out, but none of them could hit the target, and it resulted in United getting the ball back again. Someday, someone’s probably going to successfully hit one, but it seems to be working more often than not.
This is all on top of his distribution and shot stopping which have been terrific. I don’t think Miller is the top goalie in the league, but he’s making a case for top 5. The single best acquisition of the offseason, I think, going from where we were to where we are now.
I would also add that Victor Paulsen has been playing lights out, and the defense (not surprisingly) has played much better since Birnbaum went down with an injury.
I agree with everything EXCEPT the implied statement that our defense is better with Birnbaum out. Pines has been outstanding, just outstanding. And Paullson was weak at all the positions he’s been tried at until he got moved to right CB. I still rate Birnbaum (when healthy) over Hines-Ike and Williams. But both have looked good when they were out there.
I agree. The improvement of the defense was already taking place when Birbaum was playing, the improvement simply keeps progressing as things usually do. Not sure why it has become a thing to blame things on Birbaum recently but it has. I’ve seen it in comments on other platforms, I guess someone has to fill that role. While perhaps Birbaum has lost a step (naturally at his age) I still think there’s no one better in winning headers for us, in fact, Birbaum is just so very good at redirecting headers in the box when we are attacking that it often prolongs the chances of someone actually putting the ball in the net. Either way, I’m glad the defense has gotten better and I’m glad we are in a position where the coaching staff have options at CB, the luxury of being able to rotate is something we haven’t had in the past.
I completely agree with everything you posted about Miller with one exception–I don’t think it’s accurate to call him an MLS journeyman. He’s looked very good with two other clubs. But then someone else came around who was better. Or he lost his spot to injury and then couldn’t get it back. No-one would call Nick Rimando a journeyman but he bounced around a few teams (Arena wanted nothing to do with him–wouldn’t even let him practice with the Metros).
I guess I just trying to convey that he wasn’t exactly a highly touted free agent. Yes he’s done well wherever he’s been but it’s not like teams were fighting for his signature. Maybe journeyman isn’t as appropriate but it’s less wordy. I certainly didn’t think he was going to do as well as he’s done so far.
I understand. And I think he’d have been offered a contract by someone to compete for a starting gig. But he looked at DCU and saw no-one that would be ahead of him in terms of contract commitment, tenure, potential. Exactly why Bono was quick to sign here.
4 of Houston’s 11 goals are pk, so they are struggling to create in a familiar way.
Do I smell Bennyball?
I like Olsen but I got so tired of seeing the defense trying to protect a 1 goal lead sitting back in a shell and booting the ball away.
Nah, they just don’t have any forwards worth mentioning. They attack. But they either count on Herrera to make some magic or they pray for a PK. They just don’t have any threats on their frontline.
Gee that sounds like DCU when both Benteke and Taxi are out….
Well to be fair, Bennyball with good offensive players was more than just sitting back in a shell. Last time DCU finished first in the East and close to a SS was under BennyBall with decent attacking power. But Ben has NEVER shied away from saying that his philosophy is always finding ways to get points even when the odds are firmly against his teams doing so. I mean, Ben as a player was an attacking player, much more so before the injuries, doubt he is allergic to attacking soccer, he is simply pragmatic.
You need to have the ball in the box in a dangerous position to get a PK.
Wow–what a rich, diverse,Thursday post. Such a range of content and news!
First, given the run my Memphis, Bill Hamid is going to find himself in MLS next season (if that’s what he’s looking for).
Second, I understand the US not being in a rush to name a coach until after the Gold Cup. But I’m bitter, truly pissed off, that due to a confluence of events (the Reyna’s being assholes, Berhalter opening his mouth about a confidential team issue, Stewart going to PSV, McBride also leaving) we are basically blowing off 2023 in terms of the new coach running players through their paces and getting a good feel in competitive situations. The US doesn’t have that many competitive games between now and 2026–we really don’t. And friendlies only go so far.
Tebas is an asshole–it really is that simple. He should stop trying to defend his original post (which I believe has since been taken down). Kudos to both Real sides providing tangible support but that ain’t close to being good enough–which Real opponents/opposing fans would buy such a jersey?
All the best to Benny and Houston. He deserves some success.
And I hope Michele Kang’s rhetoric matches her deeds–so far, so good.
Finally, what is it about coaching the Dutch? Let’s not forget that Mark Parsons wasn’t a hit with them either. I’ve been told that Dutch players have been encouraged to not be subservient or think “coach always know best” but instead to challenge, ask questions, offer other options. I shared that impression with a Dutch friend of mine and he beamed–viewed it as a huge compliment.
You explained Dutch soccer in a nutshell.