Hi there, so happy Father’s Day for Dads or people of Dad minds, hope it was a good one!
Recaps of the United States Men’s 2-0 win over Canada by WaPo and SSFC.
Recaps of D.C. United’s 2-1 loss to Real Salt Lake by us, WaPo and PSW.
Recapping the Washington Spirit’s 3-2 win over KC Current by KC Soccer Journal.
Loudoun United FC Edges Out Miami FC in a Hard-Fought Match (Miami FC): Two in a row after losing seven in a row, playoffs, still possible!
Honduras players boycott Louisiana friendly amid farcical pitch conditions (Guardian): Apparently a note in the discussion is Andy Najar, who begged off of these games to injury, had his reappearance Saturday as a surprise to people!
GK Zamudio joins Hounds on loan deal (Hounds): Luis Zamudio went to Pittsburgh for a month, started on the road late Saturday at Oakland, got a shutout. Next!
‘It still doesn’t feel real’: Washington Spirit’s Chloe Ricketts reflects on living her soccer dreams at 16 (WTOP): Nice dive by Jose.
The Story of Real Central New Jersey (Club Eleven): This includes a recollection by Wesley Leggett, who plays for Loudoun and had a key role in the first goal.
Finally, this short by Adidas for Argentina’s National Team commemorating their World Cup win is as good as you’d expect:
Memories of a Juneteenth: in June 1968, I was in my fifth year as a full-time civil rights activist with the Washington Urban League. I was serving as the Urban League’s liaison with the Southern Christian Leadership Council (SCLC) Poor People’s Campaign
The Poor People’s Campaign had still gone forward after Dr. King’s assassination and the “Mayor” of Resurrection City, the tent city on the National Mall, a young Rev. Jesse Jackson, had appointed me Mud Commissioner of Resurrection City. (But that’s a story for another day.)
SCLC wanted a national march to demonstrate broad national support for the Poor People’s Campaign and asked my boss, Sterling Tucker, to be national march director; I was deputy national march director.
The date selected by Bayard Rustem, serving as advisor to SCLC, was Juneteenth. Nobody among all my Black colleagues in the Urban League had ever heard of Juneteenth at the time. It was the first I ever heard of Juneteenth.
To make a long story short, we brought 80,000 supporters to the National Mall. We grouped them around the Washington Monument’s Sylvan Theater (by far, the largest crowd I ever addressed), marched them down Constitution Avenue, and assembled them around the Reflection Pool before the Lincoln Memorial a la the great March on Washington of 1963 (for which I had been a low-level volunteer organizer).
And in that vast space 80,000 people looked like NOBODY WAS THERE!!!
That gave rise to Rusk Rule #29 for community organizing: “Always hire a hall that’s half the size of the smallest crowd expected so that, when even fewer turn up, you still have the appearance of a standing-room-only success.”
And its corollary: “Never hold an event outdoors.”
I’m glad that Juneteenth is now a national holiday to celebrate the second founding of our still imperfect (but inexorably growing more inclusive) nation.
It is always worthy to celebrate the extinguishment of the pestilence of slavery. Forward we shall go.
Once again, thanks to all the team here for such great soccer coverage.
It especially nice now that the MLS website continues to have its top six pinned stories be about Messi for some reason. I get having one or two there, but it was the same stories all weekend long and it’s really frustrating to me.
Messi League Soccer (soccer) .com
Happy Juneteenth, everyone!
I am both amped and sad after the Canada game.
I think Callahan is a lot more flexible and intelligent tactically than Berhalter. Yes, he had Balogun up top, but I don’t think anyone can seriously argue that was most of the story. The difference between this performance and our last showing against Canada was night and day, and we did it without two players that were stars against Mexico, and all of this without Tyler Adams. BJ adjusted to the opponent and got far more out of the players in two games than Berhalter has in over three years.
I don’t know if Callahan is really that good, or if Berhalter is really that stubborn and myopic, but I’m sad to see Gregg get the helm again. He believes in his possession system that has never won anything, and I kind of hate him now having seen what is possible with competence.
I’ll choose to be happy that Callahan seems to be a decent coach. Certainly no one expected the interim interim to be any good especially after the 1st guy was Hudson. Whether he remains with the national team or gets a club job, it’s great to have an American manager that sees what he has to work with and goes with the clearest set up.
Based on some of Berhalter’s comments, I’m sure he’s taking the directness/use of transition moments to heart for when he does take the reins again.
If/when Wayne departs for the motherland, backing the truck up (such as it is) for Callahan wouldn’t be the worst idea.
Even though we’re probably promoting Carl Robinson.
I was glad to see the team not passing out of the back when the situation didn’t make sense. I also was glad to see the front line, which included players that Berhalter did not play consistently. The speed of the front line was dazzling. Seeing the coach put in De La Torre when more possession was needed was also good.
I also was not a big fan of reappointing Berhalter for two reasons. One is 4 years is enough. The second is that he stuck to his vision even when it made no sense against an opponent. Lastly, the whole thing of not playing Reyna was as much a fiasco as Reyna’s parents trying to intervene.
Has anyone been watching Hopkins at Loudon? We had to cut our ESPN+ membership so I haven’t been able to watch them play but it looks like he’s been lining up in the midfield as a #8 (which I think could be a great fit for him).
Sorry for the delay in OGDC coverage.
In the final game of the regular season Old Glory DC (OGDC) hosted Rugby ATL (ATL) at Segra pitch on a gorgeous evening for rugby. ATL had already been eliminated and were playing for pride, making them very dangerous. OGDC were playing to win and get the bonus point for scoring 4 or more tries. They were also hoping that Rugby New York “The Ironworkers” (that’s their nickname), formerly Rugby United New York, would lose by more than 7 points to the Utah Warriors and in the process score 3 or fewer tries. If all went according to plan, then New York would be in 3rd on 42 points and OGDC in 2nd on 43 points. That would mean that OGDC would host the eliminator round playoff game this coming weekend. On top of this, in their prior 3 attempts OGDC had failed to beat Rugby ATL (they were an expansion team last season). Well 3 of those 4 things would go right this past Saturday evening.
As a precursor match the U-18 OGDC Academy team took on the U-18 Rugby ATL Academy Team at 4:30. The OGDC Academy won that one at the buzzer 19-17. The replay of the game can be streamed on The Rugby Network with a free account (https://www.therugbynetwork.com/videos/young-glory-vs-rugby-atl-academy-mlr-academies-washington-dc-replay). That information is only known by me courtesy of the broadcast sideline reporter as he was interviewing Dan Soso the head coach of the Maryland Exiles Youth Rugby, a long-time local youth rugby team. OGDC’s Jack Iscaro got his start playing rugby for the Maryland Exiles under that very same coach. The Exiles were there watching the game that evening. They had been there cheering on the 4 players that were selected for OGDC’s Rugby Academy (https://www.mdxyouthrugby.org/news/mdx-celebrates-our-players-picked-for-the-old-glory-academy-2785968.html). The Exiles have both boys and girls varsity and middle school teams. Additionally they have summer touch rugby U7, U9, U11, U13, and U16 teams. If you want to find out more about the local rugby scene check out The Tight Five Pub’s website (https://www.tightfivepub.com/). The Tight Five Pub is “The District’s First Rugby Fan Bar”. The Tight Five is owned by two former rugby players and it is in the Adams Morgan neighborhood downtown.
Anyways onto my summary of the game. It was an even back and forth to start the game. OGDC would open the scoring with a try in the 8th minute, but it would not be converted leaving the score 5-0 to OGDC. Then in the 12th minute OGDC would receive a yellow card for a high tackle. That put OGDC down a man for the next 10 minutes of play and ATL would make good the man advantage. Right off the restart from the penalty ATL would dot it down under the posts for a try with automatic conversion in the 13th minute bringing the score to 7-5 in favor of ATL. Then shortly before the hydration break in the 21st minute off the scrum from an OGDC turnover on a knock on. ATL would convert it bringing the score to 14-5. Then in the 25th minute, ATL would break OGDC’s defensive line and lose it after being tackled just short of the try line. OGDC recovered in in the try zone and forced a scrum at the 5 meter line. ATL’s physicality would be on display as they would make good used of the scrum to score another try. They would go on to convert it leaving the score 21-5 in favor of ATL. The momentum was on ATL’s side at this point in the match. Tempers would flare first in the 27th minute. Then again in the 29th minute after a dangerous chop tackle by ATL that would see a yellow card for ATL. After the full team confrontation, the ref pulled the captains aside and informed them that any player starting or running into a confrontation would be liable for sanction. That cooled heads on both sides (if only MLS refs would do that). In the 31st minute, ATL turned the pill over in a scrum leading to a line out for OGDC at the ATL 5-meter line. Just as they had done and would do all night ATL stuffed OGDC’s rolling maul. A quick tuck and several passes later OGDC broke through a gap in ATL’s line and dotted it down for a try. They converted the try climbing back into the game and bringing the score to 21-12. Then in the 36th minute, there was a long series of plays and a penalty advantage. The advantage ended when OGDC turned it over. The ref brought it back to the spot the penalty committed by ATL occurred. OGDC put it into touch for a line out. Once again ATL stuffed OGDC’s rolling maul. A quick series of phases and OGDC got it out wide and punched it in. The try was converted bringing the game to 2 points difference at 21-19 to ATL. The last series of phases in the 1st half ended in awesome fashion. OGDC blocked a box kick in the 40th minute, picked it up and rumbled on a breakaway into the try zone. The conversion put the ball into touch bringing the action packed first half to a close with OGDC back in the lead 24-21. That was OGDC’s 4th try meaning a bonus point in the standings.
The 2nd half would start with some back in forth action. ATL nearly took the lead back in the 46th minute when they broke OGDC’s line and were on a breakaway. OGDC with some great covering runs got back and stopped them just short of the try zone. The ATL player would fail to release the ball resulting in a turnover on penalty. OGDC would go for the line out, but their rolling maul was stopped, and they box kicked it away. A few minutes later in the 49th minute, OGDC would chip it over ATL’s line. An OGDC player would run through ATL’s line to catch it and then offload it before he was taken down. The receiving player then carried the ball into the try zone. That try was converted bringing the score to 31-21 in favor of OGDC. In the 55th minute, ATL’s bruising physical style of play was on display as they battered their way through OGDC’s defense and into the try zone. They would covert the try closing the gap to just 3 points at 31-28. Right before the second half hydration break it looked like OGDC would have an excellent scoring opportunity coming out of the break with a scrum on ATL’s 5-meter line. OGDC had stolen the ball and went fast working it out wide. A massive carry by OGDC, then another series of phases but OGDC would lose the ball just short of the try zone. ATL recovered in the try zone, but then stepped out across the backline. Then the hydration break occurred at that stoppage. As I said previously, it looked like OGDC would have control of the scrum at ATL’s 5-meter line. However, the Television Match Official (TMO) reviewed the play and let the Ref know that there had been a knock-on by OGDC in the process of the ball ending up in the try zone. Thus, converting the scrum to being controlled by ATL. One thing that was obvious throughout the match was that OGDC was dominant on lineouts. At this point in the match, it was noted by the commentators that OGDC had won control on 12 of the lineouts whilst ATL had only won control on 1 lineout. That dominance would continue for the remainder of the game. A few minutes later, ATL would be ruled offside and OGDC would once again put it into touch for a lineout. OGDC won the lineout, but once again their rolling maul was stopped by ATL. However, the number of ATL players stopping the maul left gaps on the other side of the line. OGDC would quickly pass the ball several times and break through a massive gap in ATL’s line to dot it down for a try. TMO reviewed for a potential forward pass penalty against OGDC, but there wasn’t one. OGDC’s try was confirmed on review with that one going down as being scored in the 70th minute. It was OGDC’s 6th try of the match and 6th different try scorer for OGDC. Unfortunately, the conversion went way wide leaving the score at 36-28 in favor of OGDC. Late on OGDC turned the ball over and ATL drove hard getting near, but once again being stopped short of the try zone by great recovery defense. In the 80th minute a final scrum controlled by OGDC would occur courtesy of an ATL penalty. OGDC would win the ball in the scrummage and kick it into touch bringing an action-packed match to an end.
Old Glory’s 36-28 win over Rugby ATL marked a new franchise record for regular season wins at 7. It’s also the first time that OGDC have beaten Rugby ATL having lost the previous 3 matches between the teams. OGDC’s win was the first thing they needed to host their first ever playoff match. New York would lose to the Utah warriors by more than 7 but score 4 or more tries. As New York scored 4 or more tries in their 43-33 defeat against Utah they would get a bonus point. This left OGDC and New York tied in the standings with 43 points. However, New York is in 2nd place on tie breakers. As such OGDC will be headed to the Mount Vernon neighborhood of New York this coming Sunday for their first ever playoff match. The match will be broadcast live on FS2 at 6 PM EDT on Sunday 25 June. The winner will play at New England in the Eastern Conference final at 5:30 PM EDT on July 1 broadcasted on FS1. The western conference eliminator round match will also be broadcast on FS2 on Saturday 24 June at 6 PM EDT.
About once every 6 weeks or so, a comment ends up not passing the automated spam filter. This comment showed up pending. I’m sorry for the delay in approving it, especially when I frequently tell the spam filter to bugger off and approve all comments *facepalm*.
Its alright. I think it got caught because it has hyperlinks in it. Plus I’d accidentally also put it in the comments of the Monday Freedom Kicks from last week. I notice that if a comment has more than one hyperlink in it then the odds of it requiring approval drastically increase.
You’re right about the hyperlinks. I found a setting for that and updated it accordingly. Should be good to go in the future!
It makes sense as spammers tend to have links to try and people to click on them.