Hi there, so it’s Sunday night and I’m not going to stay up to fill in the first part with recaps because well, I need some rest! So have at it such as it is.
Taxi Fountas and D.C. United both ‘knew it was the end,’ Wayne Rooney says (WaPo): Wazza recounts the last days of the Greek player who signed with Turkish side Trabzonspor Friday.
Memphis 901 FC, Bill Hamid Mutually Part Ways with Release of Contract (901): I’m not sure where Bill goes from here, but he looked OK when he played, which was once in two plus months.
Wayne Rooney piles on 3st scoffing pizza during late-night gaming sessions (Mirror): Look, who among us…
“Eu jogava em funções diferentes”; Gabriel Pirani fala sobre saída do Fluminense e expõe bastidores com Diniz (Antenados): D.C.’s newest number 10 talks about his last club before coming to this one.
Spain! La Roja claims first-ever World Cup in tense 1-0 win over England (PSW): Good for them, in spite of their horrible coach.
Official: USWNT GM Kate Markgraf to leave U.S. Soccer (SSFC): Kate follows Vlatko out the door.
Messi, Inter Miami claim Leagues Cup trophy over Nashville SC (PSW): Might have been the most fun soccer this weekend? Anyway, good for this Messi guy.
Spain, Arsenal star Cazorla’s dream return to boyhood club (ESPN): As an Oviedista, I’m happy for him, and me!
Loudoun United FC inks jersey sponsorship deal with McLean software company (WBJ): A new, local front of shirt sponsor for next year and a couple thereafter if I hear correctly. Loudoun lost 3-1 to Sacramento Saturday.
Anyway, I have some school lunches to make Monday morning, so goodnight!
Lots of stuff in just one day’s post–yowzer.
I’m going to talk about the DCU loss. Any time you play the RedBulls it’s going to be disjointed offensively–that’s the way it goes given their style of play and how little time and space you have when you get the ball. I thought we played well enough to get a point. I thought TKDP looked very good for being out for two months. I thought Pirani looked very good as well. Glad we’re almost at full health. But someone’s got to start producing goals.
Also, I wonder what the full story is on Bill Hamid. He clearly still has game. Is he moving on to bigger things? Tired of being away from family? Decided he wants to hang it up? Differences with Memphis?
Also, two other interesting tidbits: Houston laid a major can of whupass on Portland and scored 5 goals. Way to go Benny! And Montreal beat Toronto. Former DCU coaches seem to be doing well. I’m especially happy for Benny.
I’m super happy for Olsen too. You give him good players, he’ll get them playing good soccer. That said, Portland often looks like they’re going to fall apart. I see the same nervous energy we had in Losada’s final days here, where they’re playing hard but not particularly smart. Giovanni’s tenure there is so strange (the inconsistency goes back even before him, though, which is even more strange).
The US Rugby Men’s Eagle 7s won the Rugby Americas North 7s tournament in Langford, BC over the weekend to clinch a berth at Paris next summer in the Olympics. They beat Canada in the final. To watch the replay you need to have a free The Rugby Network account and go to this video and jump to the 1 hour 28 minute mark: https://www.therugbynetwork.com/videos/ran-7-s-day-2-2024-paris-olympic-qualifiers-championships-replay. The games prior to that are first the Women’s bronze medal match, then Women’s gold, then men’s silver.
The US Women’s Eagles 7s were already in as they clinched an automatic berth based on finishing 3rd in the HSBC Women’s 7s for the 2022-2023 season. The Canadian Women won the concurrent Rugby Americas North Women’s 7s.
From the men’s side Canada as the 2nd place team and Mexico as the 3rd place team will participate in the Olympic Repechage (Best-of-the-Rest) tournament to try and qualify for one of the final places in France next summer. Mexico as the highest placed team other than the US and Canada booked their spot in the 2023-2024 Men’s HSBC 7s season as both the US and Canada had already booked their spots.
From the Women’s side, Mexico who lost 53-0 to a dominant Canada took silver and will participate in the Women’s Olympic Repechage tournament alongside bronze medalist Jamaica.
https://www.world.rugby/sevens-series/news/834433/canada-women-and-usa-men-qualify-for-paris-2024-olympic-games
Was I not entertained?
Yes, I was.
Thanks, Messi and also to Miami and Nashville for living up to the hype for Saturday night’s Cup Final.
There are some haters out there that don’t like Messi in the league.
That’s a great pity, because Messi has been an absolute revelation since his arrival. I would put it down to jealousy.
I had some hopes that if we could pull out a win (or even a draw) at Red Bull Arena, we might have a shot at the playoffs. But, we didn’t. The team seems pretty convinced that if they win their home games, they’ll be in. Maybe so, but the team has let some very winnable points slip at home too. I feel like they need to be getting plenty of minutes the rest of the way for Pirani, Teddy KDP, Jackson Hopkins, Kristian Fletcher, and Jacob Greene.
The team has improved this year, and a number of the veterans could still be contributors next year if the club adds some bona fide difference makers in the offseason. They have Taxi’s slot, Ravel will be off the books, and hopefully some other pricey folks will find their way to other locales. But the club needs its homegrowns to step up and turn into real contributors. Jersey’s homegrown fullback scored the goal last night. Ours… didn’t.
They need more firepower in the lineup. Also, the passing was very disjointed. Neither team looked great. Red Bulls were lucky to win this. The wall should have covered the nearside post, but it did not. Also, an unnecessary foul late in the game by a fresh player was very disappointing. All in all, this does not bode well for future games. Hopefully, the team can rebound and get into more of a rhythm. But I don’t know how they are going to get goals. A lone striker that is surrounded with defenders is not the answer.
On the bright side, Ku de Pietro looked good as did Pirani. Klich will return and give some stability to the midfield. They have not played well at home and will have to improve to get in the playoffs.
The Men’s Eagle XVs in their last summer tour game lost a hard fought test match to Georgia 22-7. They finish 1-2 on their summer tour.
https://www.goffrugbyreport.com/news/usa-battles-hard-georgia-wins
Does anyone know why Davis didn’t play on Sunday? If nothing else, I feel like he is better than Pedro Santos at free kicks. Really, the one free kick delivered by Asad at the end of the match, when it didn’t matter much, was better than any of the ones Pedro took all night. And Davis showed that he was pretty decent at taking those. I was also surprised that Rooney didn’t think of letting Hopkins in at some point. He showed well in this last games with the team and the team could have used his energy.