Hi there, since when is it supposed to be 80 degrees Halloween weekend? I have a sternly worded letter to write!
Rooney makes ownership quip in ‘fantastic’ Martin admission (Daily Echo): Wayne Rooney’s Birmingham touched base with Russell Martin’s Southampton before the game and shared war stories about their mutual bosses (Jason Levien and Steve Kaplan own Swansea City and D.C.) before Rooney’s side lose their third straight game.
After a soaring start to his Swansea loan, Fletcher eyes ambitious goals for club and country (ASN): Speaking of Swansea, Kristian Fletcher recounts his time to date over in Wales.
Speaking of D.C. homegrowns, while Kevin Paredes had (I think) his first league start for Wolfsburg, Griffin Yow (fresh off his first goal last week) had HIS first start with Westerlo and kept the good vibes going:
Bassi goal gives Dynamo 1-0 lead in first round playoff series (BCS): Speaking of former D.C. managers, Ben Olsen buys free beer for the first 5,000 fans in attendance and takes a series lead over RSL.
Along with the MLS playoffs, the CPL had their postseason wrap up and well, a AET Olimpico to win it is some king shit right there:
Anyway, I’m still recovering watching my oldest’s soccer team come back from three goal deficits to win on consecutive weekend days (extending their win streak to five), so I’m calming down for a couple of days.
In the Pan-American Games, Team USA beat Colombia 2-0. Teddy KDP and Jackson Hopkins started for the US, and Ku picked up an assist. The kid is in great form right now, and absolutely be one of the building blocks for DC United in 2024.
Agreed. And I hope Hopkins can become that as well.
There’s still time, but in my head, I’m counting on him less and less to be a contributor. The right coach could make a difference, though.
I think that Rooney wasn’t quite sure where to put him. He’s not great defensively, yet, so more cautious players were picked ahead of him most of the time this year.
In an alternate timeline then maybe Ruan/Jeahze stay healthy at the start of the season and Rooney realizes he doesn’t have wingers so he goes with the 4-4-2 diamond and we get to see Hopkins at the point of it with LOB/Klich as the shuttlers while Canouse and Palsson battle to be in the #6 role.
We need a new coach/GM asap so we can build the team to a formation/style before next season. Rooney clearly wanted a flat 4-4-2/4-3-3 to start last season but he didn’t seem to realize that we lacked the personnel for it. Santos, Klich, and Durkin were wasted for the first third of the season as he just plugged them in anywhere while Fletcher/Hopkins rotted on the bench.
Rooney’s ability to use three separate formations over the season was nice, but it never seemed like he had a (season) long plan.
Anyone had an opportunity to watch his Birmingham side? It seemed like a risk for him to take over (and for them to appoint him) given their previous manager had them doing fine, results -wise. I’m not sure the source of their drama was. He seems attracted to chaotic environments.
We keep talking about Hopkins regression, but I’m struggling to remember once when he played on his preferred right wing to make use of his crosses. Rooney once played him on the left cutting inside, and by the second half he was adjusting ok, but it was a weird move. Maybe he can learn the CM position for flexibility, but I’d like to see him on the right side of a 3 in a 4-2-3-1 maintaining a bit more width and finding Benteke with crosses. Have no idea why Rooney never tried it
Right wing is my preferred DP position for this offseason, which would do Hopkins no favors if that came to pass.
But as I say, there’s still time for him.
I am in complete agreement that a right winger would be an excellent choice for DP, especially a one who breaks down defenses while also having a cultured cross. Just saying, we didn’t have that last season, and Hopkins never got a shot after doing well toward the end of the season before
For those that watched the exciting bronze medal match between England and Argentina that the Brits won 26-23, a key moment occurred at about the 60th minute.
Emiliano Bonelli had been Argentina’s penalty kicker and try conversion taker and had been deadly through the World Cup.
But Los Pumas brought on Nicolas Sanchez, a 35-year old veteran and Los Pumas’ all-time kicker-scorer for a last hurrah.
Though Bonelli was on the pitch, Sanchez took a gimme conversion to bring the match to 23-26.
Then with five minutes to play, Sanchez took a penalty kick (from 45 yards and an extreme angle … and missed!
That nod to nostalgia cost tying up the match and reminded me of a similar nod to nostalgia — Rapinoe’s missing her penalty kick in USWNT knockout round at another World Cup.
Everyone needs to catch Lindsey Horan’s 25-yard volley for USWNT’s second goal against Colombia. All-Universe!
There were reports that there was a DC United scout at the Ferencvaros-Ujpest game in Hungary. Ferencvaros are top of the table, and have a number of strikers with some pretty impressive goalscoring rates. I wouldn’t mind getting one of them as a partner for Benteke, although I’d be a little hesitant to use a DP slot on them.
But probably more importantly, former Sounders homegrown player Henry Wingo plays for Ferencvaros. He’s a right sided fullback, and there’s been some pretty serious talk of Andy Najar wanting to move on. So if I were betting money, that’s my guess as to who United was looking at.
Rugby 7s at the Pan American Games for both Men’s and Women’s teams will be this Friday (Nov 3rd) and Saturday (Nov 4th). Pool play will be on the 3rd with the final placement (ie) medal round on the 4th.
https://results-santiago2023.org/#/discipline/RUG/schedule/daily/2023-11-03
In their final test match of the year the US Women’s Eagles XV lost to Italy 30-8 in South Africa as part of WXV Division 2 finale.
https://eagles.rugby/news/womens-eagles-fall-to-italy-in-2023-finale-20231028
The US are safe and will be remaining in WXV Division 2 for the next go around next year. They are in 5th place in the division won 5 points. They are tied on points with Japan and South Africa on 5 points, but lose out on tiebreakers.
https://www.wxvrugby.com/standings
I don’t know if we’ll have a fresh Freedom Kicks today or not, so I am posting this here. Philadelphia Union’s Kai Wagner is under investigation by MLS after being accused of using a racial slur against New England Revolution’s Bobby Wood.
https://theathletic.com/5014842/2023/10/30/kai-wagner-racial-slur-union-revolution-mls/
You have to wonder how many times he may have said something in the past too, until he finally said it to someone that speaks German. I can’t imagine there’s been a ton of black MLS players over the past few years that have actually known German
That’s a good point. And my first reaction was if it was Kai Wagner forcing the issue. Specifically, it’s been rumored he was off to Germany for at least a year now by the Union were reluctant to move him. This might force them to make such a move.
There’s only one reason I doubt his racism is a ploy to get back to Germany, and surprisingly, it’s Germany. There’s certainly racism there as well, but legally and from a PR standpoint, such behavior is more stringently rebuked than in the US, specifically because they’re trying to overcome that history. Obviously the US has its own astonishing racist past, but one country bans depictions of that movement, the other is still bickering over it.
If he’s viewed as too racist for a US club, I’m fairly confident a German one isn’t overlooking that aspect, but we’ll see