Happy Monday, everyone. This weekend had a TON of wild soccer moments, so we’re going to get right into everything!
Recap: D.C. United rally back to earn a point in 2-2 draw against the Portland Timbers (DP)
Christian Benteke was set to start and don the armband, but was scratched due to a knock picked up during warmups. DCU went down 2-0, but fought back to walk out of Providence Park with a solid road point.
The USWNT played much better in a match that was out of control on the physicality and chippiness. They win 3-0 to advance to play Canada in the semifinals.
D.C. United over the weekend also formed a partnership with the Ethiopian federation:
Timbers announce refund policy over DaBella fallout (KOIN)
The Portland Timbers will refund people who purchased their new jerseys with their former shirt sponsor on it. They wore jerseys without a front sponsor on Saturday night against DC United.
Eight MLS teams to participate in 2024 U.S. Open Cup (SSFC)
DC United’s 2024 U.S. Open Cup campaign is already over, as the team will not have any direct participation in the 109th edition of America’s oldest tournament.
Pulisic sent death threats after fiery Milan-Lazio match (Pro Soccer Wire)
Christian Pulisic drew 2 red cards against Lazio, and Lazio ended up finishing with 8 men. Lazio fans took it out on Pulisic, sending him online threats.
Miami referee replaced after photos of him in team’s jersey (ESPN)
Inter Miami played Orlando City over the weekend, winning 5-0. But, the major story of that match was that the referee had to be switched out hours before the match when photos of him in an Inter Miami jersey surfaced online. It’s the latest in a long stretch of headaches for the league over the replacement refs.
MLS instructed broadcasters not to ‘belabor’ referee commentary amid lockout (The Athletic)
Speaking of the refs, MLS has instructed broadcasters not to mention the lockout and the fact that replacement refs are being used. Meanwhile, they have had a major effect in the matches thus far.
RSL and LAFC played snow ball over the weekend (with an orange ball!), but Steve Cherundolo didn’t like it. He called the match a disgrace, but snow ball is where it’s at!
Vinicius Jr: La Liga to analyse alleged racist abuse of Real Madrid forward at Valencia (BBC)
Vini Jr. and Real Madrid returned to Valencia for the 1st time since the vile acts of racism against him last season. And once again, Valencia fans racially abused him. This during and after a match that saw Real Madrid hit the match winner, only for it to be disallowed because the referee blew the whistle early for full time.
FC Cincinnati finalizing trade for Inter Miami CF and USMNT defender DeAndre Yedlin (Cincy Enquirer)
DeAndre Yedlin is off to Cincinnati, as he is being traded by Inter Miami for some GAM.
And arguably the best story of the weekend, Catarina Macario FINALLY stepped back onto the field, making her Chelsea debut after tearing her ACL just shy of 2 years ago. And 5 minutes after subbing onto the field, she scored!
Cat is back! Now THAT’S how you start your week!!
Bummer we can’t give the Open Cup a shot this year. We should highlight Loudoun’s participation though! I’m hoping now they they aren’t just a place to banish/train academy prospects, they’ll gel as a competitive independent team.
As for the RSL-LAFC game….on the one hand, extreme weather games *are* kind of BS. On the other hand, LAFC got thumped and came out like sore losers. Most of the time those types of matches are sloppy and close. They probably played 90 minutes of “this sucks” mentally. Maybe Quincy Amarikwa should give them a lecture.
Worked for the USMNT a few years back vs Costa Rica, in Denver (I think)
Don’t spoil it! I’m going to watch that RSL game now that I know it was an inclement weather game.
Had the RSL-LAFC game started on time and not two hours late it wouldn’t have been so snowy. Why did start late, LAFC was refusing to play because it was in their words too cold.
Here is my match report for the first Major League Rugby (MLR) game of the season for Old Glory DC (OGDC). OGDC made it to the Eastern Conference Final last season where they lost to eventual 2023 MLR Champions New England Free Jacks.
Saturday’s 4 PM EST kickoff saw an overcast 66 degree F day. The first 10 minutes saw an early onslaught from the NOLA Gold that kept OGDC penned in their defensive 22 meter zone. A held up call at the tryline allowed OGDC to relieve the pressure and get out of their defensive 22 meter zone. Then the Gold committed a pair of penalties that were in range for OGDC’s Jason Robertson and he made them pay as he knocked through 2 penalty kick goals (3 pts each) to put OGDC up 6-0. Following that the Gold attempted to go back on the attack, but stiff defense from OGDC and handling errors continued to frustrate the Gold attack. Late in the first half a long clearance gave Robertson a chance at a dropkick goal (3 pts each), but it was just short and passed under the crossbar. The first half would finish with OGDC up 6-0. During the first half the ref essentially awarded a mulligan with a warning to the NOLA Gold. This occurred on a free kick when the NOLA Gold player kicked the ball while holding it and the ball didn’t leave his hands. The ref allowed the Gold to retake the freekick after warning that if it happens again then the required sanction of a scrum to OGDC would be awarded. Frankly, I think the ref should’ve just awarded the scrum to OGDC as I didn’t think retakes were allowed…
The start of the 2nd half saw the momentum swing in the Gold’s favor and that’s where it would unfortunately stay. OGDC’s defense continued to be stiff through the first 20 minutes of the 2nd half including stealing a lineout from the Gold on their own defensive 5-meter line. OGDC couldn’t quite manage to clear the pressure and escape their defensive 22-meter zone. Then right before the hydration break halfway through the 2nd half OGDC’s Cory Daniel saw yellow for a penalty on a tackle that sent him to the sin bin and put OGDC down a man for 10 minutes. The Gold would make good on the man advantage immediately as they scored a PK goal from the point of the yellow card infringement to close the gap to 6-3. Not long after the hydration break deep in OGDC’s defensive 22-meter zone they got blown off a scrum by the Gold who broke it out wide and in for a try (5 pts each) that was not converted (conversion of try is 2 pts for a total of 7) to put the Gold up 8-6. Not long after the Gold would miss their own attempt at a dropkick goal. The sin bin period ended not long after. But even now being back even at 15 on 15 OGDC was very much on the defensive. The Gold scored another PK goal in the 73′ to go up 11-6 forcing OGDC to need a try to tie things up. OGDC would go over to the attack but stiff defense from the Gold kept them out of the Gold’s defensive 22 meter zone. Eventually the Gold got through on a break on the wing and despite a last second tackle by OGDC the 2nd move (initial move after being tackled in this case a roll) from the Gold player got the pill over the try line and dotted down. TMO reviewed to make sure it was the 2nd move by the Gold player not a 3rd move that scored the try. TMO confirmed good try and it was converted by the Gold to go up 18-6. I forget exactly when in the 2nd half but NOLA Gold got lucky on a really close case of a late tackle. Jason Robertson kicked the ball to clear OGDC’s lines then was hit late by a NOLA player. The moment of ball having left Robertson’s foot and when the initial contact was made was too close to call on TMO review. The penalty in this case would’ve been “Late charging the kicker”.
That was the game’s final score with the Gold scoring 18 unanswered points in the 2nd half. The first half was pretty even, but the 2nd half was very much in the NOLA Gold’s favor as they continued to push OGDC’s defense. OGDC was without Danny Tusitala the normal team captain who up until this weekend had played in every single MLR game for OGDC. USA Eagle (USMNT 15s) Jamason Fa’anana-Schultz stepped in as captain for the day.
Scoring:
NOLA Gold:
OGDC:
For a different recap: https://www.americasrugbynews.com/2024/03/02/nola-recover-from-slow-start-to-speed-past-dc/
By the way before I do my own clarification of terms in which I pull largely from this source: https://www.world.rugby/the-game/laws/home . They have a lot of video examples of different penalties and parts of the game which is pretty cool.
Clarification of terms:
Penalty
Drop Goal/Dropkick Goal:
Thanks, as always, Will. As an ex-rugger (14 seasons collegiate and post-collegiate), I appreciate your coverage. I am also an inveterate watcher of the Seven-a- Side tournaments on the Internet where penalties and conversions have to be taken as drop kicks rather than from a tee.
The ref and the Miami jersey sounds more like labor-related collusion/hackery. What’s next, check every closet of every ref for jerseys? I get why he was removed, but that’s like a smoking water gun. “Scab ref” in the post lends to the author’s sentiments.
I didn’t use the term scab ref, but the fact that they are replacement refs is notable. It is simply a headache for a league that is not only dealing with this but also dealing with the perception of Inter Miami favoritism.
“Scab ref” was used on the X post by @mlsrefstats on the link in that article. I understand that they have big “perception” problem with Miami favoritism, but this was just odd. The guy is likely a Messi fan or something. I doubt there was anything sinister going on. It will be interesting to se as the season drags on how the ref situation will pan out.
Hurry for Macario–that’s great news (even if just on a personal level). Also, I’m impressed the US got a victory against Colombia–that’s a talented team.
On RSL-LAFC–if it was that bad, the league should call the game. And I’ve seen worse. I know the USMNT (when Harkes was playing) matched up against El Salvador in a snow game–some of their players had never seen snow before. The altitude games with Bolivia, the below freezing games for the Baltic nations or Iceland–I think they’re worse.
I’m still not over the 2-2 result on the road. ON THE ROAD. And with our best player out. Our defense still needs to be better. And teams will start to gang up on Benteke–other guys need to step up. And we’ve got no depth. But Lesesne has the guys believing. He’s trusting young guns in tough situations and asking them to step up. We’re playing attractive soccer.
I think the USOC deal is weird. Lesesne is on record as saying we really, seriously wanted to participate. And because we are not competing in the Champions Cup deal and most people in the league wouldn’t expect us to advance in the Liga-MLS competition thing, I think we should have been a natural to participate. Oh well.
USOC: it’s insulting that we are not in it.
The US Men’s and Women’s 7s had very different weekends this past weekend at the LA 7s Tourney of the HSBC World 7s Series.
The Women’s 7s won 5 of 6 matches during the weekend with their sole loss coming against Australia in the Semifinal. They would take the bronze and reach the podium for the first time in 2023-2024 HSBC World 7s series. The bronze and the corresponding 16 standings points keep the Women 7s in 4th in the HSBC World Women’s 7s Series. They are 2 points ahead of 5th place Canada (whom they beat 2x over the weekend (Pool Play and 3rd place match), 10 points behind 3rd place France, and 36 points ahead of 9th place Brazil in the top relegation spot. For a full recap of the Women’s side of the tournament for the US: https://eagles.rugby/news/first-season-medal-on-home-soil-for-the-usa-womens-sevens-202434
The Men’s 7s had a very up and down tournament finishing in 8th place and earning 6 standings points. This leaves the Men in 8th place overall in the last non-relegation spot with 36 points and are only 1 point above the line. Great Britain sits in 9th on 35 points. For a full recap for the Men: https://eagles.rugby/news/usa-mens-sevens-finish-eighth-in-a-weekend-of-highs-and-lows-in-los-angeles-202434
The Men’s and Women’s 7s have 3 tourneys left in this HSBC World 7s series before the Summer Olympics in Paris this summer, which they’ve both qualified for. The final 3 tourneys are Hong Kong (5-7 Apr), Singapore (3-5 May), and Madrid (31 May – 2 Jun). The Women are safe and just need to be successful and stay healthy. The men have a lot of work to do avoid the drop into the relegation playoff against the top 4 teams from the HSBC Challenger 7s Series.