Happy Monday, folks. I am headed back to DC from San Diego this morning sleep deprived from Daylight Saving beginning yesterday, but also returning as a champion. We start with the big win last night:
Lindsey Horan’s goal was the difference as the USWNT win the first ever W Gold Cup. Jaedyn Shaw won the Golden Ball, and Alyssa Naeher won the Golden Glove. The USWNT also won the Fair Play Award.
DC United went on the road to face FC Cincinnati, and it was a 0-0 draw. DC United are still unbeaten on the season with their 2nd draw to go with the opening weekend win.
Takeaways from Loudoun United’s 2-2 draw with San Antonio (DP)
Loudoun United opened their season on Saturday, taking home a point from their 2-2 draw with San Antonio FC.
Dominant Real Madrid thrash Celta Vigo to cement top spot (ESPN)
Real Madrid torched Celta Vigo to confirm a commanding lead in the La Liga table.
Lionel Messi misses Inter Miami defeat: Why was he rested? (MLS)
Inter Miami was missing Lionel Messi, who was kept out due to the soccer version of load management. Meanwhile, Miami got beaten by CF Montreal 3-2.
Outgoing Kylian Mbappé benched again by PSG for Ligue 1 game (ESPN)
Kylian Mbappé was once again benched by PSG in their latest game. The soap opera continues in what appears to be his final weeks with the club.
Liverpool and Man City fight out pulsating draw (BBC)
Liverpool and Man City draw, and Arsenal ends the weekend atop the EPL table.
Concacaf to investigate racist chants by Chivas fans toward America’s Quinones (Pro Soccer Wire)
Club America’s Julián Quiñones suffered racist abuse by Chivas fans during their Concacaf Champions Cup clash last week. Concacaf is investigating the matter, and they better hand down stiff penalties.
Hope you all have a great start to the week!
Seeing the kind of shots Jacob Murrell was getting, I’m excited to see more!
Appears to have a hammer of a strike, will indeed be something to watch
He had some good you touches in the attack, struggled in defensive positioning, but given the jump from college to MLS, I’m excited to see what else he can do. Also interesting to see him deployed more as a midfielder than a striker.
Yeah, I noted in the gamethread that it looked like it was taking him a moment to remember that he needed to move, or make a step or a pressing action. But it’s his pro debut. I think he was just a little bit in awe of the moment, and it’s not something I’m really concerned about long-term.
A couple of people (including Matt Doyle) have effectively said “why insert him at A-mid?” And my take is: this was actually a smart move by Lesesne. He’s not really putting in Murell to be an A-mid. Or to be a striker who is closely marked. Instead, he’s putting him in role where he can do minimal defensive harm, he’s going to get some touches, he doesn’t have to to orchestrate anything. Instead, he’s being told “play in the center of the pitch, be a big obstacle to pass over, chase balls, get some touches, if you can get a shot off of any of those touches then take it.” He’s not going to be closely marked (like a striker). And our strikers at this point aren’t going to see much service. Think of it this way–if you have to put a very raw player on the field in a tight game on the road, what is the best position to play him where he can run around, get some touches, but not have major defensive responsibility?
That does make sense. I’ve done something similar in my PES game in the champions league final of a campaign. I had Haaland playing, he gets wiped out and is hobbled, and I’m out of subs. It unfortunately goes to extra time, and he’s running out of steam. Still won the game.
As stated, I am a biased Hoya, but I have a favorable impression of his debut. He looks physically strong on the ball and has a nice launch on his shots.
The Gold Cup final was incredibly tense, but overall, the women were just a goal better than Brazil all over the field, despite the skill on display. Finals aren’t usually about anything but winning, and it was a winning performance
I still haven’t gotten through the second half of the Cincy game, but I’ll repeat this observation which I imagine about the first: The game might have been congested and confused, but, to misquote Walter White, “We WERe the congestion! WE’RE the ones who confuse!”
We still have a long way to go to rebuild this squad, but we’ve got a competitive formula going. Bartlett looks to be a mobile revelation.
When you have a good coach, a coach with a plan. And most of the squad (including the best players) seem bought in to the approach. And you are difficult to play against–creating problems for the opposition (with and without the ball). And your young players are getting meaningful minutes are are stepping up and earning more time. All of that is very, very, very, very good.
With Toronto’s performances so fair, with Montreal’s performances so far, it’s clear that the East is going to be a beast this year–no weak sisters (well, maybe Chicago). But I’m very happy with what I see from DCU so far this season. Going with Lesesne was an outstanding decision.
I agree its looking like the East is going to be a fight this year for playoffs, but I think its still too early in the season for that to be conclusive.
Oh, yeah, the East is becoming the home of the mostly legit, I think.
This sounds absolutely fascinating to someone with a 2010s mindset.
If you mean the league has swayed back and forth in terms of which conference has contenders, correct
Yes, the eastern conference was for a long time considered the punching bag, justified or not. The Galaxy, Seattle, Portland, and even SKC were seen as these A-list teams, while the eastern conference was portrayed as only having New York to compete, even when other teams in the east were seeing success.
It’s refreshing to see the Eastern Conference receive some respect.
I also gotta wonder if there’s just a certain amount of negligence happening with a number of Western Conference teams. Seattle, LAFC, and to some extent LA Galaxy tend to attract the most buzz and accolades, so maybe there’s a lack of incentive to compete, but could also just be bad owners running faulty organizations.
Dallas and Salt Lake have both made franchise-record signings recently. Colorado brought a lot of MLS standouts back from abroad. Vancouver, St. Louis, and Houston haven’t made big signings in the past window, but at least were coming off of successful 2023s.
It seems like they’re trying, but just might not have things together. Which, as a United fan, I can relate to.
One fascinating stat to me was that we had nearly twice as many corners as Cincy on the road, so it’s not like we didn’t manage to get forward. We’re very disruptive when it comes to the game the opposition want to play- there was only one shot in the entire game where the problem was a player wasn’t close enough, when in previous seasons we’d concede with no one there. It’s nice.
Defintely created some chances, but I can’t remember a clear goal scoring chance. However, on the road, without Benteke and KDP that’s expected.
We should also remember that Cincinnati has a very good defense. Miazga is the reigning Defender of the Year, and they just added Miles Robinson and DeAndre Yedlin. Roman Celentano has gotten some USMNT callups.
Didn’t Dajome hit a shot that almost went in but hit the lower part of the post and bounced away? Or am I remembering a play from the Man City – Liverpool game? Also, watching a MLS game after watching a Premier League game, well let’s just say it takes time to adjust.
I’m pretty sure you’re thinking of the shot in the Portland game that Dajome clanged, and TKD couldn’t direct into an empty net
I still would like to see us be more dangerous on corners. This should improve when Benteke and Birnbaum are back, but we have a lot of height in this squad. Murrell had a chance that he’ll likely do better with in the future, but McVey, Bartlett, and Peltola haven’t seemed very dangerous yet on offensive corners. Too early to say about Akinmboni and Tubbs, obviously.
I’m starting to wonder if Birnbaum can play in this setup. He’s obviously vastly experienced, but he’s getting kinda slow of foot, and I think his strengths are more mid block or low block, a high line might do him in. We’ll see, though
They’ve started showing distance covered leaders during the broadcasts, and there’s usually a DC center back in the top 5. Which is really impressive.
I said in the gamethread that I thought if Birnbaum hadn’t signed his contract extension in the middle of last season, he probably would have been gone with the rest of the roster turnover.
I wonder if they’ll work on a three back system at all, as I think Birnbaum would be good as the anchor in that system. I think that it would fit our other defenders as well. I don’t want to change just to change, or just to fit in Birnbaum, and our 4-2-3-1 has been working pretty well. But it might be nice to have another tactical look that we could employ if necessary.
Thing is, Lesesne is probably too Redbullish in his pressing system to play a back three, that’s not really part of the ethos.
Probably in the bag of tricks, but not his first-choice selection unless the situation favors or demands it.
I’m also wondering what happens when Russell Canouse comes back (Goff is reporting that he’s getting close). Matti Peltola has been excellent, and he and Klich have formed a nice pair. Canouse is more of a destroyer than those two. Does he just stay on the bench, or does he team with Peltola and Klich moves forward, possibly displacing Pirani?
I’d be pretty happy with Pirani getting moved to the bench. He’s not shown much this season and the broadcast pair was right to say in the Cincy game that he’d basically been invisible
Yeah. A lot of Mackay’s player acquisitions have looked pretty good, but bringing in Pirani on a permanent deal has been a dud so far. He’s still young, and has shown pretty well with the Brazilian national team, and he could turn things around, but woof.
What’s more, while Pirani was initially a Kasper/Rooney acquisition, Mackay took sole credit for making his deal permanent.
Thankfully, Mackay seems to have hit pretty well on his other major signing in Peltola. But U-22s are important player choices too, if not quite at the importance of a DP. Having Peltola as a Young DP allows us to have three U-22s, and so far we have just one and he’s been incredibly underwhelming. But at least the team is doing well as is, and has the potential to improve even more if they can bring in one or two more U-22s during the summer.
Yeah Peltola has turned out to be quite the signing so far after 3 games. Has he made a couple of mistakes yes, but he’s done a great job of shielding the backline and also getting forward to help in the attack with late runs.
It’s true that we haven’t made use of the u-22 positions yet, but it’s also sorta a miracle that Mackay and Lesesne were able to bring in any players that are useful with the amount of offseason they had left. Give it a summer and another offseason window, and I bet this aspect changes, along with a host of other moves;
Yeah, I give Mackay a lot of credit for moving out as many players as he did, and like I said, most of his acquisitions have performed really well (and full credit to Lesesne for getting everybody to pull in the same direction). I was hoping for a couple more impact players, but things are setting up pretty nicely for a good summer/offseason. The moves and acquisitions have kind of confirmed that the team is hard up against the cap (thanks Kasper and Rooney [and how was that not enough to let Kasper go?!]), but it looks like guys on big contracts like Jeahze and Rodriguez are going to be gone. Just a matter of when, not if. Dajome and Santos are getting minutes, but will come off the books at the end of the year, and Benteke and Klich will hit the end of their DP contracts.
Lots more resources to play with over the next two windows. 2024 is off to a good start, and we’ll see how it progresses, but I’ve said for awhile that 2025 should be when the real evaluation of this team should start.
I’ve commented before that I hope it’s the latter, not just because I think that’s a better central three. Peltola can clearly ball and get forward, Klich is more ready to playmake at this level than Pirani, and Pirani probably would be better as a high energy sub.
I think we’re all excited to see that “high energy.”
Ha, except I think he has been motivated and at least attempted to be active, he just hasn’t impacted the game very much in these away games. If anything, the balance between composure and freneticism from him as a AM has been wildly off. Throw him on for half an hour, maybe things improve, but in any case, he needs to sit.
Props again to MacKay (for assembly of a decent squad and a solid coach hire), and to Lesesne (for taking that group and making them a functioning team, one with direction).
I know it’s early, but if you told me that we’d have 5 points with one home and two (difficult, historically) away games…I would have taken that anytime.
The table is set to blow up Darth Garber’s Pink Death Star this Saturday and I am excited to support these guys and their efforts.
Did your delayed viewing go smoothly?
Ha, relatively, thanks for the advice! I accidentally spoiled the game for myself scrolling social media for a fraction of a second, so that was a bummer. And by the time I was ready to watch the game, it dawned on me that the USWNT had a final in a few minutes, so I decided to watch that first. Last Sunday was the soccerpocalypse, and I missed most of it live!
Fun fact! Alex Bono’s next game will be his 14th with United, tying him with Andrew Dykstra and Rafael Romo in terms of games played by a goalkeeper. He would have to allow 9 goals to equal the amount of goals that Dykstra allowed in those games, and 20 (!) goals to equal Romo’s total.
I know we’re playing Messi and the Barcelona Legends Team next, but I still feel pretty good about Bono’s chances to come out on the bigger end of the stick than Dykstra and Romo.
I thought it was questionable the Messi and Suarez would be playing on Saturday due to international call ups. They have a game against El Salvador on Tuesday after the DC game.
Saturday was an overcast and windy 39 degree F day in Quincy, MA. The New England Free Jacks (NE) and Old Glory DC (OGDC) clashed in a rematch of the 2023 Major League Rugby (MLR) Eastern Conference Final. NE came in riding a 14 game win streak dating back to the middle of the 2023 MLR season. OGDC came in on a 2 game losing streak dating back to the 2023 Eastern Conference Final.
OGDC attempted to start the game fast and were breaking through out on the flank but a pass that was ever so slightly forward stopped the attack and turned the ball over. That was in the 2nd minute and less than a minute later OGDC were guilty of another penalty this time for a failure to release after tackling the ball carrier. NE took the free kick and kicked it touch for an attacking lineout near the 5m line. OGDC would steal the lineout, a constant on the day, and relieve the pressure immediately by kicking to touch. This gave another attacking lineout to NE. NE kept their lineout this time and formed a maul that pushed towards the tryline. The OGDC defense held up the maul, but then Cam Davidowicz broke from the maul and passed to John Poland to the inside who sucked in the OGDC defense before finding Paula Balekana out wide for a try in the left corner. That try was converted by Jayson Potroz, who had the best kicking game in the MLR last season, and after 5 minutes of play NE was up 7-0.
The Free Jacks continued to keep Old Glory penned and on the defensive. Eventually OGDC would make another mistake committing a penalty on an attacking lineout for NE. They elected to go for a penalty kick and Potroz scored it pushing NE’s lead up to 10-0 in the 11′. Old Glory went on a very promising attack that was repelled by the Free Jack’s stiff defense. Then OGDC had a miscue on the attack and NE seized the ball broke the Old glory defensive line and Reece MacDonald showed off his speed on a 40m dash to the try line untouched for a try. Then Potroz converted the try and NE was up 17-0 after 25 minutes of action. Following the conversion the ref halted play for the 1st half hydration break.
Out of the hydration break the earlier promise of OGDC’s most recent attack would continue to shine as OGDC got an attacking lineout not far from the tryline. While their maul was stopped by NE’s defense the attack did not end. After several good connected phases Old Glory DC would break through for their first try of the season scored by Martín Vaca and Jason Robertson would convert it. The score was now 17-7 in favor of NE after 28 minutes of play.
OGDC would steal another NE lineout and the Free Jacks’ Ben LeSage was warned by the ref for repeated high tackles as he was guilty of another one. OGDC would kick to touch on the resultant free kick for an attacking lineout deep in the attacking zone. The initial maul off the lineout was slowed, but Vaca spotted the weakness of the defense on the short side and rumbled his way through for a second try that was also converted by Robertson. With 6 minutes to go in the first half (34′), OGDC had come back from a 17-0 deficit to be within 3 at 17-14 in less than 10 minutes of play.
However, another OGDC defensive miscue, this time an offside penalty, would result in an attacking lineout for NE about 7m out from the tryline. This time the Old Glory defense couldn’t stop the maul and Andrew Quattrin would dot it down for a try for NE that Potroz converted. That extended the Free Jacks lead back to 10 at 24-14 in the 39′ and that’s how the first half ended.
Shortly after halftime some off the ball scuffling led to the ref warning both captains about discipline. The ref indicated that the next time something happened both teams might be seeing yellows for 14 on 14 action.
The NE attack continued. Even though OGDC stopped the maul off an attacking lineout they committed another penalty and a scrum was awarded to NE about 5 meters out. While the OG scrum would hold strong, NE got the ball out and broke it wide through the OG defense with an awesome no look pass and were into the try zone. This time it was Mitch Wilson who dotted it down out wide. Potroz failed to convert from a difficult angle leaving the score at 29-14 in favor of the Free Jacks after 6 minutes of play in the second half. This was also the bonus point try for NE, a team receives a bonus standings point if they score more than 4 tries in a game.
Old Glory responded quickly though. A great break on the flank was stopped by NE’s defense, but the tackler failed to release resulting in a penalty. Robertson booted it to the corner for an attacking lineout. Vaca again broke off the back of the maul. This time he was met with 2 Free Jacks defenders, but he found Jason Robertson who broke through and dotted down. Robertson then converted his own try to bring it to within 8 at 29-21 in the 51′.
Off the restart several phases of play resulted in a 50-22 by NE. OGDC cleared it, but it went int touch resulting in an attacking lineout to NE. OGDC stole the lineout yet again, but eventually turned the ball over after several phases of play. NE would go through several phases of play before a grubber kick deflected off an OGDC defender and bounced back to NE. The ball continued to pinball for a little before NE recovered and broke through with 5 players and not a single OGDC defender in sight. An OGDC player came in and tried to stop the break, but the ball was offloaded and even if he had stopped it it would have been a penalty for a no wrap tackle. Ben LeSage received the offload and dotted it down without a red jersey (OGDC’s away kit is mostly red) in sight. Potroz would again fail to convert leaving the score 34-21 in favor of NE in the 55′.
In the background after the try but before the conversion attempt, another off the ball scuffle took place. The ref asked for TMO to review to see if he could get jersey numbers for both teams on who initiated and was most heavily involved. There wasn’t a clear angle for the TMO to get numbers, so no yellow cards were issued and play continued. Both captains were warned again by the ref.
OGDC’s Gradyn Bowd came up with an awesome 50-22 kick to put the attack well inside New England’s defensive 22m zone with an attacking lineout. NE would steal the lineout and clear with a box kick. OGDC received it and after several offloads a great 20m run put OGDC closer. OGDC continued to build the pressure on NE’s defense. An offside by NE allowed OGDC to put the ball into touch on the free kick for a well positioned attacking line out. The following maul was again stopped by NE’s defense, but OGDC continued through the phases. Then in the 60′ NE’s Cole Keith saw a yellow card and was sent to the bin for a no arm/no wrap tackle giving OGDC a man advantage for 10 minutes. An attacking scrum was awarded to OGDC at the 5m line. The scrum was successful and the pressure continued to build. Eventually Vaca would burrow through the defense for his hat trick try. Robertson would again convert it pulling OGDC within one score. That was also the fourth try for OGDC resulting in a standing’s bonus point. After 62′ of play the score was 34-28 in favor of NE.
Out of the hydration break the game was back and forth. Unfortunately, defensive troubles would continue for OGDC. Especially since they were up a man at this point playing 15 on 14. Eventually, OGDC was called for a failure to release penalty. NE would elect to go for a pk goal to stretch the lead, but Potroz missed again. This left the score at 34-28.
The back and forth continued as OGDC got off another 50-22 that NE put into touch resulting in an attacking lineout for OGDC. NE recovered the overthrow and then Old glroy committed a penalty. A scrum was awarded to NE, but Old Glory blew the Free Jacks backward off the scrum and turned it over.
Play continued until NE committed another penalty. OGDC kicked it to touch for an attacking lineout. The resultant rolling maul was stopped illegally by NE and Old glory elected to kick to touch for another attacking lineout. This time OG didn’t maul and pulled it. They worked through the phases but were gradually pushed backwards by the Free Jacks stiff defense.
Eventually a loose pass would be picked off by NE who thought they were through for a try with John Poland streaking towards the try zone. But Old Glory’s Lautaro Bravo came streaking in with a try saving tackle. The ball was loose and NE, thankfully for OGDC, knocked it on turning the ball over.
That knock on resulted in a scrum controlled by OGDC. NE were called for a scrum penalty and OGDC cleared their defensive zone on the free kick and got an attacking line out at midfield. The lineout was overthrown and OGDC recovered it. They tried going through several phases, but it looked like NE’s defense had stopped them again. After talking with the Assistant Ref on that side it was determined that the NE defender had deliberately knocked it on. A free kick was awarded to OGDC who kicked it to touch for another attacking lineout. Old Glory would recover the overthrow and in the following phases of play NE was offsides. A scrum was awarded to OGDC who won this one and continued play.
In the last minute of regulation, the ref lost his patience and showed a yellow card to NE’s Sean Ralph for not rolling away after a tackle. That sent Ralph to the sin bin for the rest of the game and play continued 15 on 14 in favor of OGDC. On the ensuing lineout about 20m out, NE was guilty of another infringement and got another warning from the ref. OGDC got an even better attacking position right on the 5m line for a lineout. The initial maul was stopped by NE’s short handed defense. Old Glory’s KoiKoi Nelligan pulled it from the stalled maul but was stopped just inches short of the try line. William Talataina was right behind him to pick it up and dive over the try line and dot down. Thus at 80’+2 the score was 34-33 in favor of NE. Jason Robertson stepped up to take the conversion from a tricky angle almost point blank just to the right of the posts. The hometown crowed howled to try and put Robertson off, but he had ice water in his veins and scored the walk off conversion. The final score Old Glory DC 35 New England Free Jacks 34.
For a different recap as well as scoring line, starting lineups and substitutions you can go to Rugby Americas News: https://www.americasrugbynews.com/2024/03/09/old-glory-ends-free-jacks-winning-streak-with-late-try/ .
Alex Bono made the Team of the Matchday bench. Hugo Lloris was preferred over him. Both teams were involved in scoreless draws, although Bono kept his on the road. Both opponents had an xG of 2.0, but DC had a higher xG than LAFC did, meaning that Kansas City might have been more in Lloris’s lap than Cincinnati was in Bono’s. But some of Bono’s saves were just point blank range.
Either way, it’s some deserved recognition for Bono, and possibly he deserved even more.