Tigres GK cheats with laser pointer, MLS and NWSL attendance records, and more: Tuesday Freedom Kicks
Happy Tuesday! I spent sometime watching the WNBA Draft last night and getting hyped for the upcoming Mystics season. Of course, I then remembered their other offseason moves and got annoyed. Luckily, there’s plenty of good and/or entertaining soccer news to chat about to distract me.
As the observant among you know, Tuesday means it’s time for matchday awards. First, we have Aaron Herrera, who’s on the Team of the Matchday bench:
Next, we have 2 (TWO!) Spirit players up for awards this week: Aubrey Kingsbury for save of the week and Brittany Ratcliffe for goal of the week! Videos of each and the competition below. Vote for the winners at twitter.com.
Tigres goalkeeper Guzman caught red handed in laser pointer hijinks (Pro Soccer Wire)
Watching Saturday’s match from a box, the injured goal keeper was pointing a laser pointer at Monterrey players in an attempt to distract them. This article also runs down some of his other recent antics.
Matchday 9 action saw 366,979 fans in attendance across the league, 3rd-highest attended week in history (@MLS_PR)
Link is just a tweet, but I wanted to share this stat. NWSL attendances are also up this season, with an 18% increase over last year in home opener attendance. Love to see the game growing!
How MLS teams will use new rule changes; coaches on the hot seat: Takeaways (The Athletic)
I saw JoeW mentioned this in yesterday’s comments but thought I’d still share the link. The article also takes a look at the Golden Boot race and which coaches might be in the hot seat.
Santos women’s coach Lima resigns amid harassment allegations (ESPN)
In the Brazilian women’s league, 19 players had complained anonymously about Lima, but the team brought him back after an investigation. Over the weekend, his team’s opponents on Corinthians protested the decision by holding their hands over their ears and mouths while the national anthem was played.
Late addition: Aubrey Kingsbury and some other Spirit players went to a Capitols game last night, and the GK has some thoughts on both Gotham FC and a goaltender’s job compared to hers.
That’s all I’ve got for you today. Enjoy!
DC United has moved past Genk into third place for the club that Christian Benteke has scored the most goals for.
It’s now:
Aston Villa – 42
Crystal Palace – 35
DC United – 21
Genk – 20
Kortrijk – 14
Liverpool – 9
Mechelen – 6
Standard Liege – 3
Once again Annie, a lot of stuff to chew on here. And that’s for the name drop–I’m honored!
Personally, I think that both Radcliffe and Kingsbury deserve to win this. Kingsbury was more than just a fine reaction save, she had to move as well (something most of the other saves didn’t have to do). And while there are some nice shots (Marta and the last one–I forget her name), for me, Radcliffe’s in traffic and her placement–that’s primo.
And Herrera continues to look like a peach of an acquisitions. A hit with the Guatemalan community in DC and just huge on the field.
If they can get an opposite back of similar caliber, we could really run the sidelines. Herrera has been one of our better backs since 96. He has a great game for MLS.
I’m kind of surprised he didn’t fare better in Montreal. That could be another knock against Hernan Losada, but Julian Gressel was one of the players who did best under him in DC. And Ruan has been good for them this year, but it’s still a surprise they made him available.
I’ve had some stuff going on, but I went in person to the game. My general thoughts:
I’m assuming this was to avoid a dedicated playmaker (Pirani) starting entirely, but we played a very unusual formation- a 5-2-3. This could have been coached closer to a 3-4-3, but it decidedly wasn’t- at times that 5 in the back was practically flat. This could have possibly worked, but it requires being able to shut down attacks, and get balls over the top to the forwards in space. We didn’t particularly do that.
Fletcher, who we were all rooting for in his big chance, was abysmal. I’ve never seen less energy or drive from a teenager getting an opportunity. Benteke pressed and ran around more. Yikes.
Hopkins had some great plays, and some not great plays. I’m not willing to say we shouldn’t continue to give him reps, but I’m hoping he’s watching film and learning some lessons.
Peltola continuing to be a substitute worries me.
Overall, I actually thought the tactics lost us the game for the first time. That and the absolute lack of any offensive substitutes worth a damn.
I don’t think there’s any way around starting Pirani and making it work with this squad, hopefully that goal provides confidence. Don’t want to see the 5-2-3 again, and someone wake up Fletcher.
Agreed that Fletcher was bad. He also had a really good opportunity to score in the first half and made a mess of it. That could have put the game to bed. Alas.
Yep. A parent near me told his son that “you could have made that.” Which, we all know is hyperbole and flattery, but as a pro, you never want that perception.
I’d also echo JoeW’s praise of Herrera, what consistency and excellence from him. Especially running down the fastest player on the field when he gave him the slightest opportunity.
The tactical idea didn’t work well, but I think we need to give credit to Pareja for looking over our roster and exploiting what he’s seen on the tape. Pirani or no Pirani, we have jack and squat on the left side except when TKDP helps out or Santos is deployed in the attack (and what Santos gives us there, he gives back on defense). Orlando shaded their marking to their left throughout the match, blocking Stroud out almost completely and ensuring that Herrera had limited options when ranging forward. They were so, so happy to let Dajome, Fletcher, and Antley have the ball. And then, yeah, Fletcher was just lost, and Hopkins started middling and got increasingly behind the flow, and we brought on Pirani and he didn’t do much except on the scoring play, and it just generally went south from there.
So, yes, it looks like we’ll go as far as Pirani takes us until Mackay has the opportunity to truly reshape the roster. I know it looks like there’s not much hope there, but I follow the EPL through the lens of Aston Villa, and I think about what I and every other Villa fan thought of Leon Bailey a year ago (i.e. a hopelessly inconsistent lightweight who wilted in big games) compared to what we see now (a brilliant and sparkling force on the wing), and I remind myself that young players with talent can improve rapidly in ways you do not expect. Of course they can, and mostly do, tail off or crater instead, but we just don’t know right now.
Yep, TKD was extremely missed, no doubt about it. And it’s true that youth sometimes blossoms in unexpected and intense ways. I just haven’t seen the flashes that mark the sparks that become a blaze yet.
His shot was nicely taken, but I was watching it again and really appreciating Christopher McVey’s role in it. McVey initially passed the ball to Pirani, who then hit it wide to Stroud. Pirani got credit for continuing his run, but McVey went up even further, and ended up occupying a center back as Benteke won the header from Stroud’s cross (over three Orlando defenders!), and McVey’s center back couldn’t step to Pirani to shut down his shot.
It was a great example of teamwork, and if Pirani can just make himself active like that, the team is going to generate enough crosses and knockdowns in the box that he can scoop some of them up.
I had a differing perception of that play. Pirani passed on a clear shot opportunity to pass it out wide, and Stroud and Benteke each did really well to make that lesser play into an opportunity for him again.
He’s gotta be more of an individual threat to open up the rest of his game. And that’s what I haven’t seen from him.
That said, good for McVey, he’s been a good professional so far
Easily the second best acquisition this offseason, after Herrera. Tons of credit to Mackay for nailing that one.
The broadcast panned to a shot of guys in Brazil shirts with a sign in Portuguese saying “Pirani give me your shirt please” Gotta hope this guy can click in and I think about how good DC could be with him living up to billing…