Soccer Thread 2022-2023

[SirFozzie]

File under "Yup, that's Concacaf"


Honduras were supposed to have a friendly against Grenada over the weekend in Louisiana, but Honduras players forced their federation to call it off because of an unsafe field and bad accommodations.

International soccer match cancelled, officials say | Sports | theadvocate.com

I was going to joke they should just treat it like a field in Grenada but yeah, it looks pretty much like a high school "stadium" and probably unsafe/unproductive to play on.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by SirFozzie

I was going to joke they should just treat it like a field in Grenada but yeah, it looks pretty much like a high school "stadium" and probably unsafe/unproductive to play on.

Try 53 year old city rec department stadium.

(though significant structural renovations did save if from collapse back in 2018)

[SirFozzie]

Originally Posted by Ghost Econ

So, anyone else pro BJ

Guys, I know we're getting old and all that, but I'm surprised that we haven't had at least ONE person say "I've always been Pro BJ"..

we may be growing UP as well as old.

[miami_fan]

I am guessing the issue with the Berhalter rehire is that everyone is okay with the hire as opposed to be excited it. I understand that. I just don't know who was supposed to be the exciting hire. Jessie Marsch? Patrick Viera? Would anyone be excited by either one of those guys?

Everything I have heard from the new sporting director Matt Crocker makes sense to me. Say what you want about the English national team winning or not winning championships, I think we all would like to see our U.S. version of England DNA. It sounds simple but I don't think any of us can say for sure where US Soccer stands on any of the tenets of England DNA.

The programme is designed for England’s youth teams from under-15s to under-21s and is the starting point for the FA’s elite player development. It is split into five parts: ‘who we are’; ‘how we play’; ‘the future England player’; ‘how we coach’; and ‘how we support the process’.

I watched some of the U20 World Cup last month and the U20 team played nothing like the senior team played last night. Yes, they don't have a Balogun, Reyna or Pulisic on the U20 squad but still. It would be cool to have a new coach to take the team to the next level tactically. I think figuring out and developing our DNA must come first. We are no longer just a team of try hards with one or two technically gifted players. We aren't Argentina but we have players that can play a more diverse game on the international level. Berhalter is not incompetent. He meets the minimum standard. For me, that is good enough as we go about building the entire program.

[flere-imsaho]

Originally Posted by SirFozzie

Guys, I know we're getting old and all that, but I'm surprised that we haven't had at least ONE person say "I've always been Pro BJ"..

I thought about it, but then got called away from the computer to deal with another kid thing.

[Ghost Econ]

Well I, for one, am declaring it the Summer of BJ

[miami_fan]

Well this is interesting.

Saudi Arabia can help Chelsea solve headache — but talks raise more questions than answers | The Independent

The key paragraphs for this post.

Interest in Neymar and David De Gea is now well known, but representatives are also looking at Riyad Mahrez and Bernardo Silva, and there are offers for a series of Chelsea players. Among them are N’Golo Kante, Edouard Mendy, Romelu Lukaku, Kalidou Koulibaly, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Hakim Ziyech.

Now, a solution has suddenly presented itself. Chelsea could clear a lot of players for big money, allowing Mauricio Pochettino a much cleaner slate to start working with.

It has raised a lot of chatter within the game as well as outside. Football officials have privately pointed to the strong relationship between Chelsea majority owners Clearlake and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund [PIF], who have billions of pounds worth of assets managed by the American firm.

Let's see now. According to Transfernarkt, here are what are these Chelsea players are worth in Euros.

Edouard Mendy- 18M
Romelu Lukaku- 40M
Kalidou Koulibaly- 25M
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang- 7M
Hakim Ziyech- 18M

Of course they are actually worth what someone is willing to pay. So is it possible for a Saudi club to buy Lukaku for say 100 million Euros which would a long way in helping Chelsea deal with FFP and then loan him out to another club in Europe where broadcasters have to constantly remind us that he is on loan from Al Nassr FC?

[bhlloy]

This is done quite regularly on a smaller scale by owners who have interests in multiple countries and teams, but at this scale I have no idea that FIFA and UEFA will be all over it to protect the integrity…. I almost made it through that sentence with a straight face.

Yeah, this is the obvious logical next step of where this has all been heading for a while. All legal and well within FFP.

[sovereignstar v2]

USA is 'selected as host of new-look 2025 Club World Cup... with Chelsea, Man City and more to play' | Daily Mail Online

[Ghost Econ]

Hope FM can fix the Club World Cup fatigue bug by then.

[RainMaker]

I know this is the B team or whatever but Jordan Morris is brutal.

[MIJB#19]

What a missed opportunity in the Premier League to make Chelsea get stuck with their overload of expensive players and fail Financial Fair Play rules. Apparently solidarity is a thing amongst the elitist clubs, Arsenal and Manchester City felt the need to throw Chelsea a bone or two, or more like a 100 million contribution for a pair of excess players.

[sovereignstar v2]

It's lol or rolleyes. I'll go with lol today

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[sovereignstar v2]

Kovacic will fit City like a glove and won't need any bedding in. Very astute signing.

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[cartman]

that poor St. Kitts player that took a laser shot to the nuts last night.

https://vxtwitter.com/FOXSoccer/stat...977702912?s=20

[SirFozzie]

Mexico just got FM'd in real life in the Gold Cup tonight.

For those who don't know what that means, let me lay out the stats.

Posession: Mexico had 76% of the ball, to 24% for Qatar
Shots? Mexico out Shot Qatar 25-1
Corners? 7 for Mexico, none for Qatar
Passes Completed? 580 for Mexico, 127 for Qatar.

Final Score: Qatar 1, Mexico 0.

If that happened to me in FM, the computer would have gone right out the window.

[MIJB#19]

Originally Posted by MIJB#19

What a missed opportunity in the Premier League to make Chelsea get stuck with their overload of expensive players and fail Financial Fair Play rules. Apparently solidarity is a thing amongst the elitist clubs, Arsenal and Manchester City felt the need to throw Chelsea a bone or two, or more like a 100 million contribution for a pair of excess players.

And now Manchester United jumps in on this non-sense. C'mon now, make Chelsea bleed for their unsportsmanlike behaviour on the transfer market and stop donating.

[sovereignstar v2]

I got nothing. Mount is terrible.

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[cartman]

Originally Posted by SirFozzie

Mexico just got FM'd in real life in the Gold Cup tonight.

For those who don't know what that means, let me lay out the stats.

Posession: Mexico had 76% of the ball, to 24% for Qatar
Shots? Mexico out Shot Qatar 25-1
Corners? 7 for Mexico, none for Qatar
Passes Completed? 580 for Mexico, 127 for Qatar.

Final Score: Qatar 1, Mexico 0.

If that happened to me in FM, the computer would have gone right out the window.

That was crazy. The expected goals (xG) for Mexico was 2.3 and for Qatar it was 0.05.

[flere-imsaho]

Originally Posted by MIJB#19

And now Manchester United jumps in on this non-sense. C'mon now, make Chelsea bleed for their unsportsmanlike behaviour on the transfer market and stop donating.

You're asking a lot of Man Utd, given their post-Ferguson/Gill track record:

[SirFozzie]

One of my friends suggested a pool for the upcoming EPL season, and I actually was interested in the concept.


The Lineal Premier League Championship.


In the suggestion, either the winner of the Community Shield or the first Premier League game to finish becomes the inaugural (and mythical) Premier League Champion. Then, every Premier League match they play after that is for the title. Title only changes hands on a loss (ie, Champions Advantage), and the new champion starts defending the title in their next match


If gambling for cash: Everyone throws in $5, gets a randomly selected team, winner-takes-all ($100 if all 20 teams are assigned).

[flere-imsaho]

I like that and would be in.

[CarterNMA]

Chelsea v. Wrexham on ESPN & ESPN+ in 9 minutes!!!

[SirFozzie]

Women's World Cup underway, first game, first huge upset. Well done Black Ferns.

[miami_fan]

Originally Posted by SirFozzie

Women's World Cup underway, first game, first huge upset. Well done Black Ferns.

And their first WWC win ever!

Given my current sleep schedule, I have a good chance of seeing/hearing most of these games live. Yeah insomnia.

[SirFozzie]

I went to bed at 2 am. I fell asleep shortly around 7. that should tell you my sleep status.

I had the game on for a couple hours of it., but...

[miami_fan]

Since we are already a goal in, how many goals does the USWNT have to be up by before they are supposed to emulate that famous West Germany-Austria match from the World Cup?

I don't expect this match to get to double digits but just in case...

[sovereignstar v2]

Brutal penalty kick by Morgan

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[Ksyrup]

How few goals do we have to score for this to be a disappointment?

[RainMaker]

I don't think Vietnam will even register a shot but the US looks pretty bad. With that said they'll probably score 8 goals in the 2nd half.

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by sovereignstar v2

Brutal penalty kick by Morgan

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Then faking an injury out of embarrassment.

[SirFozzie]

I thought the writers were all on strike.


Because honestly, if you were writing up the story of Messi's transfer to the US, this is how it would end.

https://twitter.com/rogbennett/statu...76228891480064

[Racer]

Sophia Smith showed tonight why she has been the best player in the NWSL the last two years and is the best player on the USWNT.

I think other then possibly Sophia Smith, Naomi Girma is the player the USWNT could least afford to lose to injury. I think she is probably the USWNT's best defender.

I watch most of Racing Louisville's regular season games so I was also happy to see Savannah DeMelo get a chance to start tonight. She easily been Racing's best player the last two years.

[RainMaker]

I don't follow it enough but why isn't Sophia Smith the 9 on this team? She seems way better than Morgan.

[Racer]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

I don't follow it enough but why isn't Sophia Smith the 9 on this team? She seems way better than Morgan.

I am not 100% sure.

Perhaps Smith has the skills to be great at both winger and central forward whereas less so for Morgan? I believe Smith plays the nine for Portland so she can play there.

Vlatko certainly believes Smith can play there. One of the reasons cited for leaving Ashley Hatch was that Smith, Lynn Williams, and Trinity Rodman are all capable of playing forward or winger whereas Hatch is strictly a forward. Hatch was the NWSL Golden Boot winner in 2021 and arguably the best US player who is currently healthy not to make the roster.

[miami_fan]

Originally Posted by Racer

I am not 100% sure.

Perhaps Smith has the skills to be great at both winger and central forward whereas less so for Morgan? I believe Smith plays the nine for Portland so she can play there.

Vlatko certainly believes Smith can play there. One of the reasons cited for leaving Ashley Hatch was that Smith, Lynn Williams, and Trinity Rodman are all capable of playing forward or winger whereas Hatch is strictly a forward. Hatch was the NWSL Golden Boot winner in 2021 and arguably the best US player who is currently healthy not to make the roster.

I think you are pretty much correct with this. Morgan is a 9 and only a 9. So if she plays she is only playing down the middle. If everyone is 100% healthy, I am not sure Morgan makes this squad. Vlatko's preferred frontline early on was Catarina Macario at the 9 and with Smith on the left and Mallory Swanson on the right. With Macario and Swanson injured, and the way Morgan performed for the USWNT last year (2022 Concacaf W Championship Golden Ball winner, 2022 FIFA World Player of the Year finalist, 2022 NWSL Golden Boot winner), it would be a ballsy decision to not start Morgan at this point. That move will probably have to be made at some point during this tournament. I hope it is not too late if/when it is made but I understand why he has not made so far.

[Solecismic]

LIV was just the beginning, apparently. A Saudi team is offering Mbappe $1.1 billion (including about $300 million in a transfer fee to his current club) for one year.

I don't see the end-game here. Are they trying to buy one all-star entry into the European leagues? Are they just bored and don't feel like building another city?

At least this couldn't work with football. Even if they went to town on one draft, who would they play against?

I wonder if they want an old sports sim?

[sovereignstar v2]

Holy shi. You could get Maguire, Antony, and Sancho for that kind of money

[flere-imsaho]

Originally Posted by Solecismic

LIV was just the beginning, apparently. A Saudi team is offering Mbappe $1.1 billion (including about $300 million in a transfer fee to his current club) for one year.

To be specific (because it's a reasonably juicy story), Mbappe has one year left on his PSG contract and there's substantial rumors that he's already hush-hush agreed to move to Real Madrid when it expires next summer (which is additionally good for Mbappe because the salary you are offered when you transfer on a free is usually higher because your new team doesn't need to pay a transfer fee).

When Mbappe told PSG earlier this summer that he formally wouldn't be picking up his player option for season 2024-2025, they threw a strop and told him (and intimated in public) that if he doesn't pick it up or sign an extention, that they'll bench him for the year. But also intimated that they'd consider ludicrous transfer offers (remember, they bought him from Monaco in 2018 for ~166M Euro). Ludicrous is really anything of note since most teams won't pay a lot for a player in the final year of their contract, knowing they can get the player for free in <1 year.

So now Al Hilal offers 1/3B in transfer fee to PSG (an offer likely in the realm that PSG would like) and 2/3B in salary for one year for Mbappe. In theory, he could do this and then free transfer to Real Madrid as planned.

Of course, Madrid likely won't be paying him 2/3B annually in salary, so now they have to wonder if a) he might sign a multi-year deal or b) he'll get used to the money and sign an extension while he's in Saudi Arabia.

Complicating the matter is that Madrid's President, Florentino Perez (one of the Super League architects, which, ironically, seems to be what Saudi Arabia is trying to build in-country) has more-or-less promised his fanbase that Mbappe will come to Madrid, even to the extent of letting reigning Ballon d'Or forward Karim Benzema move to, again, Saudi Arabia, and not really replacing him with another center forward.

Honestly, the whole thing couldn't happen to a nicer group of oligarchs.

I don't see the end-game here. Are they trying to buy one all-star entry into the European leagues?

In general, sportswashing (see also: LIV, Newcastle United). In specific, they want to build up a good domestic league from scratch. Bootstrap it a bit, apply to switch confederations from AFC to UEFA, and maybe one day you can be on par with a mid-size UEFA league (Portugal? Holland? Belgium?).

Also likely they just have more money than they know how to spend but I like my speculation better.

[flere-imsaho]

Originally Posted by sovereignstar v2

Holy shi. You could get Maguire, Antony, and Sancho for that kind of money

I feel attacked.

[bhlloy]

He’s not signing for more than one year in Saudi no matter what, but earning three quarters of a billion for a year and still ending up in the same place you would have if you’d spent a year sitting in the reserves and trying not to be assaulted by PSG ultras in your hometown is pretty hard to say no to.

Of course there are rumors that Barca are trying to get involved, but they don’t have the kind of money to even buy an entry ticket. I can only see this story ending one way - but he has shocked everyone by resigning with PSG when the entire world thought he was going to Real before.

[GrantDawg]

This Messi kid they signed in Miami. He might be pretty good.

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[MIJB#19]

Originally Posted by flere-imsaho

In general, sportswashing (see also: LIV, Newcastle United). In specific, they want to build up a good domestic league from scratch. Bootstrap it a bit, apply to switch confederations from AFC to UEFA, and maybe one day you can be on par with a mid-size UEFA league (Portugal? Holland? Belgium?).

Would the UEFA let them get away with their way of burning money, considering financial fair play? Oh wait, UEFA's FFP failed. Never mind. It feels extremely unlikely the member nations would welcome another Asian country in their family, but Kazakhstan managed to get in.

A more logical way would be for those people with money to buy all the clubs in some small country. I'm surprised they're not taking the old fashioned route of buying some in trouble European club with huge bandwagon potential that plays in a country that has no financial fair play regulations. I think one of those recently won that Champions League thingy.

[miami_fan]

Originally Posted by flere-imsaho

In general, sportswashing (see also: LIV, Newcastle United). In specific, they want to build up a good domestic league from scratch. Bootstrap it a bit, apply to switch confederations from AFC to UEFA, and maybe one day you can be on par with a mid-size UEFA league (Portugal? Holland? Belgium?).

Also likely they just have more money than they know how to spend but I like my speculation better.

I am beginning to believe that sportswashing used to be the goal but no longer is the goal. I do think they see sports as another avenue into becoming seen as a more "mainstream" country specifically and show the Middle East in that light in general. I mean in the way the Soviet Union, East Germany used to be and of course how China is now. You may not like our politics but you are going to deal with us. Not because we have a billion people or nukes, but we have cash and we know you like cash. That is where things have changed IMO.

They are okay adding enough zeros to the checks to get people to be at the very least silent about the faults. It wasn't the Saudis but we just had a dry World Cup where the hosts told Budweiser they were not allowed to sell alcohol. After that the FIFA president gave his "I feel like a migrant worker" speech and the people who have Budweiser as the official beer of the World Cup were excoriating football fans for wanting to drink and telling them it would be good for them to be sober for a few weeks.

[miami_fan]

USWNT's defense is all over the place.

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by miami_fan

USWNT's defense is all over the place.

Aren't they playing a few people out of position? Very weird strategy in this tournament.

[miami_fan]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

Aren't they playing a few people out of position? Very weird strategy in this tournament.

Yes and no. Yes, with the exception of Girma, the rest of the back line are playing out of position. But no it is not like they are playing in positions that are completely foreign to them. Fox is a left back that has played on the right for the national team. Players like Crystal Dunn and Julie Ertz play in the midfield for their clubs instead of defense. But Ertz began her USWNT career in defense so it is not a huge change for her. Dunn is not really a defender. But she is seen as one of the ten best outfield players on the team. Here is an article that explains what that means for Dunn.

Why Crystal Dunn has to play left back for the USWNT

Basically, of the ten best players on the team, Dunn is the only one of those players who can play left back. She has done it almost exclusively since 2019.

I'll take the draw but that first half was brutal. Something has to be done in the midfield to get control of the match from the start. I don't know if Lavelle has more than 45 minutes in her legs but it may be time to find out.

[whomario]

Youri Tielemans playing with a camera:

Youri Tielemans came on for his Aston Villa debut with a camera attached to his chest.

The pace of play, even in pre-season, is crazy.

pic.twitter.com/6DvcbgA5gZ

— HLTCO (@HLTCO) July 27, 2023

[albionmoonlight]

Why did they put a shower cap on that Dutch player and then put her back in the game? Seems like the strangest response to a suspected concussion that I've ever seen.

[miami_fan]

Originally Posted by albionmoonlight

Why did they put a shower cap on that Dutch player and then put her back in the game? Seems like the strangest response to a suspected concussion that I've ever seen.

https://www.today.com/health/van-de-...jury-rcna96657

Did van de Donk wear the swim cap for a concussion?

No, van de Donk had to wear a swim cap during the Netherlands-U.S. Women's World Cup Game because she was bleeding from her head.

"The compression provided by the swim cap helps stop the bleeding and also prevents blood from getting on the player’s jersey," the medical staff of NJ/NY Gotham FC, a team in the National Women's Soccer League, said in a statement to TODAY.com. "If blood appears on a player’s jersey, the player is temporarily removed from the match and required to change into a clean jersey before returning to play."

Whether she had a concussion or not is a different question.