Day 6 (6/24) Moral Draws

GROWING SAGO PALM, HOME, CA - #12 D3-Chelsea scored twice in two minutes of first half stoppage time to deflate #101 D2-Esperance de Tunisie's chances (who needed to win) en route to a 3-0 victory to finish 2nd in Group D.  #17 C4-SL Benfica scored an early goal and held on to beat #2 C1-Bayern Munich (who already qualified), 1-0, to win Group C.  

Two minnows managed to secure their first goal and their first point of the tournament.  D4-LAFC, who were held without a shot on goal until the 90'+4 last game, waited until the 84' for their first SOG but made it count.  However, two minutes later #27 D1-Flamengo (who had already won Group D) tied it and prevented LAFC with a moral victory, just a moral 1-1 draw.

#163 (or 4,971 according to Opta) C2-Auckland City's goalkeeper Nathan Garrow did everything with 10 saves (most of the spectacular variety) and even scored (on himself for #95 C3-Boca Juniors' only goal) in securing a point (and the $1 million that comes with it) in the 1-1 draw.  BOC had 39 shots with 10 on goal but didn't score (again, an own goal was their only goal).  Christian Gray will etch himself in the record books with a great header goal, AKL's first of the tournament. 

AKL's goalkeeper has seen 102 shots come his way with 43 of those on goal, making 27 saves.  With no real competition, the semi-pro/amateur side will likely qualify for 2029's CWC.

16 picked CHE but just 3 picked LAFvFLA tie and only Mauihammy (16th (last), 24 pts) picked SLB.  No one could imagine AKLvBOC ending in a draw.  All 16 had BAY and CHE making the Round of 16 while 14 had FLA and 11 had SLB.  Only four got 2 of the 4 games correct while 9 got all 4 R16 teams right.  Mancitymania got 14 of the 16 pts today to from a tie for 7th to a tie for 3rd (33).  8 others got 13 pts today.  Sweet Futbol Fabone only got 11 pts today but remains in first with 35 pts followed closely by PoolraiderPSG (34).  5 lost BOC in their R16 bracket.  12 got only 1 match correct while 7 got 3 of 4 R16 teams correct.  Four got 10 of 16 pts.

One of our sago palms just doubled in height this month, its newest leaves shooting skyward.  I wore my 2023-24 SL Benfica home jersey, which celebrates 120 years.

Day 2 (6/20) Flamengo Shocks, Two are Out

HILTON COSTA MESA, CA - Both #17 C4-SL Benfica and #2-Bayern Munich clung to just 1-0 halftime leads but while SLB exploded after a 2 hour weather delay for five goals to win 6-0, BAY needed a late strike to outlast #95 C3-Boca Juniors, 2-1.   The goal of the tourney thus far was BOC's goal as the attacker passed to himself as he ran past a confused defender with a clinical strike to tie it at 1.  BAY became the first team to clinch a spot in the Round of 16 while #163 C2-Auckland City became the first team eliminated.  BOC's loss was South America's first loss of the tournament (6-1-3).

But #356 D4-LAFC would soon join AKL, as a missed PK late in stoppage time allowed #101 D2-ES Tunis to win 1-0.  LAFC didn't even have a shot on goal until the 4th minute of stoppage time (ended with 2 with saved PK) in their best opportunity to pick up 3 points.  #27 D1-Flamengo rallied to upset #12 D3-Chelsea 3-1 to lead win Group D.  LAFC usually only chokes in championship games, not the group stages.

All 16 entries picked SLB and BAY to win while just 5 picked FLA and no one picked EST.  1 Billion Cash Grab and Sweet Futbol Fabone are tied for first with 6 points while Alyonushka, Kona Coast Sliders, and Oreshnik are tied for last with 3 points.

Visited the Hilton Costa Mesa as a site visit for an upcoming IEEE meeting in 2027 and wore my 2023 home Boca Juniors jersey with all the patches.  BOC fans are some of the best and created a great atmosphere in Miami, almost getting BOC a draw.

Issue 7.3.1 "Topsy Turvy Tourney" (After Qtrs)

Archive

Saturday, August 1, 2020

FOUR EXPANSION TEAMS IN PAST 10 YEARS ARE IN THE SEMIFINALS
Bobby Cee Racer wins the first-ever HWCI MLS Pool!  Two vying for final spot

KAYAKING IN LONG BEACH, CA (smt) -- The MLS may be celebrating its 25th anniversary but it's four expansion teams that will play in the semifinals.  2A-Philadelphia Union ('10), 1F-Portland Timbers ('11), 1A-Orlando City SC ('15), and 2D-Minnesota United FC ('17) all joined just in the last ten years.  Only POR has reached a conference final (Champion'15, Runners-up '18) with ORL never making the playoffs in their five years.  Three teams will be looking for their first major trophy (PHI lost in the U.S. Open Cup final three times and MIN once) which will be a big deal for their fans.  All the major favorites are gone (ATL, TOR, LAFC, RBNY, SKC, SEA) except for MIN, despite the Loons, who are undefeated in 2020 (3-0-2 in regular season, 4-0-3 overall), telling everyone they are the underdogs.

PHI scored 3 times in 15 minutes in the second half to blow past 1D-Sporting Kansas City, 3-1, while MIN scored twice in two minutes in the first half to beat the golden-shorted 1B-San Jose Earthquakes, 4-1.  POR scored twice in 11 minutes in the second half to break a 1-1 tie in rallying to win 3-1 over 3A-New York City FC.  Only the ORL and 2F-Los Angeles Football Club match provided drama all the way to the end.

Can You Hear Me Now? (7/31)

SON EDGED THE GRASS, CA -- Remember a couple days ago when FC Cincinnati's Jurgen Locadia scored a PK against Portland Timber GK Tyler Miller but when it came to the penalty kick shootout (PSO), Miller got his revenge and made the save against Locadia?  Well, here in the mismatch between never-made-the-playoffs Orlando City SC and scored-3.75-goals-per-match Los Angeles Football Club.... but, let's start at the beginning.

ORL, with two more days rest, played even with LAFC and had a breakthrough when they were awarded a PK.  But LAFC's GK Kenneth Vermeer came up big with a diving stretched out save against Nani to keep the match scoreless in the 57'.  And 3 minutes later, LAFC were on the board with Bradley Wright-Philips' fourth goal in 5 matches with LAFC in the 60' (first LAFC of the match).  Host ORL were still fighting and on a CK, ORL headed it for a goal in the 90' which did not make head coach Bob Bradley happy.  The stats were actually heavy in favor of ORL (17 shots to 8, 7 CKs to 4, 52% possession to 48%).  Opta, once again is its usually self, somehow crediting ORL with 5 shots on goal but LAFC with 5 saves.... then the goal was not a shot on goal?  Only Opta as we say in the LA Galaxy Press Box.

In the PSO, LAFC hit the crossbar on their second attempt but made the other four.  Vermeer actually saved ORL's fourth shot but the ball trickled behind him into the goal.  At 4-4, Nani had a chance to win it (got to give it to him going 5th, that's what we want our DPs to do) and, did I mention the CIN-POR story above, Nani got his revenge and nailed the game-winner, 5-4, in the PSO.  Nani ran with a "can you hear me now?" pose and the celebration in both the clubhouse and at ORL's stadium were great.  I do not like the stutter-steps when players take PKs though.  With prior exuberant celebrations by San Jose Earthquakes and Minnesota United FC, and now ORL, this makes it feel like a World Cup atmosphere.  As great as LAFC are, they tend to falter in knockout matches.  They finally beat LA Galaxy last year in the playoffs and then lose to Seattle Sounders FC.  They beat SEA in Round of 16 and then lose to ORL.  And Bradley is not happy.

In the pool, no one picked ORL and 9 lost out on LAFC.  And with 5 matches to go, we have our champion!  Bobby Cee Racer (70 pts) is our first HWCI MLS Pool Champion.  TarjetaRoja (2nd, 63) who had clinched a spot yesterday will finish 2nd or 3rd.  Four others will fight for that last prize spot.  

Tomorrow, 5 picked MIN and 5 picked NYC.  Beyond that, The Six Foot Box (3rd, 59) has MIN in final and Deutschland = Koenig (4th, 57) has PHI in final.  Those two could snatch 2nd away from TarjetaRoja.  With LAFC out, no one will pick the correct champion.  Go Chivas, who had LAFC as his champ, has clinched last place (47).  He, along with BigRedMessy (5th-Tied, 56) and BigRedMessi 2 (10th-T, 53) were eliminated.

Double Rout (7/27)

BOY SCOUT EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS, CA -- Real Salt Lake tied the match about 21 seconds after kicking off following San Jose Earthquakes' first goal with a great chip over the GK to go into halftime tied at 1.  But SJ came out scoring four times in the second half (matching Los Angeles Football Club's 4 2nd half goals vs LA Galaxy) in dominating a frustrated RSL team, 5-2.  SJ had two PKs (both converted by Magnus Eriksson who also added an assist) and RSL had two players sent off.  SJ's Wondo scored off the bench for a 3rd straight match.

In the heavyweight marque match, LAFC got its revenge on last year's playoff loss whipping Seattle Sounders FC, 4-1 behind Diego Rossi's two goals (7 for the tourney).  LAFC was fast and had control but when Rossi couldn't be a couple of golden chances away, SEA came back to cut LAFC's lead in half at 2-1 with 15 minutes left.  But LAFC scored twice in 7 minutes as Rossi managed to finally put an easy goal away.  There were no cards in the match.

Concacaf announced a new WC22 qualifying format with 30 teams competing for three spots to join the top 5 teams to form the 8-team Final Round (no longer the Hex anymore, I guess the Oct).  The top five are 11-Mexico, 22-USA, 46-Costa Rica, 48-Jamaica, and 62-Honduras, based on the July 16th FIFA rankings.  The 30 teams in the First Round will be broken into six groups of five with 69-El Salvador, 73-Canada, 80-Curacao, 81-Panama, 86-Haiti, and 105-Trinidad and Tobago pre-seeded for each.  The six group winners will pair off in the Second Round and the 3 winners will advance to the Final Round.  With 8 teams competing for 3.5 spots, it will be harder for USA considering how poorly they do on the road.

In the pool, Coronavirus_Sucks! was the only one to get SJ and also was one of 13 to get LAFC.   2 got none.  She moved to 5th (54 pts) in the standings but Bobby Cee Racer still has a six point lead with 62 pts.  SJ's win eliminated Hereforthecommentary (8th-Tied, 51) from the top 3 and yours truly, Futbol Fabone Eleven (8th-T), from 1st.  13 had SEA going to the Quarters as the SEA-LAFC matchup was not expected so soon eliminating Carseroni (14th, 46) from the top 3, leaving 12 still alive and 6 who can win the pool.  Bobby Cee Racer still has a 63.1% chance to win the pool and slightly lower than yesterday 88.1% chance to finish in the top 3.  BigRedMessy (7th, 52) moved up with a 14.1% chance to win 1st and 40.2% chance to finish in the top 3.  He is the only entry left that still has his/her champion with LAFC.  3 had SEA winning it all including our leader.  With most favorites out, the most any entry could get is just 89 points.  Super League, in last with 43 pts, had a 1 in 1024 chance to finish 3rd and now sits at 1 in 512.

Crazy Endings (7/23)

AT WORK FOR ONE 15-MINUTE MEETING, CA -- An electrifying, pun intended, match as lightning paused the Chicago Fire FC and Vancouver Whitecaps FC match for more than 90 minutes in the 63' while scoreless.  When play resumed, VAN came out strong and scored twice in the next 8 minutes to not only prevent a potential crazy tiebreaker between NYC and CHI going to disciplinary points but the 2-0 win was enough to get into the Knockout Round, eliminating CHI and putting NYC's hopes on hold.  Both teams did a complete 180 with CHI starting with a convincing victory over the defending champ Seattle Sounders FC and VAN blowing a 3-1 lead to lose to the San Jose Earthquakes.

CHI pulled within one on a scramble but VAR reversed the goal and called the handball which was harsh.  But apparently, in trying to make it more black and white, any handball leading to a goal is called back.  The one reversal helped send CHI home in dramatic fashion.

But not as dramatic (and not talking about the ref injury and substitution in the 20') as the Houston Dynamo-LA Galaxy match where HOU took the early lead and watched LA blow opportunity after opportunity.  As time wore on, it was obvious LA was not going to score much less get the 3-goal win they needed.  But eventually, luck runs out, and HOU was called for a soft foul in the box (similar to how LAFC got a PK in their El Trafico match, so I guess this was payback?) in the 90' and Cristian Pavon converted sending HOU home with the 1-1 draw.  HOU needed a win and New York City FC needed HOU to draw or lose and that stoppage time penalty sent NYC into the Round of 16 as the 16th and final team.

LA does know that Zlatan does not play for them anymore, right?  At one point LA had 28 crosses to HOU's 6 (ended 34-12).  So LA is unlucky, untimely, and just poor.  HOU's goal where LA GK just stood there on the free kick was embarrassing.  LA blew a late 3-on-1 breakaway which would have given LA a boost in the regular season standings but the perfect Pavon open cross went to no one because LA stopped running.  It's a roller coaster watching this team.

In the first match, LA missed a PK that would've opened scoring and dictated the match.  LA had two goals called offsides by a foot or so in losing to POR 2-1.  In their second match, the soft PK call enabled LAFC to tie it at 1.  LA thought it took a 3-2 lead but Pavon was just offsides.  LAFC soon scored and then added 3 more.  LA had four goals but two were PKs and one was an own goal.  Sigh.  But I still love LA.

Speaking of  Los Angeles, the Los Angeles Football Club continued to score without Carlos Vela.  Two more goals gave them a tourney-high 11, including Bradley Wright-Phillips scoring in his third straight match (taking out camera on wicked strike) with LAFC, but the Portland Timbers pulled the equalizer in the 81' to win Group F with a 2-2 draw.   Unlike Group D, where the loser (runner-up) got two extra days rest, in Group F it was worth playing to win the group to get 2nd-year FC Cincinnati rather than the defending champ Seattle Sounders FC.  So with the draw, LAFC finishes 2nd and will try to get revenge from their playoff loss last year to SEA in the Round of 16.

So to recap:  VAN scores the two needed 2nd half goals after a 90-minute weather delay to edge out CHI for 3rd, LA scores a PK in stoppage to eliminate HOU, and POR scores in the 81' to get the draw that wins Group F.  Whew.

In the pool, Bobby Cee Racer extends his lead to six points with an even 50 so far.  Three are tied for 2nd (44) and four are tie for 5th (43).  Bobby Cee Racer was the only one to pick the LA-HOU tie and Carseroni (9th, 42) and Deutschland = Koenig (5th-T) were the only two to pick the LAFC-POR tie.  No one got to pick the rescheduled CHIvVAN match.

Six teams were awarded points today and all 15 got NYC, 3 got SJ, 14 got SEA, 13 got VAN, 9 got POR, and all 15 got LAFC into the Round of 16.  9 entries got 5 of the 6 while the other six got 4 of out of 6.  Overall, Bobby Cee Racer, Carseroni, and Duetschland = Koeing got 16 (out of a possible 20) points today and six got just 12.

As for the Round of 16, Bobby Cee Racer got 13 of the 16 while twelve got 11.  Super League (15th, 35) got just nine.  Everyone had RBNY and ATL but both failed to qualify.  14 had CHI who failed to qualify.  There were six teams picked to win the tournament and four are eliminated (ATL (5), LA (3), HOU (1), and COL (1)).

Issue 4.1.3 "Seattle, LAFC, and Toronto Back in Form" (After each team played 2 matches)

Archive

Sunday, July 19, 2020

     TOP TEAMS EXCEPT ATLANTA RE-ASSERT THEIR POWER; SIX TEAMS PUNCH TICKET
Kona Coast Fauci's and Kona Coast Sliders remain tied for 1st

HOME, CA (smt) -- All teams have now played at least two matches with Group B teams B1-Seattle Sounders FC and B4-San Jose Earthquakes having finished group play due to the rescheduling of matches with FC Dallas and Nashville SC withdrew.  Eight of the 20 teams that played attained at least 4 points to join A1-Orlando City SC, A4-Philadelphia Union, and SJ.  Three teams already have 3 points and sit in the 3rd place position.

C1-Toronto took back control of Group C with a wild 4-3 win over C3-Impact de Montreal where Ayo Akinola has 5 goals and Alejandro Pozuelo has 5 assists in the two matches.  E4-Columbus Crew SC and F4-Portland Timbers clinched a spot in the Knockout Round with their second wins while SJ clinched Group B with a win over B2-Chicago Fire FC.  C3-D.C. United and C2-New England Revolution played to a draw to attain 4 points each as did D1-Real Salt Lake and D4-Minnesota.  D3-Colorado Rapids managed to tie the match down 2 men but D2-Sporting KC got the game-winner in stoppage time while 10-men and Josef Martinez-less E1-Atlanta United FC couldn't muster anything against E2-FC Cincinnati, falling 1-0.  ATL got a second red late in stoppage and haven't scored in 215 minutes. 

Short-handed F2-LA Galaxy (without Jonathan Dos Santos or Chicharito) took a 2-1 lead but fell hard 6-2 to Carlos Vela-less F1-Los Angeles Football Club with Diego Rossi getting 4 goals and an assist (5 goals for the tourney).  Short-handed B3-Vancouver, without four strikers, wilted against defending MLS champ B1-Seattle Sounders FC who desperately needed a win with SEA winning 3-0 and actually clinching a spot into the Round of 16.  They are guaranteed to be at least the 4th-best 3rd place team with 4 points (Group A 3rd place will max at 3 points and if Group E has a 3rd place team with 4 pts it will have a worse goal-differential (-1) than SEA's +2).

One Way Traffic (7/18)

FORMING NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH, CA -- The Portland Timbers clinched a spot into the Round of 16 with a 2-1 win over the Houston Dynamo.  POR becomes the 4th team to make the Knockout stage and leads Group F. 

In the 7th El Traffico, the LA Galaxy got news that Javier Hernandez won't be in the lineup due a calf injury which mean both he and Jonathan Dos Santos were out.  Despite being huge underdogs, LA managed to score twice, one on an own goal and one on a retaken penalty (when LAFC GK went off his line too early to make the save - but no yellow card like in the Women's World Cup, just a retake).  With a 2-1 lead heading into halftime, the wheels began to fall apart.  Diego Rossi scored his 2nd right before the halftime whistle off a LA GK save.  LA tried again and in the second half, Carlos Pavon scored but he was maybe a half step offsides and six minutes later LAFC took the lead for good.  For good measure, Rossi scored twice more (to finish with a tourney high 4 goals and 1 assist) to embarrass their neighbors, 6-2.  This was the second straight 8-goal El Traffico, both won by LAFC who now have tied the series at 2-2-3.  40 goals in 7 matches (5.7 goals per match) and this was the first without Zlatan.

LAFC is virtually in the Knockout round with 4 pts and a +4 goal differential, almost definitely will be the top 2 or top 4 3rd place finishers while LA is virtually out with 0 points and a tourney worst goal differential of -5.  LA would have to beat HOU by 2 to take 3rd place and then hope 3 points is enough.

While teams that have qualified for the Knockout round could rest players for their last group match, don't forget these group matches do count in the regular season standings so a loss would not be acceptable.

11 got POR and 8 got LAFC.  5 went 2-0 while Deutschland = Koenig went 0-2.  The top 2 remain the same and four points separate first and last. 

Epic Comeback (7/13)

BACK TO WORK AT HOME, CA -- The last 156 times, a team that trailed by 2 goals and went down a man went on to lose, as expected.  Well, that changed today as D.C. United rallied in the second half to score twice to stun Toronto FC, 2-2, in the Group C match.  DC played the entire 2nd half with 10 men and TOR controlled possession but sub Federico Higuain got DC on the board in the 84' with a great chip over the GK and Federic Brilliant scored a minute into stoppage time.  It ruined a "brilliant" performance from TOR's Ayo Aknola (2 goals) and Alejandro Pozuelo (2 assists) but provided fireworks after the match.

Both LA teams have a very leaky defense but the difference is Los Angeles Football Club, even with Carlos Vela, knows how to score and score often.  The Houston Dynamo's Memo Rodriguez scored twice in the first half around LAFC's Bradley Wright-Phillips' first goal in his first appearance for LAFC.  VAR helped and overruled an offside and HOU got their 3rd goal.  In the second half, LAFC scored twice and ended with 71.5% possession in the 3-3 draw.  This was the 2nd straight match LAFC allowed 3 goals (both 3-3 draws).

The LA Galaxy gave up two sloppy goals in the second half and Chicharito's first MLS goal was of little consolation after his PK was saved in the 12'.  The Portland Timbers vaulted to the top of Group F with a 2-1 win despite being down a man the last 15 minutes.

Will coaches want to talk with TV announcers?  POR's coach watched his team seemingly give up a goal in the 81' while talking with FS1 but VAR intervened and ruled offsides denying Gordon Wild's first goal on his first touch in his first minute of MLS play.  This was after yesterday when COL's coach watched his team give up a goal while talking with ESPN.  LA also had a goal disallowed by an offside in the 86'.

LA came up short ending a 2-match streak (and 3 of the past 4) where the trailing team scored the last two goals in the second half.

No one got the TOR-DC or LAFC-HOU draws but 5 did get POR correct leaving Kona Coast Sliders and Kona Coast Fauci's tied for first with 5 pts.  BigRedMessi2 is last with one point.