~Soccer Thread~

[ELA]

She also has to be near 40 by now anyway right?

[SFBadger96]

Born July 1981 according to the font of all wisdom...but keepers might be able to play longer if they stay healthy.

[Brutus Buckeye]

Solo is the quintessential crazy goalie (they are common in hockey and soccer--I played keeper in both...).

She was a difficult and not particularly well-liked teammate. It didn't start with her criticism of Scully in 2007, but that sure didn't help. She would lash out at teammates frequently, she had been disciplined for a domestic violence arrest (she beat up her nephew, though why is an open question--the criminal charges were eventually dropped), and for accompanying her husband while he drove a USWNT van while intoxicated (he got a DUI for that one). And she most definitely did not get along with Coach Ellis. Calling the Swedes "cowards" was bad, but my understanding is that it was her reaction to the suspension following that, not the "cowards" comment itself, that led to her dismissal.

That's a slow Tuesday morning for Pac Man Jones.

[SFBadger96]

I don't follow the NFL well enough to really know anything about Pac Man Jones. I know that Terrell Owens outwore his welcome in San Francisco, despite being a great talent. That kind of thing happens.

Abby Wambach called the suspension "a lifetime achievement award" not too long after it happened. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

As noted above, look out when they play Chile...a team rated lower than Thailand. But maybe this will serve as a warning to Chile not to give up in the 80th minute, even if they are down big. It can still get a lot worse.

[Brutus Buckeye]

US Open Cup

The Crew took down Pittsburgh, and Cincy beat Louisville.

Here's the bracket for the next round.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019_U.S._Open_Cup

*Atlanta beat Charleston and will play the Crew.

There were a pair of USL over MLS round 4 Cupsets. St Louis beat the Chicago Fire, and will face Cincy in the next round. New Mexico took down the Colorado Rapids, and will play Dallas in round 5.

.

Canadian Championship

Round 2 is in the books, and now the MLS/USL teams will be introduced in the quarterfinal round, minus Toronto who gets a bye to the semifinals as the defending Champion. Toronto will play the winner of the Ottawa Fury (USL) vs the Halifax Wanderers (CPL). On the other side of the bracket the Montreal Impact play York (CPL) out of suburban Toronto, and the Vancouver Whitecaps play Calvary (CPL) out of Calgary, Alberta.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019_Canadian_Championship

All three of the CPL teams that had round one byes lost their round two game.

The winners of these two tourneys of course get a bid to the 2020 Champions League. The US teams that don't win this can still qualify by either winning their MLS Conference (East or West) or the MLS Cup. The Canadian teams that don't win the Voyageurs Cup are toast. (Technically one CPL team will also have a path to the Champions League through another qualifying tourney, but the odds of them actually pulling it off are quite slim). 

[ALA2262]

US Open Cup

The Crew took down Pittsburgh, and Cincy beat Louisville.

Here's the bracket for the next round.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019_U.S._Open_Cup

*Atlanta beat Charleston and will play the Crew.

There were a pair of USL over MLS round 4 Cupsets. St Louis beat the Chicago Fire, and will face Cincy in the next round. New Mexico took down the Colorado Rapids, and will play Dallas in round 5.

.

Canadian Championship

Round 2 is in the books, and now the MLS/USL teams will be introduced in the quarterfinal round, minus Toronto who gets a bye to the semifinals as the defending Champion. Toronto will play the winner of the Ottawa Fury (USL) vs the Halifax Wanderers (CPL). On the other side of the bracket the Montreal Impact play York (CPL) out of suburban Toronto, and the Vancouver Whitecaps play Calvary (CPL) out of Calgary, Alberta.



The winners of these two tourneys of course get a bid to the 2020 Champions League.

There were no fans allowed at the Atlanta-Charleston match. WTF!?

[ELA]

Seems like the level of play from 2015 to 2019 jumped by more than I ever recalling from one cycle to the next.  I think I possibly watched more already than I did of the entire men's event last year.  Vivianne Miedema from the Dutch is a name I just learned a week ago, and she might be my favorite player to watch.

[Brutus Buckeye]

Columbus has some sorta pro women's team called the Eagles FC. I was looking at their roster to see if it was basically an OSU alumni team like the Ohio Machine used to be in lacrosse, but there actually aren't any Buckeyes on their roster at all. In fact they only have two players from the Big Ten, one that played at Wisconsin and another from Indiana. There's a third gal that played at Michigan initially, but then transferred to Kentucky.

Really it is insanely Mac heavy. Not only are most of their players Mac alumni, but they seem to have some sorta soccer internship program whereby active college players (perhaps a limited number?) can play for them without derailing their eligibility. They have four players that are currently Ohio Bobcats, one that plays for Kent, one that plays for CMU, two play for Bowling Green, one for Wright State, and a pair of active players from Mt Vernon Nazarene, with is an NAIA up the road. They also have a goalie that is a Louisville commit who still has one year of HS to play in the Fall.

One of their players is an assistant coach (and alum) from Ohio Dominican, another is an assistant coach at Denison, their head coach is the Capital head coach, and play their games at Otterbein. So they pretty much involve every central Ohio Collegiate WSoc team to some degree or another, except Ohio State.

[ALA2262]

Goalie for China Women's team was incredible against Spain. 0-0 draw. Spain should have won by at least 5-0. Check the stats.

https://www.scoreboard.com/game/china-spain-2019/zV87eRZF/#game-summary|game-statistics;0|lineups;1

[ELA]

Goalie for China Women's team was incredible against Spain. 0-0 draw. Spain should have won by at least 5-0. Check the stats.

https://www.scoreboard.com/game/china-spain-2019/zV87eRZF/#game-summary|game-statistics;0|lineups;1

Spain just needed that draw to advance.  Interesting to see a couple of the early women's soccer powers, who just happened to be first, starting to fade.  US, China and Norway were probably the three best early on, now China didn't even qualify in 2011, and got knocked out in the group stage this year.  Norway looks primed to advance, but I think that's the end of the line for them.

[ELA]

Gold Cup kicked off yesterday too.  Not sure the field expansion was necessary.  As much of a mess as the USMNT is right now, they open against Guyana?

They better play with pace, with no Brooks or Yedlin on the back line, fresh off surrendering 3 first half goals to Venezuela.

[ELA]

Some drama here with Australia routing Jamaica, meaning France or Germany would have to play Brazil in a round of 16 game.

Right now Brazil, Italy and Australia would all have 6 points, Italy would be +5, and both Brazil and Australia +3, but Australia with the edge in goals for at 8-5.  So Brazil would finish 3rd

[TyphonInc]

Crew got bounced from the Open cup by Hot-lanta yesterday.

Everyone see US woman's team sublimly golf clap after scoring so as not to upset the internet world who was upset that they cheered in their previous match?

[ALA2262]

Crew got bounced from the Open cup by Hot-lanta yesterday.

Everyone see US woman's team sublimly golf clap after scoring so as not to upset the internet world who was upset that they cheered in their previous match?

They need to moon the cameras and tell them to "kiss my ass".