Wednesday, August 16, 2017

Some Soccer News for Aug 16, 2017

It's Day 228 of 2017.


My new column for 1500ESPN - The New Loons are here! Rounding up and rating the newest members of Minnesota United.

dN

John Brooks has a torn tendon in his right thigh and will be out 3 months - so he will miss the remaining USMNT World Cup qualifiers. Dammit.

The current USMNT defenders list is a hot mess right now:
-Right Fullbacks:
  • Yedlin - out, thigh injury
  • Lichaj - not getting any minutes
  • Chalder - playing, scored goal
  • Zusi - playing
-Right Centerbacks:
  • Cameron - playing, healthy
  • Gonzalez - out, ankle injury
  • Orozco - playing
-Left Centerbacks:
  • Besler - playing
  • Brooks - out, thigh injury
  • Ream - playing
-Left Fullbacks:
  • Beasley - playing
  • Villafana - not getting any minutes
-Other Possible CBs:
  • Birnbaum
  • Carter-Vickers
  • Hedges
  • Marshall
  • Miazga
  • Spector
  • Zimmerman
-Other Possible LFBs
  • Garza
  • FJohnson
  • Morrow
-Other Possible RFBs:
  • Evans
  • Polster

dN

When a loser is a winner: FC Cincinnati got beat 2-3 by New York Red Bulls in the US Open Cup semifinals last night. But with a full enthusiastic stadium this club is bound for bigger things. Even the Red Bulls fans and players saluted the hosts after the game.

dN

Our man and Loons fan Peter Bartz-Gallager is in a new MNUFC video for a sorta Cross-Bar challenge!
  • Christian Ramirez, Miguel Ibarra and another fan, Ethan Neal.

dN

US Open Cup

Cincy lead 2-0 into the 74th minute. At home. And the Red Bulls, like other MLS teams before them, were clearly rattled. But 2nd half subs for NY upped the teams energy and pressure. They controlled the ball almost the entire 2nd half, and then in the 75th and 78th they struck quickly to level the score and badly wound the Cincy players and fans. The game did go to Extra Added Time, but again NY poured on the the pressure until Bradley Wright Phillips got his 2nd goal of the game, and finished it off.
  • It was a helluva game.

But the dream is over for Cincinnati. By Patrick Brennan for the Cincinnati Enquirer.

RBNY will travel to SKC for the Cup.

In a similar fashion to FCC I will never forget the 2005 Open Cup run for the Minnesota Thunder, who also made it to the Semifinals.
  • In a way the Thunder run was even more impressive in that they beat 3 MLS teams in a row (Cincy beat two - both at home), the first 2 at home and the third on the road at Kansas City (I got maced at that game.) Then MT had to go to LA Galaxy for the semis (where Cincy played another home game.) Minnesota lost 5-2 to the Galaxy, but had an early chance to take the lead and on a penalty kick that Melvin Tarley put over the goal. Who knows what could have happened if that goal had gone in for the Thunder.

Semifinals Schedule:
-Tue Aug 15
Cincinnati 2-3 New York Red Bulls

Final Schedule:
-Wed Sep 20
Sporting Kansas City v Red Bull New York

dN

Precip: du Nord Music Mix Vol 135 (download + extract)

dN

MINNESOTA UNITED

Some more details on the Minn United stadium being built in the Midway of St Paul. By Tim Newcomb for Four Four Two.

Another injury update: Burch, Ramirez and Cronin. By Megan Ryan for the Star Tribune.

Schedule:
-Sun Aug 20
Seattle v Minnesota - 8:30pm CT on FS1

dN

MLS

Former long time MLS assistant coach and head coach Paul Mariner makes lots of observations about the current state of MLS on the field from many angles. By Ridge Mahoney for Soccer America.

Matias Laba of Vancouver, a du Nord favorite, is out for the rest of the season do to a right ACL tear. He is headed to surgery and a rehab. It is usually about a 4-6 month recovery time.

There is a MLS mural in Chicago. From Windy City Times.

Week 24 Schedule:
(11 games)
-Wed Aug 16
Montreal v Chicago
-Fri Aug 18
Portland v New York RB
-Sat Aug 19
Montreal v Salt Lake
Orlando v Columbus
Chicago v Toronto
KC v v Dallas
Colorado v DC
Vancouver v Houston
San Jose v Philadelphia
-Sun Aug 20
New York City v New England
Seattle v Minnesota

dN

Julian de Guzman has been named head coach and GM of Ottawa Fury in USL.
  • Paul Dalglish stepped down as head coach yesterday. He had told ownership that he wanted to leave at the end of the season, and they decided to make the move right away. Good decision.

dN

All of my columns for 1500ESPN.



The Bird Is The Word

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