soccer soccer soccer

[stitchface]

Great return to club soccer this weekend:

 

Saturday is Bayern (sans Lewandowski) at Leipzig - love to see Leipzig make it a race.

 

At same time City is at Leicester.

 

In Spain, Athletico is at Sevilla.

 

Nice that the qualifiers mean something instead of friendlies, but too few of them are competitive to make it interesting.

 

And then the following week we get back to the best competition on earth. That's right CONCACAF Champions League kicks off in just 7 days.

 

lol. If only they played early in the morning while I'm drinking my coffee.

[soccer10k]

[tweet]

[/tweet]

 

Now here’s an intentional elbow I can support.

[imb]

golf, wales, hitting racists in the face, madrid

[wolf stansson]

Gareth Bale has always been cool (even tho he looks like a dragonball z character) and should’ve transferred back to Spurs while Poch was still there.

 

 

Everton have the most momentum in the Dike transfer sweepstakes, which I think is perfect. Get him on that young Lukaku trajectory.

[stitchface]

https://www.espn.com/soccer/united-states-usa/story/4349702/usmnt-world-cup-2022-big-board-pulisic-first-on-the-plane-to-qatarbut-is-there-room-for-aaronson

 

Not sure too much to argue about here. Aaronson for sure but anyone else left off you feel should be in? The first 6 are clear starters . . .

[bukie]

https://www.espn.com/soccer/united-states-usa/story/4349702/usmnt-world-cup-2022-big-board-pulisic-first-on-the-plane-to-qatarbut-is-there-room-for-aaronson

 

Not sure too much to argue about here. Aaronson for sure but anyone else left off you feel should be in? The first 6 are clear starters . . .

I don't see the point of Zardes on the squad in 2 years, he doesn't bring much of anything to the table they couldn't get in almost any other candidate.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

https://www.espn.com/soccer/united-states-usa/story/4349702/usmnt-world-cup-2022-big-board-pulisic-first-on-the-plane-to-qatarbut-is-there-room-for-aaronson

 

Not sure too much to argue about here. Aaronson for sure but anyone else left off you feel should be in? The first 6 are clear starters . . .

 

Outside of more general quibbles that boil down to personal preference, the only thing that seems really out of place is Horvath both being in the list and being so high. Feels like he doesn't have a leg up on the slew of other options(Turner, Johnson, Guzan, Hamid) even if he does have a legitimate shot.

 

The only name not mentioned that feels like it deserves mention is Sam Vines. He's had a few full team appearances, and Robinson is the only other true LB on the list. Maybe some other names you can say are in the conversation, like Acosta, Yedlin, Mueller, Cardoso, but they're in competition for the bottom of the rroster.

[stitchface]

https://www.espn.com/soccer/united-states-usa/story/4349702/usmnt-world-cup-2022-big-board-pulisic-first-on-the-plane-to-qatarbut-is-there-room-for-aaronson

 

Not sure too much to argue about here. Aaronson for sure but anyone else left off you feel should be in? The first 6 are clear starters . . .

 

Outside of more general quibbles that boil down to personal preference, the only thing that seems really out of place is Horvath both being in the list and being so high. Feels like he doesn't have a leg up on the slew of other options(Turner, Johnson, Guzan, Hamid) even if he does have a legitimate shot.

 

The only name not mentioned that feels like it deserves mention is Sam Vines. He's had a few full team appearances, and Robinson is the only other true LB on the list. Maybe some other names you can say are in the conversation, like Acosta, Yedlin, Mueller, Cardoso, but they're in competition for the bottom of the rroster.

 

I guess a backup keeper has to be on the list so maybe it's the role not the person? Acosta for sure. I don't see Yedlin in there after two more years of sliding. I could see Konrad playing his way into a spot though it's speculative.

[wolf stansson]

The only name not mentioned that feels like it deserves mention is Sam Vines.

This is a great, MLS-head pick. I believe Sam Vines will be a starter candidate if Dest stays on the right, a year from now.

 

I also have a hard time seeing Jordan Morris holding off Aaronson as a winger. With the our forwards finding their feet in Europe, JMO as break glass in case of emergency forward is way less likely than even 6 months ago and Aaronson is developing at an incredibly quick rate in Europe. I expect him to be at RB Leipzig or another second tier big club a year from now. I wouldn't be surprised if he's a package deal with Marsch, wherever he ends up coaching next. Tough to see JMO come back from knee reconstruction and beat him out for that sparkplug attacker off the bench role. Aaronson just fits in so well with the style our center mids are playing. He's more horizontal than JMO.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

I also have a hard time seeing Jordan Morris holding off Aaronson as a winger. With the our forwards finding their feet in Europe, JMO as break glass in case of emergency forward is way less likely than even 6 months ago and Aaronson is developing at an incredibly quick rate in Europe. I expect him to be at RB Leipzig or another second tier big club a year from now. I wouldn't be surprised if he's a package deal with Marsch, wherever he ends up coaching next. Tough to see JMO come back from knee reconstruction and beat him out for that sparkplug attacker off the bench role. Aaronson just fits in so well with the style our center mids are playing. He's more horizontal than JMO.

 

If you assume that you're probably taking 4 or 5 wingers to a world cup, then you've got Pulisic, Reyna, Weah, and Aaronson all pretty easily in form and over Morris, and then you layer on the injury and any other contenders(Arriola? Mueller? Boyd? even Dest, etc) and it looks like a pretty uphill climb. The things working in Morris' favor would be that a lot can happen between now and next fall, players can get hurt(looking at you Weah, but really anyone can get hurt), roles could change(maybe in a post-Haaland world Reyna becomes more of a false 9 and seizes that role that no one else has), today's settled positions are tomorrow's question marks. Plus, Morris has experience with the team and has shown he can be productive at that level, and his skillset is a little unique and fits well with a roster you would build for tournament play. So at this point I wouldn't bank on it, but there's still a decent path for Jordan if he comes back strong.

[wolf stansson]

Not to mention Lletget clearly being to GGG what Kyle Beckerman was to Klinsy. Every coach has their one guy. A lot of attacking options.

 

 

Snake bit season. Feels like there’s something not meant to be with CP & Tuchel.

[stitchface]

hard to say just this season. Seems like this has been going on for years now.

[wolf stansson]

BOOMER X2

 

Dike goals are “boomers” because he’s from Oklahoma, you see.

[imb]

BOOMER X2

 

Dike goals are “boomers” because he’s from Oklahoma, you see.

 

well im sold

 

an american star from oklahoma who doesnt like instagram posts by white supremacists, friendship ended with christian

[CaliforniaRaisin]

BOOMER X2

 

Dike goals are “boomers” because he’s from Oklahoma, you see.

 

well im sold

 

an american star from oklahoma who doesnt like instagram posts by white supremacists, friendship ended with christian

 

But how’s Dike’s brisket?

[wolf stansson]

BOOMER X2

 

Dike goals are “boomers” because he’s from Oklahoma, you see.

 

well im sold

 

an american star from oklahoma who doesnt like instagram posts by white supremacists, friendship ended with christian

 

But how’s Dike’s brisket?

Doesn’t matter. This is the energy we need:

 

 

 

He put 2 soccer balls together so they look like a butt. We were here posting about Klinsy leaving Landon off the squad, but the future was sharpening his blade on a practice field in Oklahoma.

[stitchface]

Pulisic in squad for Porto . . . not a great day for EPL today.

[stitchface]

seems tough to take 31 shots with 12 on target and lose.

[stitchface]

https://www.espn.com/soccer/soccer-transfers/story/4355664/barcelona-open-to-offers-for-usmnts-konrad-in-summer-sources

 

Have to agree that playing first team in a top league is better than playing in 3rd division in Spain.

[wolf stansson]

Another Barnsley game, another boomer, another win. Barnsley play the worst soccer I’ve ever seen. I can’t wait until he gets an upgrade.

 

 

 

Chelsea is responding well to the humiliation from West Brom.

[wolf stansson]

International break woke CP up. He played with an edge today.

[stitchface]

International break woke CP up. He played with an edge today.

 

 

Perhaps it woke him up because he got minutes . . .

[wolf stansson]

[wolf stansson]

 

I really hope they get to the promotion playoffs. That would be fun to watch, despite, and I can’t stress this enough, Barnsley playing the worst brand of soccer I’ve ever seen.

[bukie]

Chelsea through to the UCL semis, Pulisic played all 90 and dominated the ball, keeping Porto from mounting much of a challenge until the very end, when they were able to pull one back at 90+4.