These are the days when, generally speaking, I am glad a handful of MLS teams play through international breaks: two USNT games, three MLS games, and the big Canada-Curacao friendly are all on tap. Thursday 8 June USWNT at Sweden, 1:30 pm, ESPN2/UDN Trinidad and Tobago at USNT, 8:00 pm, FS1/UniMas, UDN Saturday 10 June Atlanta at Chicago, 4:00 pm, UniMas Montreal at Kansas City, 8:00 pm, MLS Live and Direct Kick Dallas at Portland, 10:30 pm, MLS Live and Direct Kick Sunday 11 June USWNT at Norway, 1:00 pm, FOX USNT at Mexico, 8:30 pm, FS1/Univision/UDN As always, keep it friendly here in the neutral PBP thread. All times listed above are EDT.
If anyone is interested in that sort of thing, the referee crew for CRC-PAN is a familiar USA trio. Marrufo/Rockwell/F. Anderson. Mexico-Honduras has Canadian Drew Fischer with the whistle.
If the USMNT loses both games, will we be hearing calls for Bruce to be fired and Klinsmann hired? No? Well, I thought I would get some people's blood pressure up just for fun. After all, I think we'd all prefer Klinsmann to be the next coach of Sacramento Republic. Think how entertaining that would be!
Talk about against the run of play. That was out of nothing. Wow. Sweet pass by Dunn. The Swedish defense fell asleep.
Anyway, I'm okay with Pia and Jill. Both are really good coaches. I wish they were lesser political animals and more independent. But neither would've coached the WNT. Tom Stone is never getting the job. Mark Krikorian is never getting the job. We saw what happened with Sermanni. Firing someone over not winning the Algarve Cup is an excuse, not a reason. Actually, I really have to give props to Ellis for the WWC win. It seems like she said "******** the shackles", I'm going to do what I want with what I've got halfway through the tournament. Yes, it would've been nice if she could've gone to Canada without taking injured players like Morgan or the need to start players like Wambach, but financial and sponsorship concerns will always be part of the WNT equation until attendance and broadcast revenues allow for independence from the sponsorship revenue stream. That said, I still think taking Rapinoe to Brazil was as bad as any of April Heinrich's selections in 2003. Shocking and disappointing.
Final USA 1-0 SWE That was relatively painful. Hopefully Kelly O'Hara isn't injured. See y'all later for the game in Denver.
Leaving in about 45 minutes for USA-T&T. Given the heat/sun I'm liking my choice to buy on the shady side of the stadium for this one, unlike my Rapids season tickets.
Gone back to the roots at Casa Bluecat for the pregame meal... Hawaiian Delight pizza Breadsticks Root Beer Let's do this thing!
This is the kind of game that leaves me clutching a bourbon bottle and cursing existence. Not necessarily in that order.