MLS Summer Interregnum Thread (Nations League, Euros, Copa, Gold Cup, Other PBP)

I tried telling people, @sitruc

 

I'm sorry, which players?

Christine Sinclair, Desiree Scott. Okay.

Ah, the expansion from 18 to 22 players added Sophie Schmidt and Erin McLeod (which explains why I didn't see her Saturday night).

I'm sure those four are definitely relieved and happy, but I don't know how much the rest of the team has been holding onto anything.

And I completely agree that Canada was totally screwed in London. Absolutely. That game was Sinclair's masterpiece - and she's one of the all-time greats. This result was long overdue. And don't let anyone tell you it was a dodgy PK call today. It wasn't. A foul in the box is a foul in the box. And that was a foul in the box.

Congrats to Canada!

 

I think the only thing dodgy about it was if it really met the clear and obvious standard for VAR to get involved. Had it been called in real time by the CR there would be no grounds for complaint at all.

 

I have never seen that before, nor since. And I've watched a lot of CCC/CCL games over the years. I was at the inexplicable 2015 Gold Cup semifinal doubleheader in Atlanta - where after the game I met with two other 20+ year CONCACAF veterans and we all described multiple things none of us had ever seen before -> and we all had different lists. But we didn't see the GK called for six seconds.

 

I'm fine with it. It's not as bad - in my opinion - as the Qatar/US VAR PK attempt. That only got reviewed and called because the Qatar player stayed down on the ground so long. If he'd gotten to his feet within 30 seconds or a minute or so, play would've just continued. Remember one of his teammates got a yellow card for a foul at midfield after that - and before the review. Then again the missed PK is when the game changed. That pretty much killed any mojo the Qataris had.

 

To add to that, the Norwegian ref was never picked to do FIFA matches ever again.

 

...and it needs to. In many ways, this is the USWNT's Couva moment. They need new blood, but will management pull the trigger?

 

What happens in Vegas, STAYS in Vegas!

 

It's probably worth pointing out that somewhere around 96% of MLS players and staff are fully vaccinated. Now, these players aren't necessarily representative of MLS players, but given the high percentage of MLS players that are vaccinated, it's likely that most/all are vaccinated.

 

That hurdles.

 

That world record was shattered.

 

Drugs!

Only kidding.

 

It has not been the best 48 hours for El Tri.

 

That may now be the greatest race I have ever seen. I think all, but one runner had a PR and most were national records. Second place crushed the old world record, but he demolished his own World Record. 45. Sub 46 over hurdles is just ********ing insane. That was the most incredible race I have ever seen and to think second place was stuttering a few times.

 

I guess Spain was tired of the ********ing boring scoreless ties that both games have been.

 

Let me know when Pulisic or any of the current crop win a Concacaf Champions League.

 

And we got the women's final tonight too!

 

Yep, that would have won the British Championship among other things.

I'm fascinated by the seemingly sudden influx of larger sprinters and hurdlers in recent years. Strength training has been in vogue in distance running for quite a while now, but we're starting to see more people like Bolt and Warholm who are more buff than the traditional sleek sprinter build, and they're destroying previous records.

 

I wouldn't be surprised that a good amount of those players watched that match back then when they were kids. 3.8 million people watched the full match in Canada, over 10% of the population at the time.