The Adidas brothers apparently joined the Nazi party. That's over the line. At some point in the late 1930s, the Nazis became the only game in town, all other businesses having been confiscated.
I helped Edwin Black with research for his eugenics book -- I think I'm mentioned in the acknowledgements. One of the uglier sides of humanity, not just the need for tribalism, but the need to feel somehow superior to those other tribes.
“War Against the Weak”? Great book. Read it awhile back but probably didn’t scrutinize the acknowledgments. Gotta go back and look (if I can remember where it’s shelved.).
anyway, back to Matias, who can deny that he's made San Jose soccer a whole lot more fun and interesting to watch?
Something I found interesting. The Quakes' reserve team (U23?) has been playing against junior college teams over the past 3 weeks. This week they played at Cabrillo College and they started Skahan, Haji and Akanyinge from the first team. I heard at halftime Almeyda came over to the team and explained what they were doing right and wrong. I believe this is the first time I have heard of him attending a youth game and offering insight to the team.
NEWS: MLS suspends San Jose Earthquakes head coach Matias Almeyda.https://t.co/CqR8Ps8EL5— San Jose Earthquakes (@SJEarthquakes) September 18, 2021
The suspension means absolutely nothing. Almeyda will be upstairs in the booth telling his assistants by phone as well as Agustin Zalazar what to relay down to the players.
What? You didn't pick up on the body language? I think he was extremely upset over the "phantom" foul call on Marie that led to the Alanis OG. I was at the game so, didn't see a replay of what happened with that call, though someone else here said there was no contact.
that's right, no contact, Meram should've been called for simulation. instead he gets his head on the subsequent free kick and Alanis deflects it in. the game kind of turned on that botched call. Matias had every right to be extremely upset.
Almeyda is in the last year of his contract and there are rumors of him going back to Chivas. He will be gone soon enough. It is just a matter of time.
I thought it was 2021. Either way, unless a miracle happens in the next month or so, I don’t see this relationship going beyond this season. I hope if he isn’t fired that he leaves on his own.
Oh now I remember, there was a card given after one of those goals we gave up late in the game. Nima Saghafi came over towards the bench and flashed a card, but we had no idea who it was given to. There was no one standing near the touchline and we couldn’t see anyone on the bench. We thought maybe it was an assistant coach or a player, since Nima seemed to be gesturing towards the end of the bench. And the announcer said a card was given to someone on the bench and didn’t specify any name. I was paying attention to all that detail because I was charting the game as practice for assessing AYSO candidates… Ah, but my body language metric hadn’t detected anything bench card-worthy during the game. I did notice that after we gave up 2 of the goals that players, i think it was Jackson and Marie came over to Almeyda like they were pleading some case. It was interesting because I don’t remember seeing that at a home game before. Maybe that’s what fired Almeyda off, for that to happen twice. While overall we thought Nima did a good job that night, he did seem to have issue with seeing fouls inside the box. I haven’t watched the DVR to confirm that suspicion. But it did seem during the game that there were a few times when I thought the whistle could have blown.
Has anyone kept track of how many times Almeyda has been carded or suspended or fined? It seems to me he is getting carded at least 3x per season. You’d think he would have learned to change his behavior by now…
Yep... it happened right in front of me (my section). You'd think a fine would be had for the dive, but perhaps they need more time for that.
So … who thinks Almeyda was at least a little bit intoxicated in the post game presser? I think he watched the game from the suite with The Captain. Also, he said that he could communicate with the players nor his coaches. So he was frustrated. I take that to mean that MLS prohibits a suspended coach from talking to his assistants during the match. That seems appropriate to me. I fully expect that MA will be gone at the end of the season. I sure hope so in any case. Go Quakesfans!! - Mark
There is little from IFAB regarding this: From Law 4 - Electronic communication Players (including substitutes/substituted and sent-off players) are not permitted to wear or use any form of electronic or communication equipment (except where EPTS is allowed). The use of any form of electronic communication by team officials is permitted where it directly relates to player welfare or safety or for tactical/coaching reasons but only small, mobile, handheld equipment (e.g. microphone, headphone, earpiece, mobile phone/smartphone, smartwatch, tablet, laptop) may be used. A team official who uses unauthorised equipment or who behaves in an inappropriate manner as a result of the use of electronic or communication equipment will be sent off. I know that in HS or NCAA this (dismissed/suspended officials communicating with the bench) is expressly forbidden. The current MLS competition guidelines is also silent on this.
Matias has made Quakes soccer far more fun and entertaining. He’s a passionate guy who has a hard time containing himself when the officiating is garbage quality. I love that. He’s standing up for his team and his players. I hope that doesn’t change. His tactics have steadily improved as he’s adjusted to MLS, he’s getting the most from his players, keeping these games close. It says a lot that the team rallied when he was suspended, I think the players respect him and appreciate the way he works with them. I love the passion. Thanks Matias for making San Jose soccer fun to watch again!
I still like Matias on balance, for the reasons you've stated. That said I don't see him as above reproach and there are things that I don't care for so much. Every team is going to feel like they're jobbed by the refs at times. I don't believe that there's a bias against SJ. One of the things that I respected about Dom is that he never blamed the refs. He'd always say something like "They have a hard job to do". We know they make mistakes, we know that MLS refs aren't the greatest. You have to just deal with it. I don't think it helps the team to obsess about it too much. It's a distraction That said, it's all part of Matias's passion for the team and the game and for that reason I don't see it as a dealbreaker. The things I like about Matias: he is philosophical about how he coaches the team - he is a soccer coach but also a life coach in a way that informs back to the soccer, if that makes any sense at all, he refuses to play negative soccer - we almost always try to play from the back, even going to ridiculous lengths to do so at times, he is unafraid to try to unusual tactics, he won't accept prima donna players ("stars are in the sky"), and he creates a solid team dynamic.