PBP: Aiming for “mid” - the 2026 consolidated match thread - all competitions

These announcers were absolutely terrible!

The discussion around the Chicago handball was absurd by the Color commentator. The PBP was even worse - claiming the Hopkins handball led to “a penalty for DC” and then saying the game was in the “112th minute” at 102, though to be fair we almost got there eventually.

 

Baribo deserved a goal and got one. Peltola and Kurokawa impressed.

who do we need to pay to get Pirani off the field? I can’t see how he’s still starting. Zero defense, easily dispossessed. Poor.

Both teams looked like they would lose to Lincoln City (who are so fun this year).

MLS needs to improve quality of play and TV. Tonight was just too many steps below what else is out there…. But hey, we won

 

Rene has done such good work with this group. Even tonight with 1 DP, just like last year, the team is miles ahead of where it was a year ago.

The new additions have hit so far. Hefti and Kurokawa have been brilliant in the back. Baribo is exactly as advertised. Johnson is an upgrade. But the level jumps of some of the returners - Hopkins, Rowles, and Peltola especially, Bartlett and Servania to a lesser degree, is so helpful.

 

Very old school was any touch was a foul. Then it was if the body was unnaturally larger and the arm intentionally moved to the ball.

I think the new situation takes reality into account that sometimes the arm might be away from the body in a completely benign athletic action (like running) and sometimes the ball moves to the arm (put your hand down to stop a fall or bounces off a foot up into the arm), not the player moves the arm to the ball (maradona).

Although Hopkins didnt try to play the ball with his arm, he was looking at the ball and did move his arm to the ball while trying to head it. Unfortunately he missed with his head; I think that was a good call.

Looked to me like the chittago player did not know where the ball was so he did not move his arm to the ball and the arm was in a normal position for the athletic action.

But I agree, I will happily take it!!!!

 

It was entertaining, that's what I pay for...

 

Penalties for hand ball are so confusing these days - and widely from league to league (and Champions League) - but where I land tonight is that if one of those is a PK, the other absolutely has to be.

 

Being pedantic, whether a foul occurred can be confusing. Deciding whether a penalty kick is awarded is easy.

 

This is quite pedantic. Take your rep, you dirty poster you.

 

Fotmob rated Peltola DC's best player once again. MOTM performance this time.

 

I couldn’t watch. Was the 18 minutes of stoppage time legit?

 

There was a VAR check, quite a few subs, and a stoppage for someone using discriminatory language towards Baribo. Then a long VAR check at the start of stoppage time. When the board went up right around 96:00, it said 12 minutes. I think DC players expected it to be done at 102 but it went to 108.

 

It was very confusing. I figured they posted 12 minutes of stoppage time to account for the fact that the board went up in the 95th minute or so, and that would equate to about 7 minutes of added time. That felt about right. Going up to 16 minutes or so was insane, but it was so great to see the boys fight through every minute.

 

Yeah, I was going to comment in those, especially the latter two.

To me, Robles was unimpressive last year. This year, I’m impressed. And I probably had the lowest of opinion about Peltola of anyone here, but he’s been solid this year.

 

The first 80 minutes or so was a snoozefest. Some coherent play by both sides, but a great deal of missed chances and offensive breakdowns in the final third. At the half I thought Baribo, Peltola and Hefti stood out, the rest were garbage. Into the second half, those three, now joined by a much livelier Kurokawa and a much better Rowles forced Zinckernagel inside because he could find nothing outside. Props to Peltola and Servania who made Robin Lod invisible.

I think the ref had a good game. I detest VAR, but he applied in consistently and I actually admired his yellow to Zinckernagel for simulation. Most refs would simply go "play on" and the bad ones would have called a PK.

I really have been impressed with Peltola this season. I always believed he was better than the naysayers thought, but clearly he and Lesesne had different ideas of how to play. I won't say Weiler is the second coming of Arena, but he's getting more out of these guys than Lesesne did and the Doctor's additions this offseason have all been at least acceptable and some -- Baribo, Hefti and Kurokawa have been very good indeed. Actually the best has been Hefti who was picking up splinters in the Bundesliga, got to DCU a week before the season and has played virtually every minute of the first 4 games and each game has looked better than the previous one.

The announcers had me longing for the dulcet tones of Mr. Lloyd Sam.

 

great off-season acquisition from RB

 

Myself and the team both thought the 12 minutes on the board was 12 minutes total. That wasn't very well communicated!

 

Has anyone signed up for Jason Andersons Green Line Soccer? If so, how do you like it so far with regard to DCU coverage?

 

For the $2 I'm paying, I like it. A couple random match points are incorrectly identified occasionally (Jason has a Kurokawa cross leading to the Chicago penalty rather than Peltola) but he's quick to post and gets good insights from post match pressers, too.

 

I signed up at the $5 tier. I can afford it and it is extremely important to subscribe to Green Line Soccer, Matt Doyle's Tactics Free Zone and other coverage because these folks are doing God's work in covering the sport we love and late stage capitalism has decided that slightly higher toned versions of the National Inquirer better suits the reading public.

 

So how much time are you going to spend in Chicago photographing the construction of the stadium?

 

What's the chance their roof is also not initially completed out as shown in the rendering?

 

You mean to tell me this isn’t how Audi Field looks?

 

almost......

 

Bridgeview was a trendsetter.