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

I'm watching some Olympics coverage right now. NBC, USA and NBC Olympics all have separate sets of announcers for the same track events. It's interesting. I will always hate most of what they use for NBC.

 

LOL, just saw how the U.S. got DQed from the 4x400 mixed relay qualifier. Yet they're in the final because of a successful protest. Good old Olympics, where protests are decided more by TV ratings than legitimacy.

 

******** him. At US trials he was trying to claim something during the Dalilah Muhammad since he grew up in Queens. I've always hated him on broadcasts. I sometimes forget about him because he blocked me years ago.

The broadcasts have been so strange with USA currently having track and field and NBC periodically joins track and field with a completely different crew. I was not watching the NBC A-team this morning and missed the Lewis Johnson disaster. Skip to 3:30 to see the worst post-race interview you will see this Games.

Post-race, the team had no idea there was a DQ. He knew that. It's the ********ing Olympic Games. That's a brutal interview. Of course it's later obvious that a meet official was lining up quite a few runners incorrectly which led to the confusion and reinstatement for the US.

FFS. Michele Tafoya (why the ******** is she in Tokyo, ******** her) was just talking to Katie Ledecky like she was retiring. FFS. I hate NBC.

 

I just happened to be mentioning that in my last post. I'm not sure how it is shown on NBC or different outlets, but the officials ********ed up and I have absolutely no problem with the reinstatement. It wasn't just the US team or that heat that the official messed up.

 

All NBC (main network) showed was the exchange outside the zone, and then how she lined up to prepare for the exchange. The judge brings the runners to the edge of the track at the end of the exchange zone. Then when cleared the runners all enter the track, the American runner looks down to see the blue line and steps two steps away from it the wrong way. All the other runners appeared to step the correct way (into the zone, not out of it).

Based on that it seems like everyone but the American runner knew they were at the end of the zone and had to move back up the track to be in correct position. So its hard to say a protest that the official lined her up wrong was legitimate.

 

This is something that is understood at the club track level by youth of all ages, but a full blown professional can't understand the 1st exchange in the 4x4? Ok then...

 

the guys on USA network are the most pleasing to listen to. The female color commentator could improve some more.
Disagree about Ato Bolden. His excitement and color commentary is unmatched right now in athletics. Sonya Richards ross needs more seasoning. They're better than the clown crew on ESPN with Jill "wooooooo" Montgomery and her partner that monotone dude that constantly gets things wrong.

 

Can't wait for US / Canada semi matchup in the Olympics. As The Guardian raved during the 2012 Olympics, it was "The greatest knockout match in major-tournament football since 1982". Canada does have a chance but their record against the US is pretty abysmal. Hopefully that changes next match.

 

Disappointing result for Mexico.

 

It's been interesting watching the narrative of USA/NED change in the last 24 hours.

If you missed the game look at social media (NBC Olympics, USWNT) on Twitter or YouTube you'd get the idea that Megan Rapinoe single-handedly carried us to the semifinals - as opposed to being objectively the worst player on the field.

Goooood morning America! 😁🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/B571m9oMSv

— U.S. Women's National Soccer Team (@USWNT) July 31, 2021

As if there were any doubt, today's #TalkinTokyo @Toyota Most Tweeted Moment was Megan Rapinoe's match-winning goal, which sent the United States into the women's soccer semifinals. pic.twitter.com/enfWmC1jN0

— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) July 30, 2021

If I were Alyssa Naeher, Lynn Williams, or Sam Mewis, I'd be bitching out my agent right now.

 

If you look at it from his perspective it makes sense.

The USWNT is not a normal team. And marketing and personalities matter.

In the 1970s and 80s (as far back as I reasonably go) there was a saying in business that "nobody ever got fired for buying IBM."

If Vlatko had left Rapinoe and Morgan on the bench, or had only brought them in for, say, overtime - and Holland had advanced, there'd have been holy hell to pay.

But as it turns out, if we'd have lost that PK shootout, while questions like yours would've been raised, I think Vlatko might've kept his job as obviously it was the players that were letting him down in the end. It was the big names that failed to live up to their reputations. They couldn't hold the lead or persevere.

It's an impossible spot. Morgan and Rapinoe and Press were always coming on. And at some point that means Williams and Heath were definitely leaving. And I don't see Lloyd making more than 90 regardless.

Now, at it appears from the postgame interview, he was always going to split the game 60/(30/60) for minute management of this aging roster, questions can be raised as to just how hard he needed to be to the plan, and how little he was willing to adapt to the way the game was actually playing out.

As it turns out, things have really developed in a best case scenario for the USWNT.

1) IOC decided to make the 4 alternate players part of the squad - meaning we had 3 additional field players to take minutes away from our aging and out of match shape (Heath, Ertz) squad.

2) Australia let us coast into second place in our group and pretty much rest everybody.

3) The only "good" team left (Sweden) is on the other side of the bracket.

4) Canada has one win in four games - against woeful Chile, and Australia has one regulation win against even worse New Zealand. Yes, we're in the same boat. Sweden must be smiling, but it helps us as well.

5) Despite our age, Canada isn't much better (or younger), and their biggest start (Sinclair) has logged a lot more minutes than any of our players. It's really too bad we didn't finish off Holland in 90 minutes and take advantage of Canada going 120 - in the heat of the day.

But we still have to play the games. We do have championship experience, but we're now a week and a half into a game every three days schedule with a very old roster. Rapinoe looks like she's past her sell-by date. Morgan still doesn't look like she's back from her pregnancy (and I try not to think that they would've taken her to Tokyo last summer no matter what). Ertz had a decent game, but I just don't see us getting another 120 minutes of good stuff out of her, so that's a concern, and Tobin Heath - who appears to be running and moving just fine, has a touch on the ball that makes it obvious that she just spent six months without playing soccer.

I think we saw that we need a real d-mid on the field. As great as Horan is, having Ertz in that spot was a huge difference, especially given how bad Abby Dahlkemper has been playing, and lest we focus on her, a lot of the mistakes of Dunn and Dahlkemper have been because they're covering for Becky Sauerbrunn who, while not as obvious as Rapinoe, has definitely looked old and slow this tournament.

It's really fortunate for us that Australia beat Great Britain and Canada squeaked past Brazil. Our beating Holland was an upset. I don't see us getting three in a row - and Brazil and Great Britain brought better 6 game tournament teams than we did. But we should be favored against both Canada and Australia.

I'm guessing we'll see a similar strategy against Canada, but given how poorly the subs played, we may not see such a dogmatic approach to substitutions - especially if we're winning. I could see a Lavelle or Press starting, but I expect Williams to start.

I also thought this was Mewis's best game. I think having Ertz at d-mid frees Mewis to be Mewis. Having Horan in there makes Mewis's job more difficult. Sam Mewis's weakness is tracking back defensively. She does it, and she's great on set piece defending, but not that great in open play. The Courage have been so great because they've always had a McCall Zerboni or Denise O'Sullivan (or both) doing the dirty work and biting ankles behind her. Mewis is the bull in the proverbial China shop for midfields that specialize in possession and pretty play, but she's not a "stuck in" player. She pressures players in the part of the field that most players don't get it. Then she's a weapon on the attack because the top defenders are usually busy with the forwards - then Sam Mewis shows up and you've got a 5'3" d-mid trying to guard her in the penalty area.

I'm really curious what they do with the midfield minutes. I don't know who the replacement for the minutes Ertz doesn't play will be, and that could dictate a lot of how the Canada game goes.

I think Rapinoe starts on the bench. And comes on very late if tied or behind. I could see Press and/or Morgan start for Heath and/or Lloyd, but I think Williams will start.

I would also think Lavelle will get more minutes (unless there's a knock we don't know about).

If we're bossing Canada, I think we'll see some of the big names never leave the bench or possibly come off early - to save them for the Gold Medal game. If it's a tight game or we're trailing, all bets are off.

 

If the Canadian wins the 100m will they name a high school after him?

 

Well count that for America.

 

Forza Italia!!

 

Nice day for them.

 

Apparently, we lost out on the dual national. Do we fire Berharlter, McBride, and Stewart?

Fastest man (human) in the world is named LaMont and not having USA across their chest is 2021

 

Not so loud...don't give the USA Men's board any ideas.

 

Tomorrow during the day is going to suck for us east coasters. 9pm to (almost 12?) for the Gold Cup, then 4am to (maybe 6:30ish) for the Olympics.

 

Fortunately today is a light sports day so I've been resting during the day to prepare for the Games... and I guess work too.

 

Thank God its a holiday in Canada tomorrow. 1 am PDT isn't so bad to watch a match.

 

Worst case scenario for me. I've literally had ********-all to do the last four weeks. I'm helping a local company out this summer with some product photography as they're between full-time employees. It was expected to be 30 hours/week. I've gotten about 21 in the last four weeks total, and 16 1/2 of that is because the other full-time shooter took a week off and I was filling in for what he had.

Apparently all the stuff I'm supposed to be shooting has been caught up in the shipping hell that currently is the Pacific Ocean. I think there are weeks-long delays getting to some of the west coast ports for unloading right now.

The person that receives and processes the product we shoot was expecting a large shipment last Friday, so I might just have a huge backlog of product waiting for me.

Or I might just be sitting on my ass for another week. Since I'm going to be sleep deprived tomorrow, I know which way I'm placing my bets.