Day 2 Group B Cal United Strikers 2 - New York Cosmos 0 Didn’t watch this game, Cosmos fans were real angry about the team’s performance on Twitter afterworlds, which you always love to see. Chattanooga FC 2 - LA Force 0 Still on a bit of an adrenaline rush over this one. LA went down a man in the 13th minute as @Paul Berry reported, and CFC initially sort of looked in control, but LA’s speed on the counter absolutely kept giving them chance after chance. CFC scored just before halftime on a header off of a corner (Hoffstader). The Force really kind of controlled the first 1/2 of the second half despite being a man down. CFC looked kind of listless. But then Darwin Lom scored on another corner and CFC began to take over. However! Ryan Marcano fouled a Force forward in box for a penalty. Redington saved it (!!!) but was called for leaving his line early (!!!!). The ensuing penalty went off the crossbar (!!!!!) and in the rebound a Force player had a handball (!!!!!!). So glad when that game ended. LA Force looked really good with the ball I have to say.
Only advantage of BeIn Extra is that someone may stumble across it on Pluto/Xumo/etc. No one stumble across mycujoo.
Day 3 Group A Oakland Roots 1 - Detroit City 2 I doubted DCFC had two goals in them against anyone but New Amsterdam, but now don't I feel foolish. There is a reasonable chance Oakland doesn't get out of the group stage with this loss. Michigan Stars 2 - New Amsterdam FC 2 Words can't really describe this game. Not content with LA Force accumulating a red card in the 13th minute, Stars got a red off of 2 yellows in the 23rd, then got a straight red just after halftime. NAFC scored first, then Michigan tied it up at the end of the half. About 10 minutes after the 2nd red card, NAFC scored again (doubling in one game what they had managed to score all season) and looked set to actually win a competitive soccer match when the ref called a really terrible penalty and Stephen Juncaj (owner's kid) evened the score, which held to the end. What's interesting about this is - well, besides the fact that New Amsterdam earned a point - Stars can still win the group by beating Oakland (there are other scenarios, too, but they all require DCFC dropping points to New Amsterdam), which they will now have to do without two starters.
Group stage advancement scenarios Group A: No one is mathematically eliminated yet and everyone but New Amsterdam automatically advances with a win. Stars: advance with a draw. Advance with a loss to Oakland if DCFC/NAFC draw and Stars lose by less than 3 or NAFC wins by less than 5 (I think). Oakland: advance with a draw if DCFC loses by more than 5 (I think), cannot advance with a loss. DCFC: advance with a draw if Stars win NAFC: must win by 5 goals (I think) to advance
Day 4 Group B Chattanooga FC 0 - NY Cosmos 0 It’s possible that the only reason I didn’t think this was a boring game was my investment in one of the clubs. Possibly! That said, there were scoring chances, lots of them. They just didn’t pan out. Seriously looked like Cosmos could have won the game late in stoppage on a nearly open net header, but it went just wide. Cal United Strikers 2 - LA Force 3 I guess because NAFC wasn’t able to pull off the upset yesterday, the Force were the next men up. This feels less surprising after what I saw from them on Tuesday. I only watched the last half hour or so and my only takeaway is that Force's goalkeeper jersey looked like it was picked up at the Hamtramck Welcome Center and Truck Stop.
Group stage advancement Group B Chattanooga FC, Force, and Cal United are through with a win. Cosmos would need a win and Cal United loss or win by more than two and more than CFC loses by. Chattanooga are through with a draw or a loss by the above formula if NYC wins; or if NYC/LAF draw. Cal United is through with a draw if Cosmos win by less than 3 (I think) or a LAF/NYC draw LA Force is through with a draw if CFC wins or loses by more than 2. The possible points totals and current GD are: CFC: 7,5,4 (+2) CAL: 6,4,3 (+1) LAF: 6,4,3 (-1) NYC: 4,2,1 (-2)
This was useful (and inspired a few edits to my scenarios after I broke it down), so here's the same table for Group A: MIS: 7,5,4 (+2) OAK: 6,4,3 (+2) DET: 6,4,3 (-1) NAM: 4,2,1 (-3)
Also, not content with the two red cards received during the match, the Stars' owner also got a red card after the game when he came on the field and hurled abuse and threats at New Amsterdam players. Which is something.
Really good Peter Wilt interview on his Chicago expansion club and NISA in general: https://www.chisportsnation.com/202...tive-peter-wilt-on-chicago-nisa-and-fanbases/ Kinda looks like he’s throwing Tim Kelly and Robert Palmer under the bus at one point.
Yeah. Tim Kelly has always hated the PLS, though, so it wouldn't surprise me if he treated NISA as the option of last resort, which I could see stinging if he was the type of owner you were trying to appeal to.
They could have given the league a more ambitious name like the American Premier League. It worked in India. Tbh, I don't know why MLS doesn't try and get a league sponsor, like the Barclays Premier League.
Final match day results: Group A - Sunday Oakland Roots 1 - Michigan Stars 0 Roots scored early (4th minute) and Stars were unable to equalize. Not having two starters due to red cards couldn't have helped. Detroit City 4 - New Amsterdam 2 Not really any surprises here, except maybe that NAFC scored 2. Oakland Roots win group A and Detroit City advances. Group B - Monday Chattanooga FC 1 - Cal United Strikers 1 It seemed like the entire 1st half was played in CFC's defensive third. Chattanooga scored first on a counter (Bement) and had a few other chances, but just had no midfield presence whatsoever. Cal United's goal (Nuno) was inevitable with that much time around the goal. The second half was a completely different story: Hernandez came in and CFC dominated the midfield. CFC was content with a draw though and that's how it ended. New York Cosmos 1 - LA Force 2 LA continues to impress. They scores twice in the first half and Cosmos had nothing until they managed to score their first goal of the entire tournament in stoppage time. LA Force wins Group B, Chattanooga advances. Oakland Roots face CFC and LA Force play Detroit City in the semifinals.
@Expansion Franchise - what was the result in the CFC vs. Oakland match. At HT Detroit lead the Force 1-0.
And that's how it ended, as well. I'm going call this the more interesting game, but the second half felt like a slog at times.
So Detroit City get to play at home in the final! I watched the last part of the second half, unfortunately I was distracted by a Miami FC second half comeback against Charleston.
Fall tournament semi-finals (in before the final is played!): Oakland Roots 3 - Chattanooga FC 2 In the first half, Oakland exploited CFC's season-long defensive breakdowns. It wasn't like the Cal Utd game, where the ball sat in CFC's defensive third the entire half, but they absolutely used CFC's weakness on quick breaks/counters. For the first goal, Matt Fondy was just given way too much space to make the cross to Rodriguez. But he got that space from like a 50 yard pass across the field. The Roots' second goal was an absolute beauty: 💥 Angel Heredia drills one in from distance! @oaklandrootssc 2-0 @ChattanoogaFC #NISAFCT20 #beINNISA - WATCH FREE ⬇️📺🖥📲 beIN SPORTS XTRA: https://t.co/Kx5iJAfhLu pic.twitter.com/ShojFuibj4— beIN SPORTS USA (@beINSPORTSUSA) September 30, 2020 And Redington saved a 1 on 1 with Fondy to keep from being 3-0 at the half. Despite 3 goals scored, the 2nd half was overall tough to watch. Lots of stoppage of play and last 20 minutes or so you would have thought the Roots were cosplaying the opening of Saving Private Ryan. That said, it had this gem: 🔥🔥🚲🔥🔥 RYAN MARCANO!!! BICYCLE!!! GAME ON!!!! @oaklandrootssc 3-2 @ChattanoogaFC #NISAFCT20 #beINNISA - WATCH FREE ⬇️📺🖥📲 beIN SPORTS XTRA: https://t.co/Kx5iJAfhLu pic.twitter.com/hWUtv6MU62— beIN SPORTS USA (@beINSPORTSUSA) September 30, 2020 The other two goals wouldn't have gone on anyone's highlight reel, though. It really looked like CFC might find the equalizer, but they ran out of time. Los Angeles Force 0 - Detroit City FC 1 Hard to compare the two matches: this one certainly had fewer fireworks, though. DCFC physically dominated LA, which maybe shouldn't have been too surprising. The lone goal came 28 minutes in off of a corner. Early in the game, the Force's keeper stopped a penalty. Not much else to write about here, I don't think. I don't think it's coincidence that the two winners came from Group A. The Group B teams had 46 hours from the final whistle of the their last group stage game to the semi-final, while Group A had a full extra day. This isn't to say that's why they lost (an extra day wouldn't have solved CFC's injuries on defense, for example), but it can't have helped them out, either. Tonight at 6PM ET, DCFC and the Roots play in the final on BeIN Sports Xtra. Tonight!2020 Fall Championship #NISAFCT20 @oaklandrootssc v. @DetroitCityFC Kickoff 6:00 PM ETWatch on @beINSPORTSUSA pic.twitter.com/fVKuK7xVrl— NISA Official (@NISALeague) October 2, 2020 Hope Roots' fans have the afternoon off!
Well Oakland had the silky skills and dominated the final but Detroit had the grit. Final score 2-1 to Detroit.
They also had a lot of good luck fall their way in front of the goal. This game looked nearly identical to the Oakland/CFC game. Chattanooga just didn't have that last body miraculously between the ball and the net.
And to be clear DCFC made their good luck tonight: they were much better than CFC defensively all season, even if it wasn't always totally on point in the final.