Other Teams' Results [R]

bsman · Dec 12, 2022

Replikait said: ↑

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Phew - not me!

falvo · Dec 13, 2022

Anyone following the college guys?

COMMENTARY

Men's College Cup: Multi-national Syracuse denies Indiana a ninth title

by Mike Woitalla @MikeWoitalla,

The Indiana Hoosiers, now an aberration in Division I men's soccer by continuing to rely on U.S. products, fell just short in their quest to win a ninth national title.
Indiana came back twice against Syracuse in Monday's College Cup final, which headed into overtime, tied 2-2. After the extra 20 minutes of play went scoreless, the Orange prevailed, 7-6, in the shootout to win its first national title in its final debut.
Syracuse's starting XI was comprised of three Canadians, two Germans, one each from Costa Rica, England, Ghana and Italy, Kenyan-American Abdi Salim, whose family immigrated when he was a young boy, and goalkeeper Russell Shealy of Cartersville, Georgia.
Ghanaian Nathan Opoku, who transferred from Lindsey Wilson for the 2022 season, gave Syracuse a 1-0 lead with a curling 15-yard shot in 24th minute that marked the Hoosiers' first goal conceded after reaching the final with four NCAA playoff shutouts.
The Hoosiers' Patrick McDonald, who played his youth ball with North Carolina Fusion and Indiana Fire Academy, equalized in the 32nd minute. But the Orange regained the lead a minute later when Opoku set up a close-range shot for sub Curt Calov, a New Jerseyan who played youth ball for PDA and Delbarton School.
Minnesota product Herbert Endeley, who missed a sitter in the early minutes of the game, struck with a searing shot from 19 yards to tie the game at 2-2 in the 80th minute and send the game into overtime.
The Hoosiers were making their 17th championship game appearance.
The best finish by Syracuse in its previous seven NCAA postseason appearances was a 2015 semifinal appearance when future U.S. national team defender Miles Robinson, now with Atlanta United, was a freshman for the Orange. It lost in the second round in 2018 when Tajon Buchanan, a 2022 World Cup player for Canada, was a sophomore.
Syracuse missed the 2021 NCAA playoffs after finishing the 2021 season with an 8-8-2 record. Besides the addition of Opoku, the 2022 squad also welcomed Italian midfielder Lorenzo Boselli, who arrived from JC power Dallas College Richland, and Canadian senior forward Levante Johnson, a transfer from Seattle University. Also, Salim, who transferred from Division III Buffalo State in 2020, missed the 2021 season with an ACL injury.
Opoku and Johnson, who each scored in the Orange's 3-2 semifinal win over Creighton, combined for 21 goals and 13 assists entering the championship game.
The only international on Indiana's 34-man roster, Dutchman Quinten Helmer, didn't see game action but converted the Hoosiers' seventh spot kick attempt. After Shealy saved the Hoosiers' eighth, Costa Rican Amferny Sinclair beat IU keeper JT Harms to clinch the Orange's win.

Harms had made six saves during the 110 minutes of play, while the Shealy, who transferred from Maryland in 2020, stopped three shots. The Orange outshot the Hoosiers, 20-15.
• The 2022 final was sixth of the last 10 that went to overtime and fourth decided from the penalty spot.
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Syracuse coach Ian McIntyre came to the USA from his native England, where played in Arsenal's youth program, in 1992 to play for Hartwick. McIntyre, who earned all-America honors as a Hartwick defender, took the Syracuse helm in 2010 after serving as head coach of Hartwick (2003-09) and SUNY Oneonta (1999-2002), and assistant coach with Fairfield University (1996-98).
• The Hoosiers won their eighth national title in 2012, during Coach Todd Yeagley's second year at the helm after his father, Jerry Yeagley celebrated six titles and Mike Freitag led the Hoosiers to the 2004 crown. Only Saint Louis, which last won it in 1973, boasts more national championships, although its 10 include a co-championship with Michigan State in 1967 when the final was canceled because of weather. Virginia, last crowned in 2014, has a third-best seven titles.
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Dec. 12 in Cary, North Carolina
Syracuse 2 Indiana 2 (Syracuse wins, 7-6, on PKs). Goals: Opoku 24, Calov 33; McDonald 32, Endeley 80.
Syracuse — Shealy; Curti, Salim, Singelmann, Sinclair, Kocevski, Opoku, Boselli, Johnson, Leibold, Oyegunle. Subs: Biros, Calov, Glenn, Holbrook, Rauch.
Indiana — Harms; Maher, Munie, Sarver, Sessock, Goumballe, Endeley, Wittenbrink, Bebej, Wagoner, McDonald. Subs: Mihalic, Ward.
Yellow cards: Syracuse — Salim 17, Sinclair 35; Indiana — Wagoner 90, Maher 98. Red cards: none.
Referee: Matt Thompson. ARs: Salma Perez, Albert Escovar
Att.: 4,010.

Tuesday, December 13, 2022
Top 10: Highest-scoring 2022 World Cup teams
1. England 13 goals
2. Portugal 12 goals
3. *France 11 goals
4. Netherlands 10 goals
5. *Argentina, Spain 9 goals
7. Brazil 8 goals
8. *Croatia, Germany 6 goals
10. *Morocco, Switzerland, South Korea, Japan, Serbia, Senegal, Ghana 5 goals.
*Still alive.
(Click here for the 158 goals -- round by round.)

falvo · Dec 15, 2022

Ronaldo, Banks, Blanc, Cafu, Schmeichel, Matthaeus, Cannavaro and Pelé: a pic full of Legends!!!!

Earthshaker · Dec 15, 2022

American Bill Foley (who owns the NHL's Vegas Golden Knights) buys a controlling interest of AFC Bournemouth of the English Premier League. Interesting comment regarding MLS and the cost of buying into that league.

"
The deal for Bournemouth is reported to have cost about £120m, and the minority ownership group of the club is led by Hollywood actor Michael B Jordan.

Foley said there were "no borrowings" involved in the deal and "we ended up raising roughly $250m". He described the deal as "a bargain".

"The MLS, unfortunately, requires a stadium to be built and, in the United States, that is costing $600-700m," he said.

"The franchise fee itself, I think, is $300m so you are into it for a billion dollars before you have a team.

"I'm buying a Premier League team that already has a stadium, already has players and I can improve it. I don't see us being involved in the MLS."

Lol, the MLS.

mjlee22 · Dec 15, 2022

or, you buy a 5th division team like Wrexham and push them up the ladder to the EPL!

falvo · Dec 15, 2022

Throughout the top 5 leagues in Europe , teams and owners mostly make money when they get promoted and stay up in the first tier.

They lose their shirts though as soon as they get relegated, having to sell off all their players and needing to start over again.

Smaller clubs have a tough time staying up in a first division for consecutive years.

Earthshaker · Dec 16, 2022

mjlee22 said: ↑

or, you buy a 5th division team like Wrexham and push them up the ladder to the EPL!
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It wasn't that long ago that Bournemouth was a 4th division team, were in administration, and almost went out of business completely..

falvo · Dec 16, 2022

RIP Siniša Mihajlović!

falvo · Dec 16, 2022

Gotta love the job of technical director!

USL Championship: El Paso hires Brian Clarhaut as head coach and technical director

by Paul Kennedy @pkedit,

Brian Clarhaut, one of the few Americans who have coached in the top tier of European club soccer, has been named El Paso Locomotive FC's new head coach and technical director.

Clarhaut, 36, replaces John Hutchinson, who coached El Paso in 2021. Mark Lowry coached the Locomotive for its first three seasons before moving to Indy Eleven.

The New Jersey native most recently served as the head coach of Sweden's GIF Sundsvall, taking over as head coach in the middle of the 2022 Allsvenskan season. It finished last in the 16-team league.

Clarhaut worked at Nykoping and Umea, both lower division clubs, before taking on an assistant coach position with GIF Sundsvall, then in the second flight, in 2021.

“We have always kept tabs on Americans coaching abroad and Brian caught our attention as having quickly climbed the Swedish soccer pyramid, an impressive and difficult achievement,” said Andrew Forrest, Locomotive FC's general manager. “We believe his high press and energetic style will help us win games and entertain fans. His intense and modern outlook on the game coupled with his desire to win made him the perfect candidate.”
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nivla · Dec 16, 2022

falvo said: ↑

RIP Siniša Mihajlović!
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I had the privilege to see Mihajlović in an exhibition game overseas. Pure class on the field.

falvo · Dec 16, 2022

Saturday, December 17, 2022
FIFA must soon revisit plans for 2026 World Cup
by Paul Kennedy

FIFA president Gianni Infantino said on Friday that soccer's world governing body will revisit how it wants to structure the format for the 2026 World Cup.

In 2017, FIFA confirmed it would expand the 2026 World Cup from 32 to 48 teams. A year later, its members selected the USA, Canada and Mexico as co-hosts.

FIFA has never set dates for the 2026 World Cup, but the assumption was it would be a summer tournament and would involve 80 games, 16 more than the current tournament, which wraps up on Sunday in Qatar.

That assumption was that it would involve the 48 teams being divided into 16 groups and the top two teams in each group would advance to a new second round.

That format had several downsides:

• All teams would be assured of playing a minimum of only two games instead of the current three. All that buildup for what?
• Multiple scenarios would involve teams entering their group's final match both knowing they would advance based on a predetermined result (tie or win/loss by a specific margin).
• No longer would the final day of group play involve two matches being played simultaneously and the drama that it often creates. In Qatar, all four teams in Group E (Spain, Japan, Germany and Costa Rica) were at one point through to the next round (or eliminated) during the final evening of play.

"I have to say after this World Cup, and the success of the groups of four, we have to revisit or re-discuss the format whether we go for 16 groups of three or 12 groups of four," said Infantino at his final press conference. "We are convinced that football will be booming in North America. We will start working immediately for that World Cup. We are really convinced of the growth."
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Infantino's hyperbole is nothing new:

"We are bullish about the power of football. We are convinced the impact of the game will be massive. It has been massive here and it will be incredible in North America. Three huge countries, 48 teams. More games, revenues will go up in terms of broadcasting, in terms of sponsorship, hospitality. We will play in huge stadiums used for American football, 80-90,000 capacity. We are expecting 5.5 million fans traveling for these events."

Organizing a tournament with 12 groups of four teams isn't without its complications.

Two ways to move the expanded tournament from the group stage into a knockout stage exist:

— In addition to the the top two teams in each group, the eight best third-place teams would advance, adding 16 games to a new second round. The total number of games would expand from 64 in the current 32-team format to 104 in the new format (24 more group matches and 16 more games in the knockout phase).

— The two top teams would advance, but the top eight group winners would advance to the round of 16 and the remaining teams — the other four group winners and all 12 group runners-up — would move into the second round, expanding the tournament from 64 to 96 games.

This format (advanced by Yahoo Sports' Henry Bushnell) would keep the suspense of only group winners and group runners-up advancing and incentivize group winners (often qualified after two games) to get a result in their final group match. (The three teams assured of advancing after two games in Qatar all lost their third game: France, Brazil and Portugal.)

The ability of North American cities to host an expanded tournament is not at issue.

Both scenarios for an expanded tournament would require it to be played over an extra 4-5 days to accommodate an extra round in the knockout phase.

But they would require six games to be played each day instead of the four required to complete the group stage in the same 12-day period in Qatar.

The four games were played for the first eight days over 11 hours with a one-hour break between each game, all a huge benefit to TV broadcasters. Unless FIFA has a similar schedule that begins with the first match kicking off at 10 a.m. ET and the final game beginning at 10 p.m. PT — or kickoffs every two hours from noon to 10 p.m. ET — it will be impossible not to schedule multiple matches at the same times over the first two matchdays.

While FIFA tinkers with the men's World Cup, Infantino outlined on Friday plans for three new FIFA competitions ...

— The expansion of the men’s Club World Cup to 32 teams. It would be played in 2025 over a month like the current World Cups with group play and a knockout stage.

— The creation of a women’s Club World Cup. Currently, UEFA, CAF (Africa) and Conmebol (South America) hold official women's club championships. AFC (Asia) has organized pilot tournaments, while Concacaf and Oceania are the only confederations that don't have women's club competitions.

— The addition of the “FIFA World Series,” four-team men's friendly tournaments in March before major championships in even-numbered years to allow teams from different confederations to meet.
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falvo · Dec 16, 2022

Friday, December 16, 2022

Departing friends
by Paul Gardner

The unexpected deaths of two former journalism colleagues — Grant Wahl and Alex Yannis — have left me with a sadness, and a spell of that “this shouldn’t be happening” feeling. Grant I ran into frequently enough, but I was never close to him. Always pleasant to talk to, he brought a sharp mind to his soccer coverage, one of the new generation of soccer journalists who could, right from the start, treat soccer as a top pro sport, one worthy of serious, intelligent study.

I must admit I never had a deep discussion of the sport with Grant, but I could gather from his journalism that he held the sport in esteem and assessed it knowledgeably. The fact that he was, in those days, a Sports Illustrated staffer gave him — and the sport — a position of importance. Not least because in the past, SI had been wont to cover only the sport’s big events, and then to present soccer as an arcane ritual that seemed not to warrant any detailed attention from SI.

Grant Wahl, as SI’s soccer man, helped to change SI’s attitude, and that change was immensely important for the sport. Acceptance by SI was unarguable proof that soccer had arrived. Helped that process along. Grant was an important contributor to the growth of soccer in the USA. And now, as the sport’s popularity widens, just as the career of a soccer journalist begins to take on importance and even glamour ... Grant is gone. Please ... he was only 49 years old. No, that should not be happening.

Alex Yannis was a different story, very different. A very extraordinary story. I never ceased to ponder in genuine wonderment just how a Greek immigrant could so master the English language that he could find a job at the New York Times. But there he was, in the early days of soccer’s modern era in the USA.

Back in the mid-1960s, the USA suddenly acquired not one, but two ostensibly well-financed pro leagues. One — the North American Soccer League — survived. Long enough for the Cosmos to flourish and to sign Pele in 1975.

Yannis covered that story, and the subsequent Cosmos saga for the New York Times, where he had started work years earlier as a news assistant.

From that time on, Alex Yannis was a regular part of my life — we repeatedly met up at NASL and college games. But more than that — and this was something that I greatly admired in Alex, I used to meet him at local New York soccer events. These were decidedly non-glamour occasions, featuring basically ethnic-oriented teams. The soccer standard was not particularly good, and I can’t imagine that Alex ever had much success in convincing the Times to publish whatever he may have written about that scene. But the people who gathered for these games were diehard soccer devotees from just about every country you could think of. It was a great learning experience, for Alex and for me.

For sure, soccer was at the roots of my association with Alex. But there came to be much more. Alex was simply a delight to be around, a lovely man with a mischievous sense of humor. There was a tendency, in those primitive American soccer days, to take the sport too seriously. Because it was held in low esteem by the local press and seemed only to appear in stories that mocked it, the soccer fans often felt it necessary to be serious about their sport.

But Alex got the balance right — he got his stories published and he never lost the ability to see and report the lighter side of the sport.

And of course, just like Grant Wahl and Sports illustrated years later, Alex helped the sport conquer all that derisory opposition because he was writing good journalistic pieces for the much-respected New York Times.

Late in his life, Alex took up golf and I lost touch with him. The soccer scene was the poorer for his absence. I missed his cheery greetings and the not-too-serious but always useful (to me, anyway) discussions we used to have.

Thanks, Alex, for being around when it mattered, and for being able to resist the pressure to take soccer over-seriously, to remember always that it is an enjoyable activity for ordinary people. That seemed so right for this son of a tailor in the tiny Greek village of Kardaritsi who had taught himself English and climbed way up the career ladder to end up as a New York Times journalist.
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mjlee22 · Dec 17, 2022

This pitch invasion is unbelievably bad. Game abandoned after the 20th minute

😯 WATCH: Shocking scenes as the A-league’s Melbourne derby is abandoned after fans invade the pitch and attack a goalkeeper with a metal bin!

|#MelbourneDerby #MelbDerby #MCYvMVC
pic.twitter.com/TWH3S25y3y
— Swift Kicks ⚽️ (@realSwiftKicks) December 17, 2022

Scott Rohde · Dec 17, 2022

falvo said: ↑

Saturday, December 17, 2022
FIFA must soon revisit plans for 2026 World Cup
by Paul Kennedy
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Do we still need 3 countries to host this thing if they scale back the number of teams?

don gagliardi · Dec 17, 2022

Scott Rohde said: ↑

Do we still need 3 countries to host this thing if they scale back the number of teams?
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Is FIFA gonna do whatever Paul Kennedy tells them?

falvo · Dec 17, 2022

Is it really three countries though?

I mean Vancouver is 230 miles from Seattle and Toronto is closer to NYC than Boston or all the west coast venues are.

Toronto and Vancouver are in fact in Canada but we are talking about border towns more or less.

I do agree that traveling across North America will take its toll on teams especially when you compare it to playing in Qatar where all the stadiums are close to each other but I don’t think playing in two venues, Toronto and Vancouver will be a big deal.

bsman · Dec 17, 2022

falvo said: ↑

Is it really three countries though?

I mean Vancouver is 230 miles from Seattle and Toronto is closer to NYC than Boston or all the west coast venues are.

Toronto and Vancouver are in fact in Canada but we are talking about border towns more or less.
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Uh, not sure how up on geography you are but more than 90 percent of Canadians live within 150 miles of the US border.

don gagliardi · Dec 17, 2022

bsman said: ↑

Uh, not sure how up on geography you are but more than 90 percent of Canadians live within 150 miles of the US border.
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Doesn’t that reinforce his point?

falvo · Dec 17, 2022

don gagliardi said: ↑

Doesn’t that reinforce his point?
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Exactly.

We aren't talking about playing in the Yukon was split from the North-West Territories!

My cousins live in Toronto , Ontario and they travel across the river to your hometown all the time to watch your Bills and shop.

They also drive to into Cleveland, the rest of NY and the rest of Ohio to visit family and friends.

Scott Rohde · Dec 21, 2022

PSG : Lionel Messi va prolonger à Paris
(PSG: Lionel Messi will extend in Paris)

Messi will not be coming to MLS after all.

falvo · Dec 22, 2022

Pele to spend Christmas in the hospital as cancer worsens

by Agence France-Presse

Pele will spend Christmas in a Sao Paulo hospital, his medical team and family said Wednesday, as he receives treatment for worsening cancer as well as kidney and heart problems.

The 82-year-old "requires greater care related to renal and cardiac dysfunctions," said the Albert Einstein Hospital in Sao Paulo. It also reported a "progression" of his cancer, but said Pele was not in intensive care.

Considered by many to be the greatest player of all time, Pele was hospitalized in Sao Paulo on Nov. 29 for what his medical team called a reevaluation of his chemotherapy treatments, which he has been receiving since having surgery to remove a colon tumor in September 2021.

Doctors have also diagnosed Pele -- whose real name is Edson Arantes do Nascimento -- with a respiratory infection.
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Earlier this month, Pele's daughters Kely Nascimento and Flavia Arantes sought to reassure fans about his health, denying reports that Pele had been placed in end-of-life care as supporters held a vigil outside the hospital. They said Wednesday on Instagram that they would be spending Christmas with their father at the hospital.

"Our Christmas at home has been suspended," they wrote. "We decided with the doctors that, for various reasons, it would be better for us to stay here with all the care that this new family at Einstein gives us!!"

Accompanied by a picture of them smiling, the sisters thanked Pele's fans for their support and wished them a happy festive season.

"We are going to turn this room into a Sambodrome (just kidding), we will even make caipirinhas (not kidding!!)," they joked, referencing Brazil's famous cocktail.

The siblings promised an update next week.

Pele dazzled from an early age and took the 1958 World Cup by storm when he was 17 years old, netting a hat trick in the semifinals and two more goals in the final, catapulting his own career and launching the soccer dynasty of the Brazilian national team.

Pele scored more than 1,000 goals in one of the most storied careers in sport. He is the only player in history to have won three World Cups (1958, 1962 and 1970).

In recent years, the man dubbed "The King" has faced deteriorating health and his public appearances have grown rare. He has dealt with his ailments with trademark good humor, remaining active on social media.

Pele posted regularly during the Qatar World Cup, including a message of congratulations to captain Lionel Messi after Argentina took the top prize.

"Congratulations to Argentina! Diego [Maradona], who died on November 25, 2020) is probably smiling now," he wrote. Pele also watched from hospital as star player Neymar equaled his goal record of 77 with the "Selecao." Pele has received messages from well-wishers all over the world, also recently from French striker Kylian Mbappe, who called on fans earlier this month to "pray for the King."

It was with Mbappe that Pele made one of his last public appearances, in April 2019, in Paris, for a promotional event.

World Cup host nation Qatar also showed its support for Pele, lighting up buildings with a "Get well soon" message.
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falvo · Dec 22, 2022

Watch: Barcelona's tribute to Leo Messi after his World Cup win

by Mike Woitalla @MikeWoitalla

The 35-year-old Lionel Messi spent two decades at Barcelona after leaving his Argentina home as a young teenager. He won all possible club titles — including 10 LaLiga and four UEFA Champions League crowns — before leaving for his current club, Paris St.-Germain, in 2021. Following Argentina's World Cup win in Qatar, Barcelona celebrated Messi for "winning everything."
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Scott Rohde · Dec 22, 2022

Miami didn't get Messi but they are getting a new Argentine striker.

🚨Affären i princip klar. Väntas bli officiellt med Stefanelli till Inter Miami FC redan innan årsskiftet. ✍️ https://t.co/dwMugg84hH
— Daniel Kristoffersson (@DKristoffersson) December 22, 2022

The deal is basically done. Expected to become official with Stefanelli to Inter Miami FC already before the turn of the year.

hc897 · Dec 22, 2022

falvo said: ↑

Is it really three countries though?

I mean Vancouver is 230 miles from Seattle and Toronto is closer to NYC than Boston or all the west coast venues are.

Toronto and Vancouver are in fact in Canada but we are talking about border towns more or less.

I do agree that traveling across North America will take its toll on teams especially when you compare it to playing in Qatar where all the stadiums are close to each other but I don’t think playing in two venues, Toronto and Vancouver will be a big deal.
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Do you really think that distance is the only thing that would be considered when you talk about multiple countries? People can't just freely travel between Canada, the US, and Mexico. Distance is an important consideration, certainly. North America is a very large continent and the three countries hosting all have huge amounts of physical territory. But the logistics of moving multiple teams across three different borders, possibly several different times, is, frankly, nightmarish.

I have no problem with it being a joint hosting venture, personally. If it damages the World Cup's attendance and FIFA's ability to turn a profit, even better (though they are guaranteed to turn a profit since they don't really put in any of their own money in the first place).

But yes, as currently structured, 2026 would absolutely be 3 different countries hosting. Unless we get some sort of monumental freedom of movement deal struck in four years and create an EU like situation (spoiler alert, ain't happening, especially with rampant xenophobia on the rise), it's going to be a complicated World Cup to pull off, rife with opportunities for things to go wrong.

And that's only potential logistical problems, totally ignoring geo-political. What if Russia qualifies but is still embroiled in war with Ukraine? Does the US allow the Russian team onto US soil, for instance? Does the US allow the Iranian team to play games in the US?

Distance, then, becomes a distant potential problem compared to numerous other potential issues.

falvo · Dec 22, 2022

My main point was if you are playing across the USA anyway, playing some games in Toronto or Vancouver won't make a huge difference.

Also, there are maybe only 2-3 venues in Mexico so whomever is playing there will get used to it.

I'm sure they will figure out the schedules between now and 2026.

They did it in 1994 without much of a problem.

I mean even if there were complaints and problems, FIFA or the 94 WC organizers didn't seem to care as all the games were sold out and a lot of money was made.

The 1994 World Cup in the USA was the most successful on record.