Apparently the Palermo game is on RAI Sports as well today, which I guess makes it easier to watch here in the states, maybe.
I’ve been watching a lot of USL Championship on ESPN+ lately. Some of the teams like Detroit or New Mexico remind me of the early days of the Fire before we got big, expensive, forgotten and crappy. They get good intimate crowds of people who care.
Man, I couldn’t agree more. USL is my favorite league. It’s super intimate, and way less corporate than mls. I wish they fire could play in a 10-15k stadium.
USL 1 is also a good watch. I tend to watch more USL than MLS now a days. I've gotten a little tired of watching MLS and like how refreshing it is to watch USL. Kind of wish ESPN+ also had USL 2 televised as well as there are a few teams that have started over the past couple years that are worth a follow.
Did anyone see where Shaqiri was subbed off the last Switzerland game in the first half with a probable hamstring injury? This does not bode well for the Fire and my hot take is the bad luck continues right through the international break. Unfortunately I could find no links to back this up.
New Zealand v. Costa Rica for the slot in the World Cup. Ridiculous VAR call denies New Zealand a well earned goal. On VAR, it was "determined" that the New Zealand committed a foul by falling and putting his arm out over the Costa Rican player's leg as they both fell. The New Zealand player got up, recovered the ball, dribbled, passed the ball and then a bad Costa Rican defensive error leads to a goal, 20 seconds or so after the alleged foul. Just awful decision. If it is a foul, call it at the time. If it is not a foul, let it go. And, now, the ref has used VAR to punish New Zealand again, changing a yellow card to a red card on a pretty weak foul. If Elliot Collier was playing it would be New Zealand 20-Costa Rica -2.
I rarely bitch about officiating, but this seems to be an abuse of VAR. It is not abuse, since both suspect goals and potential red cards are within the purview of VAR. It is just that neither warranted the reversal of the original decision. Oh, and New Zealand rather suck and really are not deserving of going to the World Cup, especially considering they are ranked 101 in FIFA. Costa Rica has not been very good either. A goal in the third minute and then 87 minutes of running around aimlessly and flopping around. And there is the final whistle. The World Cup field is now settled.
Germany v. Italy in the Nations League. Germany putting a hurt on the Italians. It is 5-0 in the 70th minute. Are Italy the highest ranked team (6th in the World) ever to fail to qualify for the World Cup? Of course, they failed to qualify in 2018, as well. Edit: I think when the Netherlands failed to qualify in 2018, they were ranked 5th in the World,
England getting crushed by Hungary, in England. 4-0 Hungary. England sit bottom of the Group, in real jeopardy of relegation. 2 points from 4 matches. Hungary sit atop the group, with 7 points. Italy with two very late goals (including the final kick of the game), but Germany wins 5-2. Edit: just watched the "highlights" of the England match. Good god, England were awful.
I've seen honest-to-goodness Chicago Public High Schools with a better maintained grass field than the one the US and El Salvador are playing on. CONCACAF refereeing at its best, too.
I only caught the last 25 minutes, as we were binge watching Stranger Things. The field for this game was more disgusting than anything in Stranger Things. Horrible field. Horrible play. Terrible tempers. Good end to the game, though.
I don't know if promotion was a factor, but the City Football Group takeover of Palermo is official. I'm not sure how to feel about this. Deal done!Manchester City Group now owns Palermo!Palermo enters the galaxy of club owned by the City Group across the world just after being promoted to Serie B— Tancredi Palmeri (@tancredipalmeri) June 16, 2022
I read that it is not 100% yet on the UltraPalermo twitter feed, but that it’s 90% or so with a couple of other suitors that don’t have quite the juice of CFG (making me wonder why they’re still in contention). Assuming it’s a done deal though, I am mostly okay with it considering they’re likely to bring back the name US Città di Palermo (current owner already bought the rights back and it lines up with the “City” branding) and that they keep the primary colors pink and black. A light blue change kit is about all of the additional “branding” I could take, but only because our change kits are quite often boring all white affairs like this past season’s. We’ll see how it plays out, though.
Letting the polymeric sand settle into the paver patio which is the base for the greenhouse I am building, so I decided to watch the beginning of the NY/NJ Gotham FC v. San Diego Wave NWSL match. Sorry, @Jiggly_333, your former "nemesis" Alex Morgan just scored. Then Paige Monaghan just screwed up royally on a golden chance for Gotham.