Photo: Earl Gardner
USMNT
The USMNT welcomed Honduras to San Jose for a World Cup Qualifier and gave them a PSP. Dempsey led the charge with a truly fantastic hat trick, and Sebastian Lletget, Michael Bradley (assisted by Ale Bedoya), and wunderkind Christian Pulisic each chipped in a goal.
Christian Pulisic has arrived. He is the present. He is the future. He is the truth. ESPN gave him the nod over Dempsey in their player ratings, but Clint Dempsey edged him out in the fan-voted player ratings, and MLSSoccer agreed with the fans.
The USMNT has dropped John Brooks, Michael Orozco, Sebastian Lletget, and Jordan Morris due to injuries and have added Paul Arriola for depth.
Tomorrow’s game against Panama is extremely important.
Roderick MacNeil has three takeaways from the game, including asking whether Jozy or Dempsey can be replaced any time soon.
Both Adnan Ilyas and Kevin McCauley point out that this game was classic Bruce Arena, and that the USMNT play their best when the KISS Principle is applied. And the players appreciate it.
Doug McIntyre calls Clint Dempsey “Mr. Clutch”. Dempsey wants to be playing in Russia.
Bruce Arena was not surprised by how well his attacking trio played.
Matthew Doyle digs into the tactics and comes to some interesting conclusions.
The defense was shaky due to injuries, and there are rumors that DaMarcus Beasley could find himself back in the lineup at LB. Why not stick Gooch in at CB and party like it’s 2006? Not joining that party? Landon Donovan.
Philadelphia Union
PSP.
Josh Yaro began running in practice.
Union Assistant Coach Mike Sorber is being inducted into the St. Louis Soccer Hall of Fame.
Local
Harrisburg dropped their opening game 1-0 in front of over 8000 fans. Aaron Wheeler earned a PK but was unable to convert.
UPenn drew UPitt in a friendly.
MLS
Apparently there were actual MLS games this weekend – New England put up 5 in a win against Minnesota (oops) (double oops), Real Salt Lake’s coaching change led to a 0-0 draw with NYRB, and Columbus put the first blemish on Portland’s record with a 3-2 victory. Analysis of the games here.
The next MLS team? Footy McFooty Face.
Around the globe
The rest of the Hex action. Up to date Hex standings.
The USWNT is no longer the #1 team in the world.
UEFA Qualifying hit the halfway point. Here’s all the news from this weekend’s games, including Netherlands manager Danny Blind getting fired after losing to Bulgaria.
UEFA is also starting a “Nations League” to provide national teams with more legitimately competitive games.
Sydney FC clinched first place in the Australian A-League, becoming the only team to remain in first place for the entire season.
Glow in the dark hair? Glow in the dark hair.
I can’t decide which was more impressive: Pulisic’s lob assist to Dempsey or Dempsey’s remarkable ability to control that pass with his chest while one-arm wrestling with Figueroa and still cracking a strike into the back of the goal. I think I’ll take Dempsey’s goal. Unreal. It was a pure act of willing the goal to happen with no regard forthe constraints of physics.
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Minnesota’s going to be really bad, aren’t they….
remember when the Union had Chivas to make them look good? looks like MU have taken up the mantle.
4 games / 18 goals against for Minnesota. WOW.
I was wondering if it’s a penalty if he misses the shot…There was a replay from behind the net .. Looked like a call could have been made.
No, the laws of the game don’t work this way. There is no continuation rule like in basketball to allow the referee to see what will happen before awarding the PK. This is the referee’s decision tree on this play:
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Was there a foul? If no, then allow the play to continue. If yes…
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He must then decide if the US still has the advantage in spite of the foul. If they do not, he must blow the play dead and award a PK. If they do, he must allow the play continue, but if Dempsey doesn’t score he can’t award the PK retroactively.
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If the referee decides there was a foul but allows play to continue due to an advantage, he will usually hold both arms up and forward like he is about to hug a tree. This is the way to distinguish between and advantage call vs. no foul, because the outcome is otherwise the same.
It’s actually kind of a gray area. The ref can allow up to a couple seconds to see if the advantage develops before deciding whether to call advantage. Had Dempsey missed the shot, I think he would have called the PK; it looked after the goal that the ref signaled he saw a foul and played advantage.
My understanding of the laws of the game is that the referee is technically not allowed to retroactively award a PK on plays like this once he decides the attacker has the advantage in spite of the foul, but that in reality this does happen on ‘bang-bang’ plays like this one if he hasn’t given the advantage sign yet. Another way to think about it is that, in theory, the attacker only gets one bite at the apple. This is one reason why you see attackers go to the ground on plays like this once they feel contact…they’d rather have a PK than a chance at full speed with a bouncing ball, a charging goalie, and a defender on their heels.
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I know the referee is allowed to retroactively give cards once the play is over if he rules there is advantage, even if a significant amount of time has passed, but I don’t think he can award free-kicks or PKs if the advantage doesn’t develop.
As a follow up, I looked at a referee discussion board about this. Attackers aren’t supposed to get two bites at the apple, but since there is no greater advantage than a PK for fouls in the penalty area, referees are advised to be slow to blow the whistle on PK fouls, just in case the attacking team scores in spite of the foul on a bang-bang play.
Thanks for the info!
Sounds like what happened here. Thanks for doing the research I was too lazy to do! 🙂
Congrats to Sydney FC for their wire-to-wire season. I actually got to catch a game in Sydney last month against Melbourne Victory (aka Fred’s old team). A wet pitch might have factored in, but I would put the A-League’s overall quality far, far behind MLS at this point.
What will be interesting to observe is what impact a policy that moves to Pro/Rel will/would have on the level of play in A League.
List of potential new Dutch coaches: http://www.football-oranje.com/options-replace-blind-netherlands-boss/
That’s an interesting list to review, from purely selfish reasons. If Curtin can’t engender confidence, these type of names may become attractive. These are the types of managers that will help to elevate the league (de Boer, Koeman, Rangnick, even Jol).
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The list of possible replacements, if it is needed, will be telling. Retreads? Or spend on a manager (who doesn’t count against the cap).
In a salary cap league, spending on the coaching staff is one way a “deep pockets” team can separate themselves from the pack. Should Earnie decide Curtin needs to go, seeing who they bring in as a replacement will be very telling, I think.
Bring Me The Disco King.
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I’m all in with oranje theory.
I’d wear a Flyers shirt to Talen if it would help him feel at home.