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News roundup: Collin starts, USWNT ends mediation, midweek action, MLS2STL, more

Photo: Earl Gardner

Philadelphia Union

At his weekly press conference, Jim Curtin said Aurelian Collin has played his way into the starting lineup ahead of Auston Trusty and Mark McKenzie.

MLS

Atlanta United beat Club America 3-2 to win the second-ever Campeones Cup.

Pour one out for Sacramento… St. Louis is reportedly the next MLS expansion city.

In midweek league action:

NWSL

Sky Blue knocked off Chicago Red Stars 2-1 in Piscataway thanks to a brace from rookie Paige Monaghan.

U.S. Soccer

Big news drop in Morgan v. USSF: the USWNT ends their mediation and will go to a jury trial. Not a good look for U.S. Soccer.

Highlights

Christian Pulisic with a dime in Chelsea’s match versus Liverpool yesterday:

22 Comments

  1. Can’t wait for Collin to get burned and get a red card and lose us a game.

    Curtin is loyal to his players to a fault, he believes in honeymoon phases constantly and once a player earned his trust (which is a low bar apparantly, because Collin had that awful foul and then let his mark score a goal on the ensuing free kick two games ago) it feels like it takes felony for Curtin to lose that trust in them.

    • I say congrats to Aurelian for playing well and earning the promotion. Say what you want about him, the guy is 100% in and fights like a dog when he is out there.

      • I’m kind of in this camp. I think he’s played really well. I don’t like that our young talent isn’t getting minutes, but at this point, you’ve gotta go with the best team.

    • Yeah I agree and it could’ve easily happened against Houston. He has played better in the air or on crosses as pointed out on this site, which is great. HOWEVER, that’s only part of the game and I really fear him getting burned bad by fast forwards. I just value Trusty more on counterattacks because of his speed. If the Union are 100% healthy, we’ll win the possession battle hands down. But that means more counterattacks.

    • el Pachyderm says:

      Not gonna lie… I’m more comfortable with Collin than Trusty.
      .
      The question is then… what’s that say abouty Trusty.

    • Uh, James, apologies, but this is a terrible take.

      Because the guy who had been left in FOR. EVER., despite having made many mistakes, was Trusty. So the “loyal to a fault” thing is an especially weird and inapt criticism to apply to this one.

      The truth of the matter is that our defense has been problematic, there are several causes, and something had to be done. Trusty’s downward dip in form is only piece of it; the other pieces, IMHO, are 1) We need an upgrade at RB; and 2) Haris Medunjanin as regista comes with defensive limitations that expose our CBs regularly. (See, for example, Houston’s goal in the last match.)

      However, we don’t have anyone with whom to replace Ray. And taking Medunjanin out would have knock-on effects that might end up being a net negative. (And certainly would create complexity.)

      So the one thing he COULD do was replace Trusty with the proven veteran, and overall Colin has done a good job. He has hardly been flawless — there was the one goal (I think vs DC?) where he made a stupid foul to give them a dangerous free kick, and then didn’t defend his man well enough on the kick and gave up a headed goal. But he has played well on balance — better than Trusty was playing.

  2. Re the equal pay mediation: Let’s remember that it takes TWO to tango. None of us know what was offered or demanded there, or how reasonable it might have been.

    • Dan c formerly of 103 says:

      USWNT: give us equal pay.
      USSF: No

      Not a lot of grey area there…

    • No real dog in this hunt. Takes two to tango and we weren’t at the dance. Beyond the “Equal Pay” chants,one has to wonder if the WNT is really truly asking for the exact same deal as the men. Seeing as the men are only paid when they play for the national team, whereas the women get a salary on top of bonuses for games play/wins/team wins etc. What happens to NWSL if all the top US national team players go to Europe to get a living wage to play club football? Because in a sense USSF has been subsidizing NWSL with those salary payments.

      • Honestly, the whole thing seems like grey area to me. I am not sure what equal pay even looks like given the various differences in how they are paid. Is it that each player regardless of gender gets the same game day check? Is it that the total amount of money is spent on both programs (salary, bonuses, and otherwise) at the end of the year? Does it include or exclude the seperate salaries paid to the women? Does it include anything to compensate players for the risk of injury due and loss of earning power for their club positions?

        As far as I can tell, its more like:

        USWNT: Give us MORE money.

        USSF: Not that much.

  3. I’ll preface this by saying I haven’t pored over the data and I’m truly open to clarifications:
    .
    If there was a pie for the international men’s game and a pie for the international women’s game. What pie would be bigger? If each participant got a slice of their pie, respective of their successes, whose slice would be bigger? Remember the pies aren’t the same size. Isn’t it safe to envision the entire women’s pie to be smaller than even a single slice of the men’s pie? The men earn more (despite their failings) because there is more money to go around. The women earn less (despite their dominance) because there is tremendously less money to go around. Right?
    .
    Please, help me understand this thing better.

    • Can’t we just combine the pies and give everyone the same amount of slices for doing the same job?
      _
      The USMNT doesn’t make the USSF more money, FIFA’s men’s tournaments make the USSF more money.

    • Scott of Nazareth says:

      Definitely a complex puzzle. Without a doubt the TV rights costs for men’s and women’s games are different. I would imagine the TV ratings for MLS and NWSL are similarly ratioed to NBA and WNBA games.

      Don’t know how/where FIFA $ is derived/divided, but safe to assume the mens WC is certainly bringing down more coin than the womens.
      .
      Based on success rate, and recent eye ball tests, I would *think* that USWNT outdraws USMNT attendance wise.
      .
      The math and economics can be shifted and distorted in any # of ways to support or attack either position.
      .
      Personally, I think its a bad look on USSF’s part that this has gotten to the point that its a public issue now. The goodwill and brand recognition the USWNT has brought to the sport in this country, while not tangible, carries a TON of value and is seeding and feeding future growth that will ultimately benefit USSF, so quit quibbling and pay the ladies already.

    • The Truth,
      I think the issue is that the market for the men’s game has received generations of investment that the women have not had. So equaling the pay for women isn’t about subverting the market, it’s about taking, quite frankly, a minor corrective action. And by minor, I mean it is only one step in addressing generations of inequality. I think it’s the very least the USSF can do, to be honest.

  4. This team has given up way too many goals not to try something different. It’s not all trustys fault… I love the kid and hope he bounces back in a major way moving forward. Same with derrick jones, so much promise but something was not quite right.
    The equal pay thing is a hoot. How about we just take the best 22-35 players in the country and have a national soccer team, not men’s or women’s. Just the national team. Problem solved. With the logic people use today, which is amazing, I guess Evey mls player should get what Zlatan earns or Zlatan should get what Aaronson gets. Really, can we be serious? Anyway, with the trans movement going on today in 20-30 years there will be no more real women on the women’s team. if the women are not happy with their pay they can quit and find a more lucrative career. They are not forced to play. My kids see primarily female physicians whom we love and trust. Our elementary school principal is great woman. My boys have wonderful female teachers. I think the 15 year olds from FC Dallas should make more the the USWNT. Megan R might be a decent women’s soccer player but she’d be a terrible business owner.
    GO U!

    • If I’m a graphic designer and a woman and you are a graphic designer and a man, and I win awards and you don’t, shouldn’t I get paid more? Because as far as I can tell the women are vastly outperforming the men. Consider that especially in respect to the following.

      If the USSF wants a stable women’s league to develop talent (and, of course, make bank on) then they need to keep our best here, playing in it. Even with a rankly opportunistic profit motive this should entirely be a no-brainer.

      • Not quite as black and white as your example. If as a woman graphic designer you win your 1st place award but you were only competing against 12 other women graphic designers and first place prize is $10. The male graphic designer is competing against 64 other male graphic designers and comes in 6th but 6th place pays $100. Should you as a woman graphic designer get $100?

  5. The USMNT and the USWNT have the same. Damn. Job. They should have the same. Damn. Salary. What job is there in which men and women get paid differently, purely on the basis of gender??

    As for the disparity of prize money from the Gold Cup etc., I don’t see why USSF can’t address this by proportioning it on a percentage basis. They could say, “Every member of the national team that achieves in a tournament will receive a bonus equal to of the total prize money.” Now you’re being equal, while also reflecting the economic differences in the men’s and women’s games.

    Regardless of the complexities, this is a terrible, terrible look for US Soccer. The incredible dominance of the USWNT just reveals how horribly petty they are.

    • This is were I get lost in this discussion. I think virtually everyone here agrees with your first point. “Equal pay” is really easy to say, but it looks much less easy to do.
      .
      The USWMT’s CBA pays them a salary. The USMNT’s does not. They don’t need it because they get paid more by their clubs than the women do. So is the answer to pay the men a salary too? Is it for US Soccer to pay a much higher salary to the women to account for the salaries paid out to the men by the third-party clubs? If so, how do you value that (does every USWNT member get Michaels Bradley’s $6.5 million, or the lowest USMNT member’s salary, or an average?)?
      .
      Also, if you are just giving a percentage of the prize pool out to the players, the men’s pool (over time) is going to result in much larger checks because their awards are much higher. So that is not really “equal” either, right?

    • to answer your question Scott, almost every job

      including neurologists

      https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/fullarticle/2532788

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