~Soccer Thread~

[ELA]

Rapinoe going to the White House might be better than her not.  I bet she polls higher.

[Brutus Buckeye]

Congrats to the USWNT on the World Cup, and kudos to the Androgynous Assassin on the clutch performances that fueled the run. 

[Brutus Buckeye]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Js7XUk82V_A

[Brutus Buckeye]

US Open Cup

The final pair of USL teams were knocked out of the quarterfinal round. 



The Final Four will have Atlanta, Orlando, Minnesota and Portland. 

[ALA2262]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Js7XUk82V_A

Was that #6 (Brian) or #8 (Ertz) that picked the flag up? Kudos to whoever.

[utee94]

The articles say it was Kelley O'Hara, and definitely kudos to her.  You can see even in that brief clip that she seems mortified that it hit the ground.

I don't think Allie Long dropped in on purpose, she was caught up in the celebration.  But it seems pretty obvious to me that Rapinoe deliberately pushed it away and wanted nothing to do with it while she celebrated.  That's certainly her right, but it's not going to win her any favor.  Of course at this point, I'm not sure anything she did would be looked upon in a favorable light by those who dislike her stance.

[Anonymous Coward]

That's pretty forgivable. As mentioned, it was clearly a mistake and ultimately fixed. And the other two girls in the trio up front don't seem to "want nothing to do with it." They just seem ambivalent about its inclusion in the celebration. They are also too focused on everything else to know it's on the ground.

[ALA2262]

The articles say it was Kelley O'Hara, and definitely kudos to her.  You can see even in that brief clip that she seems mortified that it hit the ground.

I don't think Allie Long dropped in on purpose, she was caught up in the celebration.  But it seems pretty obvious to me that Rapinoe deliberately pushed it away and wanted nothing to do with it while she celebrated.  That's certainly her right, but it's not going to win her any favor.  Of course at this point, I'm not sure anything she did would be looked upon in a favorable light by those who dislike her stance.

O'hara is listed as #5 on the roster. Can't tell if it as a 6 or an 8, but it definitely is not a 5.


https://www.ussoccer.com/players

[rolltidefan]

O'hara is listed as #5 on the roster. Can't tell if it as a 6 or an 8, but it definitely is not a 5.


https://www.ussoccer.com/players

whoever picked it up is wearing one of the "champions" jerseys with #19 on it. morgan and rapinoe also have it on, as well as some players in the background. long, however, still has on her #20 playing jersey.

you can clearly see the #19 early in the shot and smudged just after she's picked it up. and clearly see the 'champions' on the back where their names would normally be.

this jersey.



edit: pic didn't work. here's a link
here's a link

i'll also side with whoever said it looks unintentional drop by long.(edit2-unintentional is probably wrong word, but not meant to disgrace usa) i also don't think rapinoe is pushing it away, looks more like shes making a "make room" move, slightly pushing away long and morgan to squeeze in and celebrate.

think we're trying to find stuff to dislike her at this point.

[utee94]

All the articles say it was O'Hara, so I'm gonna go ahead and go with O'Hara.  You can't judge by the number of the jersey because most of the women were wearing the generic #19 Champions jersey by that point.  Anyway, good on her.

And like I said, people that are predisposed to dislike Rapinoe, won't view this as favorable.  People that don't already have a problem with her, will be forgiving.

For me it's the latter, I think she was doing her thing and it's certainly forgivable, but I absolutely DO believe she intentionally brushed it aside because she didn't want to have anything to do with it during a celebration that she views as her own, rather than the nation's.  That's ok, she played for it and earned it.

But it's pretty clearly a distinctly different mindset from an American who... say... wins a major event in the Olympics and goes immediately to seek out a person holding the American  flag and drapes it across her shoulders and parades around with it.  This is not just speculation, her comments over the past 6 months pretty firmly support that viewpoint regarding her actions with the flag last Sunday.  She's been quite clear about her feelings of the current state of the country and why she's protesting.  She's allowed to do that, and other folks are allowed to think unfavorably of her because of it.  God Bless the USA for that.

[Brutus Buckeye]

US Open Cup

The Semifinal pairings have been announced. 

Orlando hosts Atlanta, and Minnesota hosts the Timbers. 

Games will be played around August 7th. 

[ALA2262]

US Open Cup

The Semifinal pairings have been announced.

Orlando hosts Atlanta, and Minnesota hosts the Timbers.

Games will be played around August 7th.

SMH on that one. Atlanta average attendance is greater than Orlando and Minnesota combined. Guess they don't care if they have any fans attending anyway. Hell, they didn't allow any at the Atlanta-Charleston match in Atlanta.


https://soccerstadiumdigest.com/2019-mls-attendance/

[ELA]

CONCACAF announced qualifying changes for the final 32 team World Cup.  Top 6 in the FIFA rankings go straight to the Hex, instead of jumping in the round before.  7 and lower have their own qualifying, then instead of going straight to the inter-confederation playoff, the 4th place team from the Hex first plays the lower ranked group winner.

[Brutus Buckeye]

Canadian Championship (Voyageurs Cup) 

The Calgary Cavalry executed the first ever CPL vs MLS upset in all of recorded human history, at the expense of the Vancouver Whitecaps in a two-legged H-A series. So now they will play the Montreal Impact in the semifinals, while the Ottawa Fury (USL) will lock horns with Toronto in the other semifinal. 

The Whitecaps are dead last in the MLS West, and ahead of only Cincinnati in the MLS crossover standings. The Impact and Toronto are both "bubble teams" in the East, heading into the final weekend before the all star break. 


.

Leagues Cup

Apparently there is some new international single elimination tournament with a quartet of both MLS and Liga MX teams. No idea what the qualification criteria might be, but only the LA Galaxy prevented this thing from going to an all-Mexico semifinal round.