This is why nobody likes Megan Rapinoe

 

"I mean this is like a sick joke. For me personally, this is dark comedy, that I missed a penalty," Rapinoe told FOX Sports. 

The entire US soccer community is happy to see this woman go away, nobody likes her.

After all the trash talking she has done off the pitch she goes up to take a penalty in the World Cup and chokes. Then she has the audacity to smile.

A dark comedy? No Megan, you suck, nobody likes you, go away. 

There is an old saying that is apropos for Megan and the US Women National team as a whole, "be humble or be humbled".  

Just saying.

Carli Lloyd DID NOT hold back on the USWNT

I held back from posting anything after the Women's World Cup a couple of months ago because I was being lazy and really didn't care. Soccer sucks, especially women's soccer. 

But enough time has gone by and I have a few things saved on the computer so I might as well clear this stuff out and post it. 

I was delighted to see the US women's team get beat, they didn't deserve to play in front of the world.

They suck, US soccer sucks, end of debate.

MLS' new stupid playoff structure - let the clown show continue

 

MLS announces new playoff format for 2023 season

(mlssoccer.com 2-21-23)

Major League Soccer today announced the format and schedule for the Audi 2023 MLS Cup Playoffs and MLS Cup presented by Audi.

Building on the popular single-elimination format, the 2023 MLS postseason will see the addition of a pair of single-elimination Audi MLS Cup Playoffs Wild Card matches ahead of an enhanced Round One, which now includes a Best-of-3 series.

After Decision Day on Oct. 21, the playoff schedule will go as follows:

Wild Card matches: Oct. 25-26

Round One Best-of-3 series matches: Oct. 28-Nov. 12

Conference Semifinals and Conference Finals: Nov. 25-Dec. 3

MLS Cup presented by Audi: Dec. 9.

Qualification:

Seeds 1-7 in each conference will automatically qualify for the Round One Best-of-3 series.

Seeds 8-9 in each conference will qualify for the Audi 2023 MLS Cup Playoffs Wild Card matches.

MLS Cup Playoffs Wildcard Matches (2 games)

Two single-game elimination matches hosted by the higher seed.

If the score of a Wild Card game is tied at the end of regulation, no extra time will be played, teams will participate in kicks from the penalty spot to determine the winner.

The winner of each Wild Card match will advance to the Round One Best-of-3 series to face the conference No. 1 seed.

Eastern Conference Wild Card Match: No. 8 vs. No. 9

Western Conference Wild Card Match: No. 8 vs. No. 9

Round One Best-of-3 Series (16-24 games)

Every Round One game will have a winner; no ties, no aggregate score.

The matches will be hosted in a home-away-home format:

Match 1: higher seed hosts

Match 2: lower seed hosts

Match 3: higher seed hosts

If a match is tied at the end of regulation, no extra time will be played, teams will participate in kicks from the penalty spot to determine the winner.

The first team to win two matches will advance.

Four teams from each conference will advance to the Conference Semifinals.

Eastern Conference Round One Best-of-3 Series

No. 1 vs. No. 8 or 9

No. 2 vs. No. 7

No. 3 vs. No. 6

No. 4 vs. No. 5

Western Conference Round One Best-of-3 Series

No. 1 vs. No. 8 or 9

No. 2 vs. No. 7

No. 3 vs. No. 6

No. 4 vs. No. 5

Conference Semifinals (4 games)

Single-game elimination matches, hosted by the higher seed.

If the score of a Conference Semifinal game is tied at the end of regulation, two 15-minute extra time periods will be played in their entirety. If the score is still tied at the end of the two extra time periods, teams will participate in kicks from the penalty spot to determine the winner.

Conference Semifinal winners will advance to the Conference Final.

Eastern Conference Semifinals

Winner of No. 1 vs. No. 8/9 series vs. winner of No. 4 vs. No. 5 series

Winner of No. 3 vs. No. 6 series vs. winner of No. 2 vs. No. 7 series

Western Conference Semifinals

Winner of No. 1 vs. No. 8/9 series vs. winner of No. 4 vs. No. 5 series

Winner of No. 3 vs. No. 6 series vs. winner of No. 2 vs. No. 7 series

Conference Final (2 games)

Single-elimination match hosted by the higher seed.

If the score of a Conference Final game is tied at the end of regulation, two 15-minute extra time periods will be played in their entirety. If the score is still tied at the end of the two extra time periods, teams will participate in kicks from the penalty spot to determine the winner.

The winner of each Conference Final match will advance to MLS Cup presented by Audi.

Eastern Conference Final: highest advancing seed vs. lowest advancing seed

Western Conference Final: highest advancing seed vs. lowest advancing seed

MLS Cup (1 game)

A single match hosted by the higher seed.

If the score of the game is tied at the end of regulation, two 15-minute extra time periods will be played in their entirety. If the score is still tied at the end of the two extra time periods, teams will participate in kicks from the penalty spot to determine the winner.

MLS Cup presented by Audi: Eastern Conference Champion vs. Western Conference Champion

https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/mls-announces-new-playoff-format-for-2023-season

The most clutch save in all of soccer history (in my opinion)

Emiliano Martínez’s heroics save Argentina in clutch for World Cup title

(nypost.com 12-18-22)

Emiliano Martínez was still in tears as he tried to answer questions, the moment overwhelming the Argentine goalkeeper more than anything could have during the game itself. 

It was the first time all night he had looked anything other than calm as Martínez wrote himself into World Cup lore. In the classic World Cup final, Martinez carried Argentina through extra time and a penalty shootout to win the country’s first world championship in 36 years. 

It was the second minute of stoppage time after 120 had already passed when a looping ball found Randal Kolo Muani in space atop the Argentinian box. This looked like the moment for France, which had already fought back from 2-0 and 3-2 deficits to tie the game at three. This would write an end to Argentina, a tragic finish to a World Cup that seemed predestined to finish in favor of La Albiceleste from the start. 

And then there was Martínez, doing the splits and coming up with a desperation kick save, the ball flying off his left foot. Minutes later, with the game in penalties, there was no desperation — only stone cold calm. Martínez denied Kingsley Coman with a diving save to his left, then stared down Aurélien Tchouaméni until the French midfielder sent his attempt wide. 

“Nothing to thank me for,” Martínez said through both an interpreter and his tears. “It was a game we had to suffer. … It’s our destiny to suffer.” 

And it seemed to be his destiny to end that suffering. 

“We were [up] 3-2, they get another penalty. They almost scored two goals then I did that kick, that save, and this is my dream,” Martínez said. “I’m speechless.” 

The emotion, still, poured from him as he was asked about the penalty kicks. 

“I was calm. I relied on my teammates,” he said. “I couldn’t [save] the first one, I leaned the wrong way. 

“But then I did everything right.” 

His teammates, too, came through with a perfect 4-for-4 in the shootout. Lionel Messi, Paulo Dybala, Leandro Paredes and Gonzalo Montiel helped put Argentina over the top in the shootout, But it is Martínez who made that glory possible when all looked lost. 

“I want to dedicate [this] to my family, my kid,” Martínez said. “I came from humble beginnings, I left Argentina very young for England, and I just want to dedicate this to them.” 

https://nypost.com/2022/12/18/emiliano-martinez-saves-argentina-in-clutch-for-world-cup-title/

I knew it

RSL falls short of US Open Cup final, loses 3-1 in Houston

(ksl.com 8-23-23)

Everyone knew the stakes of Wednesday's U.S. Open Cup semifinal in Houston: Win and you get to play Lionel Messi.

For Real Salt Lake, the reward was even bigger: Win and Messi comes to Sandy for a tournament final, with a trophy on the line.

RSL bounced back after it trailed 1-0 at halftime to keep the glimmer of hope alive with a goal from super-sub Anderson Julio in the 64th minute. The script, then, followed the Miami-Cincinnati semifinal earlier in the evening and went to 30 minutes of extra time with an even scoreline after 90 minutes.

RSL likely shouldn't have even made it that far, trailing Houston by a large margin in nearly every statistical category. The Dynamo owned almost 70% of possession in the game and outshot RSL 30-11 on the night, including a 10-2 lead in shots on goal.

Houston's tenacity and RSL's defensive woes shone through in extra time, and the Dynamo scored at the end of each 15-minute period to finish with a 3-1 win and a ticket to Miami for the Open Cup final.

"We knew it was gonna be a tough match," head coach Pablo Mastroeni said. "I'm really proud of the way the guys fought to get back in the game, but I think on the night we just weren't good enough with the ball. Credit to Houston, they're a very good team at home."

Brayan Vera exacerbated the situation with a straight red card in the 119th minute for striking a Houston player and retaliating against the teammates who came to the opponent's defense. Zac MacMath and Marcelo Silva had to restrain the first-year defender who was thirsty for more.

The two sides follow up Wednesday's 120-minute battle with another match Saturday in Sandy; RSL resumes MLS play at 7:30 p.m. MDT at America First Field.

"You can sit here and feel sorry for yourself, but we have a big game on the weekend and we have to quickly dust ourselves off and attack the right way," Mastroeni said. "So that'll be the focus for us."

RSL sits in third place in the Western Conference with 10 matches remaining in the regular season. So even though the team fell short of trophies in the Leagues Cup and Open Cup tournaments, Mastroeni believes there's still a lot to fight for in the regular season.

"We're in a good position in the league, but we have to have a better performance than we did tonight, I think, in particular with the ball," Mastroeni said. "I can't be more proud of the effort that the guys gave, but I just don't think we've executed well enough."

The loss came with subpar performances from the starting strikers up top — Damir Kreilach and Chicho Arango — and was also the team's first shot at replacing injured Pablo Ruiz in the midfield. Mastroeni said the team felt his "void" Wednesday and will need to "quickly figure out" how to fill it moving forward.

"Whether it's changing shape or changing the personnel," Mastroeni said. "But, obviously, it's hard to replace a player of Pablo's caliber."

https://www.ksl.com/article/50715934/rsl-falls-short-of-us-open-cup-final-loses-3-1-in-houston

Credit to Beckham, he gets it

 

RSL on a roll and Patrick Eccles celebrates an anniversary

I check out ksl.com daily for my local news, and for some reason they keep putting up RSL game results. So whether I want to or not I've seen RSL move up the in the standings of what is the MLS freak show. Good for them, 3rd in the West I see.

I still don't care.

However, I would like to see them take the US Open Cup, that in my mind is a proper soccer championship. So not all of my RSL fandom has died, just the portion that has anything to do with MLS. US Soccer I suppose deserves a little credit for keeping the Open Cup going.

August 23rd in Houston I see is their next game. Good lord, that won't be humid at all. God bless them, hopefully no one suffers a heat stroke.

Moving on to more important things, "los sanfermines" just ended in Pamplona. A little over a week of running with the bulls in the morning and then bullfights in the afternoon. Along with 24 hours of drinking and other debauchery. 

Bull runs available on YouTube and the bull fights available on my Mundotoro TV app. It has been wonderful, everything so easily available to watch. 

This year was kind of special, although I think I am the only one in the State of Utah that knew about it. This year was the 10 year anniversary of  the goring of local boy Patrick Eccles. It was all over the news 10 years ago. He survived thank goodness, he very easily could have died. The goring was that bad. He did lose his spleen though, poor guy. And he took a lot of guff for running with a cell phone in his hand, a big no-no. 

I follow him on Facebook and Instagram and I was waiting to see if he was going to put anything up on the anniversary but he did not. I was kind of hoping he would put of the video that he shot on his cell phone. 

I did a little follow up post on my Plaza de Toros blog after I found a couple of photos that had previously gone unnoticed. Here's a link;

http://blogplazadetoros.blogspot.com/2023/07/10-years-ago-today.html

And here is one of the original photos, in case you missed it 10 years ago.

Ernest Hemingway once said, "Nobody ever lives their life all the way up except bullfighters."

Bull runners probably feel like they live quite a bit of it up too.