World Soccer XXX: We Have Men Too!

[Jimjamesak]

Mexico beat Suriname 3-0 in their Nations League opener and their fans are not happy. Good thing they just reportedly signed their manager to a long extension!

Personally, I blame CONCACAF for actually making Mexico play their Nations League games in Mexico…

[Jimjamesak]

The Head Coach of NYCFC Ronny Deila has decided to celebrate his team’s MLS Cup by moving Belgium and becoming the manager for Standard Liege.

[Kepler]

The Head Coach of NYCFC Ronny Deila has decided to celebrate his team’s MLS Cup by moving Belgium and becoming the manager for Standard Liege.

Liege is one of the loveliest cities in Europe.

That's a big ol' no contest to me.

[Jimjamesak]

Liege is one of the loveliest cities in Europe.

That's a big ol' no contest to me.

Oh I wasn’t trying to drag Liege, more of a comment that NYCFC is now on their fifth coach in seven years.

Also, another Eastern Conference team thrown into disarray along with New England (who’s losing their starting goalie and star player this summer).

[Jimjamesak]

Australia v Peru World Cup Playoff on FS1 right now.

Interestingly former Mark Clattenburg is on the broadcast as rules analyst which means:

1. Hopefully no more Dr. Joe (JFC he was the worst).
2. Clatts is no longer working for ESPN anymore (he was their rules analyst last summer during the Euros and some MLS/USMNT stuff).

[Kepler]

Oh I wasn’t trying to drag Liege, more of a comment that NYCFC is now on their fifth coach in seven years.

Something something MLS is double A soccer something.

My god now all I can think of is how much I love Belgian Trappist beers.

[Jimjamesak]

Australia beats Peru in kicks from the mark to go to the World Cup after a, uh, “entertaining” 0-0 draw.

People love to talk about how difficult CONMEBOL qualifying is and how “deserving teams” like Chile miss out and then the fifth place Peru team can’t even score on an Australian team that has, to be generous, looked godawful the last 6 months.

[Jimjamesak]

A bit of panic in Canada as Canada loses to Honduras 2-1 in CONCACAF Nations League play.

Is it Canada finally coming back to Earth after huge run of form or just merely a small slip on the road?

Canada does have a huge problem though: They need some tough friendlies to prepare in the September window but the CSA is inept at best and their contract situation makes them a very unappealing opponent right now.

[Jimjamesak]

The Canada-Honduras game is getting better by the day as the Canadians are in full meltdown mode.

First, it was raining so the already terrible field was in worse shape and the Canadians are complaining loudly about that. Casual reminder that Canada made teams play WCQ matches in brutal winter conditions and on frozen turf despite indoor venues being available.

Second, they’re unhappy with the officiating as Canada got multiple cautions and had a player sent off. They went so far as to go after the door to the referees locker room. On a totally unrelated note, Canada used rough, physical tactics during WCQ and that is credited with helping them qualify.

On a non-passive aggressive note, it’s just funny to see a team meltdown over stuff they do themselves. They have succeeded in uniting US and Mexico fans against them though.

[Jimjamesak]

Welp, **** that Canada stuff…

MLS announces new broadcast deal with Apple.

Every match available on AppleTV including MLS, Leagues Cup and MLS Next Pro.

NO BLACKOUTS.

Season ticket holders get the service included.

[Jimjamesak]

So there’s going to be a separate subscription service for the full package but some games will be available with a regular AppleTV subscription.

No more local tv. Honestly, this is so much better because the vast majority of MLS regional broadcasts sucked.

Still going to be national TV games, ESPN, Fox and Univision are still negotiating apparently though Apple will still have the streaming rights.

MLS (and Apple I assume) will be handling the technical side in house it seems. Basically sending out a single feed.

The financials seem to be $250 million a year though that’s a minimum as it can grow based on subscriptions.

[Jimjamesak]

Athletic article.

Couple of more notes:

Local radio broadcast audio will be available for selection.

Matches are going to be largely centralized to a Saturday evening schedule so there can be a preshow plus a Redzone style whiparound show.

[Slap Shot]

Did not watch but apparently the US played at El Salvador on an embarrassingly poor pitch, and tied the game in the 2nd 1-1 while down 1 player.

[Jimjamesak]

Did not watch but apparently the US played at El Salvador on an embarrassingly poor pitch, and tied the game in the 2nd 1-1 while down 1 player.

Jordan Morris with the goal in the 90’. At the same time the Sounders beat Vancouver 4-0, so pretty good night for Seattle!

Nobody has any thoughts on the Apple deal though?

[LynahFan]

Did not watch but apparently the US played at El Salvador on an embarrassingly poor pitch, and tied the game in the 2nd 1-1 while down 1 player.

I watched. It was actually 10v10 when the US scored, and yes, the pitch was laughably miserable. El Salvador created almost no chances; on their goal, our backup keeper played the pass instead of the shot and left the near post wide open for the direct strike. I’m pretty sure he ended the match with zero saves.