Good morning! I’m coming to you live from the south Jersey shore, which is very unlike the terrors the words “Jersey shore” probably bring to your mind. It’s breezy, I have a delicious margarita pizza, and by the time this posts, I’ll have plenty of friends here with me. 2018 has often been tawdry and stupid, but my situation right now is definitely an exception.
Let’s get to the links!
D.C. United announce friendly against Olimpia of Honduras | DCUnited.com
Guess I’ll see you folks on 9/19. I know there’s some skepticism, but a) Luciano Emilio seems happy, and b) gotta get those extra dates in at the new stadium.
Want to relive some bad news? Here’s a breakdown of how United didn’t capitalize on a similar chance that gave Philly their back-breaking second goal:
Here’s a lunchtime breakdown of similar plays from #DCvPHI with the #Union scoring & #DCU missing out on their chance. #DOOP #MLS pic.twitter.com/wJ6dn0EvpY
— Home Sweet Soccer (@HomeSweetSoccer) August 30, 2018
Looking ahead, United will be short-handed in a couple of weeks when they face Minnesota United in the international window. They probably won’t be more short-handed than the Loons, who will be lucky to turn up with 11 soccer players on gameday:
Sounds like for the next game Sept. 12 at D.C., #MNUFC will be missing quite a few bodies. Boxall and Calvo are suspended. Calvo, Schuller and Romario Ibarra have been called up to their national teams. Quintero is still questionable with a calf injury.
— Megan Ryan (@theothermegryan) August 30, 2018
MLS matches during FIFA fixture window will play havoc with D.C. United lineup | Washington Post
United is still going to have plenty of absentees for that one. Then again, it could be worse...
Washington Spirit announce six (six!) national team replacement players | Black and Red United
Six! That’s a lot!
Questions Abound About Whitecaps’ Relationship to Super Agent After Lenarduzzi Radio Appearance. | Eighty Six Forever
There are some very interesting points in here, including former D.C. United starter David Ousted getting dropped to the bench the day after he signed with a new agent.
Here’s something less ambiguous:
Yes! The Opta stat widgets are live on #NWSL player pages now!
— Jacqueline Purdy (@JacquelinePurdy) August 30, 2018
Visit any player page, get all this season's stats, and wherever you see a small "i" there is more info!
And now -- a thread of totally random players, in alphabetical order:
NWSL nerds have been dying to get their hands on the information we take for granted from MLSsoccer.com’s chalkboards. The fight for better data in women’s soccer is going well.
Elsewhere, here’s...well, let’s let Sounder at Heart explain it:
How awesome is @wbruin? His wife was apparently giving him crap about getting Cruyff’d by @ZarekValentin. So he asked us to make a Shooting Stars video. @MLSwatercolors couldn’t resist, even if it cost her a night of sleep. pic.twitter.com/0icFPB7pDd
— Sounder At Heart (@sounderatheart) August 30, 2018
23 Thoughts: Why Dempsey is the best American player ever, and what’s next for his USMNT generation | Yahoo Sports
This is less 23 thoughts and more 5 stories (1 long, 1 medium-sized, and 3 paragraphs) about various American soccer things. But, the medium-sized story is about Paul Arriola, so formatting issues aren’t that big of a deal.