Scores
Minnesota United 2 – 0 Austin FC
The Loons announced their return to full stadia with authority in a strong shutout win lead by the newly terrifying trio of Bébelo, Frangapane and Adrien Honou. We stayed home to take care of a sick baby Owen, but hopefully the convincing win is the best medicine.
Legon Cities FC 1 – 2 Hearts of Oak
Falling behind quickly to local giants Hearts of Oak was predictable. The eventual loss was too. But Victorian Adebayor’s goal, will hopefully be the boon to the teams last four weeks (with far less fearsome opponents)
Lillestrom 2 – 0 Rosenborg BK [M]
In Round 1 of the Lillehammer/Trondheim tilt of the weekend, the gentlemen were wrong footed from the beginning. The attacking line couldn’t find a way through, and Even Hovland and Kristoffer Zachariassen were uncharacteristically poor. I’m not sure why Åge Hareide insists on putting Zachariassen, one of the country’s best midfielders, in attack rather than next to fellow excellent midfielder Alexander Tetty, but…here we are
Lillestrom Kvinner 0 – 3 Rosenborg BK [F]
Lillestrom Kvinner (or LSK) was the only team to beat Rosenborg last year, knocking the otherwise indomitable Trolls out of the cup competition. Lillestrom looked quite capable of challenging Rosenborg again, but the defense held firm and Kristine Nostmo stopped anything within her reach. Better still, Julie Blakstad was quite ready to take it to the rivals. Our favorite winger netted twice to lead a trouncing in Lillehammer to split the club series.
Macara 3 – 0 CS Emelec [F]
Another loss by las eléctricas raised the question of when to shift defensive strategy or staffing completely.
Portland Timbers 0 – 1 Minnesota United
The Loons were quick to strike with that blitzing trio of attackers in Portland, but hopes of a big win were dashed as a defensive showcase broke out with arguably the best game by the back line all year. So tip the hat to Michael Boxall and Bakye Dibassy for shutting down the space in front of goal (and of course Tyler Miller for coming up whenever he needed to).
King Faisal 2 – 0 Legon Cities
After a solid but ineffective showing against Hearts of Oak, the Royals should feel disappointed not to get points against the struggling Insh’allah boys. Their last three matches remain vital to survival.
News & Notes
Disappointing
Franco Frangapane has done quite well since his addition to the Minnesota line up. Unfortunately, that’s tempered by accusations that he used a racial insult towards an opponent (Diego Charra) in Saturday’s win.
The matter will be investigated, but if true we’ll be enduring Frangapane more than cheering. If not, he’s got a way to go to get us cheering again.
International Affairs Update
South American CopaAmerica
Pedro Ortiz was demoted from the starting spot with minimal improvement for Ecuador, a 2-2 draw with Peru and a 1-1 draw with Brazil. Shockingly that was enough for Ecuador to back in to the knockout stage.
European Euro Championships
With the end of the group stage came the end of the road for many of our favorite players.
Despite another Roland Sallai assist and a late lead against Germany in Munich, Hungary drew their last match to finish last in their group. Our regret for Sallai is surpassed only by our delight that special snowflake Viktor Orban gets no second act.
It’s hard to tell which is tougher, Finland’s elimination as one of the two weakest third place teams (despite strong showings from Lod & Raitalta) or Slovakia finishing as the other weakest team with only token appearances from Jan Gregus. Both are left wondering, what if…
The only two Bootroom XI reps in the Round of 16 were Phillip Leinhart and Christian Gunter. Sadly neither made the field and both saw their teams bounced out of the competition (albeit by a surprisingly slim margin in the case of Leinhart’s Austria)
Player of the Week
Franco Frangapane has played well and behaved badly. That’s never an issue with Julie Blakstad. Let that be the message this week: you can never go wrong with Julie Blakstad
Standings Update
A big two win week for Minnesota sees them catapult off the bottom of the table and up into 6th.
| Team | W | D | L | PPG | GFA | GAA |
| University of Montana–b | 9 | 0 | 2 | 2.5 | 2.1 | 0.6 |
| Rosenborg BK | 9 | 2 | 4 | 1.9 | 2.1 | 1.1 |
| Emelec | 15 | 6 | 8 | 1.8 | 1.4 | 1.2 |
| Grenoble Foot-b | 10 | 7 | 8 | 1.48 | 1.2 | 1.1 |
| Punjab FC–b | 7 | 4 | 6 | 1.47 | 1.2 | 0.9 |
| Legon Cities | 10 | 5 | 8 | 1.40 | 1.2 | 0.9 |
| Minnesota United | 4 | 2 | 4 | 1.40 | 1.0 | 1.2 |
| Freiburg–b | 12 | 4 | 13 | 1.38 | 1.7 | 1.6 |
| Ross County–b | 8 | 2 | 9 | 1.37 | 1.3 | 1.5 |
| Alebrijes-b | 4 | 7 | 6 | 1.12 | 1.4 | 2.1 |
| FK Vozdovac–b | 5 | 6 | 9 | 1.05 | 0.9 | 1.6 |
b–Team is between seasons
What’s Next
Wednesday, June 30th
Rosenborg BK v. FK Haugesund [M]
Rosenborg BK v. Klepp [F]
Thursday, July 1st
Friday, July 2nd
Saturday, July 3rd
CS Emelec v. Carneras UPS [F]
Minnesota United v. San Jose Earthquakes
Sunday, July 4th
Legon Cities FC v. Bechem United
Odd v. Rosenborg BK [M]
Valerenga v. Rosenborg BK [F]
MacKenzie's Boot Room 