Recaps
Legon Cities 2 -1 Dreams FC
Legon grabbed the lead in the first half as Michel Otou converted a penalty and Atte Youssifou got his first in the black and blue and orange (particularly impressive given the absolute blitz that this ball is on).
Minnesota 1 – 1 LA Galaxy
It took a very late equalizer from Robin Lod to save the day for the Loons who were on the verge of shuffling farther from playoff contention with their recent run of form. Increasingly the question is being asked: why do the Loons hire really expensive strikers when they don’t play and the Finnish midfielder scores the most goals?
Palmeiras 1 – 0 Emelec [M- Continental]
Again, it wasn’t much of a surprise to find that Palmeiras cruised to victory, they didn’t need much and it showed against Emelec.
Verdal 0 – 6 Rosenborg [M-Cup]
Verdal plays in the 4th division of Norwegian soccer, so this would be a little like a major league baseball team like the Twins having a game against the Cedar Rapids Kernels. An upset was possible, but not likely. Fortunately some rarely seen players did well in their first action of the year: two claps for the two goals from Marius Broholm!
Freiburg 1 – 2 RB Leipzig [M–Cup Final!]
In what was an absolutely wrenching 2.5 hours of soccer to watch: Freiburg had the lead and seem to land fortunate break after fortunate break. And still, foreboding sense of impending doom could not be erased. Every Mark Flekken cover, every Nico Schlotterbeck save, every Rolland Sallai run into space, every ounce of it seemed tantalizing, and yet, doomed. At one point, my stomach in knots, Alex said to me: “I’m not worried. We always win.” My sweet summer child, nothing could be further from the truth. Freiburg didn’t do anything badly, but they were second best on the day.
Emelec 0 – 1 Universidad Catolica [M]
Emelec continues to struggle as they near the end of the league’s first stage. Being torn between domestic and continental competitions definitely does not help.
Quito FC 2 – 0 Emelec [F]
Half way through the season, las electricas are struggling to get any form of momentum together
Red Star Belgrade 3 – 1 Vozdovac
Nemanja Milojevic netted the last Red Dragon goal of the campaign to cap a solid 5th place showing for the boys from Stadion Mall. They might be frustrated to have wound up two points outside of European qualification, but facing the Duopoly of Belgrade in your last two games leaves absolutely no room for error….so let’s focus on the good and applaud the best season we’ve seen yet from the Red Dragons.
Avaldsnes 1 – 3 Rosenborg BK [F]
The Trolljenta aquitted themselves well on the road. Midfielder Emilie Bragstad continues to be the iron woman of the side, having played every moment of all 10 matches, and netting twice during this game to make the difference.
Bechem United 0 – 0 Legon Cities FC
Rather than recall this match, I just want to take a moment to shout out Pebbles Candies. A Ghanaian treat that would utterly crush peanut M&Ms in a head to head contest.
HamKam 1 – 1 Rosenborg [M]
An overloaded midfield helped to stymie HamKam for much of the day, but it didn’t do a heck of a lot for Rosenborg’s lackluster offense. The best bit of this is that American Samuel Rogers was the goal scorer, so WOOT for Americans in Trondheim.
Dallas 1 – 2 Minnesota United
The Loons grabbed all three points against an awfully talented Dallas team, courtesy of some stout defending and an absolutely blast from fullback DJ Taylor who also led the Loons in tackles and helped to hold off many Dallas attacks.
ASPTT Albi 0 – 2 Grenoble [F]
It was a fine way for les Grenobloises to end their season. Claudia Febre connected with Sherly Jeudy for the first goal. And a strong set of defensive substitutes shut down the opponent in the second half, and set up a late headed goal to put the win (and sixth place) on ice.
Independiente Petrolero 0 – 7 Emelec [M-Continental]
Emelec needed a win to advance to the next round of the Copa Libertadores, a win they were clearly banking on given their showings in recently league games. But boy did they ever get that result Tuesday night. Petrolero has struggled this year in Bolivia, and Emelec only compounded the pain with Alejandro Cabez and Sebastian Rodriguez each grabbing a pair of goals. The knockout rounds await, and fingers crossed, Emelec can make a run for it.
News & Notes
Aurora Dawning
It’s time for another team to debut on our page, this time it’s Minnesota Aurora, representing our state (and hopeful college kids across the mountain/midwest) in the USL-W. They’ll play their first match this week and we can’t wait to shout them out as they go along.
Last glimpse of Europe
Don’t worry, it’s not sinking into the sea or anything, but with most of the European leagues shutting down for the summer months, it seemed wise to look back on how teams fared in our competition.
Obviously, Freiburg has much to be proud of, in addition to a strong showing in the Cup final, they did qualify for the Europa League meaning they’ll have some fancy foreign affairs to handle next season. But they weren’t alone in contending for continental glory.
FK Vozdovac and Ross County were both able to keep themselves in the conversation for the old continent’s biggest competitions until the very end of the season. That may not seem like much, but given that we’ve spent the first two years of this blog worried about their survival, it was awfully nice.
Emelec will continue to look for glory in South America, but our other major club title to watch for is Rosenborg’s next crack at going for Champion’s League football at the end of August.
Player of the Week
There were plenty of big wins and noble defeats this last week. Amongst all the chatter, we want to take a moment for Emilie Bragstad, who has been invaluable to Rosenborg all year long.
That was not exactly a thrilling week. Outside of the Guyaquil derby, my fun day at home and Rosenborg’s Syttende Mai celebration, there was a whole lot of losing going on. It’s a bitter way for several teams to start their summer break, here’s hoping that Grenoble’s ladies and Freiburg can end their seasons with a win.
| Team | W | D | L | PPG | GFA | GAA |
| Alebrijes de Oaxaca–b | 10 | 5 | 3 | 1.94 | 1.3 | 0.7 |
| Freiburg–b | 15 | 8 | 7 | 1.77 | 2.1 | 1.5 |
| Rosenborg | 9 | 4 | 6 | 1.63 | 1.5 | 0.9 |
| Legon Cities | 8 | 5 | 5 | 1.61 | 1.3 | 0.7 |
| Minnesota | 6 | 2 | 5 | 1.54 | 1.2 | 1.0 |
| Punjab–b | 7 | 4 | 6 | 1.47 | 1.8 | 1.7 |
| Emelec | 8 | 7 | 8 | 1.35 | 1.6 | 1.4 |
| FK Vozdovac–b | 5 | 5 | 5 | 1.33 | 1.2 | 1.0 |
| Ross County–b | 6 | 5 | 8 | 1.21 | 1.1 | 1.4 |
| Grenoble–b | 9 | 4 | 13 | 1.19 | 1.1 | 1.4 |
| University of Montana–b | — | — | — | — | — | — |
b–Team is between seasons
What’s Next
Wednesday, May 25th
Minnesota v. Union Omaha [M-Cup]
Rosenborg BK v. LSK Kvinner [F]
Thursday, May 26th
Rosenborg v. FK Haugesund [M]
Minnesota Aurora v. Green Bay Glory [F]
Friday, May 27th
Saturday, May 28th
Valerenga v. Rosenborg BK [F]
Legon Cities v. Bibiani Gold Stars
Minnesota v. NYCFC [M–and the first game I can actually attend in person]
Sunday, May 29th
Valerenga v. Rosenborg BK [M]
Tecnico Universitario v. Emelec [M]
MacKenzie's Boot Room 