Week 5: Clicking or Sputtering

February 8, 2023February 9, 2023 by scruffyrube ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Recaps

Nimes 0 – 2 Grenoble (M)

All hail the conquering hero of Jessy Benet whose return to the Alps has bolstered Matthais Phaeton in the midfield led to a more organized Grenoble side. With new confidence in their approach, the Alpiners are 3 points off of promotion to the top flight of French football again.

FK Radnicki 1923 0 – 1 FK Vozdovac

Our boys in Belgrade made their return to the field this weekend, and despite a shift in their defensive corps, they remained solid at the back in pushing back an insistent and aggressive Radnicki. The dragons didn’t have many chances, but Milos Pantovic converted the penalty after a foolish foul and that was all they needed.

SC Freiburg 0 – 4 VfL Wolfsburg (F)

Ouch…well hopefully the men did…

Dortmund 5 – 1 Freiburg (M)

Ooof….never mind. There are still only 6 points between Freiburg and the top of the table, but they’ll need to get some things sorted out (particularly in the defense) if they’re going to challenge instead of fade away.

Rangers 2 – 1 Ross County

Jordan White gave the Staggies a glimmer of hope against the mighty ‘Gers in Glasgow, but it was snuffed out in the end. The Stags have a promising spine in White, Dhanda and Kenneh, but where the rest of the midfield goes remains a question (especially after Eamonn Brophy was dropped after a miserable first half).

Sudeva FC 1 – 1 Punjab FC

It was a heart breaker, with Luka Macjen putting the warriors ahead courtesy of Chenchyo Geltsyen’s incisive pass it took a last second goal from Sudeva to drop the points. Worse, the tense and chippy atmosphere led to a post whistle red card for defender Huidrom Singh. With 5 matches left, Punjab is in a dead heat with Sreenidi Deccan, and promotion will be on the line.

Legon Cities FC 3 – 1 King Faisal

We have to say, there are few things as fun as Legon Cities in fine form, and that’s what we finally got to see against King Faisal this last weekend. Jonah Attaquye got the first from a solid free kick opportunity just outside the box. The Royals kept the pressure high through the next half until the frenetic final 10 minutes including a Felix Hammond chip and a mammoth free kick from Nasiru Moro. It was a wild but joyous pile on for the Royals, and while it might be expected against a relegation area side in King Faisal, they’re all valuable.

Grenoble Foot 3 – 3 Montauban (F)

The ladies of Grenoble got back in business as well. The were strong right out of the gate with a goal from Jade Decilap straight away after kick off. They held firm and added two more to have a 3-1 lead with 15 minutes to play. Then a poor challenge from defender Elsa Domenjoud gifted Montauban a penalty and reduced the ladies to 10 players. It still took a desperation shot at the end of the match for Montauban to get the draw and spoil the return. Still, hope is high for further progress among the Grenobloises

Sandhausen 0 – 2 Freiburg (M-Cup)

Sandhausen opted to bunker down and absorb everything that Freiburg could throw their way, and it almost paid off with a big cup win. Notice, I said “almost”.

Despite the long defensive slog thrown up by the second division side, Freiburg finally broke through with Phillip Leinhart’s goal that bounced off a Sandhausen defender. After a great block by Lucas Holer, they got another from super sub Nils Peterson to put it beyond doubt, and so, for the second time in two years: Freiburg is headed to the quarterfinals of the Cup.

https://youtu.be/bBJgCs4dG1k

Vierzon FC 0 – 1 Grenoble (M-Cup)

More surprising, the same can be said about the Alpiners! Grenoble has reached the final 8 of the Coupe de France (albeit by beating the underdog darlings of Vierzon FC…not to be confused with Verizon FC…which has marginally less coverage than the third division French side). Loic Nestor delivered the winner after Grenoble besieged their opponent’s goal, and the triumph will put them into a conflict with slightly more prestigious sides.

Alebrijes 0 – 3 CD Tepatitlan de Morelos

An early red card was enough to put Oaxaca at a disadvantage, but two more in stoppage time is true commitment to recklessness.

This result is not reflected in the standings

News & Notes

Your Uncle Simon bests me in golf (both real and imaginary)

Your Uncle Simon is about to be a dad in his own right, so he and I had our own brother bonding time, not unlike yourselves…only with less headlocks that lead to someone running into their room and slamming the door.

An accomplished video game player and golfer, he had a clear advantage in Mario Golf. Still, it was good fun just to joke with him in a game. And I even beat him (on one hole…by one stroke…because the game had a glitch)

Jet-Setting

The biggest club competitions in the world are kicking off again. The Club World Cup in Morocco pits the continental champions from each part of the world against one another. And given that Minnesota United lost to Seattle twice last year, I think it’s fair to say that we’ probably have lost in the Semi-finals just like Seattle did.

And Europe’s elite club competitions (The Champions, Europa, and Conference Leagues) will also kick back into gear this month. Freiburg is our only side still in the hunt (as they have been since last fall) so let’s all knock on some wood.

Player of the Week

At the risk of making this space a Grenoble Appreciation segment, the truth is les Grenobloises are in a groove and its hard to ignore their strong work. This week, we’ve got to tip the hat to Matthaias Phaeton for leading the attack both with distribution and delivery.

Standings

Vozdovac is at the top! (Well they only have 1 match under their belts, so there’s a limited sample size) but even though Punjab has faltered, Grenoble has tied them and has to hope that the ladies give them an added boost.

Team	W	D	L	PPG	GFA	GAA
Vozdovac	1	0	0	3.00	1.00	0.00
Punjab	4	2	1	2.00	2.29	1.29
Grenoble	6	2	2	2.00	1.50	0.90
Legon Cities	1	3	1	1.20	0.80	0.80
Freiburg	2	1	3	1.17	1.17	2.83
Ross County	1	3	3	0.86	0.86	1.00
Alebrijes	1	0	4	0.50	1.00	1.60
Rosenborg–b	0	0	0	—	—	—
Minnesota–b	0	0	0	—	—	—
Montana–b	0	0	0	—	—	—
Emelec–b	0	0	0	—	—	—

Table Updated 2/8/22
b–Team is between seasons

What’s Next

Thursday, February 9th

Golukam FC v. Punjab FC

Friday, February 10th

Saturday, February 11th

FK Vozdovac v. Red Star Belgrade

Freiburg v. Vfb Stuttgart (M)

Grenoble v. Pau (M)

Sunday, February 12th

SC Frieburg v. Meppen (F)

Samartex v. Legon Cities FC

Albi Marsacc v. Grenoble Foot (F)

Monday, February 13th

Aizawal v. Punjab FC

Tuesday, February 14th

Wednesday, February 15th

Alacranes v. Alebrijes

Week 4: The Big 4 – 0

February 2, 2023February 5, 2023 by scruffyrube ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Recaps

Punjab FC 2 – 0 Real Kashmir

We don’t take enough time to appreciate Brandon Vanlalremdika the little magician who manages to make a whole heap of Punjab’s surging attack possible. He got a goal and continued to thread expert passes throughout Punjab’s latest win, all the more impressive when you see how physically manhandled he was by their north-western rivals.

Legon Cities 1 – 3 Bechem United

Things started out well for the Royals with Alex Aso’s first goal for the club, but the normally formidable back line became too leaky and Bechem capitalized

Freiburg 3 – 1 Augsburg (M)

Freiburg got back on track with a stirring showing at home, and they were led by a strong showing from their Austrian contingent. Michael Gregoritsch scored the opener, and Phillip Leinhart offerd both lock down defense and a strong head to convert the finishing goal in the 85th minute.

Ross County 3 – 0 Kilmarnock

The Staggies found their scoring shoes before this game and suddenly looked like a team transformed. They developed a clearer game plan built on break aways and crosses (boosted by a slightly staggered Killie defense). It also helped that Nohan Kenneh, newly arrived from Hibernian managed to connect the dots for two different goals as Jordan White and Yan Dhanda started to synch up in their attack.

Grenoble 0 – 1 SC Bastia (M)

Grenoble will rue their missed opportunities on the day, as their nine shots produced nothing of note, and a late winner from SC Bastia cost them very winnable points.

Grenoble 1 – 0 Quevilly (M)

Which is why it is so gratifying to see them come back and get all the credit against Quevilly. While the shorthanded squad fielded a lot of reserves, they did send out returning favorite Jessy Benet and (quelle surprise) he scored the winner. As the rest of the attacking force comes out there will be high hopes to keep climbing the table.

Ross County 1 – 1 Hibernian

The Staggies got another positive result against the surging Hibs in Dingwall. Hibs controlled much of the game and at times the County midfield and defense looked over run (particularly when the back line made a particularly poor decision that gifted Hibs their goal). But all it takes is one sterling moment, and that’s exactly what they got when Yan Dhanda lashed a gorgeous corner kick that befuddled everyone and levelled the score.

Kenkre FC 3 – 3 Punjab FC

It wasn’t looking brilliant for the Punjabi Warriors against lowly Kenkre. They gave up two early goals and were suddenly chasing the game. But then, they absolutely ran their opponents down into the dirt with Chenchyo Geltshen and Luka Macjen in fine flow together at the top. An own goal gave them the lead…but then they promptly gave it back and played out the rest of the match in a stale mate.

Hearts of Oak 0 – 0 Legon Cities

The Royals can count this as a moral victory after playing much of the second half down to 10 men. But moral victories aren’t quite as valuable in the table as actual ones (Legon only has 1 in their last 8 matches)

Tlaxcala 3 – 1Alebrijes

Julio Cesar Cruz got the lone goal after Tlaxcala got out to a fast start. It’s shaping up to be another arduous campaign for Oaxaca.

News & Notes

Your Dad is getting Old

I turned 40 last week. And I felt great. Then, while arranging a fight between Captain America (Alex), Moana (Owen), and a dragon (me) I slipped on the stairs and crashed down a whole flight of them. So, I feel lots of pain, and suddenly 40 isn’t quite so great.

USA-USA-USA Update

Samuel Rogers got 18 minutes worth of time with the US Men’s National Team, which is 18 more than almost everyone else in the country. He connected all ten of his passes, but wasn’t able to take the ball away from Colombian opponents. It wasn’t quite announcing his presence with authority, but he can keep working himself into the conversation as time goes on.

Transfer Tips

The transfer window closed for the winter on Tuesday, with only a few more minor moves of note: County added another pair of strikers in Eamon Brophy and Simon Murray (both of whom are quite familiar with the Scottish league) and brought on two less familiar faces in loan deals with Wigan Athletic with attacker Josh Stones and defender Gwion Edwards respectively.

The Loons also brought in a new player in Sweden’s Mikael Marques, a young defender. I’m not sure how much he’ll actually play having made the jump from the second tier of Sweden into the top US League, but we’ll be happy to see him all the same.

Dragons Take Wing Again

This weekend sees the kick off of the Serbian Primere League’s season. There will be three more months of matches and then, hopefully, Vozdovac will be in the championship play off looking towards the next stage of qualification for a European tournament. But to get there they’ll need to grow more as a team and learn to live without iron man defenders Stefan Hajdin, and Milos Milovic. In their wake has come former local starlet Damjan Danicic, back to his roots, and younger attacker Haris Kadric

Player of the Week

We might have been open to some debate before, but the corner kick sealed it beyond any doubt: Yan Dhanda, take a bow!

Standings

Much as we admire Freiburg, this was not the ideal week to kick off their 2023, as they slide in below even the equally unsteady Ross County and Oaxaca. Meanwhile, despite their defeat, Punjab continues to show serious strength at the top of the table (even if they are no loner perfect)

Team	W	D	L	PPG	GFA	GAA
Punjab	4	1	1	2.17	2.50	1.33
Grenoble	4	1	2	1.86	1.29	0.86
Freiburg	1	1	1	1.33	1.33	2.67
Ross County	1	3	2	1.00	0.83	0.83
Legon Cities	0	3	1	0.75	0.75	0.75
Alebrijes	1	0	4	0.50	1.00	1.60
Rosenborg–b	0	0	0	—	—	—
Minnesota–b	0	0	0	—	—	—
Vozdovac–b	0	0	0	—	—	—
Montana–b	0	0	0	—	—	—
Emelec–b	0	0	0	—	—	—

Table Updated 1/12/22
b–Team is between seasons

What’s Next

Thursday, February 2nd

Friday, February 3rd

Nimes v. Grenoble (M)

Saturday, February 4th

FK Radnicki 1923 v. FK Vozdovac

SC Freiburg v. VfL Wolfsburg (F)

Dortmund v. Freiburg (M)

Rangers v. Ross County

Sunday, February 5th

Sudeva FC v. Punjab FC

Legon Cities FC v. King Faisal

Grenoble Foot v. Montauban (F)

Monday, February 6th

Tuesday, February 7th

Sandhausen v. Freiburg (M-Cup)

Wednesday, February 8th

Vierzon FC v. Grenoble (M-Cup)

Alebrijes v. CD Tepatitlan de Morelos

Year 2

January 1, 2022 by scruffyrube ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

I started this blog two years ago back before “pandemic” and “nasal swab” were words in daily conversation. It’s been wonderful to keep a hold of one normal-ish routine in a supremely surreal time.

Here’s how things shook out in 2021 among our favorite 11 sides on the planet.

Final Standings

Team	W	D	L	PPG	GFA	GAA
University of Montana	22	1	8	2.16	1.5	0.7
Rosenborg BK	41	9	15	2.03	2.3	1.2
Emelec	27	11	14	1.77	1.6	1.2
Punjab FC	8	4	6	1.56	1.2	0.9
Freiburg	26	11	23	1.48	1.7	1.5
Grenoble	22	10	22	1.41	1.2	1.2
Minnesota United	13	10	12	1.40	1.2	1.3
Legon Cities	13	10	15	1.29	1.1	1.0
FK Vozdovac	13	11	16	1.25	1.1	1.4
Ross County	14	9	20	1.19	1.3	1.5
Alebrijes	7	14	12	1.06	1.2	1.6

Table Updated 12/31/21

It’s one thing to have a superlative season after COVID, win your league and make a superb showing in unlikely circumstances. It’s another to do it again a couple months later. But that’s exactly what the University of Montana Griz did this year, and that’s why they ran away with this year’s cup. (U of M soccer jerseys are not available, but rest assured, I will find a way to be as close to full kit dork as possible.)

Emelec came away with the other 2021 trophy we commemorated on that part of the site, but couldn’t pass the dynamic duo of teams in Trondheim…even though neither of them won so much as a silver pudding spoon this year. Still, never bet against Julie Blakstad.

Most teams improved on the last campaign (which is saying something for as woeful as Alebrijes was), only Grenoble, Minnesota United, and FK Vozdovac saw regressions (however the Loons and the Dragons both stayed in good position for the standings…Grenoble, well…the spring was fun.)

Players of the Year

I so deeply enjoyed naming a team of XI favorites, that I took time to track the weekly award winners and sort out who showed up for their team week in and week out.

In goal it was a brutal choice: but We had to opt for the legend: Claire Howard who made the Griz so dominant in the spring and won a pair of player of the week honors.

The back line also had a strong set of selections to draw from. Attention had to be paid to four players who kept up the intensity at both ends of the pitch for four teams who broadly exceeded expectations. Jerome Mombris takes his second straight top XI selections while Romario Caicedo worked wonders in Emelec. Meanwhile Taylor Hansen was absolutely dominant as a Griz captain, and Christian Gunter was one of only three players to get two PoW winners.

The midfield sees two more repeat honorees on the left side with Julie Blakstad and Emanuel Reynoso returning with honors. The other side of the midfield sees two new names who are absolutely invaluable to their respective sides, with Jonah Attaquye masterminding the few attacks that have worked for Legon, and Hasret Kayici, you might say as she goes, so go die Frauen auf Frieburg.

Instead of shouting out the most dominant goal scorers at the spear head of the attack, we opted for decisive ones: Roundglass Punjab’s Chenchyo Geltsen and Vozdovac’s Nicola Vujnovic.

As for the bench, we had to slot the third double PoW winner here (sorry Kiran Limbu…you’re just not Claire Howard). The best defenses of the year (Legon and Rosenborg) came away with the two defensive bench spots: Erland Reitan and Joseph Adjei (the only honoree without a PoW). Joseph Hungbo’s recent run of amazing form and stellar goals gave him the rights to Ross County’s spot on the side, and Kristoffer Zacharissen’s ~~dreamy eyes~~ great leadership for half the year got him dropped onto the bench this year. Finally we kept the top scorers for two under represented sides as our scoring sparks off the bench: Adama Tamba for les femmes de Grenoble, and Kerly Corozco for las Electricas de Emelec.

This year we couldn’t find a way to work in a representative of Alebrijes: too many strong showings owed to the other side collapsing rather than an excellent performance on their end.

Finally, I just want to point out how tight the competition was for goalkeeper this year with three players who didn’t even get close to the bench: Winifred Honsu came out of nowhere to replace Fatua Duda in Legon, Pedro Ortiz remains indefatigable for both club and country, and Camila Xu thrilled us as just a freshman.

What’s Next

Let’s do it again shall we?

Oh, okay, maybe we’ll be more selective in our video taping (what with Alex starting to refuse and Owen mostly wanting to see himself…hmmm…maybe he’s got a future in punditry).

One thing I’m going to aim for in 2022: let’s see if we can get some conversations with people from the clubs…players…managers…confused communication interns…I’m not picky.

Week 2: Shot in the Arm

January 12, 2021January 11, 2021 by scruffyrube ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Scores

Legon Cities FC 1 – 0 WAFA

Hallelujah! The Royals won a game!! And yes, again, the goal came from the penalty spot. And yes, again, there was a silly red card right before the end of the match, but as head coach Bashir Hayford said, “”If today, we won that means, Legon Cities can win matches.” Yer darn tootin’ Bashir! (And I’d wager that if they work on off ball runs and settling scoring chances in the box it’ll be a lot more matches)

Punjab FC 1 – 0 Aizawl

The Northwesterners didn’t waste much time kicking off their campaign. Their young defense was tested repeatedly by Aizawal’s attack and came up resolute. Meanwhile Chenchyo Gyeltshen came up empty on his numerous attempts. In the end the difference was Ningthoujam Pritam creating a goal out of a seemingly nothing clearance. Either way, Punjab starts out rolling.

Grenoble 2 – 2 Auxerre [M]

Les grenobloises flagging form forced Phillip Hinschberger to make some drastic moves. After ceding a penalty at two-nil down, the coach sent in 4 subs including two up top to try and rescue the side from dropping a second straight match to promotion rivals. It worked as substitute Marcelin Anani found the net after a terrifying Jerome Mombris run and assist. Then Loic Nestor nabbed the late equalizer (it helped Auxerre sun Aly Ndom was red carded two minutes after joining the fray).

Freiburg 5 – 0 Koln [M]

The offensive outpouring continues from Freiburg with Ermiden Demirovic leading the line. His two assists and a goal delivered on the promise he showed when Freiburg brought him in over the summer. The complete team play gave the Griffins their 5th straight Bundesliga Win heading into a battle with the behemoths of Bayern Munich.

Livingston 3 – 1 Ross County

Despite a strong defensive showing for much of the match, it all come undone for County in the end. Harry Paton’s blast to set up Charlie Lakin’s finish knotted the score early, but late breaks for Livvi against a bedraggled Staggies line broke highland hearts.

Venados v. Alebrijes

Postponed due to positive COVID tests among Vendados

News & Notes

Dark Days

Apparently every body has to do this now: I STAND AGAINST VIOLENT INSURRECTION AGAINST ELECTED OFFICIALS AND DESTRUCTION OF FEDERAL PROPERTY IN THE NAME OF MORONIC CONSPIRACY THEORIES.

Hopefully you boys can use that in future Social Studies Projects.

Transfer Time

John Hughes has wasted no time taking action to add players to his Ross County squad. Anthony Andreu had been without a squad this season, and will bring an attacking midfielder to the table. Meanwhile Mohamed Maouche, Andreu’s fellow Frenchman will join him in the midfield during his first sojourn in Scotland.

Meanwhile Freiburg continued to set up their players for return, moving injured LB Gian-Luca Itter off to 2nd Division Greuther Furth.

Welcome back Alebrijes

When last we saw our favorite free wheeling south Mexican side, they had freewheeled straight to the bottom of the league. That disappointment aside, the team is now set to start fresh, and as Emelecs excellent second half form showed, all it takes is one.

Unfortunately that one good half will need to come without top scorer Franco Arizala who returned to top flight Veracruzano at the new year. Replacing him are younger and untested attackers Julio Cruz and Esteban Torres, while promising Leon midfielder Fernando Morales comes in on loan.

After their first match was delayed, Alrbrijes will look to kick off next Tuesday at home.

Get Jordy Gaspar a Haircut

Jordy #Gaspar se présente désormais face aux médias : « Désolé pour la casquette mais la coupe de cheveux…les coiffeurs sont rares à Grenoble » 😂😂 pic.twitter.com/l0kvpit3P2
— Grenoble Foot 38 (@GF38_Officiel) January 8, 2021

Sure losing 3-0 during the week was hard, but you try finding a barber in Grenoble during quarrantine! Let the man have his hat!!

Player of the Week

Try as we might to find someone other than the obvious man of the match in the biggest win of the weekend, sometimes it just makes sense to honor the obvious candidate. Bravo Ermedin Demirovic! Glad to see you finding your form!

Demiriovic pulling his Supreme stare (from SC Freiburg)

Standings Update

Punjab debuts with a dart at #2, while Legon Cities vaults past Ross County. Meanwhile Brice Mableu may be wondering why 2021 feels so much like 2020 all over again

Team	W	D	L	PPG	GFA	GAA
SC Freiburg	2	0	0	3.0	4.0	0.5
Punjab FC	1	0	0	3.0	1.0	0.0
Legon Cities FC	1	0	1	1.5	0.5	0.5
Ross County	1	1	1	1.3	1.3	1.3
Grenoble Foot 38	0	1	1	0.5	1.0	2.5
Rosenborg BK	0	0	0	–	–	–
Minnesota United	0	0	0	–	–	–
Emelec	0	0	0	–	–	–
Vozdovac FK	0	0	0	–	–	–
Alebrijes de Oaxaca	0	0	0	–	–	–
University of Montana	0	0	0	–	–	–

Table Updated 1/5/2020

What’s Next

Wednesday, January 13th

Thursday, January 14th

2:30 Golukam FC v. Punjab FC

Friday, January 15th

Saturday, January 16th

8:00 Toulouse v. Grenoble [M]

9:00- Aduana Stars v. Legon Cities

9:00 Ross County v. Aberdeen

Sunday, January 17th

8:30 Bayern Munich v. Freiburg [M]

Monday, January 18th

Tuesday, January 19th

2:30 Punjab FC v. Churchill Brothers

5:00 Alebrijes v. CD Tepatitlan de Morelos

Week 1: Ringing in the New Year

January 6, 2021 by scruffyrube ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Scores

Hibernian 0 – 2 Ross County

Having run to Easter Road on our last trip to Edinburgh, it was very cool to see a stadium that I knew in action. Even cooler was getting to watch part of the match thanks to the magic of technology and the free time of a necessary construction of Alex’s new bed frame. Even though you should have been napping Alex, it was also great to share a match with you and hear you cheer for “the blue guys” with gusto. To cap it all off, County started the year off with a win thanks to some great wing play and counter attacking style with Ollie Shaw scoring against his old club.

Hoffenheim 1 – 3 Freiburg [M]

The German League returned from their haitus faster than most, and it came at a great time for an in form Freiburg. Baptiste Santamaria has gone largely unsung on this blog, but the newcomer has been a vital part of the Freiburg midfield during their return. His booming goal kicked off a great showing, while Vincenzo Grifo picked up his personal best 7th goal in one season.

Liberty Professionals 1 – 0 Legon Cities FC

Again, Legon Cities proved that they have a top tier defense. (They finished third in fewest goals allowed in our table last year). But when the offense again comes up empty it doesn’t take much to lose the match. It makes 630 minutes without a goal from free play…any time Baby Jet….any time…

Ross County 1 – 1 St. Johnstone

John Hughes continued whatever weird science it is that has helped him in the turn around project in Dingwall. Given recent form, every point is deeply appreciated. Ross Draper and Stephen Kelly did a fine job slowing down the game in the middle and keeping things organized.

Clermont Foot 2 – 0 Grenoble Foot 38

2020 was not as great a kick off for Grenoble. They dropped their first competitive match since mid-October and none of our recently rewarded players (Jordy Gaspar, Jerome Mombris, or Jessy Bennet) looked particularly effective. The loss drops them down to third place in Ligue 2 with one more match before the midseason marker.

News & Notes

Transfer Time

The Winter Transfer window opened up and gave fans a lot to dream on. Though fewer players switch sides in the winter, it does happen.

Rosenborg has had a few players take off with Pa Momodou Konate and Vegar Eggen Hedenstad saying Ta-Ta to Trondheim. Meanwhile young Marvin Pieringer from Freiburg’s youth side left top of the table Freiburg II for more seasoning in the second tier of German soccer (with the well named: Wurzburger Kickers).

Punjab Takes to the Pitch

It’s been 10 months since Punjab played a competitive match, a lot has happened in that time. Beyond, you know, the world and what not, the team has changed owners, names, kits, and a big chunk of players. The season will take place in the Mumbai Bubble (not as cool sounding as the Bombay Bubble…but more respective of the people who, ya know, live there). Fingers are crossed that the new look Warriors shine again.

The new color scheme is for sure in line with the colors most associated with Punjab.

Best as I can tell, only two players return from the 2020 edition of Punjab FC: Defender Anwar Ali, and Midfielder Sanju Pradhan. But the squad will bring on Bhutanese striker Chenchyo Gyeltshen, which will give me a reason to talk about the Land of the Thunder Dragon, and I’m always okay with that.

Player of the Week

Granted, I may be biased because I watched him play, and because I may be wrong in my assessment of John Hughes’ revised game plan, but for me, Jermaine Hylton’s wing play was instrumental to Ross County’s strong showing to start the year.

Standings Update

I’m going to try to keep this up to date more effectively this year than last year, so I’ll use it each week to see if that helps.

Freiburg takes the top spot for now with 3 points in their one game, while Ross County sits second and Grenoble sits in an uncomfortable bottom spot.

Team	W	D	L	PPG	GFA	GAA
SC Freiburg	1	0	0	3	3	1
Ross County	1	1	0	2	1.5	0.5
Legon Cities FC	0	0	1	0	0	1
Grenoble Foot 38	0	0	1	0	0	3
Rosenborg BK	0	0	0	–	–	–
Minnesota United	0	0	0	–	–	–
Emelec	0	0	0	–	–	–
Vozdovac FK	0	0	0	–	–	–
Punjab FC	0	0	0	–	–	–
Alebrijes de Oaxaca	0	0	0	–	–	–
University of Montana	0	0	0	–	–	–

Table Updated 12/31/2020

What’s Next

Wednesday, January 6th

Thursday, January 7th

Friday, January 8th

12:00 Legon Cities FC v. WAFA

Saturday, January 9th

4:30 AM Punjab FC v. Aizawl

8:00- Grenoble v. Auxerre [M]

8:30 Freiburg v. Koln [M]

9:00 Livingston v. Ross County

Sunday, January 10th

Monday, January 11th

Tuesday, January 12th

9:00 Venados v. Alebrijes