Tag: Curtis Fleming

Week 13: We can see Claire-ly Now

Week 13: We can see Claire-ly Now

by scruffyrube ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Scores

University of Montana Grizzlies 2 – 1 Portland State Vikings

Friday night lights in Big Sky Country showed the Griz continuing their winning streak. While Claire Howard gave up her first goal of the year, Avery Adams scored the first two of her college career to win it.

Celaya 0 – 0 Alebrijes

Not all scoreless draws are the same. In this one Oaxaca withstood a late onslaught after Esteban Torres was sent off in the 84th minute. Still, running the scoreless streak to 210 minutes isn’t making for thrilling football in Mexico’s second tier.

Churchill Brothers 3 – 2 Punjab FC

Punjab’s truncated season came to an end Saturday in Mumbai. While Golukam Kerala ran up their score, Churchill’s late concessions to Joseba Beitia and Baba Diawara solidified the goal difference edge. Not exactly the role Punjab would prefer to play in deciding a title, but a solid first showing for coach Curtis Fleming.

[Bonus reading: our friends at the Away End had a great summation of the end of the campaign]

Guyaquil City v. Emelec [F]

Silly me. If the past year has taught us nothing else, it’s taught us to expect delays especially to start seasons, especially for women. [sigh]

SC Freiburg 1 – 0 Turbine Potsdam [F]

Hasret Kayikci hasn’t been talked up enough this year. She’s always there in Freiburg’s hour of need. Another late goal blunted Potsdam’s momentum and kept the griffins in the hunt for 4th place.

University of Montana Grizzlies 3 – 0 Portland State Vikings

After two more tense affairs, this one was Grizzlies from snout to tail. Another Alexa Coyle banger, a heckuva shot from Allie Larsen and a record setting 30th shutout for Claire Howard!

Dorados 1 – 1 Alebrijes

Alebrijes is getting used to this point a game thing…maybe a little too used to it. With four draws in a row, they’re starting to run out of points to make up. (Hate to think of where they’d be without Julio Cesar Cruz’s clinical penalty taking.)

News & Notes

International Affairs

While most of our teams were not in action, lots of our favorite players were. Here’s a quick peek at how they fared.

Africa
Ethiopia celebrates…not pictured Mombris and Metanire go: “huh”? (CAF Online)
  • Our favorite Madagascar madmen (Jerome Mombris and Romain Metanire) got gobsmacked when their team was bested 4-0 by Ethiopia. By the time that they had to win and see Ethiopia lose to move on. Ethiopia did falter…but Madagascar couldn’t get a goal, and the darlings of the last tournament ran out of luck.
  • Ghana’s Black Stars will be at the cup of nations (as well). Though Center Back Joseph Adjei didn’t play in their final two qualifiers, he continues to take strides towards hitting the field in Cameroon this summer.
  • Harouna Demba of Grenoble was on the bench as Mauritania drew with Morocco but was on the field for their 1-0 win over CAR that booked them a spot in the finals.
Asia
  • Freiburg’s Woo-yeong Jeong got his first run out for South Korea in a friendly against Japan. Sadly, it was a 3-0 drubbing against arch rivals, but it didn’t impact their quest for cups.
Europe
Robin Lod celebrates
  • Finland saw two Minnesota United stars–Jakku Raitala and Robin Lod–(and one former player, Rasmus Schuller) take the field in a pair of draws
  • One of those draws came against Bosnia/Herzegovina and included Ermedin Demirovic of Freiburg as part of the attack that Raitala had to repel in the game’s dying minutes. Demirovic got the start in Bosnia’s friendly against Costa Rica, but didn’t get any goals. The final match against World Champs France happened after I posted this
  • Justas Lasickas of Vozdovac saw lots of action for Lithuania and did his best to put up with the offensive onslaught from Kosovo, Switzerland, and Italy.
  • Andre Hansen had to come on at half-time when Norway was getting spanked by Turkey. He didn’t see action when the team faced Montenegro, which spared him the awkwardness of facing a teammate.
  • The best represented nation from our teams: Montenegro which features three players (Vozdovac’s Milos Milovic and Nikola Vujnovic and Rosenborg’s Dino Islamovic). Sadly none of them made the pitch, until Dino Islamovic came on against Norway in the second half (he didn’t make much impact)
  • Iceland left Rosenborg’s Holmar Orn Eyjolfsson on the bench as they scuffled back down the table
North America
  • Dayne St. Clair was part of Team Canada, but didn’t get on the pitch.
  • Hasani Dotson and Callum Montgomery were part of the US and Canada youth teams vying for an olympic berth. While both played well, neither will have a chance to march in the opening ceremonies in Tokyo.
Limbu Loves it (wefutbolfans.com)
South America
  • Emelec sent three players to the Ecuadorian national side (Keeper Pedro Ortiz, Defender Romario Caicedo, and Midfielder Dixon Arroyo). However, a qualifier with Venezuela was called off, and the friendly tune up with Bolivia only saw Arroyo on the field (he was solid in distribution, if unremarkable in their win)

Limbu lays it on the line

As the I-League ends, it’s worth rewarding the best in the competition. In particular, Kiran Limbu who led the stingiest defense in the competition. Winning best keeper is nice, and should be a first step on the road to winning it all next time round.

Las Electricas are Back

With limited news reporting on South American women’s teams (insert shocked not shocked emoji here). I missed the news that Emelec’s ladies will be back in action. The team will see weekly action through the first weeks of July. If they finish in the top four of the southern league, they’ll advance to the playoffs against one of the top four from the north (likely someone from Quito). The biggest change this means is that we get to appreciate more awesome branding images like this one…

Queen Claire

Player of the Week

You might argue that since she already won a Player of the Week recently, we ought to look elsewhere, but come on…Claire Howard broke a Big Sky conference record and has kept her team perfect through the first five games of the season. (We’ll share a nod with Kiran Limbu for his keeping award as well)

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Standings Update

Not much changed here…most notably, Punjab FC has entered their offseason and will be locked in at their Points Per Game until the 2021-2022 season kicks off in…many many months. Oh, and Claire Howard continues to carry the Grizzlies to the top of our table.

TeamWDLPPGGFAGAA
University of Montana50032.00.2
Emelec3112.01.81.0
Freiburg8261.61.51.4
Punjab FC–b7461.471.20.9
Grenoble Foot6451.471.11.1
Legon Cities FC4431.451.20.8
Ross County5171.231.21.5
Alebrijes3641.151.51.7
FK Vozdovac2350.90.71.6
Rosenborg BK000–––
Minnesota United000–––
Table Updated 3/31/2021
b–Team is between seasons

What’s Next

Wednesday, March 31st

Thursday, April 1st

Friday, April 2nd

10:00 FK Vozdovac v. Macva Sabac

5:00 Sacramento State Hornets v. University of Montana Grizzlies

Saturday, April 3rd

9:00 Madema SC v. Legon Cities FC

9:00 Ross County v. Inverness CT [Cup]

1:00 Grenoble v. Chateroux

1:30 Borussia Munchengladbach v. Freiburg [M]

CS Emelec v. CD Macara [F]

Sunday, April 4th

2:00 Sacramento State Hornets v. University of Montana Grizzlies

3:00 Olmedo v. Emelec [M]

Monday, April 5th

Tuesday, April 6th

5:15 Emelec v. CSD Macara [M-Cup]

9:00 Alebrijes v Jaibos

55: Complexity

55: Complexity

by scruffyrube ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Nobody likes to take the blame for the problems we face. When emotions run high and pain runs deep, being the one who takes the blame hurts.

Sometimes you can shift the blame to someone else, something else, extenuating circumstances or unwieldy fate. Sometimes you can’t. But it’s worth remembering that same feeling when you are blameless and you start looking around for someone to accuse.

It’s easy to pin blame on one person, it’s more valuable to comprehend the context.

Dear Boys,

Hard core sports fans like to say that they live and die with the team’s performance. Of course, they don’t really have a death wish, so rather than jumping off a bridge because of a blow out or a bad beat, they tend to pin the blame on a player turned scapegoat. Consider Punjab FC, who slipped in form after a strong month of showings just when they needed it most.

An all too common sight of late for Punjab (see Saurabh, #3)
via Golukam Kerala Club Site

To most eyes, the disappointing results fall on the shoulders of a few rookie defenders. First Surabh Banwala gifted a penalty to Golukam, then the defense and Souvik Das were caught flatfooted against Mohamedan, and Mohammed Irshad made a gaffe against TRAU, and before you could say “pakora” the title hopes were in tatters.

But making Banwala or Das or Irshad the scapegoat for a poor turn in form at the last minute ignores all the context that goes with it.

Sure the defenders are easy to see slipping, but they don’t operate alone. As teams bottle up Chencho Gyeltshen and Baba Diawara, goals become rarer. And defenders push up to add to the attack. And that leaves the defense more vulnerable to miscues. So, yes the defense slipped but they might not have if the offense had continued firing.

Curtis Fleming watching it all come undone
Via Kehl Now

Even roping in the offense ignores most of the people on the pitch. There’s a whole second team out there, as well as officials. To put Punjab off their game, Golukam, Mohamedan and TRAU had to be on theirs. While their assigned referees whistled for fouls, others might have missed the mark. You can’t control how others play, you can’t control how refs perform. so yes, the defense slipped but would we have noticed if the referees had missed it or if other teams hadn’t capitalized?

This is to say nothing of the complexity beyond the field. The defense can’t control coaching tactics, or training field injuries, or the intense two match a week schedule. One player making one mistake is a comforting target for blame, but it ignores how complex human life is.

All of this is borne out by the current pop culture obsession of our quarantined community: Wandavision.

Wanda Vision Promo

After a year without daring deeds and heroic exploits, super hero stories came back with a bang. And while you’re still too young for more than five minutes of cartoon adventures, the broader public has gone deep on the story of one superhero, Wanda Maximoff, who commandeers a small town and all the people in it to allay her grief at another devastating loss.

Wanda as hero/villain Scarlet Witch
(via Sportskeeda)

To be sure, forcing people to do what you say without giving them a choice is cruel and immoral. Wanda’s actions here aren’t remotely heroic. At series end she is judged harshly and has been thoroughly criticized by viewers of all stripes.

But demanding that Wanda be punished ignores so much more complexity that surrounds her.

For starters, Wanda isn’t divine goodness personified. She also human, and demanding more of her than we do other fallible humans seems unfair. As your mom said, “she’s not a super hero; she’s a person with super powers”.

Add to that the fraught relationship the rest of the world seems to have with superheroes. At once seeing them as saviors, pleading with them for help at every turn, and limiting them to obedient servitude (particularly with regulations requiring them to check their free will).

Wanda in context (Via CBR.com)

In that context, Wanda using her powers to their full potential is less cruel and more a side effect of the position the society around her put her in. Wanda could inaccurately think she’s helping the bedraggled and woebegone residents of a dilapidated New Jersey town to have amusing, idyllic lives. She’s using her powers, and she’s using them for herself and others. Society put her in a position to have these phenomenal powers, when she uses them, we can’t exactly be astonished.

These aren’t excuses or dismissals they are complications. You don’t have to forgive (and certainly on field gaffes isn’t the same as perpetual manipulation), but given the choice between chastising and complicating first thoughts, I hope you take the time to consider the complicated context.