Recap

Punjab FC 0 – 0 Bangladesh Army (Cup)

Punjab got a point! But they still are looking a little punchless against some toothier competition. Macjen and Mera remain the teams’ focal points, but vision is getting blurry.

Rosenborg 2 – 1 Hearts (M–Europa Conference)

Sverre Halseth Nypan managed a pair of first half assists against a familiar Scottish foe and a rowdy crew of scots on the road. Nypan pressed forward repeatedly to make the right side supremely strong for the Trolls as they hit their seventh straight match without a loss.

Mineros 1 – 1 Alebrijes

The Oaxacans continued to have their testiness translate into some difficult situations. Coach Carlos Guittierez and Esteban Escobedo were carded right before the end of the first half, which left Oaxaca with just ten men (and a worried coach). Julio Cesar Cruz got the equalizer early in the second half which was fortunate as defender Miguel Arreolo was sent packing later in the half and right after the match, goalie Octavio Paz was given a red card to carry over into the next match. So 8 Alebrijes managed to hold on to a draw against 11 Mineros…YIKES

Nashville 5 – 0 Minnesota United (M-Leagues Cup)

Speaking of Yikes…this game. (DJ Taylor was ejected after 34 minutes, and the rest of the defense was totally torched)

Ross County 2 – 0 St. Johnstone

St. Johnstone had more looks at the goal, but County had the best looks…and they didn’t miss. Despite Yan Dhanda having to leave the game after just a half-hour, his replacement Kyle Turner did a superb job and got his first goal for the Staggies on an excellent long ball. Connor Randall found the net as well to thrill the home supporters, but the defense was in fine form and kept the box in front of Ross Laidlaw neat and tidy.

Vozdovac 1 – 1 FK Radnik Surdulica

Vozdovac was fortunate to equalize on an own goal, and even more fortunate not to concede a late winner after Filip Damjanovic left with a red card in the 81st

Grenoble 2 – 0 Paris FC (M)

Mathys Touraine is rapidly becoming the latest in a long line of super strong Grenoble defenders. Like Loic Nestor and Adrien Monfray, he’s been a tremendous asset both in attack and in defense. This week that included starting a great passing combination that lead to his own volleyed finish. His work this week gave Grenoble the needed push to make them one of only three teams to reach 2-0 in the young season

Emelec 0 – 0 Orense (M)

Emelec is also undefeated in this fall’s Ecuadorian campaign even though they haven’t scored a single goal yet. Unlike the six point gap between top and bottom of the French League, Ecuador’s has every team within one game of becoming league leaders.

SV Oberachen 0 – 2 Freiburg (M-Cup)

Oberachen welcomed Freiburg for the first round in the DfB Pokal, and Freiburg never looked remotely bothered. Rolland Sallai and Christian Gunter got the goals, and the boys from Breigsau geared up to start their season in earnest.

Alebrijes 2 – 1 Celaya

Oaxaca’s run of cards on cards on cards came to an end and also lead to their first win of the campaign. It helped to have Kaleth Hernandez strike within 1 minute of kick off. Despite giving up an equalizer, Julio Cesar Cruz nailed a penalty to take the lead.

East Bengal FC 1 – 0 Punjab FC (Cup)

Roundglass Punjab got one more shot at the Durand Cup and their first big result as part of the top flight of Indian Soccer, it went about like the others. Kiran Limbu has done his best, but there’s just not enough to push them past the strong defenses of the two Bengali clubs.

Emelec 22 – 0 La Familia (F)

That isn’t a typo, Las Electricas legitimately put twenty goals past their fellow Guayaquil team and then put two more through. It was 6 in the first 18 minutes and 12 in the first half.

News & Notes

Women’s World Cup-Date

The Women’s World Cup Final is set with Spain facing England on Sunday.

It’s worth noting that Spain is here, frankly, in spite of a host of problems with their national federation. The players, who fought for a decade to have any support for their team at all, have continued to advocate for what they want and need and frankly deserve. The response of the federation was to say, “stop asking for things or we’ll stop letting you play”. It has lead to the awkward experience of watching players celebrate the greatest moments in national team history without even looking back at the coach (the representative of the dismissive system).

Meanwhile, England has a massive psychological investment in winning a world cup and proving that they can still win trophies in the game they invented. So, quite a lot of drama is afoot.

Other Cup-Dates

Likewise the men are wrapping things up in their cups as well, both Minnesota and Punjab saw this chapter of their seasons crash down around them. While that’s disappointing, there’s still a long way to go for their regular seasons, so wait and see.

Freiburg’s cup run started well, and the women’s side will see the same start soon. Rosenborg has another match up with Hearts to stay alive in Europe (Hearts having one goal on the road will make this match in Edinburgh extra important). Meanwhile, Ross County will look to stay alive in the League Cup this weekend.

Vamos Electricas!

It’s been hard to follow, but there is a competition for the Women’s Side in Emelec. They’ll play this year in the Campeonato Provincial (for Guayaquil), win the league and you’ll have a chance to move up to the top league. (It may be hard to track down player names and statistics, but we’ll do what we can.)

It will be a little easier to follow the results for the Griz soccer team when they kick off this week (and when they do, we’ll have every team on the table)

Player of the Week

Mathys Tourainne might have had the best moment of individual play, and the Electricas had a tremendous outing, but I couldn’t identify any players to award. So instead, I’ll give this week’s honor to the often named but as yet unheralded Jayden Nelson.

Standings

With their twenty two goals Emelec has suddenly gotten an extra half a goal a game which doesn’t make much difference to the points total, but does keep them ahead of Ross County. The one mover is Grenoble that sneaks up to fourth place…while Punjab’s rough Durand Cup has them much closer to the chasing pack.

Team	W	D	L	PPG	GFA	GAA
Punjab	12	3	5	1.95	1.95	0.95
Minnesota	23	9	11	1.81	2.40	1.23
Rosenborg	17	6	13	1.77	1.74	1.00
Grenoble	17	6	17	1.43	1.18	1.08
Legon Cities–b	9	7	8	1.42	1.25	1.29
Emelec	8	11	9	1.25	1.79	1.00
Ross County	10	5	13	1.25	1.57	1.54
Freiburg	13	7	19	1.18	1.26	1.62
Alebrijes	6	7	9	1.14	1.27	1.45
Vozdovac	4	6	11	0.86	0.71	1.57
Montana–b	0	0	0	—	—	—

What’s Next

Thursday, August 17th

Tecnico Universitaro v. Emelec (M)

Hearts v. Rosenborg (M–Europa Conference)

North Dakota v. Montana Grizzlies

Friday, August 18th

Saturday, August 19th

Hoffenheim v. Freiburg (M)

Airdrieonens v. Ross County (Cup)

Zeleznicar Pancevo v. Vozdovac

Grenoble v. Troyes

Sunday, August 20th

HamKam v. Rosenborg (M)

North Dakota State v. Montana Grizzlies

NYCFC v. Minnesota (M)

Monday, August 21st

Tuesday, August 22nd

Wednesday, August 23rd

Cimaronnes v. Alebrijes