Recaps
Huracan 2 – 2 Emelec (M–Confederation Cup)
Emelec is in an odd spot, floundering in the league but competitive in the confederation cup. Few things show that better than making a trip to Buenos Aires and walking out with points despite an absolutely staggering gaffe to give Huracan an early goal. But they fought back with a great volley from Alejandro Cabeza on Bryan Carabali’s cross and Miller Bolanos’ late goal saved the day. But the last fifteen minutes were extra painful, especially for Cabeza who went from winning the match to being sent off after a pair of VAR checks found him both offside and aggressive with the elbows.
Valenciennes 1 – 0 Grenoble (M)
The Alpiners did a fine job of building up out of the back and connecting their attack, but couldn’t get anything across the goal line.
Frankfurt 2 – 1 Freiburg
Freiburg dropped only their second game to teams outside the top 4. Frankfurt came in motivated for a short at the Europa Conference League if they got a strong result and Leverkusen didn’t but this wasn’t enough.
Valerenga 3 – 1Rosenborg BK (F)
The top of the Toppserien turned into a less competitive match than you might expect with the Oslo side beating our girls from Trondheim, and using a five player midfield to overwhelm Rosenborg. It’s already a nine point gap between the top two teams who won’t meet again until November.
Partizan Belgrade 2 – 1 Vozdovac
The Red Dragons wrapped up their season with a predictable loss to one of the bigger Belgrade clubs. Partizan will have to settle for playoffs into the Europa Conference league, but at least Vozdovac don’t serve as a front for facists….yeah, I said it.
Minnesota 1 – 1 Real Salt Lake (M)
The Loons got some help from Real Salt Lake with an own goal only moments after Salt Lake took the lead. Again, they should feel unlucky as they had enough quality to probably score twice on their own, rather than relying on good fortune just to snatch a draw. Bongokhule Hlongwane was dangerous again, Will Trapp and Hasani Dotson boosted the midfield, and Minnesota rejoiced at the news that Emanuel Reynoso was nearing match fitness again.
Minnesota 4 – 0 Chicago Dutch Lions (F)
The Aurora came out with a fury in Chicago, pestering the goal until Kennedy Faulknor notched a gorgeous goal from a long distance shot. From there Maya Hansen and Cat Rapp continued their impressive double act to add another couple goals and put Minnesota in position to run away with their USL-W division again.
Vfl Wolfsburg 2 – 1 SC Freiburg (F)
Wolfsburg continued to be Freiburg’s bete-noir with another win at the griffin’s expense. Judith Steinert got a consolation goal, and the defense again showed some strong skills to keep things pretty close, as the Frauen of the Black Forest settled in their comfortable 6th place position.
Kilmarnock 3 – 1 Ross County
County needed a victory to ensure they’d stay up, there was pressure and intensity galore. And Kilmarnock scored. Then Alex Iacovitti committed a penalty that Kilmarnock converted. With a thoroughly deflated feeling, County did grab a consolation goal through Yan Dhanda’s penalty, but gave another one up shortly after. So, the loss was settled.
Legon Cities 1 – 0 Hearts of Oak
While Hearts of Oak has long been a dominant force in Ghanaian soccer, the upstarts of Legon have often seemed like the little brothers in the greater Accra landscape. But Legon looked great throughout the game, pushing Hearts of Oak around until Kofi Kordzi’s goal slipped through (it was probably the least likely to go in in). The “Phobians” grew into the match in the second half, but Legon’s defense held firm for their first ever win against one of the local league’s giants. (To be fair, Hearts have dropped five of their last six, so it’s maybe not that shocking, but a win is always welcome).
Le Puy Foot 1 – 1 Grenoble Foot (F)
Les Iseroises had a lot of confidence coming into play Le Puy on an excellent winning streak and facing a team who trailed in the table and had lost by two in their prior meeting. But Le Puy did well, the Grenoble side was frustrated and in the end it was only a point…a very…very painful point (see note below)
Brann 3 – 1 Rosenborg (M)
The Trollguter lost again as Carlo Holse has not been able to find the attacking vim he had in the past and Rosenborg’s anemic offense has them down in the unfamiliar territory of 11th place (the same rank as their goals for). This time, only a penalty saved them from getting blanked.
Emelec 0 – 0 Guayaquil City (M)
An unremarkable Guayaquil face off for Emelec has left the side down just one point off the absolute bottom of the table…yeesh.
Austin FC 2 – 1 Minnesota United (M)
Down in the heart of Texas, the Loons have had some strong showings and some suspect ones. They held their own against Austin and (again) could feel unlucky not to have more balls bounce their way (their expected goals were 3, their total goals were 1…that’s unfortunate. Mender Garcia did do an excellent job setting up Joseph Rosales equalizer, but for the first time in a while the defense looked taxed and unable to keep up.
Minnesota Aurora 10 – 0 RKC FC (F)
Honestly, I was a little frustrated preparing for this because I could not figure out RKC FC’s alphabet soup of a name. Turns out the team is from Racine (R) in Kenosha County (KC) and it is a football club (FC). They also have yet to win this season, and facing last year’s finalists…they were not in a good position to change that. Maya Hansen got a hat trick with the help of Cat Rapp’s assists and took over as the club’s all-time leading scorer (though that is only a two year record)
News & Notes
So…how did it go?
Last time we talked through all the permutations and possibilities. Now things are settled, and here’s where we stand
Grenoble: The men have one last game left, but are firmly grounded in the mid table. I thought the ladies were firmly placed in the mid-table, but ended up getting relegated due to a change in the French leagues set-up (see next news).
Vozdovac: The dragons were in the unusual position of knowing as soon as they landed in the top half of the table that they weren’t going to be relegated and they had no chance of topping the league. Still, it was more fun than being constantly afraid.
Freiburg: the women were settled in the mid-table, but the men had an outside chance to join the top sides going to the prestigious Champions’ League. But Eintracht Frankfurt’s victory spoiled those plans and the Griffins are going back to the Europa League (where they looked great until running in to Juventus).
Ross County: The good news, the Staggies aren’t relegated! Bad news…yet…After their loss County will have to take a two leg tie against Partick Thistle to keep their spot in the Premiership.
Wait, wait…what happened to the Grenoble ladies?
I’ll be honest, I was stumped when the Grenoble social media accounts were upset at a 1-1 draw to end the season against Le Puy. Because (silly me) I had neglected to read a memo from the French Football Federation a year ago announcing a change to the league. Instead of two divisions in Ligue 2, there will be only one next year. Grenoble was right on the cusp of qualifying for the redesigned Ligue 2…but the draw left them level with Albi Marsac…but ahead on goals…which didn’t matter as much as the fact that back in September and December they lost to Albi by a total of 3-0.
So…having a better goal difference, a similar offense, a better defense, and a run of six unbeaten…Grenoble is going down to Ligue 3 because of two games in the last calendar year.
Sometimes the rules around this game are dumb. But we can make the best of the bad situation and hope that Grenoble comes out to win Ligue 3 and jump up a level next year.
Bet Pawa Update
The impossible to expect Bet Pawa league in Ghana is two matches away from it’s conclusion and things are becoming much clearer.
Only three teams can win the title (down from 12 two weeks ago), Medeama SC is in the lead with Aduana Stars and Bechem United needing things to break their way. The relegation battle is still wild. Everyone from sixth place Berekum Chelsea down to King Faisal could still be knocked out (including the Royals of Legon). Things should be clearer after the coming weekend when King Faisal must win against the Royals to have a chance of survival, but a win for Legon might make them safe (provided one team ranked 14-16 also loses)
Player of the Week
Maya Hansen has had one heck of a run this past week. With five goals in two matches this week, she’s been vital in making Aurora the familiar indomitable selves. The question may not be: can they win, the question may be “who is going to stop them?”
Standing
Oof , that was a rough…rough…ROUGH week. There were 15 matches, and our favorite teams got 3 wins, 3 draws and 9 defeats. That’s 10 points from a possible 45. If not for Maya Hansen’s dominance and a superb showing by Legon this would have been utterly miserable.
| Team | W | D | L | PPG | GFA | GAA |
| Punjab–b | 12 | 2 | 3 | 2.24 | 2.29 | 0.94 |
| Rosenborg | 10 | 5 | 5 | 1.75 | 1.50 | 0.70 |
| Minnesota | 8 | 3 | 6 | 1.59 | 1.35 | 1.29 |
| Grenoble | 15 | 5 | 15 | 1.43 | 1.23 | 1.11 |
| Legon Cities | 7 | 7 | 7 | 1.33 | 1.19 | 1.24 |
| Freiburg | 12 | 7 | 17 | 1.19 | 1.22 | 1.67 |
| Emelec | 4 | 4 | 6 | 1.14 | 1.14 | 1.21 |
| Alebrijes–b | 5 | 5 | 8 | 1.11 | 1.33 | 1.39 |
| Ross County | 5 | 4 | 10 | 1.00 | 1.21 | 1.42 |
| Vozdovac | 4 | 3 | 10 | 0.88 | 0.65 | 1.65 |
| Montana–b | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | — |
b–Team is between seasons
What’s Next
Thursday, June 1st
Stojorsdals Blink v. Rosenborg (M)
Partick Thistle v. Ross County (Premiership Playoff)
Friday, June 2nd
Grenoble v. Guingamp (M)
Saturday, June 3rd
Rosenborg BK v. Brann (F)
Barcelona SC v. Emelec (M)
Minnesota v. Toronto FC (M)
Sunday, June 4th
King Faisal v. Legon Cities
Rosenborg v. HamKam (M)
Rochester FC v. Minnesota (F)
Ross County v. Partick Thistle (Premiership Playoff)
Monday, June 5th
Tuesday, June 6th
LSK Kvinner v. Rosenborg (F)
Wednesday, June 7th
Emelec v. Guarani (M-Confederation Cup)
Minnesota v. Chicago Dutch Lions (F)
MacKenzie's Boot Room 