Recaps
Atlante 4 – 0 Alebrijes
It was a forgettable start to the spring campaign for Alebrijes. Without a number of their attacking options and defensive veterans, they struggled to contain the fall champions and ended up with the very fuzzy end of the lollipop.
Grenoble 1 – 0 Nimes (M–Cup)
Loic Nestor jammed up the defense and delivered a crucial assist in the 88th minute to Abdoulie Sanyang in a tightly contested match that Grenoble will proud to win. The victory moves them on the final sixteen of the international club tournament La Coupe de France (which ties in teams from every sector of the country)
Accra Lions 3 – 1 Legon Cities
The Royals were under heavy pressure from Accra throughout the match, but managed to hold strong until the dam burst. The Lions went ahead in the 77th minute and added two more leaving Legon Cities reeling.
Ross County 0 – 2 Livingston
The midfield was overrun for the Staggies and the Defense didn’t stand as stout as it had against Aberdeen the week before. The loss was County’s 7th at home this season…which is an awfully sad sentence to write.
Punjab 3 – 1 Neroca
Lucka Macjen and Brandon Vanlalremdika connected within three minutes of each other to give Punjab a strong lead in that beautifully cold north Indian winter. They held fast for the rest of the match to keep themselves just two points off the top of the Hero League leader board (though they’ve played one fewer match than current leaders–and next Tuesday’s opponent–Sreenidi Deccan).
Grenoble 2 – 3 Thonon Evian (F–Cup)
Les Alpines made a solid attempt at a come back, but couldn’t match the men’s advancement in the Coupe De France.
Pau 0 – 0 Grenoble (M)
After the rush of the Cup, Grenoble was wiped out and mustered a very lackluster showing against Pau, making a mere two points from their last four matches.
Legon Cities 0 – 0 Dreams FC
This game also happened. From the summaries I see, Legon Keeper Sylvester Sackey made several solid saves to preserve the point.
Alebrijes 0 – 1 Celaya
Despite being down to ten men for most of the match (Luis Moret’s early double booking takes the blame for that), Oaxaca held on gamely until finally conceding in the last 7 minutes of regular time.
News & Notes
Soccer Shots remains dominant in the basement
At Alex’s request we have been playing frequent soccer matches in the basement, each time with Alex representing himself and his friends on The Soccer Shots team, while I play as various people that amuse me. For a good v. evil battle Alex has had me play as Russia’s national team, and since I don’t know many Russian players I have been name checking Russian writers, poets, philosophers and the occasional educational psychologist (all of whom perform well but sneer at coach Vladmir Putin’s machinations).
And yet, Alex has won the last two games 15-13 and 15-8 (shooting directly at goal while I’m putting a point on the scoreboard may have an effect on that–also Alex insists that games must be played to 15 rather than for a specific length of time…)
Transfer Tips
Literally as I was writing this, Casper Tengsedt, fresh off his record setting run at Rosenborg made a move to the much more prestigious Portuguese club of Benfica. Hard to blame him taking a shot at a Champions League level squad, but it will be a darn shame for the Norwegian league. Replacing Tengsedt (possibly) is Isak Snaer Thorvaldsson who joins from Icelandic side Breidablik.
While there weren’t many other notable moves made we thought we’d take a minute and profile the winter changes we do know about for the other teams that are in action right now: Punjab, Grenoble, Legon Cities, and Ross County…or rather, I would but they haven’t made any real moves of note
Adios, Muchachos
This Sunday we are heading out on a vacation to Puerto Vallarta to celebrate Grandma and Grandpa MacKenzie’s 40th anniversary. As such we’re going to try to leave the technology behind a bit and focus in on the people at hand. Rest assured we’ll summarize the matches we missed (and hopefully, in the case of Alebrijes, watched on local tele) and even see if we can capture something of the magic of you boys playing against your uncles
Player of the Week
While Punjab got more of the goals (and Lucka Macjen’s hair and beard combo have me feeling like I’ve found a lost brother–hence his spot at the top of this post) Loic Nestor provided more of the heroics. Let’s make it four years running of appreciating Loic Nestor!
Standings
After several more teams took the field in 2023, Ross County slid down the table. Alebrijes’ awful week sees them at the bottom, and Punjab’s big win takes them to the top.
| Team | W | D | L | PPG | GFA | GAA |
| Punjab | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3.00 | 3.00 | 1.00 |
| Grenoble | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1.33 | 1.00 | 0.00 |
| Legon Cities | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 |
| Ross County | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0.50 | 0.00 | 1.00 |
| Alebrijes | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 2.50 |
| Rosenborg–b | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | — |
| Minnesota–b | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | — |
| Freiburg–b | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | — |
| Vozdovac–b | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | — |
| Montana–b | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | — |
| Emelec–b | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | — |
b–Team is between seasons
What’s Next
Thursday, January 12th
Friday, January 13th
Guingamp v. Grenoble (M)
Saturday, January 14th
Punjab FC v. Kenkre FC
Motherwell v Ross County
Sunday, January 15th
Monday, January 16th
Nsoatreman v. Legon Cities
Tuesday, January 17th
Sreenidi Deccan v. Punjab FC (Top of the table on the line!)
Wednesday, January 18th
Venados v. Alebrijes
Thursday, January 19th
Friday, January 20th
Saturday, January 21st
Wolfsburg v. Freiburg (M)
Hamilton Academical v. Ross County
Sunday, January 22nd
Mohammedan SC v. Punjab FC
Yzeure Allier v. Grenoble (F)
Monday, January 23rd
Tuesday, January 24th
Wednesday, January 25th
Freiburg v. Frankfurt (M)
Alebrijes v. Dorados
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