Recap
Rosenborg BK 4 – 0 Arna-Bjornar (F)
It seems that Rosenborg’s ladies have found their full stride, four goals in the first half put them far ahead, and coach Steinar Lein chose to solidify the lead after half time. Familiar attackers Anna Joesendal and Emilie Nautnes each got a goal, and back-up goalie Lene Christensen returned for the first time this season with a clean sheet.
Montreal 4 – 0 Minnesota (M)
With your mom having a girls night, we celebrated boys night with thirty minutes of soccer watching. Well, I watched and Alex asked questions and Owen bounced around slamming Anna and Elsa into everyone and everything. Sadly, Anna and Elsa had more fun than the Loons who were over run by Montreal including former Loon/Sassy Librarian Mason Toye. Michael Boxall and Miguel Tapias couldn’t do everything and Montreal’s great passes made them too dangerous to stop. But the Loons attack looked better with Emanuel Reynoso involved (though, it may lead to the return of “hero-ball-starring El Rey”…)
Legon Cities 3 – 2 Samartex
The Royals raced out to a quick lead with Ahmed Rahman and Ebenezer Armegah hitting the net before 10 minutes had passed, the Royals repeatedly taking full advantage of some shaky Samartex defending. With the advantage, Legon was able to absorb a lot of Samartex’s attacks, and when Michael Otou got the third with nine minutes to play, the Royals were safe. (It should be noted that Michael received the most Man of the Match honors in the Bet Pawa league this season: cue the slow clap).
Stabek 2 – 2 Rosenborg (M)
Rosenborg fell behind early (an inverse of Legon’s game) but kept driving forward until Jayden Nelson got the first. The second half showed Rosenborg storming the Stabek goal, but coming up empty handed until Erlend Reitan set up Carlo Holse for a last minute equalizer.
Chicago City SC 1 – 3 Minnesota Aurora (F)
The Aurora gave up another goal, but it didn’t make much difference with Kenzie Langdok, Hannah Adler and Mariah Nguyen finding the net and Tianna Harris continuing to lock down the defense en route to being one of the players of the month in the whole USL-W
Emelec 0 – 0 Gualaceo SC (M)
Yup, I got nothing to say here. I do expect that Emelec won’t be overly disappointed to have the first half of the season end on Sunday. (They’ll have one more group match in the Copa Sudamericana, and a win should get them through to the knock-out stage, but a break would not be a bad thing.)
Minnesota Aurora 5 – 0 Green Bay Glory (F)
Rolling smoke from Canadian wildfires made it unsafe to play outside on Wednesday night, but even under a dome and without the normally raucous fans the Aurora continued to run roughshod over opponents, this time with Cat Rapp notching a brace and the steady defensive line once again pitching a shutout.
News & Notes
Overbearing Parent/Coach Update
Alex had another great week at soccer. He ran up and down the field a lot, and continued to love getting in the way of shots, which was convenient because his four man team was dwarfed by a pair of 5 year olds who looked 7 so there was a lot of running to do. And again he got his team’s only goal….but that’s not as much fun as defending. The best thing though: he found several chances to cheer on his team as they ran including little Jack (from Owen’s Pre-school class)
Let’s get Messi
You may remember that I wrote about the delights of watching a World Cup final with you both and seeing one of the greatest players of this generation reach the greatest pinnacle of this sport. Well, that same legendary player has decided to write the last chapter of his story here in the United States, including in Minnesota (eventually).
Messi turned down hundreds of millions from Saudi Arabia (literally the Saudi Arabian government owns four teams…) just for playing, to instead accept hundreds of millions from American companies who will pay him for existing and thereby selling more streaming services, shoes and tickets.
The Loons won’t see him until 2024 at the earliest…assuming he’s willing to play on an icy/sweltering Minnesota pitch in the first place. I’ll continue my internal debate: go watch him, or sell the tickets for much more than they are worth.
International Update
We’ve reached the time in the year where (most) soccer players finally, mercifully, have a break.
Unless you’re really good, in which case you need to play more…but this time for your country!
We don’t have exact names of which players will be going where so here’s a brief overview of possible places to look.
North American players will be gearing up for the Gold Cup, but we’re surprisingly light on those. Dayne St. Clair will likely be hanging around Team Canada’s bench, while Samuel Rogers of Rosenborg could line up again for the US. Kervin Arriaga and Joseph Rosales will look to team up in Honduras’ midfield.
In Europe, we have more players based, but just as many hanging around. Mark Flekken the (now former) Freiburg keeper will be hoping to play in the Nations League semif-finals after start Justin Biljow was smoked by Croatia’s attack). Phillip Leinheart and Michael Gregositch will be ready to go for Austria, and Rolland Sallai will be on hand for Hungary in their Euro Tournament qualifiers, and Mathias Ginter will be the lone Freiburg representing Germany.
Finally, Asian/African teams will simply be getting their work outs in preparing for games ahead with Woo-Yeong Jeong joining South Korea, and Ritsu Doan suiting up for Japan, and Bongokhule Hlongwane aims to help South Africa.
Bet Pawa’s Final Update
And that, as they say, is that.
Medema SC held on to claim the title they were driving for. Their win over Tamale City also doomed the northerners to relegation, when Great Olympics got a big win over Nsoatreman to save their bacon…or fried plantain if you prefer. And unless I’m much mistaken Legon Cities’ 9th place finish equaled their best ever showing.
Player of the Week
As we enter the stage of the season where we only have a few teams playing each week, we’ll be able to reward some players who do extremely well and a few who had good years but weren’t able to be the best player on a given week. This week, it’s time to give an overdue shout out to Tiana Harris. As Alex continues to admire defenders, Ms. Harris is a heckuva role model.
Standing
The quiet season means we’re not real likely to see much movement in the standings, but with Minnesota and Rosenborg the only two sides still clicking along after this week (sorry for my pessimism Emelec), we should still have the race to pressure Punjab in full swing.
| Team | W | D | L | PPG | GFA | GAA |
| Punjab–b | 12 | 2 | 3 | 2.24 | 2.29 | 0.94 |
| Minnesota | 14 | 5 | 7 | 1.81 | 2.08 | 1.15 |
| Rosenborg | 14 | 6 | 9 | 1.66 | 1.69 | 0.90 |
| Legon Cities–b | 9 | 7 | 8 | 1.42 | 1.25 | 1.29 |
| Grenoble–b | 15 | 6 | 17 | 1.34 | 1.16 | 1.13 |
| Emelec | 5 | 8 | 6 | 1.21 | 1.16 | 1.11 |
| Freiburg–b | 12 | 7 | 19 | 1.13 | 1.24 | 1.66 |
| Alebrijes–b | 5 | 5 | 8 | 1.11 | 1.33 | 1.39 |
| Ross County–b | 6 | 4 | 12 | 1.00 | 1.23 | 1.50 |
| Vozdovac–b | 4 | 3 | 11 | 0.83 | 0.67 | 1.65 |
| Montana–b | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | — |
b–Team is between seasons
What’s Next
Thursday, June 15th
Friday, June 16th
Saturday, June 17th
Minnesota Aurora v. Bavarian United (F)
Sunday, June 18th
Lyn Football v. Rosenborg (F)
Deportiva Cuenca v. Emelec
Monday, June 19th
Tuesday, June 20th
Wednesday, June 21st
Arna Bjornar v. Rosenborg (F)
RKC Soccer Club v. Minnesota (F)
MacKenzie's Boot Room 