OneKeg said:

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Some young US soccer prospects in action today for their clubs:

From highlights, both Adri Mehmeti and Julian Hall looked good despite NYRB losing 2-1 @ Atlanta. Mehmeti had the assist and Hall the hockey assist to Mehmeti on a quick 1-2-3 leading to NYRB's only goal. Hall also had a good shot in the second half that was saved well, and Mehmeti seemed to make several other good passes (Hall made a couple too), despite wearing what looked like a protective face-mask/guard (injury?). From what little I've seen, I like Hall better at left offensive midfielder where he played today than at center forward. Mehmeti played holding midfielder as usual.

From highlights: Forward Justin Ellis looked great again for Orlando City in their 1-1 draw against Cincy. Got the assist on a breakaway for Orlando's goal (smart, quick pass out of a double-team to keep the break going) and had at least 3 good shots that forced saves, plus a nice move for another that was blocked. He easily could have had 1 or 2 goals.

From highlights: Peyton Miller started at wing (instead of outside back where he'll likely play for the US) for New England in their 2-1 loss to Toronto, but only played the first 40 minutes, leaving with the score still 0-0. Not sure if he got injured? Miller did have one fantastic, thunderous volley in the box that should have been a goal except for an outstanding save by the Toronto goalie.

From box score: Mathis Albert came on for Borossia Dortmund for the last 30 mins of their final friendly (against Serie A club Roma), which finished 2-2. Not sure how he played, but the fact that he's getting time for a Bundesliga club is good. We'll see if he continues to get time in competitive matches.

From box score: Zavier Gozo did not appear as a starter or sub in Crystal Palace's 2-0 loss at Bundesliga club Freiburg. (Current USMNT center back Chris Richards did play).

Looks like Philadelphia Union with Cavan Sullivan and Neil Pierre play tomorrow (Sunday).

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Love the US player reports. I saw a little of Ellis yesterday, but the camera work was bad so I could not tell if he had the ball. He got into good finishing positions a few times but could not finish. He may need to improve there. Still nice to see him interchange with Griezmann, who is not over the hill. I thought he was the best player for Atletico Madrid last season.

As to Ian James, I don't know if he is an important player. He has been highly ranked for the last few years but he never gets called in. I don't know if his team is blocking the call ups or he is just higher rated on the internet than by US Soccer. He is big and physical. He seems like an obvious candidate for the U20s. I fear that he physically matured at a young age, and it was impressive that he could hang in MLS. But I am not sure he has developed the additional skills needed to thrive. Not that it matters, but some members of my family in Minneapolis know him. He may have gone to the same school with one of them. At like 15 his family moved to Kansas City because Minnesota United did not take their youth teams seriously. MLS territorial rights, where you have to play for the MLS team in your area if you want to play in MLS, is bad for development.

Thanks for the report on James. Yeah, now that I'm paying attention to the MLS, it makes no sense to me how some MLS teams handle their young prospects.

Another minor example to me is center back Christopher Cupps being called back by Chicago so he couldn't play in the CONCACAF U-20 semifinals and finals. The US team sure could have used a good center back against Mexico, and it would have been a good learning experience for Cupps, especially the final. I would understand Chicago pulling Cupps back if he was going to actually get playing time for them, but he has not gotten any playing time as either a starter or sub in multiple matches since being called back, including in Chicago's match today. Maybe there's some other reason I don't know about.

As for today's Philadelphia Union match. Again, no Apple TV for me, so this is only from highlights: Philly went down 2-0 in the first half on two penalties only to come roaring back in the second half for a 3-2 road victory.

First the bad. Center back Neil Pierre seemed to have rough game. He was late recovering on a long aerial through ball in the first few minutes of the match, barely got a head to it right into the lap of the NYC forward, and then, despite having decent position in the box, Pierre pulled him down for the penalty. It was not a violent pull down, and the NYC forward embellished it, but it's going to get called every time. Pierre had multiple other bad passes leading to NYC offensive chances in the highlights. Hopefully a learning experience.

Now the good (mostly?). I can't actually tell if Cavan Sullivan had a good match by his standards, but he did get assists on both of Philly's first two goals (his brother Quinn got the assist on the third goal).

Cavan's first assist was generously given as an assist - he got a head to a free kick into the box, and it bounced through a crowd behind Sullivan to a Philly forward who scored. If that was actually intentional, then Sullivan is even better than I thought, but I think it was mainly lucky.

The second assist was good. Not just for the pass itself, which was a straightforward, unselfish square pass to an unmarked Philly forward right in front of goal when Sullivan could have shot himself, but more for the darting run Sullivan made off the ball to get open and receive the pass in position within the box to create the clear assist opportunity. Sullivan came out at the 80-minute mark, shortly after Philly scored their final goal to go ahead 3-2.

OneKeg said:

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Thanks for the report on James. Yeah, now that I'm paying attention to the MLS, it makes no sense to me how some MLS teams handle their young prospects.

Another minor example to me is center back Christopher Cupps being called back by Chicago so he couldn't play in the CONCACAF U-20 semifinals and finals. The US team sure could have used a good center back against Mexico, and it would have been a good learning experience for Cupps, especially the final. I would understand Chicago pulling Cupps back if he was going to actually get playing time for them, but he has not gotten any playing time as either a starter or sub in multiple matches since being called back, including in Chicago's match today. Maybe there's some other reason I don't know about.

As for today's Philadelphia Union match. Again, no Apple TV for me, so this is only from highlights: Philly went down 2-0 in the first half on two penalties only to come roaring back in the second half for a 3-2 road victory.

First the bad. Center back Neil Pierre seemed to have rough game. He was late recovering on a long aerial through ball in the first few minutes of the match, barely got a head to it right into the lap of the NYC forward, and then, despite having decent position in the box, Pierre pulled him down for the penalty. It was not a violent pull down, and the NYC forward embellished it, but it's going to get called every time. Pierre had multiple other bad passes leading to NYC offensive chances in the highlights. Hopefully a learning experience.

Now the good (mostly?). I can't actually tell if Cavan Sullivan had a good match by his standards, but he did get assists on both of Philly's first two goals (his brother Quinn got the assist on the third goal).

Cavan's first assist was generously given as an assist - he got a head to a free kick into the box, and it bounced through a crowd behind Sullivan to a Philly forward who scored. If that was actually intentional, then Sullivan is even better than I thought, but I think it was mainly lucky.

The second assist was good. Not just for the pass itself, which was a straightforward, unselfish square pass to an unmarked Philly forward right in front of goal when Sullivan could have shot himself, but more for the darting run Sullivan made off the ball to get open and receive the pass in position within the box to create the clear assist opportunity. Sullivan came out at the 80-minute mark, shortly after Philly scored their final goal to go ahead 3-2.

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I think Pierre was fine. He mi**** his first header of the game that led to a penalty by him. In a real league they would not have called the penalty, it was nothing. The other NYCFC goal was on an unlucky handball. The Union gave up no goals in the run of play. Pierre did make a few poor passes, but the field was trash (Yankee Stadium with some rain) and very narrow. I was not discouraged by his play.

Sullivan was other-worldly. The best player on the field by a mile. He smoked many, many fools. Like he probably beat ten players off the dribble, sometimes two or three at a time. For some reason on the trash pitch he looked faster. Maybe it was the opponents, maybe he is getting into shape, I don't know, but for the first time speed looked like an asset. He was absolutely electric. Yes his first assist was nothing much. His second one was brilliant. And he created many chances. For the first time tonight I actually thought he would go to Man City and appear when he turns 18. He was that good. He turns 18 on 9/28/28. So maybe he will go over winter break of 28/29.

Mis-hit has a banned word embedded. Yes, I think Sullivan's first assist was a purposeful flick-on header.

OneKeg said:

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Yes it was Quinn Sullivan who played last night for Philly. I should have known he was Cavan's brother.

It's the other way around for me and my family when it comes to the expense of living in the Bay Area and additional discretionary marginal costs such as streaming services. Yes the latter is a rounding error, but because of the magnitude of the primary expenses are so high, we kind of live on the edge of those rounding errors.

I live in the Presidio in San Francisco. Small place but beautiful living in the midst of a forest within a city. I can see the ocean (mainly Baker/China Beaches, Land's End to the left, Marin Headlands to the right and the Pacific Ocean in between) and hear the slow breakers less than a half mile away (and 400 feet down). But it's expensive - between rent and utilities, close to $5.5k a month. You can't own in the Presidio.

My son is a junior in high school. He easily passed the qualifying test to get into Lowell, the highly-regarded magnet public (and therefore free) school in San Francisco, so you can imagine my horror when he (and my wife) eagerly chose the much closer independent school in the Presidio (Bay School) that is a 7 minute free park bus ride away. So we now pay $65k a year in tuition for that honor - would be $70k a year (full price) but for the first time in my life, I actually applied for and received a smidge of NEED-based financial aid to defray the cost by $5k a year.

In fairness, my kid is happy at Bay and that is what matters. He's on the soccer team (though far from one of its better players). Bay won the D2 North Coast championship in soccer last season.

And this is all aside from all the other expenses of living in SF, which we love or we would not do it. Furthermore, I myself am the child of immigrants and will not inherit much, and need to put away plenty of money to take care of my parents soon enough (my wife's parents have already passed), in addition to saving for my son's college.

So put all that together with the fact that we are a single income family (me), and I make enough to make us quite well off in most other parts of the country, but feel like we're lower middle class here. Which we're fine with, but we do need to watch our expenses. We are down to one small car which my wife and I share, rarely eat out, and our discretionary spending is very low (my gym membership being a big one). The 3 and low 4-figure donations I make to Cal academics and athletics (including NIL) are painful. Most of my good friends are much richer than I am and/or live in a less expensive area and don't have these considerations.

So that's why we don't have AppleTV, despite my becoming a newly-anointed sicko. =)

Ok, enough woe is me! =) Also, I just have never watched much MLS, so the only times we've had AppleTV was for Severance and Ted Lasso, the latter being a reason my wife might want to get it again, and my son may watch too.

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I was mostly teasing. How one chooses to spend money is very personal. I would tell the kid that he is going to the free high school. I will pay for undergraduate and graduate school/law school/medical school, but high school does not matter enough. In my opinion, which does not matter.

Cool that you are still a soccer dad. I miss those days so much. Waiting for the grandchildren.

I know what it is like to have everyone in the family richer. It was not supposed to happen this way. But I became a (data) scientist and prioritized research over making money. I think I did the right thing.

I was not the one who signed up for Apple TV, but now I am glad I have it. For the first time. I don't care about MLS but do like watching future USMNT stars. You have the bug, it would be difficult for me to resist.