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Soccer Topics: No goalies in the USA

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In reply to Cal88 • 1:49a, 9/1/26
Cal88 said:
I was wrong about Gordon at Barca, looks like he is doing quite well. The assist at 1:45 is a beauty...


Gordon has been fantastic. It looks like he has beaten Adeyemi out. He is a rare player who can think at the rate of his Spanish teammates.
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9:08a, 9/1/26
I think they call this "the winner's curse." Everton is going to get Balogun, but if they have to pay >50mil, they would have been better losing the bid. He is good but not that good. For him it is great. Everton generally playing a fast, attacking style that should fit his ability to move and finish. And he is getting paid.

https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_/id/49783677/everton-deal-usmnt-forward-folarin-balogun-sources
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9:51p, 9/1/26
For what it's worth (probably not much), Mathis Albert played the entire match today of Borossia Dortmand's DFB-Pokal cup 5-0 victory against lower league (5th tier? Amateur or semi-pro?) HEBC Hamburg.

No goals or assists for Albert, though he should have had an assist after a decent run and nice square pass for an uncontested shot from around the penalty spot that Nmecha put over the crossbar. But against this level of competition, really can't draw much of any conclusion.
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In reply to sluggo • 10:39p, 9/1/26
sluggo said:
I think they call this "the winner's curse." Everton is going to get Balogun, but if they have to pay >50mil, they would have been better losing the bid. He is good but not that good. For him it is great. Everton generally playing a fast, attacking style that should fit his ability to move and finish. And he is getting paid.

https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_/id/49783677/everton-deal-usmnt-forward-folarin-balogun-sources

For some reason the Balogun signing fell apart. I suspect something was found on his medical that made them renegotiate his pay downward, and he walked away. France is a good place for him anyway.
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In reply to OneKeg • 10:41p, 9/1/26
OneKeg said:
For what it's worth (probably not much), Mathis Albert played the entire match today of Borossia Dortmand's DFB-Pokal cup 5-0 victory against lower league (5th tier? Amateur or semi-pro?) HEBC Hamburg.

No goals or assists for Albert, though he should have had an assist after a decent run and nice square pass for an uncontested shot from around the penalty spot that Nmecha put over the crossbar. But against this level of competition, really can't draw much of any conclusion.

Cool that he played. Today they got Ethan Nweri (?), another winger, on loan from Arsenal. Albert is not going to play this year. I am actually skeptical that he will ever play for Dortmund. He is very good, but he needs to get better physically if he is going to break through. At 17 it is possible.
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In reply to sluggo • 8:57a, 9/2/26
sluggo said:
sluggo said:
I think they call this "the winner's curse." Everton is going to get Balogun, but if they have to pay >50mil, they would have been better losing the bid. He is good but not that good. For him it is great. Everton generally playing a fast, attacking style that should fit his ability to move and finish. And he is getting paid.

https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_/id/49783677/everton-deal-usmnt-forward-folarin-balogun-sources

For some reason the Balogun signing fell apart. I suspect something was found on his medical that made them renegotiate his pay downward, and he walked away. France is a good place for him anyway.

"Sources have told ESPN that Everton were alerted to "significant issues" by the medical." I hope he is okay, he is such a key player headed into 2030. Monaco is still trying to offload him to Turkey or Saudi. Lots of the French teams have financial problems for some reason.
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2:07a, 9/6/26
Well, just got home from the Cal football game against UCLA after an amazing day in every way except the play on the field. So I thought I would make the only positive comment about actual game play that I can, which is to say here, on the soccer thread:

I noticed that Cavan Sullivan scored another goal in a Philadelphia Union victory and Justin Ellis has another assist to Griezmann in an Orlando victory. Promising young players doing what they do.

Have not yet looked at the highlights, but probably will once I eventually wake up tomorrow!
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5:26p, 9/6/26
Enjoying the day in Santa Cruz with some friends. Have not checked anything football related or any soccer highlights. Trying and mostly succeeding in washing the awful taste of yesterday night's (American) football game out of my mouth.

But did notice that Reyna scored ok Strasbourg's 6-2 Ligue Un win (left in second half with his team up 3-1). Several other USMNT and borderline USMNT players played this weekend. I think Pepi scored for PSV against Ajax in a clash at the top of the Dutch Erdivisie and Scally scored for Monchenadbach's Bundesliga 4-3 loss against Cole Campbell's just-promoted and still undefeated Elversburg. Musuh also played the whole match in the midfield as AC Milan hung with Juventus (sans Weston McKennie) 1-1 in the Italian Serie A.
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In reply to OneKeg • 11:26p, 9/6/26
OneKeg said:
Well, just got home from the Cal football game against UCLA after an amazing day in every way except the play on the field. So I thought I would make the only positive comment about actual game play that I can, which is to say here, on the soccer thread:

I noticed that Cavan Sullivan scored another goal in a Philadelphia Union victory and Justin Ellis has another assist to Griezmann in an Orlando victory. Promising young players doing what they do.

Have not yet looked at the highlights, but probably will once I eventually wake up tomorrow!

I was at the Cal game too. Was a great day until the game started.

I watched the Union as I do every week. Sullivan had a good game. His goal was based on hustle. After Iloski dribbled the keeper, the keeper tripped Iloski. The ball went to Sullivan who shot it past a defender who was covering the line. Earlier Sullivan hit a shot hard at the keeper who spilled it. Damiani was in position for a goal but the defender beat him to the ball. Later Sullivan crossed a ball for an easy Iloski header finish, but Iloski flubbed his lines. His crappy teammates cost him one assist per game. He was the best player on the field as he is on most weeks.

To celebrate his goal, he got some white powder that he threw up, which was an imitation of LeBron, a fellow Philly sports star. Sullivan wants all the smoke. Once Pulisic celebrated a goal by doing the Trump dance. They are not similar guys.

Pierre had an uneven game. He gave up a goal when his man beat him to a cross, but it was called back for offside, which has nothing to do with being beaten. He also gave up a penalty on a soft push in the box that would not have been called in a real league. The penalty was saved and the Union shut out Montreal 2-0. The rest of the time Pierre was solid.

Ellis did have a nice assist to Griezmann that I saw on highlights. I have not seen the Reyna goal, but he is my favorite US player and I am glad he is now starting. He played 63 minutes. In other good news Mush started in midfield for Milan in a 1-1 draw with McKennie's Juventus. McKennie is injured. Pulisic was an unused sub.
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