International Break - 9 10 24

In Today’s CleanSheet:

• Observations 🔭 

• Field Conditions 🌱🟩🚜 

• Miracle on Ice - Part Deux? 🏒⚽

Observations 🔭 

• Assets. Imagine for a moment your favorite athlete on your favorite team, one of the best in the world, went on a mid-season break to play for another team for a couple games and then got hurt. Yep, that happens in soccer - and Arsenal fans are not going to be happy as Martin Odergaard went down playing for Norway.

• Wrexham have earned more points since the start of the 2022/23 season than any other club in the top 5 leagues in England. Check the show out.

• Alex Morgan, one of the best USWNT players retires. Here’s her “tea cup” celebration after scoring against England.

• The 6 best saves so far in the EPL - CS Ranking of the 6

  1. #4 in the video - Raya, Arsenal

  2. #3 - Muric, Ipswich Town

  3. #1 - Raya, Arsenal

  4. #5 Areola, West Ham

  5. #2 Flekken, Brentford

  6. #6 Ederson, Man City

• Click Bait. MSM bias and made-up stories aren’t just for the news outlets. So, how do you get the most clicks when the EPL is on International Break? Why, you create a story about Man United of course. It’s the most followed club globally, so guaranteed to get you clicks - “Why there are reasons for optimism at Man Utd despite slow start”. If you don’t want to read it, here’s a summary for you - they are playing better than last season and need to fix some things in the midfield.

• Would be remiss not mentioning: That’s why you play the game.

  • NIU 16 - 14 Notre Dame.

    • How NBC called the go-ahead kick in case you missed it.

    • How NBC (home of the Fighting Irish) called the final play.

    • How the UNI broadcast went.

    • Postgame Field Interviews are the BEST. “The transfer portal, NIL, we still have a family”.

• Lockeroom’s are the BEST, even in the NFL. Who’s got it better than us - NOOOBODY.

• Excited for your team’s start? Disappointed? Here’s where we were last season compared to this season after 3 matches. Everton and City, right on schedule.

Field Conditions🌱🟩🚜 

QUESTION: How can the world’s top soccer players have TERRIBLE playing surfaces in the US, mostly NFL stadiums. And how can the world’s best NFL players have TERRIBLE playing surfaces in natural grass soccer stadiums.

ANSWER: Greed, and the games are different.

Last summer’s Copa America tournament between nations from North & South America was held in the USA. Aside from the USMNT getting knocked out early and Argentina winning, the top storyline may have been how bad the field conditions were. Many were looking at the tournament as a test run for the 2026 World Cup, and in terms of the venues and logistics it was a disaster. Some nuggets:

• “…the pitch was a disaster”.

• “..the field is not apt for these kinds of players”.

• “You're playing on a football field, with laid grass that's all patchy and it breaks up every step you take. It's frustrating.”

• An article was written with the title “Will Copa América's poor U.S. pitches affect 2026 World Cup?”

Thursday night in Sao Paulo, Brazil - at Corinthians Arena, home of one of Brazil’s top Soccer Clubs, Corinthians FC - the Green Bay Packers and Philidelphia Eagles played the first NFL game in South America. And, like Copa America, the conversations turned to how bad the field conditions were.

• As Barstool Sports put it “It didn't take a genius to notice how dogshit the playing conditions were…”

• Barstool was more direct in their headline, “Roger Goodell and The NFL Are A F*@&ing Disgrace For Allowing Its Players To Play On That Field In Brazil Last Night”

• But sure NFL - Player Safety….🙄🙄🙄at least the kickoff is new this year.

How about when the NFL plays in Mexico City at Azteca Stadium? In 2018 the NFL moved the game scheduled for Mexico back to LA because the field conditions were so bad. So in 2019 the NFL put in considerable resources to improve the playing surface there.

How about Allianz Arena in Munich, where the NFL plays in Germany? Not Good. “NFL world fed up with Germany field conditions”. So much so, that the NFL is got a new hybrid field for last season’s games in Germany. That seems to have helped.

How is the turf at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium - where most London games are held you ask…Prettay Prettay Good (YT). Tottenham has a “retractable” pitch. There is an NFL artificial turf field under the soccer pitch. They just move the soccer pitch out to reveal the NFL field underneath.

@JJWatt (X) - Minority Investor in Burnley and former NFL player - has experience with both. Here’s his take.

CS COMMENTARY: How can the NFL send two teams to Brazil and play on the soccer surface given what they’ve already learned in Mexico, Germany and England. It’s pretty amazing the NFL can talk about the safety of players yet put them in a position for greater injury. Let me guess, if they go back to Brazil they will “improve” the playing surface. Because, you know, it was a surprise how bad it was. Blame climate change, you might get some money for it.

Miracle on Ice - Part Deux?  🏒⚽

The USMNT lost to Canada 1-2 in their “friendly” during this international break and it reminded the CS about the 1980 US Men’s Hockey team. If you don’t know the story, and you should, the US shocked the world by beating the heavily favored Russians on their way to winning the gold medal. But why the comparison you ask? It’s definitely NOT because the USMNT team is a bunch of amateurs playing against significantly more talented players. but because of the position they are in less than 2 years from the World Cup. Significant underdogs who are not playing anywhere near their potential.

(If you don’t know the story from 44 years ago, you should. Here’s the Wiki and check out the movie Miracle.)

The USMNT is currently completely dysfunctional. To throw salt into the wound (I would recommend Redmond Real Salt) former Leeds United Manager and 2X USMNT player Jessee Marsch now coaches Canada and said, “I’d much rather coach Canada than the US” and “I have no interest in the US job…. unless there’s a big shift in the organization”. That definitely got the US pundits in a frenzy. In addition, the supposed new manager Poch has yet to take the reigns so the US was led by interim manager Mikey Varas. Here was Veras calling out the players.

@stuholden, @AlexiLalas and @RobStoneonFOX had a good 5 min breakdown.

Can Mauricio Pochettino pull a Herb Brooks and get this team to play and compete? He’s got less than 2 years to pull it together and a federation that seems to mess up much of what they touch.