muses ring girls

MLS Expansion? Sacramento Approves Soccer Stadium Plan

by ANTHONY J. MERCED

Is Major League Soccer about to land in Northern California?

Sacramento City Council has approved a proposal for a development project that includes a new soccer stadium in the downtown rail-yard area. This signifies a major development in the city’s push for an MLS franchise — an ambition USL side Sacramento Republic have pursued for some time.

Currently the Sacramento Republic are the only team in town, playing in the USL, and garnering some of the largest crowds in lower division soccer. On top of that, the team has been very successful on the field, winning the USL Championship in 2014 and the USL regular season Western Conference this past season. The team plays their home games at Bonney Field; a nearly 11,500 seat stadium on the grounds of Cal Expo. The Republic averaged 11,322 fans per game.

MLS Commissioner Don Garber made a trip to Sacramento this past April where he announced plans for league expansion up to 28 teams. The next round of expansion is set to start in 2020 and could include the Republic, who have made their intentions known for MLS acceptance.

“We hope and really we expect that Sacramento will be one of the next four (teams),” said Garber to a crowd in Sacramento during his visit. “I’m very, very impressed by everything you guys have done.”

USMNT: Klinsmann's U.S. future hangs by a thread

The USA suffered its worst defeat in World Cup qualifying in 36 years when it dropped a 4-0 decision at Costa Rica. It left the USA in last place after two games in the Hexagonal. Losing to the Ticos was not unexpected -- after all, the USA lost its eight previous qualifiers in San Jose -- but the manner of the defeat was embarrassing.

1. Tico brilliance and shambolic U.S. defending.

U.S. coach Jurgen Klinsmann said he expected an "angry" reaction from his players after the 2-1 loss to Mexico in Columbus on Friday. What he got was an effort that was anything but.

The USA, though, almost got into halftime at 0-0 when everything went wrong. A series of casual passes from Michael Bradley to Jermaine Jones to John Brooks led to a turnover with the U.S. defense all out of shape. Cristian Bolanos (Vancouver Whitecaps) collected a ball in the corner and Omar Gonzalez gave him all the time in the world to pick out another MLS player Johan Venegas(Montreal Impact) at the near post, where he beat Brooks to the ball and headed it past Brad Guzan, who had kept the USA in the game with early stops on Venegas and Bryan Ruiz.

It all went downhill in the second half as the Ticos added three goals in the space of 10 minutes. There was more individual brilliance from the Ticos -- Ruiz with a pass to Bolanos for the second goal and Joel Campbell off the bench for the final two goals -- but plenty of shambolic defending.

Timmy Chandler failed to cut off Ruiz's cross on Bolanos' header, Brooks lost the ball and was nutmegged by Campbell on the third goal, and Omar Gonzalezkept Campbell onside to break through for the fourth goal after turnovers by Brooks and Chandler.

2. History of the Hex: perfect at home, big results away.

All is not lost in the Hexagonal despite the two defeats. Trinidad & Tobago lost its first two games in the 2005 Hexagonal and qualified for the World Cup. As U.S. Soccer president Sunil Gulati pointed out after Tuesday's game, Mexico won only two of 10 games in the 2013 Hexagonal and also qualified after finishing fourth in the Hexagonal and winning a playoff against New Zealand. (What should be noted is that El Tri got a break as Panama won one game and Jamaica went winless.)

Hexagonal after 2 games:
2016: 0 points (1-2 vs. Mexico, 0-4 at Costa Rica)
2013: 3 points (1-2 at Honduras, 1-0 vs. Costa Rica)
2009: 4 points (2-0 vs. Mexico, 2-2 at El Salvador)
2005: 3 points (2-1 at Trinidad & Tobago, at 1-2 Mexico)
2001: 6 points (2-0 vs. Mexico, 2-1 at Honduras)
1997: 4 points (0-0 at Jamaica, 3-0 vs. Canada)

Indeed, the history of the Hexagonal has been that of the USA churning out results and other seemingly formidable Concacaf teams collapsing around it. As bad as the loss to Costa Rica was, Friday's 2-1 loss to Mexico -- its first defeat to El Tri at home in the Hex -- is the result that puts the USA behind the eight ball. The USA won 14 of 15 games at home in the last three Hexagonals. (The lone draw -- 2-2 against Costa Rica in 2009 -- came after the USA had already qualified.)

The USA has always managed to get big Hex wins on the road: 2-1 at Honduras in the second game in 2001, 2-1 at Trinidad & Tobago in the opening game in 2005, 3-2 at Honduras to clinch in 2009 and a late 2-1 win at Jamaica that started it on a run of three straight wins that broke open the Hex in 2013.

The USA will need a victory at Honduras on Matchday 8 to match Panama's 1-0 win in San Pedro Sula on Friday afternoon and probably have to take at least four of six points against the Canaleros, whose point on Tuesday night against Mexico was one more than the USA earned against El Tri. The opening results have reduced the USA's margin for error and eliminated its ability to depend on other teams to collapse.

3. All bets are off after back-to-back defeats.

All this speculation about what results the USA will need is getting ahead of the game. Will Klinsmann be around to coach the team?

Before Friday's game against Mexico, Gulati said he expected Klinsmann would remain in charge. U.S. Soccer has never changed coaches during the Hexagonal, Gulati noted, and the last time there was a coaching change during qualifying was in 1989 when Bob Gansler was appointed the full-time coach. Lothar Osiander, his part-time predecessor, worked at Graziano's, an Italian restaurant in San Francisco's Financial District. In 1969, Phil Woosnam stepped down for a two-game series against Haiti to take over as NASL commissioner and try to save the league -- which he did -- and was replaced by Englishman Gordon Jago.

All bets are off about Klinsmann's future after the opening two games of the Hexagonal -- even if they were against, as Gulati noted, against Concacaf's two best teams. It was bad enough that the USA lost at home to Mexico -- in a match that Klinsmann introduced and then quickly abandoned a new 3-5-2 formation and ended with yet again another game lost on a goal off a corner kick -- but he didn't get any reaction out of his team after the defeat.

In qualifying for the 2014 World Cup, the USA responded after every defeat -- one in the semifinal round and two in the Hexagonal -- with a win in the next game. It did the same thing after losing to Guatemala, 2-0, in March. Four days later, the USA crushed the Chapines, 4-0.

Once before this year, Klinsmann's future seemed to hang in the balance. The USA opened the Copa Centenario with a 2-0 loss to Colombia and hours before the second game, Gulati told reporters that results mattered. The USA went out and beat Costa Rica, 4-0, and ended up finishing fourth at the Copa Centenario, the best performance by a Concacaf team.

The USA not only didn't get a result after the loss to Mexico but worse -- it collapsed in the second half against Costa Rica. Klinsmann said the loss was "a bitter pill to swallow" and "definitely the defeat that hurts the most in my five years," suggesting he understood the magnitude of the setback and the precarious nature of his position.

Marcelo Bielsa (OM) est votre troisième meilleur entraîneur de l'histoire de la Ligue 1

La semaine dernière, FF vous demandait qui était le meilleur coach étranger de l'histoire de la Ligue 1. L'Argentin Marcelo Bielsa arrive troisième, avec 7% des voix.

Un jeu alléchant

L'espace d'une saison, Marseille était revenu au centre des attentions. Les supporters garnissaient à nouveau le stade Vélodrome. Les joueurs se donnaient sans relâche. Les buts tombaient à la pelle, autant en leur faveur que pour leurs adversaires. A l'origine, un homme, un seul : Marcelo Bielsa. Arrivé en mai 2014 à la tête du club olympien, l'entraîneur argentin a mis en place un jeu alléchant, porté sur l'offensive. Dès l'ouverture du Championnat, Marseille a concédé un nul prolifique face à Bastia (3-3). La suite était à l'avenant. En fin de saison, le club présentait la deuxième meilleure attaque de L1 (76 buts). Sous ses ordres, Gignac s'est métamorphosé (21 buts), Morel s'est révélé dans un rôle inhabituel de défenseur central, Mendy et Imbula frappaient à la porte des Bleus. Mais sur le long terme, Marseille n'a pas tenu le rythme. Champion d'hiver, le club a fini la saison à la quatrième place.

Une figure contrastée

En France, Marcelo Bielsa n'a pas fait l'unanimité. L'Argentin a été la cible de vives critiques. Ses principes, comme le marquage individuel ou pressing acharné, étaient jugés suicidaires. Après une large défaite de Marseille à Lorient (3-5), Pascal Dupraz, l'entraîneur de l'ETG, fustigeait un «monsieur Bielsa (qui) avait décidé de se moquer du football». Nicollin, lui, dira que «ce n'est pas parce qu'il s'assoit sur une glacière que c'est un sorcier.» Il y avait du vrai. A Marseille, Bielsa n'était pas un sorcier. Il était une idole. Grâce à lui, les supporters ont repris plaisir à suivre les matches de l'OM. Des chants étaient entonnés en son nom. La glacière, sur laquelle il s'asseyait pendant les matches, était devenue un objet culte. Des fans devenaient adeptes, en quelques mois seulement, du «Bielsismo», du nom de sa philosophie de jeu.

Parti avec fracas

Imaginez, alors, leur peine quand Marcelo Bielsa a annoncé sa démission surprise le 8 août 2015, au soir de la première journée de L1, après une défaite face à Caen (0-1). En cause, un désaccord avec la direction au sujet de la prolongation de son contrat. Ses détracteurs le traiteront de lâche, ses amoureux d'homme intègre. Il reste que son départ a laissé un grand vide à Marseille. Très vite, le club a replongé dans ses travers, pour finir 13e de Ligue 1. Les Olympiens étaient redevenus ennuyeux, quelconques et friables. Au stade, les fans avaient déserté les tribunes. Et regrettaient le temps où leur club sombrait à Lorient, mais leur offrait, au moins, du spectacle.