#DumpsterFire [September 2018]

The title speaks for itself.

September 1, 2018, vs. Portland Timbers, 1-1 T
The first half of this game was shaping up to be a repeat of the Sounders game in July where nothing happened, but then slightly more happened. Scott Caldwell scored his first goal of the season off a rebound from the Timbers goalkeeper after a Kelyn Rowe shot. Not sure if the goal was the highlight or if finding out that his goal song is “Party in the USA” was. The Timbers then equalized from a corner kick. Again, never heard that one before. It was almost cleared off the line, but almost isn’t good enough. Rowe looked pretty good in central midfield, and Juan Agudelo got minutes in the second half. It was another mixed performance from Agudelo – half of the time he holds up the ball and nutmegs defenders, and the other half the ball comes to him and the game physically slows down because he comes to a complete stop to decide what he’s going to do, then he dribbles straight into three defenders.

September 5, 2018, at New York City FC, 0-1 W
For all everyone complains about the Revolution having to play on turf, there is something not quite right about NYCFC’s field, besides the fact that it’s a baseball diamond (they play at Yankee Stadium). The ball did not seem to bounce correctly, and the field feels tiny, though Wikipedia says it’s only 5 yards smaller in length and width than Gillette (110 yds. x 70 yds. vs. 115 yds. x 75 yds., which equals a loss in area of ~10%). The camera crew also kept showing artistic overview shots from strange angles and if I remember right, this was the game where they cut away to closeups of NYCFC players sitting on the bench while the Revolution had the ball multiple times. The non-soccer aspects notwithstanding, the Revolution kept themselves in the game long enough for Brian Wright to capitalize on a rebound to hand NYCFC their first home loss this season. With Wright’s first MLS goal and a shutout from Brad Knighton, who took Matt Turner’s place in goal, New England won for the first time in two months. Would this be the start of another late season playoff push? [Spoiler alert: no.]

September 15, 2018, at Los Angeles Football Club, 1-1 T
In the Revolution’s first trip to California to play LAFC, the air was filled with the drama known as the Lee Nguyen saga. Predictions from Revolution Twitter included all variants of New England being destroyed by not only Nguyen, but also similarly-former Rev Benny Feilhaber. Shockingly enough, neither Nguyen nor Feilhaber scored or even seriously threatened the Revolution. LAFC’s goal was a Revolution “we can’t clear the ball out of the box” special, and Brandon Bye picked up his first MLS goal on a header from a Teal Bunbury cross to equalize late. Not terrible from the Revolution, but still not enough.

September 22, 2018, vs. Chicago Fire, 2-2 T

Another one of those games where the Revolution are kind of in it but not really. Chicago went ahead twice, the second time on a Michael Mancienne own goal¹, and Caldwell and Penilla salvaged the draw. New signing Guillermo Hauché made his debut and looked fine. Hauché is the Revolution’s new exciting goal scorer who has never scored a professional goal. File that one under the Most Revs Things to Happen, along with stadium rumors, blind draws, terrible DP signings, and weird vibes.

¹It was bound to happen sooner or later. He’d had about three close calls in his past four games and the Revolution fanbase was just waiting for it to happen.

The More Things Change, the More They Stay the Same, September 29, 2018, at Toronto FC, 4-1 L
With the playoffs basically (but not mathematically) out of reach, the Revolution chose this time to self-implode. Penilla opened the scoring for the Revolution, then they proceeded to let Toronto back into the game before the half. It was all downhill from there. The ref even gave the Revolution a chance to pull themselves together by calling a Toronto goal back because of offsides, but the Revolution basically said no thank you and let Toronto score three more times before the final whistle. I’ve stopped being horribly bothered about them losing, but they played like they didn’t care. All I want is to watch some soccer.

In September, the Revolution went 1W-1L-3D for an overall record of 8W-11L-11D. Their goal scorers were the following: Brian Wright, Scott Caldwell (x2), Brandon Bye, and Cristian Penilla (x2). Two recent Superdraft picks who opened their MLS accounts, a central defensive midfielder, and the team’s leading scorer. So the forwards are mostly not scoring and the defensive isn’t defending. And people wonder why this team has problems.

#LGR?

After two years in Michigan, I can now say that I have been to a sporting event in Michigan Stadium (the Big House). I can even say that I have seen a football game in the Big House. I cannot say that I have seen an American football game in the Big House. When I first heard that the International Champions Cup was coming to Ann Arbor at the end of July, I was tempted to go, but a minimum of $55 for tickets that would be 3,492 feet from the field for a game featuring two EPL teams I don’t really follow was a little much. Then two days before the game, on Thursday evening, Michigan athletics emailed the student body offering $25 tickets. That I can do.

The last professional soccer game I attended was the New England Revolution against the Philadelphia Union at Gillette Stadium in 2016, as the Revolution were at the tail end of one of their summer slumps. The Revolution lost 4-0. So the bar was set pretty low for this game, which would feature Manchester United and Liverpool. Basically my only requirement for this outing to be a success was that I be entertained.

A coworker, a friend, and I set off with what we thought was plenty of time to get to the stadium. We parked in south Ann Arbor to catch a shuttle bus operated by the city to the stadium. The concept was good; the execution needed a bit of work. We waited over half an hour to get on a bus, then spent another ~20 minutes packed into the bus slowly making our way toward the stadium. When we were dropped off, we were at the exact opposite end of the stadium from our seats. By the time we made it to our section, we were just in time for kickoff.

With that auspicious start, we settled in to watch the game. Just being in the Michigan Stadium with tens of thousands of other people is an experience; later, the announced attendance of 101,254 would easily make this game the highest attended Champions Cup match of 2018. Our seats were about halfway up the stadium, and I was pleasantly surprised that we could see the field, the players, and even the ball. Funnily enough, Manchester United’s colors are red and yellow and Liverpool’s are red and white, so there was an abundance of Cornell colors (#LGR) and a noticeable lack of blue and maize. Among the Liverpool and United jerseys, I did also spot some representation of the USMNT, the Columbus Crew (#SaveTheCrew)¹, Zlatan, the LA Galaxy, and I wore my Revolution hat (#NERevs).

Both teams started the game cautiously, with neither side challenging the other too much. Liverpool was awarded a penalty in the 28th minute for what seemed to be a routine foul in the box. A few minutes later, Manchester United equalized off a nicely taken free kick.

Halftime in the mostly full stadium.

Tied 1-1, beer ad on the screen.

The two teams went into the half tied, leaving their fans to sit in the sweltering heat and humidity packed in like sweaty sardines to watch beer ads. As the second half went on, Liverpool started to threaten United’s goal and had the bulk of the possession. They scored in the 66th minute, were given another penalty in the 74th minute, and scored probably the best goal of the game in the 82nd minute. They were working the ball around Manchester United’s box, the ball was kicked goalward, cut back out, and Liverpool picked up its fourth and final goal of the match on a bicycle kick.

The game ended without drama, and both teams headed off to the locker room. I waited for the crowd to thin out a bit before joining the stream of people walking north from the stadium to downtown Ann Arbor. It’s about a mile between the stadium and central campus, and honestly, it would probably have been faster, cheaper, and less crowded to walk from there than take the shuttle bus. Oh well. I’ll know for next time. In the end, was it worth it? Definitely yes. Was it hot, crowded, and loud? Also definitely yes. The game somewhat lacked intensity – pretty weak, by the book penalty calls; something like a single yellow card all game; no headbutting, 50 mph slide tackles, or face slapping – but it was more of an exhibition match than a tournament, so I’m not complaining that nobody wanted to break their leg for imaginary brownie points. And I was entertained, so my goal was met.

86th minute, final score on the board

[Full game highlights found here. Liverpool’s bicycle kick goal starts around 1:08.]

¹As of October 12th, this may be #SavedTheCrew, as the owner of the Cleveland Browns is trying to buy the team and keep it in Columbus.

Violets are Blue

Back in Ann Arbor¹, my mother and I arrived in town just in time for the peony garden at the arboretum to be in bloom. Last year I found out that this is a Big Deal. This year I figured that flowers would be more interesting than repeat trips to Kroger or sitting at the card table in my otherwise furnitureless living room for my mother.

Last year when I visited the peony garden, it was a somewhat cloudy and overcast evening. This year, it was a cloudy and overcast afternoon, until the sun came out. The lighting was a challenge, but I came away with some flower photos without my shadow on them. While we were there, there was some sort of performance going on, so the peony garden was filled with people listening to the music groups; serious photographers with tripods, super ultrazoom macro lenses, and wind boxes; children; college students taking iPhone selfies; etc.

Some peonies

Another peony

After enjoying the flowers, we walked around the arboretum a bit. We went down to see the river and walked alongside it for a while before going to see a large bug-infested field. Until next year, peonies.

Clouds

¹This happened in June. Blog time is currently running >4 months behind.