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     AFTER ALL THE HOOPLA, MLS REVERTS TO TRADIATIONAL 24 TEAM TOURNEY
In 1st MLS pool, 15 entries from 12 people try their hand in our first Major League Soccer Pool

SAFER-AT-HOME DRIVE-IN: "PINOCCHIO", CA (smt) -- A lot of rust as the first four matches featured scoreless first halves including two 1-0 matches and one nil-nil match.  Orlando City FC, de facto host of the tourney, rallied to beat fellow Floridian Inter Miami CF 2-1 thanks to Nani's goal and assist.  The Philadelphia Union outlasted New York City FC 1-0 while the New England Revolution upset Impact de Montreal 1-0.  Big underdog San Jose Earthquakes held defending MLS champ Seattle Sounders FC to a scoreless draw.

The NYCvPHI was the first 9 am EDT match and it still felt like 99 deg F.  Just miserable with high humidity 24 hours a day.  Within minutes of the opening whistle, players and the ref were drenched with sweat.  The matches at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex take place on 3 natural surface fields as there could be as many as 3 matches a day (first time is July 12). 

Part of this experiment is a completely uneven broadcast with fake ads on the far sideline and behind the goals and a horrendous Adidas logo at midfield (that thankfully shrunk from the first match).  Not having fake crowd noise is a plus IMHO and it reminds me of the early matches of doubleheaders of less attended events like U-23 Gold Cup or something.  You can hear the players which is cool and the cheering became loud after Nani's stoppage time game-winner.  Seems more and more people are in the crowd.  Hearing instructions from coaches and players being yelled into the field is some neat behind-the-scenes action.  The opening match 8:46 tribute was powerful in its ambient noise of machinery chugging away in the background.

So with our  HWCI EURO 2020 pool postponed until 2021, there was no soccer pool this year.  2021 would have been our off year but it hopefully will have the EURO 2021 now.  The World Cup is 2022 and the Women's World Cup is 2023.  Presumably, the EURO will keep the same schedule and have one in 2024.  This means we are in our 3rd year of possibly six straight HWCI soccer pools.  Of course, the difference this year is the pool is free to enter and 12 people submitted 15 entries.  We did have a late start (I had worked 18 straight days) so with just 2.5 days to enter and no web entry (until less than 19 hours before), 15 is not bad.  With no money prize (and, it's MLS), it's understandable. 

But the MLS, celebrating its 25th season (and I've been there all 25 with the LA Galaxy stats crew), is the first men's professional team league to start-up and it was rocky.  Four days before, FC Dallas' first match was postponed and two days later DAL dropped out with 10 active COVID-19 positive player cases.  One day before Nashville SC's first match was postponed and after the 2nd match was played, NSH withdrew as well forcing Chicago Fire FC to move from Group A to Group B, giving all six groups four teams just like the Women's World Cup.  MLS still hasn't fixed all their dates as their schedule and bracket both have different dates (and maybe matchups?-- I hope not) for the knockout rounds.

So instead of how it was unfair Group A had six teams but initially only 2 advanced to later Group A can have 3 teams advance (and its 4th or next 3 best 3rd place teams) to now, it's the normal top 2 in each group and the four best 3rd place finishers.  Simple.  Wish that happened before the tourney.  The women's NWSL, the first USA pro league to start up (with a Challenge Cup, which so far has a much better TV presentation and graphics on CBS All Access than ESPN) also lost one team (Orlando Pride) due to too many COVID-19 positive cases. 

Five of 15 picked Atlanta United FC to win the tournament and the automatic berth into the 2021 Concacaf Champions League.  Three each picked SEA and the LA Galaxy.  Two picked Los Angeles FC.  The only unanimous group match pick was LAFC over HOU.  Every team was picked at least three times to make the Round of 16 with HOU, SJ, and FC Cincinnati picked just three times.  ATL, LAFC, Toronto FC, NYC, and New York Red Bulls were all picked to make the Round of 16.

I'll be doing daily gameday updates on our Blog and re-posted on Twitter.  These updates will be every few days or so and will be emailed out.  Everyone can view their pick and bracket by clicking the "Pick" link in the standings next to their nickname.  If you want to know who everyone is, the Who's Who in the Pool is now available.

   Ins 'n Outs -  Goals (4 Matches): 5 (1.25/match) [Own: 0, Subs: 0, Stoppage: 1, Extra Time: -]... Scoring First: 2-1-0 (1 Nil-Nil ties; 1-MIA)... Leading at Half: 0-0-0 (4 ties)... Shutout: 4 (3-NYC, 5-MTL, 7-SEA, 7-SJ)... PK: 0/0... PSO: -... Red Card (GF/GA): 0 (0/0)... Multiples: 0 ... Zero SOG (Shots): 0... Goal Line Tech (Award): 0 (0)... VAR: 0 ... 63%+ Poss: 0 ... 20+ Shots: 0 ...Cancelled: 3 (2-NSHvCHI, 15-PHIvNSH, 29-ORLvNSH)... Replacements: 6 (4-DALvVAN->CHIvVAN, 14-MIAvCHI->MIAvPHI, 17-SEAvDAL->SEAvCHI, 27-NYCvCHI->NYCvMIA, 28-PHIvMIA->PHIvORL, 30-DALvSJ->CHIvSJ)...

   Bits 'n Bobs -  Since this pool was free, a limit of 2 (instead of 3) entries per person was enforced... prizes?  since it seems everyone is within the USA except for one (Sammy!), I've got hats, scarfs, and other soccer goodies to mail out to the top 3... ATL was picked 9 times to make final with LAFC second with 7... LA Galaxy were picked to make the Final three times and win it all three times... ten teams were picked to make Final... with NSH out, lone expansion side Inter Miami CF was picked to reach the Semis once and Quarterfinals four times... with changes, just 30 of 39 original matches can be won in the pool... both teams on opening day utilized their full allotment of five subs (only 3 breaks though, so ORL used 2 subs at the same time in the 63' and 83' and MIA double-subbed only once in the 78' because one of their subs (first sub) was due to injury in 58') a relaxation by the IFAB during the pandemic... ORLvMIA played on Field 17, one of 3 fields being used for the tourney (Fields 16 & 17 used for night matches, Field 19 for the morning matches)... despite a 9 am EDT start, the NYCvPHI match soon felt like 99 deg F... PHI players wore names of alleged police brutality victims on their backs - "One name too many"... when NSH withdrew, that changed six matchups (SEA and SJ now facing CHI instead of DAL and PHI and NYC now facing MIA and ORL) and cancelled three matches (all with CHI)... first 4 matches featured scoreless first halves... group matches do count in the regular season standings as well meaning DAL and NSH will be short 3 games (maybe play each other 3 times!)... NE had a great idea of doing a drive-in viewing party at Gillette Stadium... 8 got ORL, 2 PHI, 3 NE, and 0 SEA-SJ tie...

24 teams is more like it, wish we knew that before the tourney started...
Scott