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     ALL TEAMS HAVE FINALLY PLAYED; LOTS OF GOALS AND COMEBACKS
Kona Coast Fauci's and Kona Coast Sliders Tied for 1st

TELECONS, CA (smt) -- Well, things finally got better and games are watchable, even with the fake crowd noise on FOX/FS1 and TUDN.  While the first five matches had just 6 goals (1.20 per match), the last ten have had 39 goals (3.90).  While the first five matches saw just one goal in the first half (0.20) with four scoreless (80.0%), the last ten have seen 18 goals in the first half (1.80) and just two scoreless halves (20.0%).  While there were no VAR decisions in the first five matches, there now have been 6.  And on the 8th day, finally all 24 teams have played with B3-Vancouver Whitecaps FC the last one due to their first match postponed until July 23 with FC Dallas withdrawing.  MLS is back, baby!

A lot of excitement with D4-Minnesota United FC rallying to beat D2-Sporting Kansas City 2-1 with both goals in stoppage time (in the 90'+2' and 90'+7'), C4-D.C. United despite playing a man down rallying with two goals to tie C1-Toronto 2-2,  F1-Los Angeles Football Club scoring two goals in the second half to knot 3-3 with F3-Houston Dynamo, and B4-San Jose Earthquakes scoring three straight in the second half to top VAN 4-3 and setting an MLS record with 22 corner kicks.  Top seeds E1-Atlanta United FC and B1-Seattle Sounders FC were upset with the latter sitting on just one point after two matches.  Host A1-Orlando City SC and A4-Philadelphia Union punched their tickets to the Round of 16 by winning their second matches.  E4-Columbus Crew SC and D1-Real Salt Lake won easily with the former ruining E2-FC Cincinnati coach Jaap Stam's debut 4-nil.  F2-LA Galaxy's Chicharito finally scored but his PK miss in the 12' was costly as the F4-Portland Timbers won 2-1 and vaulted to the top of Group F.

It's been an odd tournament with both penalty kicks being saved and the teams with 63% or more possession going just 1-1-2 (SJ's comeback salvaged the lone win) (in the Women's World Cup, all 11 teams won their matches).  Teams with more than 20 shots have won just once (1-1-1) (again, thanks to SJ's comeback win).  Twice coaches were interviewed during the match and soon thereafter the opponent scored (but in POR's case, it was reversed by VAR).

In the pool, just 13 of the 15 matches were picked due to rescheduling after DAL and Nashville SC withdrew due to too many players testing positive for COVID-19.  There was another scare as two players initially tested positive before the TORvDC match but was played 24 hours later after subsequent tests came out negative.  But back to the pool.  Of 13 matches, the high is just six by Kona Coast Fauci's and Kona Coast Sliders.  BigRedMessi 2 is in last with just one point.   Four of the six teams picked to win it all lost once (ATL, SEA, LA, COL) and the other two tied (LAFC, HOU).  No one will get points for ORL (9) and PHI (11) making the Round of 16 until all the Group A matches are done (which is July 23).

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 (16 Matches): 46 (3.00/match) [Own: 2 (10-SKCvMIN 90'+2, 19-SJvVAN 22'), Subs: 5 (6-DC 84', 17-SEA 77', 16-ORL 81', 19-SJ 72', 19-SJ 90'+8' {2}), 90'+: 5 [1-ORL +7 (GW), 10-MIN +2 (GT), 10-MIN +7 (GW) {2}, 6-DC +1 (GT), 19-SJ +8 (GW)]... Scoring First: 10-3-2 (1 Nil-Nil (7-SEAvSJ); 1-MIA:ORL 1:2, 10-SKC:MIN 1:2, 19-VAN:SJ 3:4)... Leading at Half: 4-2-2 (8 ties; 10-SKC:MIN (1:0) 1:2, 19-VAN:SJ (2:1) 3:4)... Shutout: 8 (3-NYC, 5-MTL, 7-SEA, 7-SJ, 8-ATL, 9-CIN, 11-COL, 2-ATL {2})... PK: 0/2 [10-rsl (s) 72', 13-la (s) 12']... PSO: -... Red Card (GF/GA): 4 (2/3) [10-SKC 74' {R} (0/2), 6-DC 45'+6' {2Y} (2/0), 13-POR 75' {2Y} (0/1), 14-MIA 90'+8' {2Y} (0/0)]... Multiples: 4 [Zardes 2 (9-CLB), Akinola 2 (6-TOR), M.Rodriguez 2 (12-HOU), Mueller 2 (16-ORL)]... Zero SOG (Shots): 0... Goal Line Tech (Award): 0 (0)... VAR (-Reversal(Taken Away), +Reversal(Added), =Confirmed, xNo Call): 8 [9-CLB xOff={g} 49', 10-MIN xOff+{g-} 64', 12-HOU Off-{g+} 45'+5', 13-LA xOff+{g-} 81', 16-PHI HB-{pk-} 75', 19-SJ xRC={yc} 56', 20-ATL xOff+{pk-} 45'+5', 20-ATL xRC+ 90'+9']... 63%+ Poss (1-1-2): 1 [8-ATLvNY (69) L, 6-TORvDC (66) D, 12-LFCvHOU (72) D, 19-SJvVAN (68) W] ... 20+ Shots (S/SOG/G) (1-1-1): 3 [12-LFC (23/6/3) D, 16-NYC (26/8/1) L, 19-SJ (30/11/4) W]... Postponed (>30m): 2 [8-ATLvNY (Lightning 45m), 6-TORvDC (Testing 24h)]... Cancelled: 3 (2-NSHvCHI, 15-PHIvNSH, 29-ORLvNSH)... Replacements: 6 (4-DALvVAN->CHIvVAN, 14-MIAvCHI->PHIvMIA, 17-SEAvDAL->CHIvSEA, 27-NYCvCHI->MIAvNYC, 28-PHIvMIA->PHIvORL, 30-DALvSJ->CHIvSJ)...

   Knockout Knocks (+In, -Elim, ^1st, ^^2nd, ^^^3rd) - +ORL (14-PHI W), +PHI (14-W)...

   Bits 'n Bobs -  FOX's broadcast (and apparently TUDN's) featured cheesy fake crowd noise though on the FOX Sports app there was an option to get the natural sound... The funniest thing about the TV broadcasts is watching a Pando (high and way off target) shot go through the virtual jumbo-tron "behind" the goal...  ATL failed to score for the first time in 28 matches (including playoffs) despite having 69.1% possession... NY's Florian Valot got the first tourney (5 matches) first half goal in the 4'... CLB's Lucas Zelarayan got the first FK goal of the tourney in 27'... CLB's Gyasi Zardes is the first player with multiple goals (granted, CLB was only the 2nd team in 12 to score at least 2 goals)... first tourney VAR review came to see if Zardes was offsides on his 49' goal (there was also a VAR check on a 50/50 ball to see if it was a red card)... while it felt like 107F in Cerritos, thunderstorms and lightning postponed the ATL-NY match 45 minutes and the latter match (CIN-CLB) did not kick off until 11:25 pm EDT and ended 1:22 am... DC was the first team in the last 157 times a team was down by 2 goals and down a man and got a result... LAFC has the tourney high 71.5% possession and nearly lost (shades of Spain in WC18)... LA's Gordon Wild made his MLS debut in 78' and within a couple minutes, his first touch was nearly a goal (but VAR overturned it and ruled offsides)... the VAN-SJ's second half went to 100:52 (90'+11')... SJ had 22 CKs... VAN had just 2 shots on goal but 3 goals (own goal)... Pool Summary:  no one got NY, 12 got CLB (12 1-1, 3 0-2); 5 got MIN, 8 got RSL (Six Foot Box (3rd-T, 5 pts) 2-0, 3 0-2); no one got TORvDC or LAFCvHOU ties, 5 got POR (5 1-2, 8 0-3); only 1 of 3 counted with 4 getting ORL right; 4 got SJ... in the WWC19, teams that had 63% or more possession won all 11 matches, here in MLS they are 1-1-2...

Wonder why Zlatan was trending after LA Galaxy lost again ...
Scott