MLS is Back Tournament: The Breakdown

Major League Soccer is almost back! MLS will be returning to action on Wednesday, July 8th with a special tournament at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in Walt Disney World Resort. All 26 teams will participate in a tournament that will include a group stage, knockout stages and a final. The groups and full list of rules can be found here. 

Two things I find interesting: 

    1) I'm glad there are incentives. I'm sure players and teams could look at this and laugh it off but the fact that group stage points carry over to the regular season is an important feature. Sure, the CCL spot and prize money are nice but for teams that know they won't go all the way (or any team really), this is great motivation.

    2) The idea of a regular season after the tournament intrigues me. Will it have the same amount of matches as the normal regular seasons? When will it end? Will they still have the standard MLS Cup playoffs? These are all important questions that MLS must answer quickly; the tournament will only last so long and once it's over players (and fans) will be wondering about the next steps. Unfortunately, the pandemic has made it impossible to predict the future beyond next week so these questions cannot be answered easily. 

    Additionally, MLS is hoping the regular season can resume in all home markets and not just in Orlando. I don't think this is entirely possible, especially considering how all the states are reopening at different rates with different results. To get all of them to be ready simultaneously for the MLS regular season will be...tough. It's too early to tell but it'll be interesting to keep an eye on. 

I'm going to take a look at the groups and give my predictions and thoughts. 

Group A: Orlando City 

                Inter Miami 

                NYCFC

                Philadelphia Union 

                Chicago Fire 

                Nashville SC

The only six-team group in the whole competition is an interesting one with a diverse set of teams. What's interesting is that none of these teams won either of the two games they played before the season was suspended. Nonetheless, NYCFC and the Union both stand out. They are by far the best teams in this group and I wouldn't be surprised if they finished first and second, respectively. I know NYCFC lost their first two games but they still have one of the deepest, most talented teams in the league.

Beyond that there really is no clear-cut favorite. While Orlando City are the hosts, they are not the greatest team and their time in MLS has been full of disappointment. They scored just once over their first two games under new head coach Oscar Pareja and will be hoping to impress in their home. The Chicago Fire are in a similar boat in that after a fantastic 2017 season, they have not fared well.

MLS' newest teams round out the group: Nashville SC and Inter Miami. It's hard to judge these teams with the small sample size but both are still looking for their first win. Nashville seem to have a defensively competent team but their offense lacks bite (there only goal came from their CB Walker Zimmerman). Inter Miami played a competitive game in their debut loss against the best team in MLS while collapsing after their CB picked up a red card in their second game. Like I said, it's not much. 

Spots 3-6 will come down to schedule strength and returning to form after a prolonged break. Since this is this only six-team group, not every team will play each other (the link towards the top has it available). Based on that and other factors, here's how I think it will pan out:

NYCFC 

Philly

Orlando

Miami

Chicago 

Nashville 

Group B: Seattle Sounders

                FC Dallas 

                Vancouver Whitecaps

                San Jose Earthquakes 

This Western Conference group is similar to the last one in that two teams stick out for me: FC Dallas and the Sounders. Both teams have won and draw a game so far and boast impressive teams with FC Dallas boasting a youthful team full of academy products and the Sounders boasting the title of "2019 MLS Cup Champions." Unlike the first group, however, the gap between these two teams and the other teams isn't as big. 

The Earthquakes have a solid team that finished just outside the playoff bubble last year and, with more experience with Matias Almeyda's man-marking system, I think they could play better this year. As for the Whitecaps, they will be relying on Lucas Cavallini, their record signing, to score lots of goals and  Maxime Crepeau, their breakout goalkeeper. What if Cavallini doesn't live up to the hype? What if Crepeau can't save his porous defense? It's hard to rely on two players because if one (or both) of them doesn't perform then the rest of the team is screwed. 

Seattle

FC Dallas 

San Jose 

Vancouver

Group C: Toronto FC
                DC United

                Montréal Impact 

                New England Revolution 

Honestly, I think this is a pretty close group. While Toronto FC are definitely the front-runners, everything after that is unknown. DC United and the Revolution finished close to each other last season (only five points apart), which each team having strong players. For DC it's Julian Gressel, Bill Hamid and Ola Kamara. For the Revolution, it's Gustavo Bou, Matt Turner and newcomer Adam Buksa. 

Montréal's allure is their new manager, Thierry Henry. While his previous managing stint at Monaco didn't go well, he won and drew his first two games in MLS. If he can get Maxi Urruti, Bojan and Victor Wanyama to play well, then they have a good chance of advancing to the next round. Also, despite the tournament being in Orlando, their Canadian Classique with Toronto should be a ton of fun. 

Toronto FC

DC United 

New England

Montréal  

Group D: Colorado Rapids

                Real Salt Lake

                Sporting Kansas City 

                Minnesota United 

I think this group is actually pretty well-rounded. All four teams are fairly close and even the outlier (looking at you, RSL) isn't completely out of the race; in a tournament like this, anything can happen. SKC should win this group though, especially if their newest signing Alan Pulido can make the adjustment and score lots of goals. They are talented and deep around him. Minnesota United are pretty close with guys like Ozzie Alonso, Ike Opara and Jan Gregus (they made the playoffs last year), but I don't think they'll be able to catch SKC for first place. 

The Rapids are my favorite Western Conference team. I love their players, their style and I think they are always a dark horse; they may not have the biggest names or the flashiest players, but they can still play some solid soccer and score goals. I'm starting to sound a little biased here, but at least I'm not putting them in first. That being said, I wouldn't be surprised if they got second place. 

SKC

Minnesota 

Colorado 

RSL 

Group E: New York Red Bulls 

                Atlanta United 

                FC Cincinnati

                Columbus Crew 

If you thought Group D had an obvious outlier, just take a look at this group. FCC are out of their league here and even though they will have the Hell is Real Derby with Columbus, I think it will be a tough and disappointing time for them. The other Ohioan team is quite attractive though. They have depth and talent in every position (Gyasi Zardes, Eloy Room, Darlington Nagbe, etc.) and have greatly improved since last year. 

While they do sound like favorites, they are in the same group as Atlanta Untied. If you think back to before the pandemic, their star striker Josef Martinez tore his ACL in the first game of the season and he won't be coming back anytime soon. Despite this loss, Atlanta are still stacked and have the winning experience. This leaves NYRB who are in a sort of rebuild now. Bradley Wright-Phillips and Luis Robles have left, handing the reins to Brian White, Alex Muyl, and Aaron Long, amongst other talented youngsters. 

Atlanta 

Columbus 

NYRB 

FCC

Group F: Houston Dynamo

                LA Galaxy

                Portland Timbers 

                LAFC 

To me, the last group is fairly balanced for the most part. Sure, LAFC stand as favorites since they are the best team in MLS but the rest of the group isn't too bad either. I think the Timbers are next up, since they always manage to surprise us (2018 MLS Cup Final). They are returning with a lot of the same players, Steve Clark is hoping to continue his success and newcomer Jaroslaw Niezgoda will be looking to prove his DP slot. 

In my eyes, the Dynamo and the Galaxy are sort-of on the same page; they both have deep, talented offenses but glaring defenses. Even though Zlatan is no longer here, the Galaxy still have Cristian Pavón, Sebastian Lletget and Chicharito while the Dynamo have Alberth Elis, Mauro Manotas, Christian Ramirez. I honestly think it's a coin flip between the two. 

LAFC 

Portland

Galaxy

Houston 

Hopefully this gave you some insight into the upcoming tournament. Thanks for going through this breakdown with me and taking a look at this new competition format. I'm really excited to see the league start up again and can't wait to watch some good, entertaining soccer. 

Rules and Regulations: Part 2

Let's continue with some more basics! 

Passing: 

Whenever a player kicks the ball to another player, it's a pass. Players on the field can pass with their feet, their chest or their head: anything but the hands. As I stated in Part 1, only the goalkeeper can pass with their hands. 

Long passes across the field (usually from one side to the other) are known as crosses. These are useful for drawing attackers towards the recipient, stretching the field to make room for smaller passes and setting up goals for the strikers. 

This is one of the Bundesliga games from this past weekend (you can check my Bundesliga articles for more info). If you look more closely at the first goal, you can see Hazard cross the ball to Håland who scores. It's a nice, long pass that's not too high and sets him up perfectly for a goal. 

There's another type called a through ball. In this instance, the pass isn't sent directly to the recipient. Rather, the ball is sent further ahead in the hopes that the recipient will be able to catch up and receive it. These passes are great to watch, especially if the recipient can beat his defenders and score.

This is a compilation of clips from my favorite team in Major League Soccer. If you skip ahead to 1:00, you'll see a great example of a through ball and a phenomenal pass in general. RJ Allen sees David Villa moving forward between two defenders and sends a curler that nestles right in between the defenders and that the recipient is able to receive and score.

Offsides: 

However, not all passes are valid. In soccer, there is the offside rule which states that a player cannot pass to another player if the recipient is positioned ahead of the final defender before the goalkeeper. I know it sounds a little confusing, but I'll try to explain with some images. It's basically a way to stop attackers from sitting by the goal, waiting to get a pass and easily score. 

Here's an introductory video that helps explain it visually: 

Remember that this rule applies to the moment a ball is passed. If an attacker realizes they're offside and adjusts themself to go onside before they receive the pass, then they won't get called offside. However, if a player leaves too early in anticipation for the pass and is offside when their teammate passes to them, then they will get called offside. This video does a nice job of explaining the concept with concrete examples from different games. 

To help trigger this, defenders will use the offside trap. In other words, they will purposely position themselves to make the attackers go offside. For this reason, attackers must always be aware of their position. If they score a goal but received the pass in an offside position, then the goal is disallowed. The rise of Video Assistant Referee ("VAR;" I'll discuss this in the future) has turned this process into a meticulous one by hyper-analyzing player positions. 

As you saw in the video, an assistant referee stands on the sideline keeping an eye out for possible offside calls. If/when they see one, they raise their flag and point it; this lets the players, coaches, fans and other referees know that the pass is void. 

Fouls: 

What many people don't realize is soccer is a tough sport. Great players must be fast, quick with the ball and aware of what's going on around them...BUT physical presence is just as important for imposing it and standing up to others. Sometimes a little push or shove is allowed but anything greater than that is a foul. It is up to the main referee's discretion whether or not to award a foul. 

When a foul is given, the player who received the foul is awarded a free kick; play is stopped and the ball is placed where the foul occurred. The recipient then passes to a teammate and play resumes. If the free kick is closer to the goal, then the defending team can set up a wall of a couple players to make it more difficult to score. If the foul occurs so close to goal that it's within the penalty box (the large rectangle surrounding the front of both goals), then the fouled player is awarded a penalty. 

In this example, the wall in front of the attacker only has two defenders. As soon as the ball is kicked, both of them jump to try and block the shot. 

In this example, the first goal is scored from a penalty. Harry Kane is fouled in the box and you can see the referee immediately call for a penalty kick. The ball is placed in front of goal and it's a duel between the goalkeeper and the attacker. If you keep watching to the end, you'll see a couple highlights from a penalty shootout which I mentioned back in Part 1. This game was tied after regular and extra time, meaning it had to end this way. Jordan Pickford saves a shot for England and then Eric Dier scored one for them; England wins the game because they scored more goals during this shootout (4-3). 

 

That concludes Rules and Regulations: Part 2! Thanks for reading and I hope you'll stick around for my next Level 1 article: Yellow Cards vs. Red Cards. 

Bundesliga Wrap-up Matchweek 26 (1 Post-Corona)

How great was it to watch live soccer again?? It had been way too long without something to watch. It was a jam-packed weekend! Here are the results (Home-Away):

Saturday, May 16th

Borussia Dortmund 4:0 Schalke 04
RB Leipzig 1:1 Freiburg
Hoffenheim 0:3 Hertha Berlin
Düsseldorf 0:0 Paderborn
Augsburg 1:2 Wolfsburg
Frankfurt 1:3 Mönchengladbach

Sunday, May 17th

Köln 2:2 Mainz
Union Berlin 0:2 Bayern Munich

Monday, May 18th

Werder Bremen 1:4 Leverkusen

Because this is an American soccer blog and since Bundesliga has many American players, I'm going to focus on those players that did play this weekend.

Gio Reyna:

He was going to get his first-ever league start for Dortmund...until he didn't. American soccer Twitter exploded with excitement when the lineup was dropped but justtttt before the game started, he was scratched from the lineup with a minor injury he picked up during pre-game warmups. I didn't even realize he was out when the game started; I was trying to find him on the field and then I opened my phone and found the news. He was replaced by Thorgan Hazard, who ended up scoring a goal and an assist. The injury is believed to be muscle-related and not too serious.

Weston McKennie:

On the other side of the field, McKennie got the start for Schalke but his team was crushed in this derby. While he didn't have a terrible game (no one on his team really played that well, to be fair), there were moments where he could have done better. Unfortunately, three of these moments came in the build-up to three of Dortmund's goals. Here's the link to the highlights.

Disregarding the second goal, McKennie was not quick to react on the other three (he's #2). For this first goal, he can't catch up to Hazard and by the time he reaches him it's too late. The same thing happens with the second goal, as McKennie fails to read Hazard yet again (although Håland took a big hit in the build-up so you could make the argument that McKennie thought it would've been a free kick but you have to play on no matter what). Finally, McKennie is a little too slow in closing the distance on Håland before he notches the assist on the third goal. It seems like he has a lapse in thinking and in that split-second, Håland is able to make a great pass. Like I said, a lot of other players did poorly but he definitely could've done better in these big moments.

Tyler Adams:

Adams got the start for RB Leipzig but was subbed off in the 69th minute. It was an average performance, with nothing completely positive or negative happening during his shift (although I heard he improved during the second half). However, it was good to see him go for a long shift injury-free, considering his history.

John Brooks:

He has been a regular on the Wolfsburg backline, so his inclusion in the starting lineup came as no surprise. However, it was not a good game for him as he conceded an own goal off an Augsburg corner. While the official Bundesliga website has it as a goal for Tin Jedvaj, you can clearly see it go over the line after hitting Brooks and then the crossbar. Brooks and his team were saved by a stoppage-time goal, but it was still not a good look for him.

Josh Sargent:

Starting on the bench, he eventually was subbed on in the 71st minute of what was an embarrassing defeat at the hands of Leverkusen. To be fair, one team is fifth whilst the other team is in 17th  but that's still a pretty big loss. It was a quiet shift for the youngster with not much to talk about. I'm glad he got some playing time but I feel bad for his placement on such a shockingly bad team. At this point they are almost a guarantee to be relegated to 2. Bundesliga so hopefully he'll have better luck there next season.

And that's it for today's Bundesliga Wrap-up! Thanks for stopping by to read this first edition of the series and I hope you'll stick around! 

Bundesliga for Beginners

Live soccer is back!

On Saturday, May 16th, the first major European soccer league will return to play since the COVID-19 pandemic suspended all leagues. This will be the first match day in the German Bundesliga since Sunday, March 8th.  Even though there won't be any fans in attendance, these games will still be a pleasure to watch. To honor this, I figured I would post an introduction to this exciting league.

History:

The Bundesliga (BOON-des-ligah) was founded in 1963 after years of regional play. The original Bundesliga had 16 teams from West Germany which has since increased to 18 teams from throughout the country. During the German reunification, the East Germany teams were incorporated to fit the system in West Germany. Some of the founding members include Borussia Dortmund, Eintracht Frankfurt and Werder Bremen.

Structure:

Each of the 18 teams plays each other twice, with one match at home and one match away. A win warrants three points in the league table whilst a draw and a loss warrants one point and zero points, respectively. Whichever team is in first place at the end of the season is the Bundesliga champion, winning the league title.

The German system is one of promotion and relegation* where the bottom two teams are automatically sent to the lower league: 2. Bundesliga (the top two teams from this league are automatically sent up). The third-to-last team in Bundesliga and the third place team in 2. Bundesliga play each other to determine who will move up or down.

In terms of European competitions, the top four teams automatically qualify for the UEFA Champions League*, whilst the fifth place team automatically qualifies for the UEFA Europa League*. The sixth place teams qualifies for the playoff round of the Europa League.

In addition to the league title, there is the DFB-Pokal (the domestic cup*) and the DFL-Supercup. In the DFB-Pokal, all professional teams from all the different leagues play each other in one big tournament where the bigger teams join later. The DFL-Supercup is a one-off match between the domestic cup winners and the league champions.

Teams:

If there's one team that comes to mind when someone mentions the Bundesliga it's Bayern Munich. Not only are they the biggest team but they are also the most successful, winning 28 league titles and 19 and domestic cups in addition to a number of European competitions. In fact, they are currently in supremacy, having won the past seven league titles.

Borussia Dortmund is often considered the other big German team, but they only have five league titles and four DFB-Pokals. Other big teams include Borussia Mönchengladbach, Bayer 04 Leverkusen, Schalke 04 and Red Bull Leipzig (who was only founded a decade ago!).

Style:

The Bundesliga is known for being an attack-heavy league, with goals coming quick and in great quantities. In fact, "since the start of 2018-19, Bundesliga matches have included 3.2 goals." These teams have a lot of firepower, making it an exciting team to watch.

American Connection:

The Bundesliga is known for being a haven for American soccer players, many of which have played in this league at some point in their career. This includes goalkeeper Kasey Keller, midfielders Jermaine Jones and Michael Bradley and winger Christian Pulisic (arguably the most notable name in U.S. soccer right now). If you're a fan of the U.S. national team or plan on being one, this makes the league even more interesting to watch.

Here are a couple guys currently in the league who you should keep an eye on:

Tyler Adams: At 21 years old, this midfielder is one of the top prospects for the U.S. and for RB Leipzig. Just a couple years ago, he was dominating for the New York Red Bulls in Major League Soccer (MLS)* but he has since made the jump to a bigger stage. Although he has been injured for a good part of this season, here's one of his best games so far (number 14). The best part? Even after being injured for some time, he walked right back into the starting lineup without hesitation.

Weston McKennie: Another 21-year-old, this midfielder has been a big part of Schalke's lineup. However, it hasn't always been consistent. After finishing 2nd in the 2017-18 season, they drastically regressed the next season by ending in 14th place, under the reign of Domenico Tedesco. This coach used McKennie as a utility player by moving him position-to-position which 1) stunted his growth and 2) contributed to Schalke's poor form. Since David Wagner took over last year, Schalke have improved and McKennie is back where he belongs. He had a great game earlier this season, scoring a goal  (he's number 2) against Hoffenheim.

Giovanni Reyna: Despite being just 17 years old, this young forward has a bright future. Son of U.S. soccer legend Claudio Reyna, he recently transferred to Borussia Dortmund from an American academy. Although he has not played too much for the first-team, he became the youngest American to ever appear in the Bundesliga, beating the record set by Pulisic at the same team. A couple months ago, in their league cup game against Werder Bremen, Reyna scored his first professional goal and it was a beauty. There's a lot to like about him and he's in a great place to improve his skills.

Alphonso Davies: He's not American, but he did come from MLS. Despite playing as a forward for the Vancouver Whitecaps, this Canadian 19-year-old now plays at left-back for Bayern Munich. This youngster has shown tremendous speed and skill (number 19), despite playing a different position. He has done quite well so far in the Bundesliga and like the other players mentioned, he has a tremendous amount of potential. Plus, he just signed a contract extension until 2025!

Notable non-Americans:

- Erling Håland, striker, Borussia Dortmund
- Jadon Sancho, winger, Borussia Dortmund
- Timo Werner, striker, RB Leipzig
- Robert Lewandowski, striker, Bayern Munich
- Kai Havertz, winger, Bayer Leverkusen

And there it is, my (long) introduction to the Bundesliga! I hope this piques your interest because this really is a phenomenal league to follow. There are plenty of goals, it's easy to access (available through FOX and FOX-related channels) and there are plenty of American connections. Cheers to what will be a great weekend of soccer and hopefully other leagues can come back soon.

Auf Wiedersehen!

*future topics

Règles et Regulations: Partie 1 (FR)

Qu'est-ce que c'est le foot?

Pour comprendre correctement le sport et devenir un fan, on doit avoir une bonne base. Voyant les joueurs marquent et font des coups est fantastique mais il faut savoir les mécanismes qui aident le sport. C'est pourquoi les jeux vidéos commencent par des tutoriels et pourquoi les films commencent par des expositions ; pour établir les règles du monde que vous entrerez et vous donner une compréhension complète.

Structure du sport:

Le foot est un sport de deux, 45-minutes moitiés avec une pause de 15-minutes au milieu qui s'appelle la mi-temps. Pendant les deux moitiés, l'horloge ne s'arrête jamais...même si un joueur se blesse et doit quitter. Au lieu, le temps de ces moments (des blessures, des pauses, etc.) est ajouté à la fin de la moitié. Ce temps additionnel peut être un minute ou cinq minutes. Par exemple, si je me blesse et les entraîneurs m'aident quitter en deux minutes, ces deux minutes sont ajoutées à la fin de cette moitié.

Postes:

Le gardien est celui qui doit protéger le but, s'assurant que l'autre équipe ne marque pas. Il est le seul joueur qui peut toucher le ballon avec les mains, soit pour un arrêt soit pour faire une passe. Les défenseurs sont devant le gardien et bougent avec l'équipe. Même s'ils défendent surtout, ils peuvent aussi commencer une attaque ou prendre de la vitesse.

Les milieux de terrain sont au milieu de terrain, étant le maillon entre la défense et l'attaque. Ils font beaucoup de choses ; ils défendent, ils attaquent, ils prennent possession du ballon, etc. Leur poste a besoin d'un peu de tout. Enfin, les attaquants jouent au premier rang et guident l'attaque contre l'autre équipe. Ils portent la charge de marquer les buts et peuvent jouer avec eux-mêmes et avec les milieux de terrain. Il y a des autres postes plus précis, mais je les expliquerai dans un autre article.

Structure de l'équipe:

Chaque équipe peut avoir onze joueurs au terrain à la fois, avec un group choisi de commencer. Même s'ils peuvent avoir un seul gardien, les autres postes sont plus mobiles. Par exemple, les équipes peuvent jouer avec trois défenseurs ou cinq défenseurs et les équipes peuvent jouer avec trois milieux de terrain ou quatre. Ce sont toutes les formations qui les entraineurs peuvent utiliser pour organiser leurs joueurs. Quelques formations sont plus populaires que les autres.

De plus, sept joueurs sont choisis de s'asseoir sur le banc. Ils s'appellent les remplaçants. Pour le plupart des matchs, les entraineurs peuvent faire trois remplacements pour les raisons pratiques (une blessure) ou tactiques. Il n'y a pas des règles pour les remplaçants (leurs postes), mais il y a toujours un autre gardien.

Gagnant un match:

C'est facile, mais il y a des exceptions. Chaque fois que le ballon va au but, c'est un but. L'équipe avec la plupart de buts à la fin du match, gagne. Mais, si les deux équipes ont le même numero des buts, c'est un match nul. Il y a même des match avec aucun buts! Ces matchs sont des matchs nuls aussi.

Les exceptions se passent au certains tournois, matchs et compétitions (je les expliquerai au futur). Dans ces exceptions, un match ira à la prolongation si il y a un match nul à la fin de 90 minutes. Il y a deux moitiés de la prolongation (avec le temps additionnel aussi). Même si un équipe marque dans la première moitié, ils jouent encore l'autre moitié. Si le match est encore nul à la fin de la prolongation, il y a des pénaltys. Je les expliquerai plus tard.

Voici la fin de Règles et Regulations: Partie 1. Je vous remercie pour le lire et j'espère que vous resterez pour Partie 2 bientôt! 

Rules and Regulations: Part 1

What is soccer?

To properly understand the sport and become a fan you must have a good foundation. Seeing people score and make plays is great, but it's essential to know about the gears that make the game run. That's why the best video games start with tutorials and the best films start with expositions; to establish the basic rules of the world you are about to enter and give you a complete understanding. 

Game Structure:

Soccer is a sport composed of two, 45-minute halves with a 15-minute break in between known as halftime. During the game itself, the clock never stops...even if a player gets injured and must be taken off. Instead, whatever time was used during these incidents (injuries, pause in play, etc.) is added on to the end of the half. This injury time can be as short as a minute or as long as five minutes. For example, if I pull a muscle in the first half and it takes trainers two minutes to take me off the field, then those two minutes are added on at the end of that half.

Positions:

The goalkeeper is the person in charge of protecting the goal, making sure the other team doesn't score. He is the only person allowed to use his hands to touch the ball, whether it be to make a save or to pass to a teammate. Defenders are positioned in front of the goalkeeper and move up with their team. While they mostly defend, they can also start an attack and build momentum. 

Midfielders roam the middle of the field, serving as the link between the defense and the attack. They do a variety of things, such defend, attack, gain possession, etc.; their position requires a little bit of everything. Lastly, forwards play at the front and lead the attack against the opposing team. They carry most of the goal-scoring burden and can combine with each other and the midfielders. There are sub-positions among these general positions, but I will cover those in another post. 

Team Structure:

Each team is allowed eleven players on the field at once, with a group picked to start the game. While they can only have one goalkeeper, the other positions are more fluid. For example, some teams only play with three defenders whilst others play with four or five. Some teams only play with three midfielders whilst others play with only two. These are all different types of formations that coaches can use to organize their team. Some formations are more popular than others. 

Additionally, seven players are chosen to sit on the bench and are known as substitutes. For most games, coaches are allowed to make three substitutions for practical (a player gets injured) or tactical reasons. There are no guidelines for which players to have as substitues, but there is always another goalkeeper to serve as backup just in case. 

 Winning the Game: 

This one is fairly easy, although there are some exceptions. Whenever the ball goes into the net, it counts as a goal. Whoever has more goals at the end of both halves wins. However, if both teams have the same amount of goals it ends in a draw. There are even some games where neither teams scores a goal by the end of the game! These instances are draws as well.

The exceptions occur in special tournaments, games and competitions (all of which I will cover in the future). In these special occasions, a game will go into extra time if it is tied at the end of the first 90 minutes. There are two halves of extra time, each one being 15-minute (with the same injury time rule). Even if a team scores in the first half, they will play out the rest of the extra time. If it is still tied after extra time, then the game moves to a penalty shootout to determine the winner. I will explain penalties later on. 

That concludes Rules and Regulations: Part 1! Thanks for reading and I hope you'll stick around for part 2 coming soon!

Introduction (FR)

Bienvenue à « Four Score Soccer ! » Je m’appelle Vincent Giacalone et maintenant je suis un étudiant à Stony Brook University et je fait mes études en français et en journalisme. Ce semestre, j’ai commencé à écrire des sports pour mon journal d’université mais la crise de COVID-19 l’a ruinée. Donc, j’ai décidé de lancer ce blog un peu plus tôt que prévu. 

J’adorais les sports pendant toute ma vie et je voudrais poursuivre une carrière en journalisme des sports. Malgré grandissant avec le baseball, le foot est devenu vitement mon sport favori depuis que j’ai commencé à le suivre en 2015. Mes équipes favorites sont Arsenal en Premier League, Atletico Madrid en La Liga, Paris Saint-Germain en Ligue 1, Borussia Dortmund en Bundesliga, Lazio en Série A et New York City FC en MLS. 

Si la dernière phrase est confuse pour vous, ne vous inquiétez pas. L’un des buts de ce blog est de vous introduire à le beau monde du foot. Le centre de l’attention sera le foot américain mais on ne peut pas parler du foot sans mentionnant les meilleures ligues en Europe. J’essaierai de les inclure dans mes articles pour que même les fans européens puissent être accueillis aussi. 

Il y a aura trois niveaux des articles: un, deux et trois. Les articles de niveau un seront pour les débutants qui ne savent pas beaucoup sur le sport. Les articles de niveau deux seront pour les fans détendus qui ont déjà une compréhension de base. Enfin, les articles de niveau trois seront pour les fans inconditionnels qui savent déjà beaucoup. J’espère d’écrire une quantité égale de chaque niveau pour que tout le monde puisse avoir quelque chose à lire. 

J’espère que vous aimerez ce blog et considérerez supporter une équipe, soit une équipe européenne soit une équipe américaine. Dans tous les cas, je vous remercie d’être ici, j’espère que vous resterez pour longtemps et j’espère que vous aimerez ce sport autant que moi! Si vous avez des commentaires ou des suggestions, vous pouvez m’envoyer un email à vincent.giacalone@stonybrook.edu. 

Introduction

Welcome to Four Score Soccer! My name is Vincent Giacalone and I’m a recent Stony Brook University alum with a degree in French Language and Literature who minored in journalism. I wrote for the sports section of my university's newspaper, The Statesman, for about a year. Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic gave me less opportunities than normal, but I was still able to write a lot. 

I’ve been a huge sports fan my whole life and my goal is to pursue a career in sports journalism. Even though I mainly grew up on baseball, soccer has quickly become my favorite sport after I started following it in 2015. My favorite teams include Arsenal in the Premier League, Atletico Madrid in La Liga, Paris Saint-Germain in Ligue 1, Borussia Dortmund in Bundesliga, Lazio in Serie A and New York City FC in MLS. 

If that last sentence is confusing for you, don’t worry. One of the goals of this blog is to introduce you to the beautiful world of soccer. While the focus will be on soccer in the United States, you can’t talk about soccer without mentioning one or more of the top five leagues in Europe. Even though it's still not as popular in the United States compared to other leagues (like MLB or the NFL), soccer is a global sport. 

Because I will be covering a myriad of topics, I'm looking into developing a system to split up articles for beginners and articles for experts. I would like to garner as big of an audience as possible which means I will have to introduce some people to the sport while appealing to those who are already familiar with the ins-and-outs.

I hope you will enjoy this blog and consider following a soccer team, whether it be one here in the U.S. or maybe one in Europe. Either way, I thank you for being here, I hope you’ll stay a while and I hope you’ll come to love this sport just as much as I do! If you have any comments or questions, you can always email me at vincent.j.giacalone@gmail.com or just head to the "contact" section of this website.