We’re back with another edition of the Weekend Recap. Every Monday, we make it easier for you to keep up with the most interesting and important things in American soccer.
Today, we’re taking you through some of the past weekend’s key storylines, including the USWNT’s win over Colombia, Gareth Bale’s move to MLS, and changes in Tulsa.
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USWNT
Cascone: Three things we learned from the USWNT’s recent win over Colombia
The United States women’s national team battled Colombia on Saturday in Commerce City, Colorado during the first of two tune-up matches before the Concacaf W Championship.
It wasn’t a perfect game for the U.S., even with a 3-0 scoreline. They couldn’t completely break through the organized Colombian defense for the first 45 minutes. Despite occupying the attacking third for the majority of the half, the United States failed to capitalize and the teams entered the break tied at 0-0. A handful of second-half substitutions – and continuing to apply attacking pressure – ultimately changed the game and the scoreline for the USWNT.
What did we learn from this friendly ahead of qualifying? Let’s talk about that… [Subscribe]
MLS
Lowery: Introducing the MLS Surprise-O-Meter
We’re in that part of the MLS season where things start happening. Things you didn’t expect. Things that make you stop your Twitter scroll right in its tracks. I had a few of those moments this weekend and in response to those moments, I’m debuting the MLS Surprise-O-Meter.
It’s fairly self-explanatory, but just to lay it all out there quickly: the Surprise-O-Meter is a very fancy and very technologically sophisticated tool that we have here at Backheeled that displays how surprised something should make us. Its readings cannot be questioned.
Here’s how surprised the Surprise-O-Meter was by some of this weekend’s MLS events… [Subscribe]
USL
Morrissey: Trading a star, changing coaches, and hiring a new president…FC Tulsa have been busy
Late last week, FC Tulsa decided to part ways with head coach Michael Nsien, who had been their manager since 2018. Tulsa-born, Nsien led FC Tulsa to the playoffs on two separate occasions and began 2022 with three wins in five games. At that point, Tulsa’s playoff odds sat at 83%. Their new signings were hitting too, particularly in the back with central defender Ronald Rodriguez, defensive midfielder Petar Cuic, and fullback Gabby Torres.
Things were going well for Tulsa. However, between that hot start and the decision to fire Nsien on June 19th, Tulsa won just one match, dropping down to a 23% chance of postseason qualification. They truly struggled to cover for some of their most important players while they were away on international duty: Joaquin Rivas and Ronald Rodriguez had big games with El Salvador and Jorge Corrales went off with Cuba… [Subscribe]
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