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The 10 Best Real Estate Blogs of 2018 | inboundREM Looking for the best real estate blogs of 2018? Here's the list of the blogs I read. I think you should read them too.

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Here's what spoiled RSL's fresh defensive pairing | Playoffs Central

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November 11, 201811:30PM EST

MLSsoccer.com’s Bobby Warshaw breaks down the breakdowns in the Real Salt Lake defense that led to a 5-3 aggregate defeat in their Audi 2018 MLS Cup Playoffs Western Conference Semifinal.

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Here's what spoiled RSL's fresh defensive pairing | Playoffs Central was originally published on 365 Football

[365footballorg-blog]

DC United finally climb into the East playoff zone: Here's how they did it

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October 14, 20186:49AM EDT

Before the christening of their new home, Audi Field, and prior to the arrival of Wayne Rooney, D.C. United were languishing at the bottom of the Eastern Conference.

How things have changed.

The four-time MLS Cup champions, who have compiled a 10W-4L-3D record since moving into their new digs, are now officially in the playoff zone after their Week 33 win over FC Dallas.

With three matches remaining in their regular season schedule, D.C. have their postseason destiny in their own hands with an outside chance of moving as high as fourth place if other results go their way.

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DC United finally climb into the East playoff zone: Here's how they did it was originally published on 365 Football

[365footballorg-blog]

Wiebe: Ignacio Piatti should be in every MVP conversation. Here's why.

USA Today Sports

October 10, 20185:41PM EDT

Six MLS players have at least 10 goals and 10 assists this season. Can you name them?

…

…

…

Don’t cheat. Stop scrolling, close that tab you just opened to check out the stats page and use your own brain power. Focus.

…

…

…

Here they are, in order of total goals created:

How many did you get? Was the first name out of your lips Nacho Piatti? And if not, why not?

I ask because all those players below Piatti get more headlines, more love, more award attention than Piatti. I ask because Taylor Twellman tweeted this after the Argentine helped his Montreal Impact to a very important, bounce-back win against Crew SC at Stade Saputo last Saturday.

Just another season from Piatti completely under the radar because he’s playing in Montreal. Too many of us here in 🇺🇸 haven’t given him his due. 👊🏼👍🏼💰 #MLS https://t.co/2v3nSfFtUS

— Taylor Twellman (@TaylorTwellman) October 6, 2018

You’re late to the party, TT. I’ve been complaining about Piatti’s relatively low profile for years. Here’s what I wrote back in April, when I made Piatti the de facto captain of my All-Underrated Best XI.

This pick is more of a “Bradley Wright-Phillips Lack-of-Appreciation Team” selection than underrated or overlooked. Piatti is the name every single defender who visits the MLSsoccer.com studios mentions as the toughest 1-v-1 matchup in the league. He’s got back-to-back years of 17 goals and 6 assists. That’s best-in-show stuff, but I never hear his name mentioned among the league’s best players. He’s earned that recognition, and if Montreal make a run this year, it’ll largely be because their talisman willed them there.

Yep, this is me patting myself on the back for a no-duh take that anybody who even watches this league a smidgeon ought to have been trumpeting since, at the very latest, 2016. The Impact are making a run this year, and [checks notes] it’s largely because their talisman has willed them there.

Because this is a teaching moment, we’re going to play another game. I want you to guess the four players who have contributed to more than 73 goals (Piatti: 48 goals, 25 assists) since 2016. I’ll help you out with their respective stat lines:

Player 1: 45 goals, 35 assists = 80

Player 2: 61 goals, 14 assists = 75

Player 3: 57 goals, 18 assists = 75

Player 4: 45 goals, 29 assists = 74

Here’s a couple more hints, in case your brain is working a bit slow or you aren’t the MLS nerd I am. The list above includes the last three Landon Donovan MVP award winners and two of the last three MLS Golden Boot winners. Players on the list lifted two of the last three MLS Cups. They’re the league’s best attacking players.

They are, in order: Sebastian Giovinco, Bradley Wright-Phillips, David Villa and Diego Valeri. They are all-time MLS greats, pantheon players for this league and their respective clubs.

Just like Piatti, which is ultimately what you should be taking away from this entire exercise.

When you talk about the best players in MLS, you should talk about Piatti. When you talk about players whose profile and performance define their clubs, you should talk about Piatti. When you talk about 2018 MVP contenders, you should talk about Piatti.

And yet, too few give the man the respect he deserves. Same goes for the Impact in general, to be honest. Is it just a Montreal thing? I asked goalkeeper Evan Bush, who is now in his seventh season in Quebec.

“First of all, we’re in Canada. To even add to that, we’re in French-speaking Canada,” Bush told me. “I think we’ll always probably have the disrespect or lack of interest coming from all over the place, and that’s fine.”

It’s fine for the Impact. They’ve got to earn respect by making the playoffs.

It’s not fine for Piatti. If Montreal don’t make it, it won’t be his fault. He’s one of the best players in MLS history. As Twellman said, it’s time to give him his due.

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Wiebe: Ignacio Piatti should be in every MVP conversation. Here's why. was originally published on 365 Football

[365footballorg-blog]

RSL's Nick Rimando combined pool, soccer ball, dog: Here's what happened

September 13, 201812:48PM EDT

Topics: 

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RSL's Nick Rimando combined pool, soccer ball, dog: Here's what happened was originally published on 365 Football

[365footballorg-blog]

Wiebe: DC United over Montreal Impact in the playoffs? Yes, here's why

USA Today Sports

September 12, 201811:50PM EDT

D.C. United are making the 2018 MLS Cup Playoffs. I say that in the most conservative and mindful manner, all due respect to the Montreal Impact.

I said it last Friday, too, before the Black-and-Red got a draw that should have been a win at Yankee Stadium and came back to knock off Minnesota United on Wednesday night at Audi Field, and so did five of my colleagues at MLSsoccer.com. We were unanimous, in fact, which I concede means very little given the randomness of MLS.

Those predictions didn’t escape the attention of Montreal soccer media folks, who certainly know how to stir the pot and get a spicy quote (respect!!!). They asked Quincy Amarikwa, who doesn’t lack for confidence or charisma in front of a television camera, what he thought about it. RIP my mentions.

Aucun des 8 experts de https://t.co/M8VRK8iES4 ne voit l’@impactmontreal en éliminatoires: @BenBaer89, @samstejskal, @philwest, @andrew_wiebe, @bwarshaw14, @tombogert, @cboehm et @soccermusings estiment tous que DC United terminera en 6e place. Réponse de @QuincyAmarikwa : pic.twitter.com/SiymbMjWqg

— TVA Sports (@TVASports) September 12, 2018

Fair enough, Quincy. I’m intrigued by the idea of a prediction counter – for sports, for politics, for all the mundane prognosticating that goes down during the course of day-to-day life. People need to be held accountable, and I’m willing to get things started by putting my prediction in print. When the final whistles blow on Decision Day (Oct. 28), my account will come due, just like the Impact’s.

But here’s why I feel confident I’ll be right…

Home Games Matter

Head on over to the standings and check out the home and away splits. Two teams have winning records away from home: New York Red Bulls and Atlanta United. One of those teams will, barring some mind-blowing occurrence, win the Supporters’ Shield.

Winning away from home is hard. Only three teams have taken 20 or more points on the road (ATL, NY, LAFC). In contrast, all but five (ORL, COL, TOR, CHI, SJ) have taken 20-plus at home. Only one team has more than five games remaining at home. You ought to be able to guess which team has that advantage baked into their remaining schedule.

It’s D.C. United, of course. Ben Olsen and the boys are posted up in the District for the foreseeable future, playing six straight at Audi Field – RBNY, MTL, CHI, DAL, TOR, NYC – before finishing the season at the Fire. Now, that’s not an easy stretch by any means, but 10-12 points seems about right given form and circumstance, and the whole concept of this column is that Montreal (or New England) won’t be able to keep up.

For reference, here’s what the Impact have left: at PHI, NYC, at DC, CLB, TOR, at NE.

Circle Sept. 29 on your calendar. It might just be the biggest game in the Eastern Conference the rest of the season. If Montreal go to D.C., who will be on 13 days rest, and win, there’s a good chance I’ll be eating a heaping helping of crow at the end of October. If they don’t, I’ll probably retweet this column and gloat a little.

LuchoRoo

You know, like ObaDeuce, but a more cringe-worthy moniker I made up strictly for Twitter groans.

There’s just something about Luciano Acosta and Wayne Rooney. It clicked from the very start, and you don’t have to be a tactical virtuoso to see the chemistry between the two when they combine around the 18-yard box and on the counterattack.

Everyone knows the give-and-go is coming. Acosta, previously an underachiever among MLS No. 10s, plays the ball into Rooney’s feet, and the Englishman either flicks it over the top or slips him in behind. The end result is generally a 1v1 shooting chance with the ‘keeper. Acosta had a couple against the Loons but couldn’t finish. He picked up two assists of his own instead.

Point is, D.C. United have two potential gamebreakers, and those gamebreakers look like they were born to play with one another. As we’ve already seen, that can sometimes win you games that you shouldn’t win. When you win games you shouldn’t win, you often make the playoffs.

And when the players who aren’t your gamebreakers kick in goals and assists in key moments – see Ulises Segura, Darren Mattocks and Joseph Mora against Minnesota – those playoff odds get even better.

Russell Canouse is a beast

I might not even be writing this column if Canouse hadn’t hurt his knee in preseason. Everybody wants to talk about LuchoRoo (I’m gonna make it a thing), but the American midfielder’s return was probably just as important.

You might not have noticed given the Audi Field opening and Rooney debut hoopla, but Canouse made his 2018 debut on July 14 against the Whitecaps. He played one minute. He came off the bench twice more, in losses to Atlanta and the Red Bulls, before entering the starting XI full-time. Since then, D.C. United are 6-2-2.

It is not a coincidence. He’s tidy on the ball. He’s got range and bite. He provides balance and links the lines. It was no different on Wednesday night.

Russell Canouse was Man of the Match in #DCvMIN:

106 touches 84/86 (97.7%) passes 2/3 long balls 11/15 duels won 2 aerials won 2 fouls won 11 recoveries 8 tackles 2 interceptions

Excellent passing, industrious work in midfield. His return has been crucial to #DCU’s resurgence. pic.twitter.com/6FNRNJh8Aj

— #ThankYouDeuce (@JogaBonito_USA) September 13, 2018

There’s a reason the Armchair Analyst is stanning for Canouse to get a USMNT call-up. He’s that good.

In conclusion…

D.C. United are making the playoffs. Or so says me. Your rebuttals go below.

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Wiebe: DC United over Montreal Impact in the playoffs? Yes, here's why was originally published on 365 Football

[365footballorg-blog]

It's a new season of MLS Fantasy! Here's 4 key lessons for the Fall season

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August 3, 201810:40AM EDT

The Spring MLS Fantasy season has come to an end and all of the changes for Fall are now in place. In addition to an exciting MLS All-Star Game presented by Target, this week has given fantasy managers time to review the updated player prices, evaluate newly transferred players, and catch up on Disciplinary Committee reports.

It’s also been a good time to reflect on what we have learned from the Spring season so we can all work to improve our rankings in the Fall.

Sign-up now!

Below are four important lessons that I think every returning and new Fantasy manager should keep in mind as they craft their Fall team.

Don’t neglect early budget building

The Seattle Sounders celebrate a win | USA Today Sports Images

Your team budget is the lifeblood of your squad and the 2018 MLS Fantasy season changed how managers gained and lost value. Players no longer saw gains and losses based on the average score for their position, but instead an individual three- and five-game point average system was introduced. This new system saw team budgets quickly inflate as players’ value rose and/or fell quickly.

These growing budgets make it tempting to quickly fill your roster with marquee players, but don’t get greedy too soon, as these big-budget options don’t always return the largest value gains. Keeping a few players around who are guaranteed to have a value increase will help you build your budget faster and increase your average points per game.

Is there a magic number? Not really, but I’d say once you get into the mid-$ 120 to lower-$ 130 million range, you can relegate your value building players to your bench.

Don’t ignore your bench

D.C. United’s Ben Olsen and his bench | USA Today Sports Images

Speaking of your bench, it’s no longer just a place to stash a few cheap players so you can move more money onto your field. When you pair the new rolling lockout system with our existing weekly unlimited transfers, you transform your bench from subs fodder into something game-changing.

The key is to use these players is what’s been dubbed the switcheroo. This tactic existed last season but required much more careful planning. At its most basic, the switcheroo allows bench players to switch places with field players who do not play (thus the name). However, the addition of rolling transfers now gives fantasy managers the opportunity to respond to the lineups from later games and preview player scores. However, this only works if you take the time to invest in a quality bench pool.

Offensive players are the traditional target of the switcheroo, but goalkeepers and defenders have become quite popular during the 2018 fantasy season, because having a guaranteed cheap defensive player with a clean sheet is a great way to free up money for your offense.

The MLS App makes Fantasy easier

One of the biggest fears many fantasy managers had at the start of the season was that success would require a level of micromanagement that would make the game unenjoyable. The launch of the new MLS App has, in my opinion, put this fear to rest.

A new season of @MLSFantasy kicks off this weekend! Here’s what you need to know about the fall season: https://t.co/VlvuYKbuKC pic.twitter.com/RSNeqiHslQ

— Major League Soccer (@MLS) August 2, 2018

No longer do we need to rely on a mobile version of the MLSsoccer.com site or sift through social-media updates trying to find rosters. The new MLS App has it all. Native fantasy integration, game reminders and most important of all… easy access to lineups. I’ve found this tool to be invaluable when I’m checking to see if one of my differential players will play when a starter is injured, or when I’m surprised by a late disciplinary scratch and need to quickly change my lineup but am away from my computer.

Have fun!

The LA Galaxy’s Zlatan Ibrahimovic | USA Today Sports Images

At the end of the day, the MLS Fantasy game is all about having fun and getting more people involved in the larger MLS community. So whether you are in a competitive head-to-head league, a casual open league, or if you’re just a new fan just trying to learn about MLS, have fun!

The Fall MLS fantasy season starts at 4 pm ET on Saturday.

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It's a new season of MLS Fantasy! Here's 4 key lessons for the Fall season was originally published on 365 Football

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Armchair Analyst: With US out, here's how I'll watch the 2018 World Cup

June 13, 20189:00AM EDT

It is finally here, the long summer of our discontent made glorious autumn – soon enough, anyway – by the fall of teams I will be rooting against with all my heart.

That is one of my two planks for this 2018 World Cup. Please understand that the US failure to qualify has devastated me, but also freed me. It means that I can go into this tournament unshackled from the soul-crushing worry over “my” team; the impotent fury at coaching malpractice; the utter despair at in-the-moment, on-field mistakes; the numb resignation when it all inevitably comes crashing down and breathes its last.

I don’t think I’ll miss that. I think I’ll enjoy watching a World Cup without a mental countdown clock tracking the hours, minutes and seconds between now and “When do we play next and oh, God what if we lose?”

Now I get to think about what other teams do when they lose. I like that more.

And that leads me to plank No. 2: misery leads to innovation. Fear of failure leads to innovation. Desperation leads to innovation. I’m trying to get through this paragraph without typing “necessity is the mother of invention” but I’m just not gonna be able to do it, so there we are.

Amongst the things I love most about our game are the tactical tweaks – some big, some little – teams and coaches make from game-to-game, and sometimes in the run of play itself. The way we think about soccer is always evolving, so it makes sense that the way the game’s played is always evolving, and that keeps the sport fresh and new pretty much no matter who’s playing.

Of course, the best tactical tweaks and inventions are ones born of a solid, fundamental and consistent structure in the first place. If you have that underlying, thoroughly understood identity then you’re positioned to make meaningful (if incremental) progress, and that’s the type of thing that wins.

If you don’t…

JCO’s Wild Ride

Juan Carlos Osorio guided a good New York Red Bulls team to an appearance in the 2008 MLS Cup final, doing so with a relatively young and promising squad. As most coaches would do he … actually no, as very few coaches would do, he didn’t build on that. Osorio blew it all up in 2009 and went back to his tinkering ways. The same RBNY team that had made MLS Cup in 2008 went 2-16-4 in 2009, he was fired, and they went 3-3-2 down the stretch with an interim coach. They have not missed the playoffs since his departure.

Osorio’s predecessor and successor had better records with RBNY than he did. His predecessor and successor had better records at Puebla than he did, at Atletico Nacional than he did, and at Sao Paolo than he did, and it’s because he can not stop tinkering. His motto appears to be “If it ain’t broke, take it apart and find out why not.” 

Osorio is currently doing the same thing to Mexico. Ask 100 El Tri fans what the team’s best lineup is and you will get 100 different answers, and chances are that actual lineup will have gotten some playing time together.

“Great!” you think, “That’s a manager who’s willing to try new things!”

“Yes,” I reply, “but the one truly new thing he needs to try is building cohesion and team chemistry, which he’s not done.”

Osorio no termina por entender que estos ya no son días para experimentar en la cancha… no contra #Dinamarca, mucho menos, a una semana de enfrentar a #Alemania #ElTri

— Pedro Dorantes  (@PedroDorantes98) June 9, 2018

For non-Spanish speakers out there, the translation of that tweet is “Oh, my god, we’re going to get killed by Germany if this man does not pick a lineup that works together and then stick with it.”

And Mexico fans know what’s up because they got slaughtered 4-1 by Germany in last year’s Confederations Cup. And they got worked by Chile, 7-0, in the previous summer’s Copa America. Osorio’s overall record with El Tri is 31-9-8, but in three tournaments there’ve been three colossally disappointing showings. Here’s what I wrote about his tenure heading into last summer’s Concacaf Gold Cup (which indeed goes down as one of those colossally disappointing showings):

Mexico are probably a top 8-ish team in the entire world in terms of their raw talent, which is why they win most of their games. But they have continually struggled against top-tier competition (7-0 vs. Chile, 4-1 vs. Germany, a draw and a loss vs. a Portuguese team that is a cut below those two) because they are constantly, bafflingly, rotating players and lineups and formations and roles and responsibilities.

And so you get a team that gets bounced from the Copa America because they have no idea how to handle a simple cross-field switch, or how to stop a breakaway. And then you have the same team bounced from the Confederations Cup 12 months later for the exact same reasons. Juan Carlos Osorio just does not believe in the power of reps.

…I do wonder if Mexico will stop being a pieced-together Frankenstein’s Monster and start looking like a contiguous whole that’s greater than the sum of its parts.

One way or another this is the end for JCO with Mexico. Over the next couple of weeks, we’ll get to see whether his experiments were meant to culminate in something, or if they were just an endless, pointless excuse for more experiments.

Choose Your Underdog

Or, actually, don’t. I understand why people were charmed by the likes of Iceland in the 2016 Euros and how great it is for the country of Panama to be making their debuts. I hope all the players play well and get paid, because careers are short and World Cup glory is long. I wish none of them any ill.

But I’m not going to root for them. They play ugly, destructive soccer – against, not with the ball – and honestly, no thanks.

Know what I’m charmed by? Passing. Those little moments of magic where two or three or four or all 11 players are working in sync to disorient and destroy the opposition, to create angles and channels and goals.

If you’re gonna root for someone, don’t choose David. Choose Goliath.

Ride or Die

To that end, I will be supporting (such as it was) Lionel Messi and Argentina. Messi is the greatest soccer player who’s ever lived – he is impossible – and I would appreciate the cosmic justice of him finally being on the right side of the scoreline in a final for his country.

He doesn’t and shouldn’t need that to cement his status as the GOAT. Just look at this:

[embedded content]

I’ll also admit that I still love the 4-4-2 diamond and am pleased that Argentina are playing a version of it (though Jorge Sampaoli insists it’s a 2-3-3-2). Yes, I’m rooting for a formation.

The Next 5-4-1

Let’s stay on the topic of formations. Costa Rica are a particularly miserable team to play against because 1) they’re talented; 2) usually well-coached; and 3) utterly aware of their strengths and weaknesses. And their strength boils down to thinking along these lines: “When we play compact, we are almost impossible to break down, and that means our opponent will get frustrated, and that means we can hit them on the counter.”

That’s how the Ticos got to the quarterfinals of the 2014 World Cup.

But the surprise factor of the 5-4-1 was part of it as well. It’s a formation few had seen much of, globally, to that point, but one that’s come into vogue and has been a favorite of underdogs worldwide ever since. Each weekend you can see a handful of MLS teams attempting it (the Colorado Rapids tried and failed in Houston on Saturday), and while a formation is not tactics, formations and tactics work hand-in-hand.

Four years ago, Costa Rica’s formation worked to flummox Uruguay, Italy and England. Now it’s gone global.

Will something similar happen this tournament? I kind of hope so, though I’d rather see an aggressive, attacking formation steal the spotlight. (How about a 3-3-4 with a No. 9 who drops in off the frontline to turn and play runners through?)

Time To Shop

The Secondary Transfer Window opens July 10, and runs through August 8, providing a time of renewed hope and great expectations. MLS teams have more money than they’ve ever had before. You do the math.

Here’s a few players I hope coaches here are watching:

Gaston Silva, LB/LCB, Uruguay/Independiente (24 years old)

Ismael Diaz, FW/W, Panama/Deportivo B (20 years old)

William Troost-Ekong, CB, Nigeria/Bursaspor (24 years old)

Miguel Borja, FW, Colombia/Palmeiras (25 years old)

Let me know who you’re keeping an eye on, too.

Series: 

Topics: 

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Armchair Analyst: With US out, here's how I'll watch the 2018 World Cup was originally published on 365 Football