Best line from the World Cup

There was a guy watching the recent World Cup final between Germany and Argentina who apparently took some grief from his wife about sitting in front of the TV on a nice afternoon.  Recalling that Pope Francis is both a soccer fan and a native of Argentina, and assuming (correctly from what has been reported) that the Pontiff would be watching the game at the Vatican, he said, "How can I be wrong doing what the Pope is doing?"

Tough to argue with that logic.

Union makes an Impact on Montreal

Union mascot outside PPL Park

Went Saturday night with Debbie, Sarah, Adam and Zachary to see the Union beat the Montreal Impact, 2-1 to move into the fifth and final play-off spot.  Allison  was there with some friends, one of whose fathers had a post-game field level pass allowing them to stand down by the tunnel leading to the lockerrooms.

The game itself was interesting, and a win is a win, but it was sure sloppy at times.  Even interim manager Jim Curtin  called it, "not a great performance."

The Union scored first in the 12th minute when Sebastien LeToux controlled a long punt from his keeper,Zac MacMath, and got through two defenders before beating goalie Troy Perkins.  It looked like there was some miscommunication between Perkins and one of his backs.

In the 63rd minute LeToux took a pass from Andrew Wenger, who had just come on, and found the corner for a two goal advantage.

The Impact made it interesting with 11 minutes left when Maxim Tissot scored.

Overall both teams showed lackluster play and made mistakes.  The tempo was sluggish, but maybe we still haven't gotten over the quality of a month's worth of world Cup games.

This was our second trip to PPL Park - a beautiful  facility by the Delaware River, but not easy to get to after leaving the Barry Bridge.  Some better signs in and out of the place would sure help.  Like most other sporting venues, parking and food are overpriced for the captive audience.

The Union play FC Dallas tomorrow in an Open Cup semi-final followed by a league match at Houston Friday.

Germany's Lahm: Going Out On Top

German captain Phillip Lahm has called it quits at age 30, at least on the international scene, after helping win the 2014 FIFA World Cup. He will continue to play for FC Bayern München where he is under contract until 2018.



Lahm, who earned 113 caps during his career, was my favorite on Die Mannschaft.  For one thing, he's short, only about an inch taller than I am.  For another, his playing style is similar to that of my son Scott: fast, quick play, winning the ball and starting the attack out of the back.  "He may have been one of the smallest players physically, but on the pitch Lahm was always one of the biggest forces," wrote commentator Andreas Sten-Ziemons.

The World Cup victory in Brazil made Lahm the fourth German captain after Fritz Walter (1954), Franz Beckenbauer (1974) and Lothar Matthäus (1990) to hoist the World Cup, and the first to have lifted it for a unified Germany.

The German broadcaster, Deutsche Welle (literally, "German Waves) ran this story of the retirement, which it said caught the country by surprise. (The link is to the English version.)  And the Sten-Ziemons piece, also on Deutsche Welle, is here.

The German Soccer Federation (Deutscher Fussball Bund or DFB) expressed its appreciation for Lahm on its website under the heading, "Wir Sagen: Danke Philipp."  (We say, thank you, Philipp.")