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MONTREAL It was a wild first half of the Major League Soccer season marked by last-minute goals at both ends of the field, but the bottom line forthe Montreal Impactis that they won only five of their 17 games.

So while the Impact (5-6-6) have rebounded from slow starts in the past, they have their work cut out for them to put wins together and pushto make the playoffsfor a third straight season.

That begins July 19, when play resumes after a two-week break in the MLS schedule.

"We can't dwell on that," defender Daniel Lovitz said after the Impact ended the first half of the 34-game regular season with a feeble 3-1 loss in Houston. "We need to use the timeto forget about it but also to look at ourselves and see what we could have done better.

"It's not rocket science what we need to do. We'll look at ourselves as a group and come back and turn it all around."

It should help that they will play seven of their next nine games at home, starting July 19 against Philadelphia. Theyplayed 10 of 17 games on the road so far.

Montreal is 4-2-1 at home and 1-4-5 away.

And management will be looking for reinforcementswhen the transfer window opens Saturday. The top prioritybecame left back depth whenAmbroise Oyongo's season ended with a knee injury sufferedon international duty for Cameroon last month. Lovitz took his place, but thenmissed time withaminor injury that forced right-footed Chris Duvall to play the left side.

The Impact entered the season with optimism after reaching the Eastern Conference final last fall, where they lost in extra time to rival Toronto FC after upsetting D.C. United in a knockout game and then toppling the New York Red Bulls in their semifinal.

Didier Drogba was gone, but the aging Ivorian star had become a bench player while newcomer Matteo Mancosu excelled up front late in the seasonand in the playoffs.

But things haven't gone as planned. The Impact have let points slip away repeatedly thus far, often through weak defensive coverage and mental lapses.

In their second game of the season at Olympic Stadium, they wasted a 2-0 lead as Seattle scored twice in the second half. On April 29 at Saputo Stadium, they lost 2-1 to Vancouver on a late Cristian Techera goal and on May 13, Justin Meram completed a hat-trick in added time to give Columbus a 3-2 win on Montreal turf.

Theyled 3-2 in Orlando on June 17 only to concede the equalizer in stoppage time. A 1-0 win on May 6 against last-place D.C. was their only away victory.

But they've had thrilling moments of their own, including Anthony Jackson-Hamel's added time goal for a 2-1 home win over Atlanta,a three-goal comeback for adraw in Chicagoand a late Mancosu goal to earn a 1-1tie in Kansas City.

Like most teams, they've also had to deal with injuries. Star winger Ignacio Piatti missed four games but still leads the club with eight goals. Defender Victor Cabrera has played only seven games, while midfielder Andres Romero, who they hoped to have back healthy after missing all of last season, has played only one league match.

Off-season signing Adrian Arregui proved ineffective and was released.

On the plus side was the in-season arrival of Swiss midfielder Blerim Dzemaili, a heady playmaker who has three goals and four assists in seven games and has become the leader of the attack. Jackson-Hamel emerged as a valid option at striker with five goals in only 10 games, with a team-leading 1.23 goals per 90 minutes played. Another academy product, 18-year-old Ballou Tabla, has shown dazzling skill.

Also, 2016 draft pick Kyle Fisher has earned regular minutes with his physical play alongside Laurent Ciman in the central defence.

With stronger team play and better focus, especially on set pieces and late in matches, the ninth-place Impact can still save their season. They are seven points behind Columbus for the sixth and final playoff spot with three games in hand.

In 2015, they were 5-7-3 at the mid-point, but rallied to make the playoffs andreach the conference semifinals.

Dzemaili will be given two weeks off to rest because he had no off-season between playing for Italian club Bologna FC and joining the Impact in May, but there will be no rest for Jackson-Hamel, captain Patrice Bernier and back-up goalie Max Crepeau, who are with the Canadian national teamat the Gold Cup tournament.

The Impact also have a friendly match July 12inOttawa against their USL affiliate, the Fury.

Bill Beacon, The Canadian Press

View post:
Impact look to fix defensive lapses in second half of MLS season - GuelphToday

William Griffith, Jr. said he was just minding his own business walking home last Saturday afternoon following his job cleaning elderly peoples apartments when he got a very unwelcome greeting from a fellow pedestrian on a Cincinnati sidewalk.

Surveillance video shows a man approaching Griffith from behind and sucker punching him in the head.

The blow crumpled the victim to the pavement and knocked him out, WCPO-TV reported, citing Hamilton County court documents.

I was stunned, Griffith told WXIX-TV. I couldnt believe it. I mean, the dude came right up from behind me

He told the station he doesnt know his attacker who is seen on video walking away right after the sucker punch or why he did it.

This generation, I dont know, Griffith told WXIX. Im old school. Im 54 years old I dont know their motives I mean, just to have fun?

After the surveillance video hit social media, it was identified as the infamous knockout game, WCPO said a scary pastime in which pedestrians are randomly punched and cellphone videos of the assaults are often posted online.

Griffith suffered facial cuts, a black eye and a broken jaw and said if the attack on him was a kind of game, he doesnt find it amusing.

I mean if you wanna get a thrill, do something positive, he told WXIX.

If theres any silver lining in this situation, 29-year-old Keith Capell was arrested Wednesday and was charged with felonious assault in connection to the incident, WCPO reported, citing a complaint filed in the case.

Capell was in court Thursday morning and given a $260,000 bond, WCPO noted, adding that the presiding judge said he was frustrated by the limitations given him in setting Capells bond.

Capells attorney said the victim threatened [Capell] with a knife, WCPO reported, but the prosecutor said that wasnt true.

Capell also had less than 1 ounce of heroin in small baggies when he was arrested and was charged with possession of drugs, WCPO added, citing the complaint.

(H/T: Truth Revolt)

Original post:
Sucker punch from behind on city sidewalk knocks out man, 54: 'This ... - TheBlaze.com

William Griffith, Jr. said he was just minding his own business walking home last Saturday afternoon following his job cleaning elderly peoples apartments when he got a very unwelcome greeting from a fellow pedestrian on a Cincinnati sidewalk.

Surveillance video shows a man approaching Griffith from behind and sucker punching him in the head.

The blow crumpled the victim to the pavement and knocked him out, WCPO-TV reported, citing Hamilton County court documents.

I was stunned, Griffith told WXIX-TV. I couldnt believe it. I mean, the dude came right up from behind me

He told the station he doesnt know his attacker who is seen on video walking away right after the sucker punch or why he did it.

This generation, I dont know, Griffith told WXIX. Im old school. Im 54 years old I dont know their motives I mean, just to have fun?

After the surveillance video hit social media, it was identified as the infamous knockout game, WCPO said a scary pastime in which pedestrians are randomly punched and cellphone videos of the assaults are often posted online.

Griffith suffered facial cuts, a black eye and a broken jaw and said if the attack on him was a kind of game, he doesnt find it amusing.

I mean if you wanna get a thrill, do something positive, he told WXIX.

If theres any silver lining in this situation, 29-year-old Keith Capell was arrested Wednesday and was charged with felonious assault in connection to the incident, WCPO reported, citing a complaint filed in the case.

Capell was in court Thursday morning and given a $260,000 bond, WCPO noted, adding that the presiding judge said he was frustrated by the limitations given him in setting Capells bond.

Capells attorney said the victim threatened [Capell] with a knife, WCPO reported, but the prosecutor said that wasnt true.

Capell also had less than 1 ounce of heroin in small baggies when he was arrested and was charged with possession of drugs, WCPO added, citing the complaint.

(H/T: Truth Revolt)

Read more:
Sucker punch from behind on city sidewalk knocks out man, 54: 'This generation, I don't know.' - TheBlaze.com

Its not quite the Summer of Soccer of 2016 that featured a massive Copa America and Euro 2016, but 2017 is no slouch in producing international soccer tournaments. The Confederations Cup ended not long ago, with Germanys B-team preventing Chile from winning a third straight major tourney, and the newest addition of the CONCACAF Gold Cup is coming up this July. The latter tournament is what were here to talk about.

For the uninitiated, the biennial Gold Cup includes the national teams of North America, Central America, and the Caribbean. 12 teams participate: the three North American nations (U.S., Canada, Mexico), four qualifying Central American teams from the 2017 Copa Centroamerica, four qualifying Caribbean sides from the 2017 Caribbean Cup, and another Central American team or Caribbean nation, determined through a playoff.

The United States is the host, and has hosted the large majority of Gold Cup matches since the founding of the current iteration in 1991. Canada got some games in 2015, and Mexico co-hosted in 2003 and 1993, but otherwise its always the U.S., and that is no different this year. 14 American cities will host games, the majority of which also house NFL teams.

Starting with the basics, well take you through everything you need to know about the 2017 Gold Cup:

With 12 participating teams, there are three groups of four squads each.

Group A:

Honduras, Costa Rica, Canada, French Guiana

Group B:

United States, Panama, Martinique, Nicaragua

Group C:

Mexico, Jamaica, El Salvador, Curacao

The top two teams from each group automatically are through to the quarterfinals, while the top two third-place sides also advance.

Notably absent squads include Trinidad and Tobago (who toppedMexico in the group stage two years ago), Guatemala (who werent allowed to participate due to FIFA sanctions), and Haiti, who were serious competitors in the 2015 competition. Trinidad and Haiti failed to qualify out of the Caribbean zone, with Haiti falling to Nicaragua in a final qualifying playoff.

Curacao and French Guiana will make their Gold Cup debuts.

As for the referees, MLS fans will recognize the names of Jair Marrufo, Mark Geiger, Armando Villareal, and Drew Fischer. MLS assistant refs include Corey Rockwell, Charles Morgante, and Frank Anderson.

Fox Sports has the rights to this tournament, and will have English-language broadcasts of every match in the US. Fox, Fox Sports 1, Fox Sports 2, and FXX all have games, and you can watch live on Fox Sports Go with TV provider authentication. Jonathan Tannenwald of Philly.com has the TV schedule here.

Many of you may not get FS2. If you dont, blame Fox and call your TV provider. You probably will get FXX, as noted in the article linked in Tannenwalds article. Even if you dont get either of those channels, you may still be able to watch the games on Univision and Unimas, who have the Spanish-language rights. In Canada, TSN (English) and RDS (French) broadcast the games.

Alberth Elis (Honduras): After a red-hot start to his MLS career for the Houston Dynamo he scored six goals and added three assists in 11 starts after signing in the winter Elis will lead a speedy Honduran team that will look to back up their Copa Centroamerica victory with a deep Gold Cup run.

Elis, alongside another Dynamo winger, Romell Quioto, will play every game with the intention of getting out on the counter and hurting opponents in transition. Another Houston player, Oscar Boniek Garcia, will distribute from central midfield, and Barcelona B forward Anthony Lozano will be the goal-scorer.

Los Catrachos are always a competitor in these tournaments, and if they are able to get out of their group and then beat (likely) one of Panama, El Salvador, or Jamaica in the quarterfinal, theyll need Elis to be in goal-scoring form.

Anthony Jackson-Hamel (Canada): The Canadians got stuck in a tough group. Theyll have to get results against Honduras and Costa Rica to have a chance of avoiding another major Gold Cup disappointment.

Their top player, Orlando City No. 9 Cyle Larin, will not be participating this year, a tough break for a team that is just now seeing a talented young MLS-based core emerge. Players like 21-year old Raheem Edwards, 16-year old Alphonso Davies, and, notably, the 23-year old Jackson-Hamel will enter the fray alongside Jonathan Osorio, Tosaint Ricketts, and others.

Montreals Jackson-Hamel has found a consistent role in MLS this season, playing consistently scoring and multiple goals, often as an attacking super-sub. Hell likely be Larins direct replacement, playing alongside the speedy channel-runner Ricketts up top. His ability to grab some goals be something close to the active No. 9 Larin is will be crucial to Canadas chances of scoring a quarterfinal spot.

Joel Campbell (Costa Rica): It was a disappointment for Costa Rica not to win the Copa Centroamerica, considering they are pretty clearly the best national team in the region, but its all too big of a deal, as they are safely into the Gold Cup and should have no problem scooting into the quarterfinals, even with a relatively tough group.

Real Madrid goalkeeper and international star Keylor Navas is not on their squad this year, but Arsenal sensation Joel Campbell is, and we can expect him to play a big role in Los Ticos quest to win a trophy this summer. He is a dynamic, fast attacker with more of an international pedigree than most other players participating in this tournament.

When you play for Arsenal, youre expected to be pretty good. Campbell should be note should be in contention for the Golden Boot. But other attacking stars are on Costa Ricas squad as well, like Johan Venegas and Rodney Wallace, that could steal his spotlight.

The success of the minnows: The Gold Cup is notorious for the opportunities it provides smaller CONCACAF nations, and with two newcomers and a couple more lesser-known entrants, the 2017 edition will be no different.

Curacao, a Dutch overseas territory in the Caribbean, have spent less than a decade as their own national team, playing as the Netherlands Antilles for years along with Bonaire and Aruba before the dissolution of the territory, allowing Curacao to compete on its own in sporting competitions. They are a talented baseball country producing a few MLB stars, like Andrelton Simmons and Jurickson Profar and are now growing into a potent soccer nation, winning the Caribbean Cup in June.

The other newcomers, French Guiana, feature a number of French-based and former French-international players, including former Chelsea star Florent Malouda. Martinique, another French overseas territory, saw their Francophone counterparts Guadeloupe make a run to the semifinals in 2007, and will be looking to emulate that in their fifth Gold Cup appearance.

Nicaragua are the other clear minnows. Baseball is the most popular sport in the impoverished Central American country, and this is only their second Gold Cup appearance, having dropped out in the group stage in 2009. They are grouped with Martinique in Group B, so its entirely possible that either of them could sneak out of the group stage.

A Mexico team in disarray: El Tri are led by their own (possibly worse) version of Jurgen Klinsmann: consistent tinkerer Juan Carlos Osorio. They managed a semifinal appearance at the Confederations Cup, but that mostly was thanks to the fact that they didnt have too much competition (Cameroon, New Zealand, Australia, Russia), and once they got to the semifinal, Germany flattened them. Make no mistake: this is not a team in an especially good place right now.

Because most of Mexicos big guns were in Russia in June, JCOs Gold Cup roster is a youth-oriented, experimental B team. Of course, the U.S. squad is far from a first team as well.

Their final 23-man roster includes 22 Mexico-based players. Only one, Houston Dynamo breakout goal-scorer Erick Cubo Torres, plays outside of Liga MX, and he was just recently added as an injury replacement for Chivas Guadalajara forward Alan Pulido.

In addition, Osorio isnt even going to be in the Gold Cup. An outburst with the fourth official at the Confederations Cup resulted in a six-match suspensionand will miss the Gold Cup. So this brings up an interesting catch-22. If Mexico loses, this may actually help Osorios case because it would show hes needed. If they now win, hes non-essential and Mexico may realize theyre better off without him.

Central American dark-horses: As is common in Gold Cups, the U.S. and Mexico enter as the clear favorites. Only once has a country other than those two rivals won this tournament, and that was 17 years ago, when Canada beat Colombia in the final.

The team with the best chance to buck the trend is Costa Rica, a team with plenty of world-class talent and enough stars to run a shorthanded Mexico or the US out of the water in a knockout game just look at what they did to the Americans last November in World Cup qualifying, in Klinsmanns final disaster.

But also look at Panama and Honduras, counter-attacking CONCACAF teams with a rough-and-tumble and skillful Central American pedigree. They both feature a number of MLS players, and each should have no trouble advancing out of their groups. From there, who knows what could happen?

Continue reading here:
Experimental Mexico and USMNT squads make the 2017 CONCACAF Gold Cup wide open - The Comeback (blog)

Before Steve Moore became an entrepreneur, he led record-breaking expeditions.

The co-founder of Flight Club a chain of venues where punters play rounds of social darts can trace his start-up journey to 2010, when he embarked on a nine month-long circumnavigation of the globe, executing the epic trip in a mode of transport more suited to a dozen miles than 25,000: a fire engine.

The whole project was ridiculously ambitious, remembers Moore, who lost his firefighter father to lung cancer the year before and wanted to raise money for charity. We planned for 28 countries and five continents plus a Guinness World Record for the longest journey in a fire engine.

It was a mammoth operation that required an intense year of preparation and research. There was a crew of 25 co-drivers, who would swap in and out along the way, plus fixers in most of the countries.

There were about 200 people involved, says Moore, who knew nothing about logistics and project management at the time. I took some truck maintenance and Russian classes, and went on an SAS survival course.

Returning to London in 2011 and having raised 120,000, Moore reflects that he was inspired, if a little sore from his off-road adventure. The biggest takeaway was realising the potential of what you could achieve with just people getting them to work together and calling in favours.

People-power is precisely what Moore would use when he swapped fire engines for dart flights a year later. In 2012, he and Paul Barham, an old friend and Flight Clubs other co-founder, were catching up in a Croydon pub. There were some young people having a blast playing [knockout game] Killer on a dart board. We saw an opportunity.

The duo wanted to bring that same energy and fun back to darts, which they felt had become dated and dull. The plan was to launch with a London venue: a fully-functional bar that served food and hosted competitive darts party games in booths.

Moore drew on his experience of putting together a team for the fire truck trip, surrounding himself with people who knew what he didnt.

I had never owned a bar, but a friend from school ran nine in the capital, so we got hold of him. A friend from university also owns an accounting company, so we asked for some help. Calling in favours is crucial when starting a company, he adds.

We went nuts on focus groups, doing three or four a week for about 18 monthsSteve Moore, Flight Club

Answers were less forthcoming for the darts experience itself. Moore's Flight Club vision was to have camera-based, auto-scoring technology at every oche, to show where on the board the darts hit.

The scores would be recorded live, flashing up on a screen next to the players, who wouldnt have to spend time chalking-up points and doing mental sums to work out the scores.

The problem was that it hadnt been built yet.

We knew that [sports tech company] Hawk-Eye had tried it, but failed, says Moore, who even put the challenge to PhD students as part of a country-wide university competition. No one could figure it out. Again, Moore leaned on other people, leveraging his network of contacts to solve the fundamental issue and secure a key hire.

We knew a camera systems contact who supplied Hawk-Eye with its kit, says Moore. He knew a specialist who worked with Nasa [on autonomous in-flight refuelling systems] and who might have the answer. That person was Dr Jason Dale and he did. Hes now the companys technical director.

With Dales tech, the co-founders could finally build a working system, having brainstormed dozens of darts games with chalkboards and Excel spreadsheets on a test board in Moores living room.

We went nuts on focus groups, doing three or four a week for about 18 months, he adds.

The team was still very nervous when a dozen oches were installed at their launch venue in Shoreditch. When we opened the doors [in 2014], we thought that a few people would come in and play, but we were full, says Moore.

I remember thinking: this sytem was just in my loungeand now weve got hundreds of people using 12 of them.

That first day was so unenjoyable, says the co-founder, who admits that the team took a huge risk on the tech side, having tested it in such a limited environment before rolling it out for commercial launch.

The business employed a neat trick to deal with any blips, by selling the first few weeks as a hackathon, making the experience of finding a glitch a fun game, rather than a disappointment. If people found bugs, we would offer them a free drink, which they loved, jokes Moore.

We put every single penny back into the productSteve Moore, Flight Club

Today the company employs 20 people in its tech team. Theres more rigorous testing and constant innovation, which prevents Flight Club from becoming a one-trick pony, where a customer might play all the games, experience the lot and never come back, thinks the business owner.

Refreshes and new releases are written into our business objectives we launch four new things a year, explains Moore. Instant video instant replays, for example, will be available to players by the end of September.

Business owners must beware of resting on their laurels, warns the co-founder. Even though were booked out five months in advance, were constantly refreshing the games, even the interior design, to keep people coming back. There are companies in our sector that are now coming off their peak, because theyre not reinvesting, butwe put every single penny back into the product.

Moore also invests in staff. For a small company, we put a lot into our training academy, because youre only as good as your general manager, he says. Were in a sector with traditionally high staff turnover, but retention for us is great, because were growing at a rate that can fulfil a lot of peoples career ambitions.

Poetically, Flight Club employs 180 people across its two sites (the second is in Bloomsbury). Last year it registered turnover of 8m and its website claims that more than 19.5 million darts have been thrown so far.

On the horizon are new venues, with a Chicago Flight Club opening in February 2018. Moore says that hes also looking at Melbourne, Oslo and Hong Kong, as well as new locations in the UK, such as Bristol and Manchester.

Weve had zero issues, he explains. Theres never any trouble, beacuse people are so engaged in the activity.

"The biggest credit to us and what we do is mobile use; no one is on their phone at a Flight Club venue anywhere else, people have their heads down, texting and browsing Facebook.

See the article here:
Flight Club co-founder: Innovation is written into our business objectives - Telegraph.co.uk