(This is the time of year when the horse racing season for the Ivory Pine Syndicate is winding down, but the soccer season for the Rosevelt Soccer Club is gearing up. Here's a 90-day glimpse of the day in the life of a horse racing managing partner and soccer club administrator.)
Awoke, 5:01a
Handicapped soccer games, 5:30a-6a
In my opinion, the two of the most underrated competitions in soccer are the UEFA Europa League and the UEFA Conference league. Sure, the UEFA Champions League is the pinnacle of continental soccer, but I'm usually more interested in the types of clubs that aspire for a spot in that competition but still celebrate the opportunity to compete in the Europa or Conference leagues.
There were thirty-four games on the Europa and Conference fixture list today, and the sixty-eight clubs competing in those games play in domestic leagues from all over Europe. My 12-game parlay for $0.10 would've paid $83.74, but I came three games short of cashing in.
Handicapped races, 6a-6:30a
The big race on my calendar today is the Massachusetts Sire Stakes 2-year-old filly pacer final, and our pacers' stablemate Chasing Dudes is entered.
Chasing Dudes is one of our trainer Mike Graffam's homebreds, which means he's raised and trained her since conception. She's earned more than $93,000 already this year, and she's competing in the $160,000 stakes final at Plainridge Park in Plainville, Massachusetts this afternoon.
Worked at Westbrook High School, 7:30a-2:30p
Watched soccer highlights, 3:45p-4p
The soccer game I was looking forward to the most was between Vikingur Reykjavik and Cercle Brugge.
Vikingur is one of the three Icelandic clubs that have hosted our club on all three of our visits to Iceland since 2019, including our 2023 trip when our 19U Boys and 16U Girls teams went on a 5-day tour of the island. And they had to host their UEFA Conference game against Belgian club Cercle Brugge in the home stadium of Breidablik (a second club that's always hosted us), presumably because of stadium capacity requirements in the competition.
Anyway, Paramount+ has lived up to its billing one of the best streaming sites for international soccer by including an 11-minute highlight video of Vikingur's 3-1 win that captures all the goals and celebrations involved in an Iceland club's first win in a European competition.
Watched races, 4p-4:30p
Chasing Dudes's race was expected to last a little less than two minutes, but it ended up lasting fewer than 30 seconds due a scary accident at the beginning of the race. Fortunately, the driver and pacer involved were both fine, and the "No Contest" result ensured that all eight starters in the race would divvy up the $160,000 purse among themselves.
Worked with older daughter on aerial soccer skills, 6p-6:15p
There's probably a longer, future post on the technical, tactical, and stylistic differences between club soccer and high school soccer in Maine, but the key difference is high school coaches tend to be more conservative and risk-averse.
One recent example of this conservatism is our older daughter's coach's recent edict that players who are stronger in the air will be prioritized when doling out playing time in upcoming playoff games. Our daughter's strength is making sound decisions and good passes when the ball is at her feet, so we did some work in the backyard tonight on playing the ball out of the air.
Maine Soccer Association admin, 6:30p-6:45p
For the most part, our state's relatively small size is a weakness when it comes to the development of soccer in Maine. But that weakness could be turned into a strength, if we're able to coordinate and improve the connectivity among the various stakeholders and silos that make up the various organizations that play various roles in Maine soccer.
One project I'm hoping we can work on that could improve the connectivity and coordination among those various silos is the development of a Maine Soccer Hall of Fame (MSHoF). We have an upcoming meeting on Sunday (10/27) to finalize our bylaws and elect officers for the MSHoF Board of Directors, so tonight's focus was to send another reminder e-mail with the Zoom link and meeting materials.
Watched United States vs. Iceland international women's friendly, 7:30p-9:30p
The U.S Women's National Team hosted Iceland in the first of two international friendlies this week, so this was a must-watch game. It's pretty remarkable that a country of about 330,000 can be put in a respectable effort and result against a country of about 330,000,000.
Today was a pretty good day for Icelandic soccer, and it would be great if Maine soccer could match a fraction of that country's productivity on and off the soccer field.
Asleep, 9:49p
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