The Daily Dirt March 7, 2018: Someone should let Jimmy McMillan run a soccer team

Here we are on Wednesday, half way done with the week. Halfish way to game day. It seems like there’s a certain amount of dread mixed with hope heading into this weekend. On the one hand, it seems unbelievable that Atlanta got demolished as badly as it did - or maybe not - by Houston. On the other, the team has some issues to work out and will be trying to bounce back against a team that it has never beaten with the added layer of intrigue coming in the form of Yamil Asad returning to Atlanta. As the week carries on, is certainly does so with a sense of excitement and unease.

Anyway, onto the Dirt...

Domestic

If you haven’t yet, go read Sam’s piece on the support Atlanta United gets from the city’s LGBTQ community.

New owners, a new ceremony announcing that Miami is getting an MLS team again, same old problems with finding a stadium. I give this a 50/50 chance of happening.

The SheBelieves Cup finishes up tonight with the US facing England in the match that will determine the winner of the tournament. England earned a win over France and a draw against Germany while the Americans flipped that, beating Germany and drawing France. The game kicks off at 7PM in the violent confines of Orlando City Stadium.

International

Did you know that Mike Piazza owns a soccer team in Italy? Well he sure does, and he says that rent is just too damn high. He has a point, Reggiana is paying three times what the average third division Italian side does.

Here is a super interesting story about the rise and fall of a Paris superclub. Before Paris St. Germain, there was Mantra Racing.

In Champions League, uh action - Liverpool managed not to lost a 5 goal aggregate and Real Madrid easily dispatched PSG.

Goal of the day

This is from over the weekend, but it made the rounds yesterday - Mariana Laroquette of Club Deportivo UAI Urquiza in the Argentine Campeonato de Fútbol Femenino with the spectacular bicycle kick.

And there was Joe Corona doing this last night in CCL.

Stick to sports

This isn’t a politics blog and I’m not going to tell you about why the Crustacean Party deserves your vote or why Lord Buckethead should be the Prime Minister of England, but this is an amazing story. It is also tangentially related to soccer since it involves the FIFA investigation - it is looooong but has an audio file you can listen. Check out the New Yorker’s piece on Christopher Steele who helped break the FIFA investigation and put together the Russia-Trump dossier.