Key events
Oops – let’s hear from Xabi Alonso …
“After the first 15 minutes, we started getting good control. We did very professionally and very well.”
During cooling break, he made an adjustment to start to pull the game wider.
On Garcia: “That’s what a striker is meant to do.”
On Mbappe: “He will have more training, he will have more days to recover, so we’ll check.”
NOW I’ll bid farewell. Thanks all.
With that, I’ll bid farewell. Enjoy the Real Madrid-Monterrey match after Monterrey’s upset win over Borussia Dortmund this evening. (Look, if Al-Hilal can beat Manchester City …)
Thanks for checking in with us today.
Valverde speaks on goal-scorer Garcia: He moves very well, he’s a player from the academy, he sees an opportunity.
Valverde on his play: I tried to do the best for all my teammates.
The translator then laughed at something that was clearly lost in translation.
Last word from the mailbag: Kurt Perleberg asks why we haven’t seen any US players for Real Madrid.
Because they’re not that good, maybe?
Google’s AI tells me the record for most La Liga appearances by a US player is 94 by Yunus Musah, all at Valencia. Then Luca de la Torre with 59 at Celta Vigo. After that, Kasey Keller (Rayo Vallecano) and Sergiño Dest (Barcelona) are tied with 51.
But seriously – it’s all about the right fit. And even then, the team and their supporters might not appreciate you. Looking your way, Chelsea.
We have not been presented any postgame comments yet. Lots of beer promotion.
Full time: Real Madrid 1-0 Juventus
If you were expecting Real to dominate this encounter, you were right. Only a series of stellar saves by Di Gregorio kept this close. Juve had some bright moments early on but nothing that screamed, “yes, this team deserves an equalizer” for the last 60-75 minutes.
Next up: the winner of Borussia Dortmund vs. Monterrey, which will take place in the nice air conditioning of Atlanta this evening. I’m picking Monterrey. Concacaf are overdue.
90 min +5: Last chance for Juve, and is that a call for a penalty? No, our referee says with emphatic waves of his arms. Replay shows Kolo Muani was basically headed for the ground the whole time, hoping for a miracle.
The ball is recycled out and hit from a long way away out of desperation. Courtois collects, and …
80 seconds left … throw-in for Real. Juve players showing some long faces.
Justin Kavanagh writes: “Infantino will be happy that Mbappe is back now that Messi is out of the tournament. If Juve could sneak an equalizer, though, you’d fancy Di Gregorio to provide the heroics in a shootout.”
I would predict Real would win a shootout 1-0.
90 min +3: Offside on Juve.
90 min +1: Real play keepaway for a while, then blast the ball downfield for no apparent reason.
The crowd, having finished saluting Valverde, are silent. Expectations for the remaining 210 seconds are low.
We’ll have five minutes of stoppage time, starting … oh, 30 seconds ago.
90 min: Ceballos replaces Valverde, who receives a well-earned ovation as he departs. He wipes his sweaty face, then claps to acknowledge the crowd.
89 min: Valverde springs forward and loses control of the ball but manages to knock it off a defender to earn a corner kick. That’ll keep Juve pinned back a bit more as time starts to run out.
Quick word from krishnamoorthy v: “If you have done refereeing for U 14, you are qualified for Manchester derby.”
I still have a lot to live for, so no thanks.
87 min: YELLOW to Jude Bellingham. That’s our first card of the day, and there have been no incidents to this point at which it was even a question. Fair play indeed.
85 min: At last, it’s Juve’s last window, and we’ll see Weston McKennie along with Federico Gatti. The sad figures of Locatelli and Rugani stroll out past their own goal for the long walk around the field to their bench.
83 min: Bellingham combines with Vinicius Junior, and the ball is sprayed wide to Tchouaméni, who shoots back across the grain, and forces a 10th save, this one a fingertip save at full extension, from Di Gregorio. He’s entering Tim Howard territory here.
80 min: It would appear that Igor Tudor changed his mind about using his third substitution window right now, and Juve are indeed on the attack. Real regain control, but that was a helpful reminder that this game is still just 1-0, thanks in large part to Di Gregorio’s nine saves.
Game reset at the cooling break …
Real lead 1-0 on a powerful short-range header by Garcia.
Mbappe is in for Real, and Modric is about to join him, even though they really need people at the back to keep things calm for another 15-20 minutes.
Speaking of calm, the Weather Channel now says “expect dry conditions for the next 6 hours,” and the precipitation on the radar is all north of Miami.
Modric takes the captain’s armband as he replaces Güler.
We haven’t seen confirmation that McKennie is actually on.
76 min: So we WILL see Weston McKennie in this game!
After the cooling break …
72 min: CHANCE for Real, and how did THAT stay out?!
Precise passing in the penalty area, including a couple of touches for Mbappe, and it goes back to the top of the area for Güler, who launches a brutal shot toward the lower corner that Di Gregorio somehow keeps out. Fine game by the Italian keeper.
70 min: CHANCE for Juve. Not over yet!
But they’re taking out Yildiz, so maybe it is. Off the bench, it’s US cornerstone Weston McKenn- … oh, no, it’s Teun Koopmeiners.
69 min: Valverde seems determined to get on the scoresheet, no matter how many times he has to shoot. Di Gregorio scoops this one off the ground.
67 min: To underscore the point, Real shoot twice in three seconds, each time bouncing back off a wall of defenders.
Mbappe officially makes his way in, which means we see plenty of picture of people wearing his shirt. He replaces Garcia, scorer of the lone goal so far.
Here comes Mbappe …
Into a game in which, honestly, Real probably don’t need him. Juve haven’t looked like equalizing in a while.
66 min: Patient possession for Real, and why not?
63 min: Nicolas Gonzalez is the man replacing Kelly.
The Weather Channel is still saying “thunderstorms will end at 5:30” while we have no thunderstorms and no lightning on the radar.
The game continues.
60 min: BICYCLE KICK by Valverde, and it’s only the alertness of the in-form Juve keeper Di Gregorio that keeps us from being at 2-0.
59 min: Conceição departs, replaced by Filip Kostic. Also, English defender Lloyd Kelly, signed permanently by Juve after a successful loan spell, is out.
56 min: Conceição bids for an immediate answer with a worm-burning shot that Courtois has to dive to slap away.
We have now reached the part of the game in which players sit down with cramps.
GOOOOOALLLL! Real Madrid 1-0 Juventus (Garcia 54)
That was coming, like a storm front passing across the peninsula.
And this time, Alexander-Arnold takes a touch, looks up and puts in a high cross that drops where Garcia has enough space for an uncontested 6-yard header that he knocks straight under the bar and into the net.
51 min: Corner for Juve, as we’re again starting brightly. Real defend well and break quickly with Vinicius Junior down the left, stopped by Locatelli deep in his own half.
Garcia then draws a foul from Conceição. Nothing interesting from the free kick, but the ball is worked back out to Bellingham, who blasts a shot from 20 yards that stings Di Gregorio’s hands.
And another chance for Real as Di Gregorio sprawls to stop a dipping shot with some menace.
50 min: Trent Alexander-Arnold runs on to the ball in an acre of space near the corner of the penalty area. He has all day to settle it, and he picks out a spot …
No, I’m kidding – he blasted it several dozen rows into the stands.
49 min: A cross gets through for Juve, but the ball goes beyond the attacker. Also, the flag was up. And there are probably other reasons it wouldn’t have been a goal.
For the record – there were no halftime subs.
48 min: Courtois and a defender can’t agree on who should be clearing the ball, and the resulting awkward clearance eventually yields a Juve corner.
47 min: Valverde tries curling a shot within the penalty area, and he doesn’t miss by that much.
No sign of weather issues yet.
Second half is underway. Still 0-0.
Ian Copestake writes: “Are you the first MBMing referee in the Guardian’s history? And does your full name suggest a penchant for French symbolist poetry? So many questions and so few minutes.”
All that I know about French is that my name roughly translates to “pretty hard.” As far as referees go … maybe? To be fair, I’ve never done any level higher than Under-16 low-level travel, Under-14 higher-level travel and Under-19 rec league. I’m too old to keep up with anyone else.
The ever-knowledgeable Peter Oh checks in: “It’s interesting that RM fans are watching in Athens, GA, but frankly I would be more impressed if REM fans were watching in Athens, GA. Or maybe even the band themselves. Anyway, this tournament makes me wonder if I’m Losing My Religion.”
One of my bands played an R.E.M. tribute recently, but we didn’t do that one, due in part to the lack of a mandolin player.
When drummer Bill Berry left one of the two Big Bands from Athens (the other being the B-52s), the headline font in the local newspaper was about the same size as the end of World War II.
Weather watch
Justin Kavanagh writes: “The Forecast called for pain at the start, but the weather now Feels Like Rain in Miami, so I think you need some of the great John Hiatt at halftime. “
Unfortunately, yes, it appears that some of the green blobs on the radar in and around Florida are now passing over Miami. The Weather Channel says “thunderstorms likely to continue through 6 p.m. (two hours and change from now),” but there’s no lightning on the map. Maybe we’ll just have a good soaking rain.
Halftime: Real Madrid 0-0 Juventus
After a promising start at both ends, Real have had the better of things since the cooling break, but honestly, neither of these teams can finish as well as Al-Hilal.
Just saying.
45 min +3: Bellingham, Valverde and Alexander-Arnold form a potent passing triangle and work their way forward, where Trent unleashes a powerful cross that could easily have caromed into the net off any of the players from either side lined up across the 6-yard box.
45 min: Impressive turn from Güler, but his cross is blocked away.
Real reset, and it’s a CHANCE for Real as Valverde laces a shot from 18 yards that Di Gregorio impressively knocks wide with a mighty sideways leap. That might have been goal-bound.
Four minutes of stoppage time, still 0-0.
43 min: Thuram has it on the left for Juve, but his cross finds no one in Juve’s dark shirts.
41 min: Quickly taken free kick at midfield for Juve. They continue even after one of their players rolls around on the grass for a bit. Real win the ball back thanks to, of all people, Vinicius Junior, tracking back to help out at the back.
39 min: Juve now seem to have seen enough of Real’s patient and nearly effective attack. They swarm to win the ball back.