Plenty of Nothing

Octagonal Cockpit

This octagonal belvedere on the grounds of Dundurn Castle in Hamilton, Ontario was originally used for cockfighting. Source.

Yosuke Ideguchi

Of the four Japanese players brought in by Celtic in 2021-22 Yosuke Ideguchi has had the least impact, suffering a knee injury and making only six appearances. Bad luck for the 2016 J League rookie of the year. Source.

Canadian Championship semi-finals (June 22):

Vancouver Whitecaps 2 - 1 York United

Toronto FC 4 - 0 CF Montréal

The date of the final hasn't been announced, but I reckon it'll be July 20 or 27.

Sort the CPL clubs by number of Canadian Championship matches played:

22    FC Edmonton

12    Cavalry

11    York United

10    HFX Wanderers

  7    Forge FC

  6    Pacific FC

  5    Valour FC

  2    Atlético Ottawa

Other Canadian matches:

Pacific [0 - 3] HFX Wanderers

[Goals by Samb, Daniels and Salter.]

Somebody is thinking about putting a CPL team in Kelowna. Source.

League1 Ontario: North Mississauga [3 - 1] Sigma SC (yesterday)

Sigma was founded as a soccer academy by the Smyrniotis brothers in 2005. In 2019 coach Bobby Smyrniotis and 16 players moved over to Forge FC to become the CPL's first champion team. Sigma play at the Hershey Centre in Mississauga. North Mississauga and Sigma are the League1's only teams based in Mississauga, and their derby is called the Credit River Cup.

Duran Lee (HFX Wanderers 2019) played for Sigma from 2016 to 2018.

PLSQ: CS St-Hubert [3 - 2] Royal-Sélect de Beauport (tomorrow)

L1BC: Victoria Highlanders [2 - 3] TSS Rovers (tomorrow)

This is leg one of the Juan de Fuca Plate (the trophy, not the piece of ocean floor currently subducting beneath western North America.) (See below.)

CSL: Toronto Falcons [1 - 1] Serbian White Eagles (tomorrow)

Scotland:

Annan Athletic [2 - 2] Morton (closed door friendly) (in Gretna)

[Morton goals by Jacobs and Garrity.]

Morton have re-signed Jai Quitongo. He previously played for Morton from 2015 to 2018, and since then he has been with Partick Thistle, Machine Sazi (Iran), Dumbarton and Queen's Park. Apparently Dougie Imrie tried to get him in January. What would it take for 2022-23 to be Jai Quitongo's best year? Seven goals.

Also signed is midfielder Grant Gillespie, formerly of Hamilton, Dundee United, Raith Rovers, Derry City, Ayr United and Queen's Park.

Alan Lithgow is out with a knee injury.

Hamilton Academical have parted ways with manager Stuart Taylor.

Threave Rovers have quit the South of Scotland League and applied to join the West of Scotland League. They were in the Lowland League from 2013 to 2016.

Former Morton players who were brought back:

2022        Jai Quitongo

2021        Mark Russell

2020        Gary Oliver

2019        Aidan Nesbitt

2018        Chris Millar

2018        Jim McAlister

2018        Denny Johnstone

2017        Luca Gasparotto

2016        Declan McManus

2015        Michael Tidser

Japan:

Mito HollyHock [1 - 1] Fagiano Okayama

Tohoku: Bogolle.D.Tsugaru [2 - 1] Ganju Iwate (tomorrow)

Elsewhere:

UCD 0 - 1 Derry City (yesterday)

FC Pfäffikon [0 - 7] Winterthur (testspiel) (tomorrow)

Wintherthur and Pfäffikon are neighbouring districts in the canton of Zurich. FC Pfäffikon play in 3.Liga

The 2022-23 UEFA Champions League began this week with the preliminary round:

semi-finals (June 21):

FCI Levadia (Estonia) 1 - 6 Vikingur Reykjavik (Iceland)

La Fiorita (San Marino) 1 - 2 Inter Club d'Escaldes (Andorra)

final (June 24):

Inter Club d'Escaldes 0 - 1 Vikingur Reykjavik

Soccer's Juan de Fuca Plate. Source.

Geology's Juan de Fuca Plate. Source.

BC Redesign

Lou-ann Ika-wega Neel's British Columbia flag. Source.

Wordle 365

 

102nd Emperor's Cup, Round Three

Sakka Gemu. Source.

It's the Emperor's Cup, Round Three. There are sixteen matches featuring all twenty J1 teams and twelve from J2. There were no upsets in Round Two.

Match No. 57: Kawasaki Frontale (J1) [0 - 1] Tokyo Verdy (J2)    Upset

Match No. 58: Shonan Bellmare (J1) [0 - 1] Júbilo Iwata (J1)

Match No. 59: Avispa Fukuoka (J1) [3 - 1] Iwate Grulla Morioka (J2)

Match No. 60: FC Tokyo (J1) [2 - 3] V-Varen Nagasaki (J2)    Upset

Match No. 61: Kashima Antlers (J1) [3 - 0] Omiya Ardija (J2)

Match No. 62: Gamba Osaka (J1) [3 - 1] Oita Trinita (J2)

Match No. 63: Nagoya Grampus (J1) [1 - 0] Zweigen Kanazawa (J2)

Match No. 64: Cerezo Osaka (J1) [3 - 2] Vegalta Sendai (J2)

Match No. 65: Yokohama F. Marinos (J1) [0 - 2] Tochigi SC (J2)    Upset

Match No. 66: Shimizu S-Pulse (J1) [0 - 1] Kyoto Sanga (J1)

Match No. 67: Sagan Tosu (J1) [3 - 2] Roasso Kumamoto (J2)

Match No. 68: Hokkaido Consadole Sapporo (J1) [1 - 2] Ventforet Kofu (J2)    Upset

Match No. 69: Vissel Kobe (J1) [2 - 1] Renofa Yamaguchi (J2)

Match No. 70: Kashiwa Reysol (J1) [2 - 1] Tokushima Vortis (J2)

Match No. 71: Urawa Red Diamonds (J1) [0 - 1] Thespakusatsu Gunma (J2)    Upset

Match No. 72: Sanfrecce Hiroshima (J1) [3 - 0] Yokohama FC (J2)

Albert Einstein in Glasgow

Albert Einstein received an honourary degree from the University of Glasgow on this date in 1933. Source.

Maria Vérone

French feminist Maria Vérone was born on this day in 1874. Source.

Hon'inbō Shūsai

Hon'inbō Shūsai (1874 - 1940) held the title Meijin from 1914 till his death, meaning that he was Japan's preeminent Go master during that time. Kawabata covered Shūsai's retirement game for the newspapers and later turned his reportage into the novel The Master of Go. Source.

Centennial Park Stadium

Centennial Park Stadium in Etobicoke was built in 1975 and came close to being renamed after Rob Ford in 2017. Nearly all Canadian Soccer League games happen here under the jets on approach to Pearson International. Source.

Canada:

Edmonton 1 - 2 HFX Wanderers (June 14)    Two goals for Salter.

HFX Wanderers [0 - 3] Forge (tomorrow)

League1 Ontario: North Mississauga 2 - 3 Masters FA Saints (June 15)

Masters Futbol Academy play at L'Amoreaux Park in Scarborough. They appeared in the preliminary round of the 2021 Canadian Championship.

Hamilton United 10 - 2 North Mississauga    [Ouch!]

Hamilton United joined League1 last year, but withdrew due to Covid, so this is their de facto first season. Their field is Ron Joyce Stadium at McMaster University.

PLSQ: Royal-Sélect de Beauport [2 - 0] Ottawa South United (tomorrow)

Ottawa South United are from Manotick and have a player development agreement with Atlético Ottawa. They are the only Ontario club in the PLSQ.

L1BC: Unity FC [2 - 1] Victoria Highlanders (tomorrow)

Unity are an offshoot of the Trinity Western Spartans program.

CSL: Serbian White Eagles [7 - 3] BGHC1

BGHC1 is an amalgamation of Brantford Galaxy and Hamilton City 1. It's not clear to me whether this is a temporary or permanent merger.

Toronto and Vancouver have been chosen as venues for the 2026 World Cup. Edmonton is out. Of the sixteen stadia selected, two are in Canada, three in Mexico and eleven in the USA. Three of them are home to Liga MX clubs, four MLS, seven are NFL stadiums, and two are shared by MLS and the NFL.

Japan:

Roasso Kumamoto [0 - 0] Mito HollyHock

Waseda University 0 - 1 Toin University of Yokohama (June 15)

Hosei University [2 - 0] Waseda University

Tohoku: Sendai University [14 - 1] Bogolle.D.Tsugaru (tomorrow)    [Oof!]

Scotland:

Now that the Scottish Women's Premier League (SWPL) 1 & 2 have joined the SPFL, Scottish Women's Football have reorganized their remaining clubs. Next season will feature an eight-team SWF Championship and a 14-team SWF League One. After that the Championship will be increased to ten teams.

The 2022-23 SWF Championship will be made up of Ayr United, Dryburgh, Hutchison Vale, Inverness CT, Livingston, Morton, Rossvale and Renfrew.

League One will be Airdrie, Bishopton, BSC Glasgow, Buchan, Dundee City West, Edinburgh Caledonia, Edinburgh City, Falkirk, Giffnock, Grampian, Gleniffer Thistle, St Mirren, Stenhousemuir and Westdyke.

The 2022-23 SPFL (men's) schedule is out. Morton's fixtures run from July 30th to May 5th. The Premiership will take a break between November 12th and December 17th to accommodate the World Cup.

Morton have posted their pre-season friendly fixtures: away games against Annan, Stenny, Livingston and Carlisle United. Training began Wednesday.

Morton have signed 20-year-old goalkeeper Brian Schwake, formerly of Livingston, Linlithgow Rose and Edinburgh City. This will allow the cowshed to recycle some old Brian Wake songs.

Lewis Strapp has signed on for another year.

Edinburgh City have changed their name to FC Edinburgh.

Chris Millar has signed with Kilwinning Rangers.

Elsewhere:

St Patrick's 2 - 1 UCD (yesterday)

Luzern 2 - 1 Winterthur (testspiel) (yesterday)

Darius the Great as Pharoah

Source.