It's not Miguel Almirón, it's the roster

yeah, it's another FSF article about how we talk about soccer, sorry

There’s been a shift. And it’s been fascinating to watch it play out in real time.

To be clear, it hasn’t been universal. I’m talking about the mindset of a few strangers sure enough of their opinions to post them on the internet.¹ But still, I see it enough that I want to talk about it.

Miguel Almirón is listed as questionable for tomorrow’s match against CF Montréal. And the response to that from a few folks has been…concern? Doomering? Basically, it amounts to, “Well, everything is about to be messed up again.”

That’s not inherently wrong! But somehow that’s gotten turned into an idea that Almirón himself is bad for the team. A bad soccer player who makes the team actively worse.

Meanwhile, Alexey Miranchuk has seemingly gone from being a clear cast-off candidate to being celebrated. I’m not mad about it and I don’t think he’s been bad! But it’s an extremely interesting change.

Don’t be upset, but I want to show you a few things.