Last Monday, April 13, Jim Rally, a towering figure in Bay Area soccer and US Open Cup history, passed away. He was 85.

In 1949, Rally, then just 19 years-old, founded Greek-American Athletic Club (AC) with his older brother, John.

In its 56 year history, Greek-American AC advanced to the US Open Cup Final three times, winning in 1985 and 1994. The club first reached the Open Cup Quarterfinals back in 1963 and over the next three decades would finish with 12 Round of 8 appearances, which remains tied for the third-most in tournament history. They also won the San Francisco Soccer Football League championship 16 times.

During those Open Cup years, Greek-American AC had a roster that included Nigerian internationals Andy Atuegbu and Godwin Odiye, Honduran Salvador Bernardez, Iranian Hadji Rahimipour and American players like John Doyle, Paul Bravo, Mark Semioli, and Tim Martin.

The Rallys were able to assemble such a talented roster because they treated their players with a respect uncommon even in the professional ranks.

Greek-American AC: 1994 US Open Cup champions. Photo: Greek-American AC

“There was an allegiance and affiliation with John and Jim that existed at the club level that did not exist at the professional level,” said midfielder Derek Van Rheenen. “There was a clubhouse. There were fans of Greek origin. And John and Jim were very beloved. We had a real desire to play for them, and as quirky as they were, there was a real affinity that didn’t exist at the professional level.”

“(The players) liked the group,” Rally said in an interview last year. “They liked the way that the spectators and fans treated them. They were all on a pedestal. They didn’t get that kind of treatment from any other team. We took care of them. We took them out.”

The players returned their owners’ affections.

Said Greek-American AC goalkeeper Aram Kardzair: “John and Jim were like my dad. They were like my father. It was just because of their passion for not only the game, but for the Greek-American (team). They were very proud of us.”

“I have a tremendous amount of respect for John and Jimmy and their love of the game and what they did with that club and with the players,” said forward Mike Deleray. “You’re talking about hundreds of people that went through the club over the years. It was a special environment.”

Greek-American AC celebrate their 1994 US Open Cup championship. Photo: Greek-American AC

Among the players, Rally was also infamous for writing long letters to the team after every match. In them, he would often make jokes at the players’ expense. About Deleray he once wrote: “Mike never lost a step because he never had one.”

But Jim Rally fought hard for his club off the pitch, even in adverse circumstances.

When a team from Seattle once tried to use legal action to stop Greek-American AC from playing in a national tournament, Rally did everything in his power to help his team get on the field and back into the tournament. He even went so far as to convince spectators to pose as Greek-American AC players so that the Seattle club couldn’t take the pitch.

Rally’s craftiness and knowledge of the game, together with his brother’s bonhomie and largesse, fashioned Greek-American AC into one of the best amateur club teams in the entire country.

It’s fitting then that Greek-American AC, a club that embodied the familial and friendly spirit of the amateur game, were the last such club to win the US Open Cup in 1994.

But tragedy struck in 1997, when a massive fire broke out at an industrial laundromat managed by John Rally. The fire destroyed much of the memorabilia and trophies that the brothers had acquired through their many decades of patronage. All that was left to them were their memories.

Yet, when asked why he and John devoted so much of their time and money to Greek-American AC, Rally didn’t even hesitate with his reply.

“That was our life,” he said.

Originally hailing from the Bay Area, Tim Froh is now a Digital Content Writer for the Portland Timbers and has also written for SoccerWire and MLSsoccer.com. You can find him on Twitter @TimFroh.

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We have some of the worst air quality in the world: Did you enjoy your smoky hell weekend? No? Me either! The Air Quality Index in Seattle reached around 190 at one point Sunday evening. Being outside felt like being a chimney sweep trapped inside a chimney in Victorian England. Changing winds started moving into the region Monday morning. Hopefully, the smoke will leave pretty soon. Wish for a strong onshore flow. Wish for rain.

Tell us when the smoke leaves, weather people of Twitter: According to the Seattle Weather Blog’s crystal ball, the smoke might linger most of Monday before it starts clearing out. However, the AQI was already down to 100 as of Monday morning. That’s still bad, don’t get me wrong, but it’s better than 190! It’s all about perspective. 

Best guess is that the Seattle area endures one more day of smoky conditions before influx of ocean air clears us out late Mon/early Tue.

— Seattle Weather Blog (@KSeattleWeather) August 21, 2023

Tokitae goes belly up in Miami: Tokitae, also known as Lolita, was the last remaining southern resident killer whale in captivity. She was supposed to make her journey home to the Pacific Northwest after 50 years, but she died Friday from a renal condition. Ted Griffin, the man who first started capturing killer whales to have them perform in captivity, bagged Tokitae and greatly depleted the southern resident orca population. He said he had “no regrets.”

Mass shooting in Mount Baker: A shooting in a hookah lounger along Rainier Avenue South in Mount Baker at 4:30 am Sunday killed three people and injured another six. Police recovered five guns from the scene. So far, in 2023, the Seattle Police Department has seized 869 guns, the highest amount in 13 years, KING 5 reports.

South King County has brain worms: Elected officials in Des Moines and Federal Way are working to shut down existing homeless shelters or deny permits to fully funded shelter projects because, as the Seattle Times reports, they “think shelter and housing exacerbate the effects of the homelessness crisis in their neighborhoods.” What???? I’m going to hazard a guess that giving people no shelter or housing will actually increase the visible signs of homelessness in your neighborhood and will not help find a solution to end homelessness at all! The state is investigating whether these practices are illegal since they may violate a 2021 law that requires cities have a certain number of shelter beds before regulating shelters or housing projects. 

Earthquake, hurricane tropical storm strikes California: A 5.1 magnitude earthquake struck Ojai, California on Sunday right as the tropical storm Hilary struck. Hilary’s path took her through the Inland Empire and then into the heart of Los Angeles, where she hovered above Dodger Stadium and Compton for a while. Then, she went back on her path up the border of LA and San Bernardino. The deserts are flooding, San Diego had the most rain in a single day since 1873, flash flood warnings abound. More storm updates here. 

Soggy Dodgers:

Dodger Stadium is an island. pic.twitter.com/g2mQrKzgS3

— Don Van Natta Jr. (@DVNJr) August 21, 2023

Here comes the mud: 

A wall of mud surged through California’s Sheep Canyon, carrying wood and debris along with it, as Hilary, then a tropical storm, dropped heavy rain across the region. https://t.co/Hlf8MSlN9S pic.twitter.com/mdtj3yWBEp

— CBS News (@CBSNews) August 21, 2023

Is your package late? I’ll tell you why. A historic drought hitting the Panama Canal means lower water levels and lower capacity for heavy ships. To conserve water, the Panama Canal Authority “reduced maximum ship weights and daily ship crossings.” The line to get through the canal earlier this month was “backed up 160 vessels and delayed some ships by as much as 21 days.” So crazy when climate change interrupts the profits of capitalism, the very thing standing in the way of stopping the impacts of climate change. 

Russia crashed into the moon this weekend: Russia bungled its first lunar landing attempt since 1976 when it lost contact with its unmanned Luna-25 craft and it crashed into the moon. 

In case you forgot, here’s yesterday’s hell sun: This apocalypse sun knows that things can only get worse from here if we don’t figure our shit out: 

Just an orb on the horizon for sunset tonight. And that’s not dust on the camera lens. The thick smoke is making sun spots readily visible without a filter. #wawx pic.twitter.com/Dk86n2j34y

— NWS Seattle (@NWSSeattle) August 21, 2023

Don’t read this if you’re a nervous flyer: The US hasn’t had a major plane crash in over a decade, but close calls are happening way more often than we think, and the problem seems to be getting worse. Just last month, the New York Times found “at least 46 close calls involving commercial airlines.” These close calls seem to all be potential collisions with other planes taking off or landing from airport runways. They’re the result of human error likely caused by understaffed and over-stretched air traffic controllers. “The close calls have involved all major U.S. airlines and have happened nationwide.” Air traffic controllers interviewed by the Times said “they feared it was only a matter of time until a deadly crash occurred.”

In Maui news: There are 114 confirmed dead from the Lahaina fires, with only 27 people identified so far. However, 850 people are still missing. 

Frugals in Tacoma linked to listeria deaths: Three people in Tacoma have died and three others have been hospitalized after drinking milkshakes from a contaminated ice cream machine at Frugals restaurant in Tacoma. 

Big news for organ lovers: Surgeons transplanted a pig’s kidney into a brain-dead man to see if the pig kidney would function. For a month, the pig kidney has worked like a normal human kidney and produced urine. Scientists will continue to monitor the kidney for a second month, but this is a huge scientific step for potentially easing shortages of transplantable organs with animal organs. 

Spain wins Women’s World Cup: Spain’s La Roja vanquished England’s Lionesses 1-0 to take home the Women’s World Cup trophy, the country’s first Women’s World Cup win. Olga Carmona, 23, was one of the breakout stars for Spain. She scored the game-winning goal in the final. Carmona’s father died from a battle with cancer two days before the match, but her family didn’t tell her until after she played. “I know you have been watching me tonight and that you are proud of me. Rest in peace dad,” Carmona wrote on social media. 

23-year-old Olga Carmona loves scoring a game-winner

Spain’s captain nets our Goal of the Day to secure La Roja’s first-ever FIFA Women’s World Cup title pic.twitter.com/Lb5AoZt2t2

— FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) August 20, 2023

In other sports news: The Mariners are on a six-game winning streak and just finished a full sweep of the Houston Astros. Julio Rodriguez is so hot right now he’s had 17 hits in four games—that’s more than the entire New York Yankees team. Rodriguez broke a Major League Baseball record set in 1925.

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In spite of the doom and gloom around Australia at the Rugby World Cup, it hasn’t been knocked out yet.

Eddie Jones’ misjudged bluster about winning the tournament with a young squad died after consecutive defeats to Fiji and Wales over the last two weekends, but his Wallabies are alive until Saturday evening at least.

If, by then, Fiji has beaten Georgia with a bonus point in Bordeaux then Fiji joins Wales in the quarterfinals from Pool C and the Wallabies are shut out of the knockout stage for the first time ever. If Fiji loses to Georgia or doesn’t get a bonus point, it still has one more chance to make the quarters next week against Portugal.

In the meantime, the two-time champion Wallabies can cross as many fingers as they can to hex Fiji, and will know their fate before they complete their pool campaign on Sunday in a first meeting with the lively Portuguese.

Os Lobos have done their country proud for a team that was the 20th and last qualifier to make the Rugby World Cup, 16 years after its only other appearance.

A Wales second string was flattered to win by 28-8 and Os Lobos could have beaten rival Georgia but drew 18-18 last Saturday for its first World Cup points.

The Wallabies, following the dismal 40-6 defeat to Wales last weekend, have dumped centers Samu Kerevi and Jordan Petaia and replaced them with Waratahs pair Lalakai Foketi and Izaia Perese, who have a combined 13 tests but don’t feel out of place. They are between Waratahs mates Ben Donaldson at flyhalf and Mark Nawaqanitawase on one wing. Perese will make his first start in his second test.

“Foketi has trained well the whole tournament,” Jones said on Friday. “Samu has probably just been a little off. He’s had a tough run-in to the World Cup, coming back from an ACL, two hamstring injuries. He just hasn’t been as sharp as we’d like him to be.

“Jordy Petaia had a bit of a calf issue. He’s fit now but, again, with Izzy, he’s trained really well the whole World Cup.”

Fraser McReight has gone into the back row, and the reserves were freshened with Rob Leota, one-cap back-rower Josh Kemeny and two-cap scrumhalf Issak Fines-Leleiwasa.

Prop James Slipper will become the most capped Wallaby at a Rugby World Cup with his 21st game, leaving behind George Gregan.

The lineup confirmed squad captain Will Skelton and first-choice tighthead Taniela Tupou were still unavailable following their training injuries after the opening win over Georgia.

“A tough old week,” Jones said. “We trained the day after the (Wales) game because we wanted to get back out on the field.

“With the young players we thought we wanted to get their thoughts in their head about how we want to play against Portugal. We’ve got a clear plan.

“I think we’ve trained really well but we are not getting the results, and sometimes the scoreboard is the last thing to change. And that’s hard to take and I know it’s hard to understand, but sometimes that’s the case.”

Portugal made four changes from the Georgia draw, all in the forward pack. Loosehead David Costa and back-rowers David Wallis and Thibault de Freitas make their first appearances in the Rugby World Cup. Martim Belo comes into the second row after 14 minutes off the bench last week.

___

Lineups:

Australia: Andrew Kellaway, Mark Nawaqanitawase, Izaia Perese, Lalakai Foketi, Marika Koroibete, Ben Donaldson, Tate McDermott; Rob Valetini, Fraser McReight, Tom Hooper, Richard Arnold, Nick Frost, James Slipper, Dave Porecki (captain), Angus Bell. Reserves: Matt Faessler, Blake Schoupp, Pone Fa’amausili, Rob Leota, Josh Kemeny, Issak Fines-Leleiwasa, Carter Gordon, Suliasi Vunivalu.

Portugal: Nuno Sousa Guedes, Raffaele Storti, Pedro Bettencourt, Tomás Appleton (captain), Rodrigo Marta, Jerónimo Portela, Samuel Marques; Thibault de Freitas, Nicolas Martins, David Wallis, Martim Belo, José Madeira, Diogo Hasse Ferreira, Mike Tadjer, David Costa. Reserves: Francisco Fernandes, Duarte Diniz, Francisco Bruno, Steevy Cerqueira, Rafael Simoes, Joao Belo, Joris Moura, Manuel Cardoso Pinto.

___

AP Rugby World Cup: https://apnews.com/hub/rugby

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Chase Elliott said Saturday night that missing the playoffs for the first time in his Cup Series career is a “bummer,” but it provides a learning experience.

“I appreciate everybody’s support through this season that hasn’t been what I would want by any means,” Elliott said after finishing fourth in the Cup regular-season finale. “But certainly going to be some lessons taken from it, and I think we’ll be better for it on the other end.”

Elliott fails to make the playoffs for an eighth consecutive year after missing seven races this season — six for injury and one for suspension. This dropped him well below the playoff cutline as the end of the regular season approached.

Elliott had an opportunity to point his way into the playoffs, but a crash at Michigan and a fuel issue at Watkins Glen put him in a must-win situation at Daytona.

The 2020 Cup champion did what he could at the superspeedway. He avoided a 16-car incident at the end of stage 2, and he put himself on the second row for the start of overtime. He just couldn’t cap the night with a win due to the teamwork of the RFK Racing drivers.

“I feel like we had an OK chance there, but Brad (Keselowski) and (winner Chris Buescher) just worked so well together there and they were able to stay locked-on,” Elliott said after the race. “They were so locked-on there … they just had a strangle-hold on the top lane.

“Unfortunately, I just couldn’t get to Kevin (Harvick) and stay there like that, and just make the bottom lane work. I kind of bottled it up there and just couldn’t get enough momentum going forward.”

There are multiple areas where Elliott and crew chief Alan Gustafson can make improvements for next season. They can put a bigger emphasis on qualifying after the No. 9 car only reached the final round seven times in his 19 starts.

They can also continue to work on race strategy for road courses and other tracks where they do not have to worry about pitting in a group. Nailing those little details can make the difference between contending for a championship and ending the regular season below the cutline.

While Elliott missed out on the final playoff spot on the driver side, he still checked off a goal that was very important to Hendrick Motorsports. He put the No. 9 Chevrolet in the owner championship over the No. 23 of 23XI Racing.

Elliott now has an opportunity to pursue wins and points that will move the No. 9 through the opening rounds of the playoffs. NASCAR pays the season-end purses based on the owner standings, so Elliott can help deliver a bigger payday with a strong postseason run.

“Obviously we came up a little short, but nonetheless — I hate the way the season has gone, but proud to get the car into the owner’s championship,” Elliott said. “It’s a big deal to get in on the owner’s side, so hopefully we’ll try and go make some noise on that front, and just keep progressing and pushing to be better for next year. We’ll be better through all of this down the road.”

Elliott is not the only prominent driver to miss the playoffs. Teammate Alex Bowman also missed the cut after an injury sidelined him for three races. Reigning Rookie of the Year Austin Cindric missed the playoffs after winning his way in last season.

Austin Dillon and Daniel Suarez, who both won their way into the playoffs last season, missed the cut after falling into must-win situations during the regular season. They joined AJ Allmendinger, who entered the season as one of the favorites to make the playoffs due to the number of road courses on the schedule.

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McLeod Bethel-Thompson will not return to the Toronto Argonauts, reports TSN’s Farhan Lalji.

After leading the Argonauts to the Gray Cup last season, Bethel-Thompson will spend the 2023 season with the USFL’s New Orleans Breakers.

Lalji reported earlier this month that Bethel-Thompson had informed the Argonauts that he planned to play football in 2023, but whether or not that was in the CFL had yet to be decided.

Toronto head coach Ryan Dinwiddie kept the quarterback on contract last week and would give his decision a deadline.

Bethel-Thompson had a career season at Double Blue in 2022. The San Francisco native threw for a career-high 4,731 yards, 23 touchdowns and 15 interceptions. The fourth-year boatman completed 19 passes for 299 and two touchdowns in the Argos’ 34-27 win over the Montreal Alouettes in the Eastern Final.

Bethel-Thompson left the 109th Gray Cup against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers with a dislocated thumb. Rookie Chad Kelly took over quarterback duties for the crucial third quarter at Regina. The 34-year-old threw 203 yards before retiring.

Bethel-Thompson, a two-time Gray Cup champion with the Argonauts (2017, 2022), has thrown for 13,261 yards, 70 touchdowns and 49 interceptions in 79 career CFL games.

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The thing that made the goal was the touch; one of those touches where Lionel Messi doesn’t so much trap the ball or kill it but lets it come and nestle, falling asleep on his toe like a fond old cat.

There were still six more touches to go before the ball would be left spinning, with a kind of purr, in the back of Mat Ryan’s net. But it was the touch that set the clock running, as the ball was looped back out to Messi on the touch line from his own free kick.

You could see straight away that Messi had felt that familiar surge of static, seen the numbers whirring, the spaces start to yawn. Footballers are often said to carry a picture in their head. Messi has a great whirring bank of air traffic controller’s screens up there, alternate visions of the future to scroll through and finesse.

The touch spun the ball out in front of him, enough to draw the closest Australian shirt into his arc. This was a mistake. Don’t run towards Messi. His dribbling is a kind of judo-throw effect these days, using his opponent’s movement to trampoline into space.

Messi sniped away. He had time now. Messi gets a kind of pre-screening of these things, sees the shapes before anyone else, like a pavement artist conjuring Notre-Dame out of four chalk lines. He laid the ball back to Alexis Mac Allister, then sped in a straight line towards the thing he knew would happen next.

Mac Allister laid the ball in to Nicolás Otamendi. His touch was clumsy, but Otamendi had felt things thing starting to happen too. He performed a lovely little backwards sway, like a man leaping clear of the spray from a passing lorry.

Messi took the ball and had time to take another step, to open his hips slightly as he ran, the movement hidden in his stride, but enough to ease the ball to Ryan’s right, into the far corner and out of his reach. The Ahmad bin Ali Stadium erupted into a barreling wave of noise on three sides, that distinctly Argentinian football noise, a shout of recognition as well as joy.

Twenty minutes into the second half, with Argentina 2-0 up after Julián Álvarez’s delightful steal swivel and finish, Messi did something for fun, a kind of roll through the greatest hits. Taking the ball in the center circle he just decided to keep running, conjuring the ghosts of the Camp Nou, that surging, mulletted miracle of snap and spring. He ran out of space, smiled, jogged back, as the Bin Ali took the chance to sing his name.

And this is the thing with Messi. Every game is now a kind of Russian roulette. Click the hammer. Is this it? That sense of jeopardy, the fear that this might be the last of Messi on this stage will now move on to the quarter-finals of Qatar 2022.

How far can Argentina take him in this thing? Here they held on at times, almost ran away at others. Australia were dogged, dragged the score back to 2-1 and will feel they showed the best of themselves. Argentina have their weaknesses. But they also have a sense of heat about them. They kept to the 4-3-3 from the Poland game here, which may just come to stand as a step change for this team.

Lionel Messi shields the ball from a posse of Australia defenders. Photographer: José Sena Goulao/EPA

At the last World Cup Argentina were subservient to Messi, a team constructed to serve their sun king, litter-bearers for the princeling in their midst. Messi became almost inert, the still center of this imperial bureaucracy.

As a false 9 in this team he is simply a free agent, with three expert midfield rats behind, runners up front, and in the middle of this the orb, the seer, the floating brain.

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The Ahmad bin Ali Stadium is a lightweight, fun, fizzy thing dumped down in the overflow car park of the Mall of Qatar. It looks like a giant wedding cake decoration, or the world’s most imperious pop-up ice rink.

Mixing with the Argentinian fans here has been a fascinating contrast. In the middle of all these gleaming surfaces, here is something disorderly and ragged. Argentinian football isn’t just passionate or patriotic. It is devotional. And here the ground was packed with blue and white shirts, laced with those familiar songs, the warm wave of noise.

As the game kicked off Messi could be seen swinging his arms, loosening up, as though it had just occurred to him he was about to do some exercise. He walked for a bit. He took up a position miles in front of the rest of his team, the small, slouching, baggy shirted chimney sweep at the top of the tree.

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Graham Arnold likes to make the occasion small, to reduce it to simple human possibilities, will, desire, take the moment. He talks about the “Aussie DNA”, a scrap-happy, fight-in-the-dog kind of schtick. Australia did fight here, but Argentina had enough to resist. And they now roll on, three games from the summit.

Another striking aspect was the love at the end as Messi led the celebrations, the feeling of the moment being cherished and locked in. It hasn’t always been this way. No other footballer has been so exposed to the glare, so relentlessly seen, analyzed, venerated, bathed in light. Another one down. But there may just be a few more spins of the chamber before this thing is done.

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