Zlatan calls it quits and a 2023 French Open update
The Monday morning edition of "Four things to know before 4 AM" is live!
Lots of topics to discuss on this Monday morning edition of Snippets. A prominent soccer player along the likes of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo decided to step off the pitch for good yesterday. A sub-0.500 MLB team had the weekend to remember, with not one, but two walk-off wins. And, a local baseball team sees its season come to a crashing halt after this weekend.
1) Ibrahimovic officially retires
The soccer/futbol legend who people affectionally call “Zlatan,” and who was also given a character (‘Zava’) in the hit Apple TV Ted Lasso, has decided to hang-up his cleats for good following AC Milan’s win on Sunday.
The six-foot, five-inch 41-year old striker, who towered over opponents, who has a charismatic personality and who routinely talks in the third person, has racked-up a career 468 goals for nine clubs across 22 seasons.
The teams Ibrahimovic played for include the Netherlands’ powerhouse Ajax to start his pro career in 2001 to Italy’s top team (Juventus) from 2004 to 2006, and stopovers in Barcelona (2009), Paris (with Paris Saint-Germain from 2012 to 2016) and English and USA’s top squads in Manchester United (2016-2018) and LA Galaxy (2018-2019).
Ibrahimovic is Sweden’s all-time top scorer, with 62 career goals in 121 matches.
His current contract with Italian team AC Milan expires at the end of June and will not be renewed by the organization. With that, Ibrahimovic announced his surprise decision to retire yesterday.
This was Ibrahimovic’s second stint with Milan, as he played with the squad from 2010 to 2012, then returned in 2019 after a six-year run with PSG, Manchester United and the Galaxy.
He won two league titles with Milan - once in 2011 and again last season. Other accolades include three Player of the Year awards in Ligue 1 (the top Italian league), a 13-time champion in his 22-year club career, and in the AC Milan Hall of Fame; PSG Hall of Fame; and even 2013’s ‘Man of the Year’ by GQ Magazine.
Ibrahimovic has never won a Ballon d’Or (an annual award given to the top soccer player in the world) with the likes of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo collecting this trophy almost every other year, but he was nominated 11 times.
What made Ibrahimovic. ‘Zlatan’, was his outgoing personality among these nine clubs. Take this one story that was circulating through the Major League Soccer realm - the story about ‘Kevin.’ From The Athletic:
“In early May of 2018, the Galaxy were facing off against the Houston Dynamo on the road. As [former Galaxy player Chris Pontius] tells it, LA looked gutless in the game’s early goings and, at halftime, Zlatan made his frustrations known.
“We need more guys to get stuck in on tackles,” Ibrahimovic bellowed. “Like Kevin.”
Ibrahimovic’s teammates were intimidated by the giant, ferocious Swede, who was prowling around the locker room, unloading on each and every one of them. But mostly they were confused. You see, there was no Kevin on the team. Zlatan, at this point, had been with them for weeks.
“Finally someone musters up the courage to ask him,” says Pontius, “who is Kevin?”
Ibrahimovic motioned toward defensive midfielder Perry Kitchen, who was seated at his locker. “Him,” said Ibrahimovic. “Kevin.”
“He called Perry ‘Kevin’ every day for the next year and a half,” Pontius says, still laughing. “I swear, to this very day, if he saw Perry again he would just say, ‘What’s up, Kevin?’”
“I say goodbye to football but not to you,” Ibrahimovic said after being feted by the crowd after Milan’s 3-1 win over Hellas Verona in their season finale.
2) 2023 French Open 4th Round Update
Moving over to the French Open… We are about 3.5 rounds into both the men’s and women’s draws on this all-clay court grand slam.
Heading into Monday’s action, the men’s draw has the (1), (3), (4), (5) and (6) seeds among the 12 players left. The notable names include Novak Djokovic, Casper Ruud and Carlos Alcaraz. The best quarterfinal matchup is one that is already set, as Alcaraz takes on the Greek fifth seed in Stefanos Tsitsipas, with the winner potentially playing Djokovic in the semifinals. I am intrigued in a possible (6) Holger Rune versus (4) Casper Ruud quarterfinal match as well.
Like I mentioned in last week’s French Open preview, the women’s draw is wide-open. That is still true as we head into the final week of the year’s second grand slam. Out of the 12 women still alive in the tournament, only four - world’s number one in Iga Swiatek, (2) Aryna Sabalenka, (6) Coco Gauff and (7) Ons Jabeur - are ranked in the top-10. Swiatek could face Gauff in what would be the most-anticipated quarterfinal matchup on the women’s side.
What has been most-impressive has been Swiatek’s dominance. She just posted a so-called ‘bakery’ in her third round match against Wang Xinyu (winning 6-0, 6-0), serving up a ‘double bagel’ in the win. However, she wanted to downplay the result:
"I don't want to talk about the bakery,” Swiatek said in the post-game media conference. “Twitter can talk about it, but I'm just going to be focused on tennis."
3) Maryland baseball upended in Regionals
Remember how I mentioned last week that Maryland baseball was heading into their second straight NCAA Tournament? Well… The season ended abruptly following two straight disappointing losses.
As well as the squad was at the plate - scoring seven, 10 and 11 runs on consecutive days in this round-robin format - the pitching was, frankly, anemic. Sure, the Terrapins’ pitching staff only allowed two runs in a 7-2 Friday afternoon win against Northeastern (44-16), but allowed a season-worst twenty walks and 21 runs in a 21-6 annihilation to college baseball’s top team in Wake Forest (50-10) on Saturday late night.
Despite the blowout loss, all the Terps had to do on Sunday against the George Mason Patriots (36-27) was win, and be among the 16 exclusive teams to advance to the Super-Regionals. They did lead 8-3 heading into the bottom of the fourth inning. However, the worst-case situation developed, as the Terps’ relievers gave-up seven runs to turn a five-run advantage into a two-run hole. Terrapins’ right fielder Matt Woods hit a two-run home run to tie things at 10-apiece in the sixth inning, but the team could not add any additional runs. The Patriots loaded the bases in the bottom of the ninth inning, then subsequently had a walk-off sacrifice fly to win the game, 11-10.
Yet again, for the second consecutive year, the 40-plus win Terrapins reach the NCAA Regionals but fall short in attempting to get to the Super-Regionals.
4) White Sox walk-off twice in spectacular fashion and Hendriks gets first win of season on special day
Sticking with baseball, we jump to the Major Leagues and discuss the best story over this first June weekend. The Chicago White Sox (26-35) faced the AL Central divisional rivals Detroit Tigers (26-31). Usually, a series featuring two sub-30 win and sub-0.500 teams would not be worth discussing. However, the White Sox had some lady luck on their side in its friendly confines at Guaranteed Rate Field this past weekend.
On Saturday’s game, the White Sox had the bases loaded, with two outs in the bottom of the 10th inning. Longtime White Sox veteran shortstop Tim Anderson was at the plate, facing against Tigers’ relief pitcher Jose Cisnero (2-1, 3.00 ERA). On Cisnero’s 27th pitch of the inning (and first pitch to Anderson), his fastball ran a bit too high and hit home plate umpire Cory Blaser square in the middle of his face mask, knocking Blaser to the ground and the ball rolling to the right on a wild pitch. White Sox third baseman Yoan Moncada, who was coincidentally on third base (as a baserunner), darted home to score the game-winning, walk-off run for the 2-1 victory.
In yesterday’s matinee series finale, a similar situation developed again for the White Sox. The game was squared-off at two apiece heading into the bottom of the ninth inning. A single, a strikeout and two walks later, Designated Hitter Jake Burger stepped to the plate against Tigers’ closer Alex Lange (3-1, 10 saves and 2.55 ERA). Burger took the first pitch of his at-bat - a low and away sinker. The next pitch was a hanging curveball that Burger belted into the first row of seats in left-center field for a walk-off grand slam. 6-2, White Sox, and a weekend series sweep.
In baseball, in the case of a walk-off win, the last pitcher for the winning team would get the statistical ‘W’. What made Sunday’s win even better was who was the White Sox closer that earned the victory. That pitcher was none other than Liam Hendriks - the same one that underwent months of chemotherapy battling stage four cancer over the off-season. Hendriks also got his first win of the season on National Cancer Survivors Day.
How can you not be romantic about baseball?
Well, that is going to do it for another Snippets on this Monday.
Until next time, signing off.