San Diego Union-Tribune (Sunday)
MAN UNITED’S MANAGER GETS A VERY NEEDED WIN
Manchester United’s Victor Lindelof (right) celebrates after scoring his side’s only goal during the EPL match vs. Luton Town at the Old Trafford.
Erik ten Hag can breathe a sigh of relief after Manchester United ended another difficult week on a winning note.
Victor Lindelof’s goal secured a 1-0 win against Luton in the Premier League on Saturday that should hold back further speculation about ten Hag’s future for now.
It wasn’t the most convincing performance from a United team that had lost 4-3 against Copenhagen in the Champions League in midweek. But three points lifted the spirits at Old Trafford after such a disappointing start to the season.
And despite losing nine games in all competitions this season, United has now won four of its last five games in the league to move within sight of the top four.
“We are in quite a good position. If you see all the trouble we had, we are in a very good position,” ten Hag said.
United is three points off fourth place Liverpool, having played a game more. Liverpool plays Brentford today.
More soccer
Harry Kane scored another brace but Bayern Munich had to endure a scare before moving atop the Bundesliga with a 4-2 win over promoted Heidenheim.
Kylian Mbappe scored a hat trick and Gianluigi Donnarumma made six decisive saves to send Paris Saintgermain to the top of the French league with a 3-0 win at Reims.
AC Milan wasted a twogoal lead for the second time in three league matches and also lost key player Rafael Leão to injury in a dramafilled 2-2 draw at Lecce in Serie A.
MLS
Griffin Dorsey scored the decisive goal in a 4-3 shootout victory and the host Houston Dynamo advanced to the Western Conference semifinals after a 1-1 draw with Real Salt Lake on Saturday in the rubber match of the first-round MLS Cup series.
Albert Rusnák scored a first-half goal and Stefan Frei made one save in picking up his second clean sheet of the best-of-3, first-round MLS Cup series as the host Seattle Sounders eliminated FC Dallas in the rubber match with a 1-0 victory on Friday night. Seattle, the No. 2 seed, will host defending champion and third-seeded Los Angeles FC in the Western Conference semifinals. LAFC swept the Vancouver Whitecaps in a first-round series.
Golf
Alex Noren got up-anddown on his last two holes, one for a birdie to regain the lead and another for par to complete a 4-under 67 and keep a one-shot lead in the Bermuda Championship.
Max Homa will take a one-shot lead into the final round of the Nedbank Golf Challenge after the American shot a 3-under 69. Frenchman Matthieu Pavon entered the day sharing the lead with Homa. He slid one shot back after his 70.
Emily Kristine Pedersen had three birdies over the final five holes for a 6under 64 that gave her a three-shot lead at The Annika, where the scoring was so low that Pederson had only the seventh-best round of the day.
Steven Alker pulled away from the pack with a 6under 65, finishing with a birdie that extended his lead to four shots going into the final round of the season-ending Charles Schwab Cup Championship.
Local colleges
In volleyball, Haylee Stoner shined on both sides of the ball but the University of San Diego (15-10, 11-4 WCC) could not overcome Pepperdine, dropping a 3-0 decision to the Waves (17-6, 13-0) at the Firestone Fieldhouse . ... San Diego State (918, 4-12 MW) gave visiting Colorado State (16-11, 10-6) all it could handle for much of the afternoon before fading down the stretch in a three-set loss.
In men’s water polo, it was Senior Day at Canyonview Aquatic Center and the four UC San Diego honorees all contributed in a 20-9 win over Chapman. It was the final regular-season game for 13th-ranked UCSD. The Tritons head into the postseason next week with a 16-12 record.
In women’s basketball, USD (2-0) built an early advantage and never looked back, downing Portland State (1-1), 71-43, at the Jenny Craig Pavilion. Kylie Horstmeyer led all scorers for the second straight game with a career-high 18 points.
With a 1-0 win at Fresno Pacific, PLNU men’s soccer clinched a first-ever outright conference title. Felix Calero’s goal in the 20th minute proved to be the difference in the game. The Pacwest Conference champions will find out their postseason fate on Monday during the NCAA selection show at 4 p.m.
Tennis
Leylah Fernandez led Canada into the Billie Jean King Cup final after beating Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova and then helping to secure a 2-1 win over the Czech Republic in a decisive doubles match. In today’s final, Canada will face Italy, which saw off Slovenia 2-0 after winning both singles matches.
India captured the title at the 2023 IC Rod Laver Junior Challenge Worldwide Finals with a 4-2 victory over Argentina at the La Jolla Beach & Tennis Club. India finished the international junior tennis competition with a 5-0 record.
Death
D.J. Hayden, the 2013 first-round draft pick who overcame a life-threatening injury to play eight NFL seasons, was one of six people who died early Saturday in a Houston car crash that also claimed the lives of two former teammates. Hayden was 33.
Also
Mikaela Shiffrin dealt with a bone bruise in her left knee following a recent training crash to finish fourth in the first women’s World Cup slalom of the season at Levi, Finland. The defending overall champion trailed winner Petra Vlhova by 0.42 seconds after the opening run but ultimately finished 1.70 behind the Slovakian skier, who dominated the race by clearly winning both runs.
New Orleans Saints receiver Michael Thomas is facing simple battery and criminal mischief charges following a confrontation with a construction worker, police said. Thomas, 30, was arrested without incident Friday night, was cooperative with investigators and was released later that night, Kenner police Lt. Mark Mccormick said.
Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Joe Walsh is understandably proud of the lineup for his Vetsaid benefit concert in San Diego tonight. It includes fellow Rock Hall of Famers Stephen Stills and Jeff Lynne — who will perform with his band, ELO, for the first time in five years — along with Flaming Lips, The War On Drugs and Lucius. Comedian and U.S. Marine Corps veteran Drew Carey will host the marathon show at North Island Credit Union Amphitheatre in Chula Vista. Proceeds will go to Southern California nonprofits that aid U.S. military veterans and their families. ■ “Oh, I forgot to say I’m playing, too,” Walsh added with a chuckle. “I forgot to say that!” ■ The concert will be the seventh edition of Vetsaid since Walsh and his wife, Marjorie, launched the event in 2017 near Washington, D.C. Now, as then, he personally contacts the performers he recruits. ■ “I’m very humble to ask people, ‘Hey, want to come and play for free?’ But all I can do is ask,” said the veteran guitarist, singer, songwriter and band leader, who lived in Encinitas from 1995 to 2001.
Vetsaid 2023
With: Joe Walsh, Stephen Stills, Jeff Lynne’s ELO, Flaming Lips, The War On Drugs and Lucius When: 5 p.m. today Where: North Island Credit Union Amphitheatre, 3050 Entertainment Circle, Chula Vista Tickets: $39.50-$305.50, plus service charges Online:
livenation.com
“I work with my son, Christian. He helps me put these (shows) together . ... It’s like the old days, where you had (multiple) headliners and you got to know the other bands by being on the same bill with them and hanging out together. We don’t get the chance to do that so much anymore.
“During the Vetsaid show, we’re all watching whoever is performing from backstage or side stage, or I’m talking to vets.”
Kent State tragedy
At first glance, Walsh might seem an unlikely rock star to devote time and energy to helping military veterans.
He was at Ohio’s Kent State University in 1970 when four students at an anti-war demonstration were fatally shot by National Guardsmen.
Walsh, who was majoring in English and minoring in music at the time, was so distraught that he dropped out for good and focused solely on The James Gang, the three-man band that propelled him into the rock ’n’ roll spotlight.
Or, as he put it in a 2012 Union-tribune interview: “The shootings really affected me profoundly. I decided that maybe I don’t need a degree that bad.”
Speaking by phone from his Los Angeles home in a mid-october interview to promote Vetsaid, Walsh reflected anew on the Kent State tragedy.
“It was (an instance of ) completely dysfunctional authorities dealing with a situation they could not comprehend with a bunch of naive, innocent kids,” he said.
“And it mutated into something (violent) — and four people died. It was that mutation that I witnessed, and it scared me. The president (Trump) before the one we have now was headed in that direction, where things can mutate. That’s all I’ll say about that.”
Walsh’s 1972 song “Turn to Stone” was inspired by his frustration with then-president Richard M. Nixon and the policies of his administration. Nixon had pledged to end the war in Vietnam. Instead, he accelerated U.S. military actions in that Southeast Asian nation before the Watergate scandal led to Nixon’s resignation in 1974, a year before Walsh joined the Eagles.
The Eagles’ landmark album “Hotel California” was the first to feature Walsh. While on tour with the Eagles — from 1975 to 1980 and again after the band reunited in 1994 — Walsh began paying low-key visits to wounded U.S. soldiers.
“When the Eagles played in Washington, D.C., I used to go to Walter Reed Naval Medical Center and visit the guys who were waiting for their prosthetic limbs,” he recalled.
“Some of them didn’t know who I was and some did. I took a guitar with me ... no, I didn’t take a guitar. They had a guitar there and a couple of guys asked me to play songs, (including) ‘Hotel California.’ I didn’t know how to relate to them — they were waiting for a prosthetic limb ... (but) when I left, we were buds. We were buds (because of music). And that was a really good feeling . ...
“They just wanted to get their new arm, or leg, and get on with their life, and that really impressed me.
Joe Walsh (right) performs with drummer Dave Grohl and 6-year-old Roy Orbison III at the Vetsaid concert in Columbus, Ohio, last year.
“These wars keep hitting and these guys are coming home, broken. (Seeing) the lack of recognition, support and help that they need, I thought: You know what? I can make a difference here. This is something I can get my head around and really make a difference, so I decided to start Vetsaid.” Joe Walsh
They were a community of guys who had each other’s backs. And communities of people who have each other’s backs are always really good.”
In peacetime, Walsh’s visits with wounded soldiers might have been unnecessary. But the deployment of U.S. troops to Afghanistan in 2001 — and, subsequently, Iraq, Libya and Syria — led to more fatalities and more wounded soldiers.
“These wars keep hitting and these guys are coming home, broken,” Walsh said. “(Seeing) the lack of recognition, support and help that they need, I thought: You know what? I can make a difference here. This is something I can get my head around and really make a difference, so I decided to start Vetsaid.
“We’re not big, but we are mighty. And all the money goes to smaller, vets-run organizations that work off donations. We find the good ones that have helped make a difference, and we help keep them going.”
Artists who have performed at previous editions of Vetsaid range from James Taylor, Gwen Stefani and Nine Inch Nails to Chris Stapleton, Gary Clark Jr., Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder and Ringo Starr, who is Walsh’s brother-in-law.
The annual event has thus far disbursed $3 million in grants to veterans charity groups. The grants are vetted in collaboration with Combined Arms Institute, a Houston-based organization that provides and coordinates resources for veterans.
Son of a pilot
While Walsh is not himself a veteran, he is the son of one.
His father served as a pilot in the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II. He died in a 1949 plane crash while working as a flight instructor for the Lockheed F-80 Shooting Star — the first U.S. operational jet-powered aircraft — while on active duty in Okinawa, Japan. Walsh was not yet 2 years old at the time.
“I qualified to be a Gold Star kid, I guess,” he said. “But they didn’t have that then. They didn’t have any support groups. You got a flag and a letter (of regret) from the president, and that was it.
“So, I’m present for all the families when a dad or a loved one doesn’t come home . ... You gotta watch what’s happening to the troops, because they are part of us.”
In 2012, Walsh gave his support to the first U.S. congressional race by former U.S. Army helicopter pilot Tammy Duckworth, who lost both her legs in 2004 during combat in Iraq. The Illinois Democrat was elected. She became a U.S. senator in 2016 and is still in office. The Republican congressman she unseated in 2012 was ... Joe Walsh (a staunch conservative who is not related to his rockstar namesake).
Walsh’s 2016 song “No Man’s Land” was written for the feature film “Citizen Soldier.” The movie is based on the true story of a tour of
duty in Afghanistan by soldiers in the Oklahoma National Guard’s 45th Thunderbirds Brigade.
Walsh also composed the score for “No Man’s Land.” A year later, in 2017, he and his wife launched Vetsaid. Coincidence?
“They were both incubating at the same time,” he said.
“I have no political agenda; I don’t care about the politics of it. I’m going to help the men and women that put themselves in harm’s way, came home, and need help where there is very little help. And we’ve been able to help these guys.”
Walsh’s devotion and carefully chosen words may surprise those who only know his zany stage persona — or recall his years as a wild man of rock, when his drug and alcohol use took a debilitating toll. He has been clean and
sober since 1995.
“I have so much fun and enjoyment onstage,” Walsh said. “There was a time when I was wild and crazy. I’m sober now. But a good way to reach people is to get them away from their problems for a couple of hours.
“So, onstage, yeah, I’m that wild and crazy guy. Offstage, the other 22 hours of the day — if you look at the big picture — I have to be serious for some of (the time) to make it work.”
And what has he learned from doing Vetsaid since 2017?
“I know what not to do!” Walsh replied with a laugh. Such as?
“Well, make sure that the sound men don’t get in a fight!” he said, laughing again. “Too many guys at the sound board doesn’t work. You’ve just got to with the flow.”