La Murga Report – 3/6/2022 vs. Inter Miami

If you’re unfamiliar with the premise of La Murga Report, last week’s post should clarify things. But before I get to the latest numbers from Austin FC’s win against Inter Miami, I must first deal with a murky philosophical question.

The Sound of Silence

On Saturday night, it was announced that Q2 Stadium would observe a moment of silence in the 64th minute to pay respects to the victims of the Estadio Corregidora tragedy in Querétaro, Mexico. Upon hearing of this planned tribute, my False 9 colleague Vinho Verde asked how La Murga Report would treat any goals scored during this time. “Well, that would certainly put me in a pickle,” I chortled, but did not think that the question warranted further scrutiny. You see, I have watched thousands of hours of soccer in my life, and have borne witness to dozens of moments of silence, and I could not recall a single instance where the quietude was broken by a goal. In retrospect I realize that this was a hasty generalization on my part, based on nothing but a small sample size of half-remembered matches from years past. And so it came to be that the Soccer Gods punished me for my hubris, as Ethan Finlay scored his first goal of the season at 63:56, a time when La Murga was not playing a single note.

Now it seems I have two choices: either include the moment of silence in my weekly and season-long tabulations despite it being the exact opposite of a musical performance, or exclude it with the understanding that my tables would no longer show a one-to-one correlation between songs and goals. After careful deliberation, I have decided to opt for the former. No, La Murga was not playing when Finlay opened his account, but this momentary respite was a deliberate decision on the band’s part. Indeed, as their setlist is largely spontaneous, one could argue that the moment of silence was one of the few premeditated acts of their entire evening.

I really would have appreciated if Finlay had waited five more seconds though.

What Songs Were Played, and How Many Times

Note: last week I mentioned that I am only including songs that were performed during the run of play, so I had omitted every post-goal performance of “Alright Alright Alright.” However, upon re-watching last night’s broadcast I realized that it is always still being played upon the resumption of the match, so I have amended the ledger accordingly.

What Songs Were Playing When Austin Scored

What Songs Were Playing When Miami Scored

Season Totals

Final Thoughts

Last week I opined that “Ole Ole Ola” should be played on a continuous loop all match, and nothing I saw yesterday dispelled me from that notion. The first three times it was performed this season resulted in three Austin goals, which is a record that is unlikely to ever be broken. But after yesterday’s brace, we probably shouldn’t sleep on the mystical powers of “Bella Ciao,” either. The race for Song of the Year is already heating up.

Finally, a bit of housekeeping: there will not be a La Murga Report next week, as Austin will be on the road and no instruments are allowed in Providence Park. However, The False 9’s travel correspondent will be on the ground in Portland, and they have committed to reporting any interesting musical tidbits from their spot in the stands, so watch this space.

Photo Credit: Zach Lyons, @iamzachlyons