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The bad news: both teams are way better than us. The weird news: if the soccer doesn't work out, yedlin has got a head start on a career as a drag queen
And with a minute left in stoppage, Ike Opara comes in for SKC. And with 15 seconds left, loses the game. Sorry, Ike, I like you, but today I'm just as glad you're not playing for us.
KC looked pretty darn good until Ike came in. Did you watch the game? We were cheering for him, and then watched him whiff the ball for a turnover, and then set up the coup de grace for Seattle.
Watched Seattle vs KC. The turf at the stadium sucks. I thought KC had more possession than Seattle but looked like both teams had trouble stringing together passes on that turf. Not very pretty to watch Also quakes need to inform MLS that they changed their logo. Pregame they had people carry flags of each team. Quakes flag was from last season.
Just saw that Colorado just announced Mastroeni will be their coach. Not a moment too early! And some think OUR FO is dis-interested.
Worse news: Vancouver is way better than us too, the addition of Matias Laba has allowed Reo-Coker to move to the attacking midfield making them much more fluid.
I think JBP will be a huge upgrade to Baca and with Gorlitz and soon to be announced Djalo we are looking pretty strong. Also TT might develop really quickly. I see us surprising a lot of people. Lets just see what happens.
Little early to say that. They got 4 against NY, but it wasnt like they generated a ton of chances, just took the ones they had well. And New York was without Henry and Olave, easily their two most important players. Laba looked great though. In other news around the league, DC looked terrible again, Portland got away with a last second draw but showed 2 clear areas of weakness (set pieces and the lack of a finisher in front of the net) and of course the scum lost.
Saw the RSL win and bits of the Seattle game. I was just amazed at the lack of fluidity in the attacks of these games. The guys were trying to play fast while getting up the field with as few passes as possible, but the distribution was just crap. I hope the other games weren't as bad as this one because it seems those had more goals.
C'mon folks, Ike played pretty well all last year for KC. He makes one mistake and he's "bad" again? TT and Djalo playing together, that's what I'm talking about. That would immediately transform the Quakes attack and take it to another level.
How many times have the Quakes never taken their chances in important matches? NY's defending was horrible, but chances that Vancouver created were really good. That team is using all 3 DP slots now right? 3 DPs and they have at least 5 attacking threats on the field. That's amazing. Then you look at FC Dallas 3 DPs and 3 goals.
I respectfully disagree. Vancouver has a cohesive midfield, we do not. Vancouver has 4-5 legitimate scoring threats, we do not. And regarding New York's absences, Henry doesn't play much defense so that wouldn't have helped them yesterday, I'll give you Olave though.
I think you're all missing the big picture . . . the takeaway from yesterday is that the Gals lost, at home, in spite of the ref trying to help them, AND largely due to two big time chokes by Robbie TheGreatWhinger Keene!
The Galaxy remained stagnant this season for the most part. Giving LD and Keane long-term deals at their age may come back to bite them in the ass. No amount of referee help can cure lack of ambition and complacency. They will be playoff bound, but to expect more from them is wrong at this really early stage.
Big winner yesterday was the league, as the replacement referees all did an adequate job. Well -- the CRs did. The ARs were quite poor, particularly in the LA-RSL match, but one of the ARs in the VAN-NYRB match did a brilliant job, insisting that Okulaja (!!!) award the PK for Eckersley's handball in the box. One question bothers me after the SKC-SEA match: What does Peter Vermes have against Claudio Bieler? The Galaxy actually looked good in the first half. They were carving up a lot of space and creating chance after chance in and around the box. But RSL adjusted brilliantly in the second half (what drop-off?) and Beckerman once again showed that he is one of the very best central midfielders in MLS, disrupting LA defensively and threading that perfect pass to Plata for the goal. Portland is going to be good this year, but they still have some weaknesses: 1. No true striker -- Urruti played up top for Portland last night, but he plays similarly to the attacking triumvirate of Nagbe, Fernandez, and Valeri. A player like Wondo would clean up with the Timbers. 2. Lack of defensive depth -- Kah went hobbling out within the first half-hour of the game last night and Futty Danso is not an adequate replacement. Their new signing, Paparatto, looks like a significant improvement from any central defender that the Timbers put out there last season. 3. Need time to adjust to new signings/starters -- This will not last all season, but I suspect that Portland will struggle for the first month or so as Urruti and Fernandez get in-synch with Johnson, Chara, Valeri, and Nagbe. There was a lot of beautiful passing movement between the midfielders, but neither the final ball nor the finish was there last night. If everything comes together though, Portland will be difficult to defend. Didn't get a good read on FC Dallas. I watched most of the match against Montreal, but it was hard to say if Dallas is actually better than they were last season or if Montreal is just significantly worse. Dallas benefitted from a potentially erroneous PK last night and were exposed late in the match. You could actually hear the nervousness of the crowd in the final ten minutes. Montreal had corner after corner, but couldn't equalize. Pareja better hope that Thomas's injury isn't serious and that George John can come back soon. Diaz looked good though and his free kick was a beauty. I watched the first half of the VAN-NYRB match, but as good as Vancouver looked at times, Red Bull just never was in the game. From the opening whistle, New York looked bereft of ideas, and Cahill continuously had to run deep into his own half to retrieve the ball. I'm not so sure that Henry will be able to fix that problem, but it will at least allow Luyindula to slide back into the midfield; not sure what Petke was thinking playing him up top with Cahill, even in a supportive role. I'll be curious to see if the Whitecaps show this kind of skill in their upcoming matches, but their new signings (Fernandez and Morales) look legit. If Morales can get incorporated into their starting line-up and with Laba behind him....look out.
Anyone watching Chivas Chicago? Just got home and checked the in-game score. I may have to watch the last 30 minutes, Comcast willing.
It's been interesting. It makes me glad Bobby Burling isn't a Quake anymore, that's for sure. It's been a good game the last few minutes, though. Lots of back and forth, some open play. Rosales has been doing a lot of the work for Chivas. Amerikwa managed some magic for Chicago.
I thought Bobby looked pretty good, actually. Nice to see the results. Though it's going to suck if WE lose to Chivas.
Vancouver, Dallas, Chivas, RSL, Seattle all had great results, even Portland got on the scoreboard. The only loser this weekend was the filth.