If Houston had all their players available, and if they were all healthy (including Bock and Sesselmann), then they could have a chance to make the playoffs THIS YEAR. They had a great defense, and defensive midfield all lined up in the offseason. And Noyola is finally coming around in being a great attacking player. Masar is going to produce more this year than she did last year. Ochs is overrated now in this league. It would all come down to Ohai and Souza's development this year as rookies. With Sameshima, Klingenberg, Engen, and Sesselmann on defense (Diggs and Romero as reserves), this team would be a force, if Ohai and Souza develop on offense (to help Masar). I don't know if Ochs can do it.
What a nice player Jordan Jackson is...always in the middle of stuff...what a great pick-up in the 4th round.
Just got back from the Boston- Houston game. Noyola was fabulous to watch with her nifty footwork and speed when she came on. Ohale, who made a few mistakes, completely frustrated DeVanna most of the time and earned an intentional foul from Ms. O'Reilly with a late kick to the ankle for her efforts. Despite being a long time Breakers fan, I found myself routing for Houston after they went down so early. Fun team to watch - tried to keep the ball on the ground etc. Didn't see the foul that caused the PK and there was a lot of bellyaching from the crowd but the shot taken was perfect. Post script - IMO DeVanna disrupts and causes errors - that's her style and the response from Ohale by the end of the game, was calmness and concentration on the play at hand while waiting for the second defender to arrive.
Another gutsy display by Houston. They are an easy team to root for, as a neutral. Boston needs to sign another center back ASAP. I think that much is clear. When I heard Anson Dorrance recommended Courtney Jones for the position, I was puzzled. She's more of a hard running, bull-in-china-shop attacker, yes? Not much subtlety or craft to her game. Those clumsy fouls and handballs that are innocuous further up the field are costly when you are a center back, as Boston have found out. Poor Whitehill looked so frustrated after the Noyola penalty. And who can blame her, trying to marshal that ramshackle defense. Boston gets an A+ for that stream though. Great work. Clear picture, nice smooth cuts to different camera angles, seamless replays, nice graphics. I defended the league last week, saying that only Portland and Houston had built-in tech infrastructure with their MLS stadiums. But Boston and Seattle have shown it can be done without the MLS connection. Even Sky Blue was decent.
To be fair Jones wasnt brought to Boston to be a CB. I dont know how much warning the team had about McNeil not playing and maybe they were counting on Anasi who they drafted.
They probably had less warning about McNeill than WNY did about Johnson. Boston needs to figure out how to fix their CB problem quickly, or they'll be in bigger trouble than they are now. Maybe a trade can be worked out with SkyBlue or Seattle, since those two teams seem to have an abundance of defenders.
They probably had less warning about McNeill than WNY did about Johnson. Boston needs to figure out how to fix their CB problem quickly, or they'll be in bigger trouble than they are now. Maybe a trade can be worked out with SkyBlue or Seattle, since those two teams seem to have an abundance of defenders.
I think Lloyd misses having Abby on the field. Last season when both were playing, a lot of the attention was focused on Abby, which allowed Lloyd to roam free and get shots on goal. Without Abby to draw that attention, defenses are able to focus more on Lloyd and shut her down. It also didn't help that Lloyd kept having to drop back to get the ball because Salem and Zerboni weren't winning balls.
Just watched the Dash/Breakers game... Holy cow! What. A. Match! For an objective viewer, it had everything you're looking for in a game, and some really quality goals to boot. Back and forth action - Boston going ahead twice before the Dash fought back to win it? Common! How awesome is that? Great first franchise win for the Dash, but also a lot of positives from the Breakers, as they dominated large stretches of the game. Also Noy0la's first goal was a thing of beauty - great buildup and superb finish. And O'Reilly had a monster game.
It was the best game over the weekend. The match included 3 lead changes throughout the game, and lots of other terrific play and intense action.
Personally I think this is whats going to make WNY and Carli Lloyd so much more dangerous. She will have to learn how to make do without Abby, and that can only be a good think for her. Greatness doesn't happen when good things come easy.
What are you talking about? Jones lashed out violently, there was no need for Souza to sell, that was a very hard foul and definitely not a dive.
I don't see coach Waldrum replace the entire back line, certainly not right away. If you watch Houston a little while longer, you will see that it is hard to dislodge Romero as right back. She is fast, she can defend fast players like O'Reilly, she can move up field all day long and she got skills. Between the 2 center backs, Ohale and Hein, one will stay on, most probably Ohale because she is tall, strong and fast. Did you see her cover De Vanna ? She is also tough, after getting kicked by O'Reilley she came right back on. She is still inexperienced but her mistakes can be covered by Engen. I predict Klingenberg to play mid. I think Sesselman is out for the season with ACL injury ? That leaves the back line of Sameshima, Engen, Ohale, Romero, that is my story and I am sticking to it.
Because she is ur girl and they wont do that to u. I think it looks worse than it was. I think Lloyds momentum just swung her arm around and she just caught her.
If she would have ripped the shorts off of her instead of just tugging the shirt, then it could have been a red.
She might be "my girl", but I wouldn't have argued one bit if Lloyd had been sent off for that. She was extremely fortunate to still be on the field, especially considering last season we saw Schmidt get sent off for basically nothing.