BTW, I found out this weekend that the Rapids were alerted to Piermayr by Terry Cooke, who served as his U.S. based agent/liaison/whatever in his dealings with MLS.
Damn. Post the video with no sound, no comment, and that title. Kind of feels like a dropping of the mic. A throwing of the gauntlet. I like it.
We will just have to disagree. I would have thought that Buddle's run in the 94th minute of the Toronto game after he gave the ball to Brown would have dispelled any issue about his work ethic or fitness. Buddle is almost always marked when he is in the box and he usually makes very intelligent runs which sometimes requires him to hang back. You can't expect anyone to receive the ball at midfield, play it forward and than out run the ball to the box. Interestingly Wondo came back to help at midfield ( didn't do as good a job as Buddle, Brown or Sanchez) and was not visable in the box. Do I wish Buddle had Sanchez's work effort, you bet. I know there are times when he jogs and I think he should be running, and I know this was a big issue last year. This year --no. I usuually replay games during the week. Take a look, and I think you'll see that he makes the effort to be were he needs to be.
You have to give O'Neill credit for not doing anything in retaliation because he was going to be the one punished if he did since the ref missed Gordon's elbow. As for Jahn and Watts, Jahn keeps his elbow down and tries to go shoulder to shoulder, just his shoulder is at the same height as Watts head. I think a red was harsh for that one. If I were the DisCo, I would rescind Jahn's red, and give Gordon at least a 3 match ban.
I wonder if the intent behind the video is to prompt the DisCo to take action against Gordon … that was a cheap shot
I would not; I can see how it was seen as a dangerous play. This wasn't a shoulder-shoulder play where you're trying to get a guy off the ball. This was a free hit with very little chance of winning the ball that ended up hitting the guy's head. I don't think that he was intentionally trying to hit the head but he did hit the head nonetheless. And he he did seem to be trying to lay a hard hit on Watts. I don't think the practice of allowing shoulder-shoulder contact should be license to lay true hits on people. (Cf. Bunbury's yellow card shoulder-shoulder hit on Moor in the 2011 playoff leg at DSGP. At least, I assume the YC was for the hit and not dissent or something.)
Agree with @Totoro on this one. Had Jahn actually had a play on the ball in that encounter then its a harsh red, but Jahn was late and took an added half-step to line up Watts. He didn't mean to go for the head, but if you're going to lay what turns out to be an off-the-ball shot on a guy, then you risk something going wrong and getting the red.
Gordon seemed to spend more time on tha ground than doing anything useful for San Jose. I was glad to see him and Wondo so thoroughly shut down. Also, I lean towards liking Piermayr at right back. There are always some instances with guarding subs, in this case Djalo, where you gotta change how you match up with em. I think after a couple initial breaks he wasn't so bad. Honestly I like what Thomas brings to tha starting 11 and having Wynne and Burch as depth is pretty awesome, as they would be starters on many teams. Using Watts as a D-mid had me concerned at first, but considering he seemed uncomfortable at times, he didn't do too bad. There were a couple instances where Drew Moor was talking to him, seemingly about positioning. But all in all he seemed to read tha game decently there and broke up some of San Jose's counters. He wasn't burned badly, didn't concede anything major, and was able to join on attack going forward. That look he had at goal was perhaps our best all day, nice to see him stepping up to shoot. Not sure what to make of our substitutions. I thought perhaps our third sub coulda been used to bring out Sanchez or Buddle, who both seemed to be slowing down. Maybe an appearance from Chavez, Hill, Mwanga, something! After about minute 70, where it was obvious San Jose was content with a draw, we coulda thrown everything we had in there. Nice to see a point still earned but as much as we dominated most of tha field, a win would have felt very deserved. I credit Bernardez and Goodson for being among MLS's best central tandems, they don't get enough respect. Also, attendance was lame. Even with Rockies and Avs games that day, rain, and a non-headline-grabbing opponent like San Jose, I was surprised to see maybe less than 10,000 show up. To end on positives: Powers was strong again, Klute looked pretty good coming back, and Vicente did too, congrats to him on his first kid!
I haven't caught up at the referee site yet, anything on either of those being orange or just plain red? One beef I have with the DisCo is the retroactive punishment benefits some team we may well be close to in points at the end of the season.
That's exactly how I feel about it as well. If Gorden gets suspended and the Quakes loose to let's say Chivas and Vancouver which helps those teams, but in a sense hurts the Rapids I don't like it - even if it is the protocol. What I'd like is for him to be suspended the next time the Rapids and San Jose meet. This could happen with a three game suspension
The Jahn incident most are saying deserved red, if for no other reason than if you go in with a hit like that your risking whatever might happen (such as a shoulder-to-shoulder charge turning into a shoulder-to-head charge). The Gordon incident is being seen as a red but with the hope of another view to be sure the contact that appears to be there actually happened.
All has been covered except to add that the whining and flopping and all around God awful behavior by Gordon and Wondo were pathetic to watch. I found myself wishing that Pablo were still playing to deliver a much needed message to both of them.
During the match I focused a bit on both Piermayr and Watts. Both were solid in their defensive responsibilities - except for when Djalo was one v one with Piermayr. Watts did break up a number attacks and was in good position. Serna is more than energy, he's smart with the ball and technically sound. I believe Bianchi stated he isn't fit for the full 90 at this time. I would guess that Pablo will have him on the pitch a lot this season.
That's Mr. Debbie Downer to you....but anyway, I don't care much about possession if it's useless and doesn't end in penetrating the defense. San Jose had better opportunities to win the game. It shows a lack of offensive quality. I'm happy with the effort from the team and I think that PM has done what needed to be done (solidifying defensive play)with the team to gather points. The post that identifies the pathetic number of shots from the attacking players is what concerns me. The goal is not to be the second loser or first loser...it's to win the cup and this team lacks the quality and offensive prowess to do it. Our supposed DP looks like he's wearing Clint Mathis around his waste and hardly anybody else that makes any significant money on this team is contributing offensively. The positive is that team is performing reasonably well (points wise) despite their shortcomings, but, as comprised this is not a contending team. Of course I hope that I'm wrong, but I don't think I am.
It seems like KC had a pretty good season last year w/o much offensive production and not much of what they did put in came from their attacking players. The salary cap and other 'fixed' league variables make scoring 3 - 5 goals/match by having strikers that make 8-figure salaries make slashing runs into the box to receive balls from mids also making 8-figure salaries impossible. On the other hand we can afford the players and strategies that make the other team have a hard time scoring.
KC had 47 goals last year, 8th in the league. 33 of them came from players MLS lists as forwards. NY had 58 goals last year, 1st in the league. 21 of them came from players MLS lists as forwards. Toronto and Chivas had 30 goals last year, tied for worst in the league. 14 and 17 of them came from players MLS lists as forwards. So compared to the top and bottom, KC got more from their forwards than the best or the worst. And for comparison they were better than our forwards as well: Colorado had 45 goals last year, 11th in the league. 24 of them came from players MLS lists as forwards.
Looks like noting additional for SJ from the DisCo: http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/artic...es-fines-columbus-crews-bernardo-anor-chivas-
Two games for slapping someone in the nads for Clint and NOTHING for elbowing O'Neill upside is head... I've eaten crazy pills.