With that final whistle, the season is officially over. I have absolutely NO HOPE that we'll make the playoffs. It would take a miracle to make them. Simple as that. I'll still watch every game, but I'm expecting us to compete for the wooden spoon. But there is the 2013 Desert Cup . & Adu had a good game.
long-distance boo for U. OK, now that it's done: Game just shows that Philly doesn't have a squad capable of competing week in/out at this level. I know some keys were out......but Hack played a good # of guys this FO was counting on going forward. Uh-Uh. No way Josue. I'm ready for a "Fire Sale." No sacred cows. Season was lost before it ever began. Complete rebuild needed. Too many holes, too many wastes of (Roster) space. Not sure I'd put my chips on this new coach either, now that the "bounce" has officially ended.
yea, obviously pick a couple guys to build the team around. Pretty sure one can build a team around someone like Hoppenot and McInerney. then dish out the rest
if they did that we'll be in for more of the same. I'm also with LuckyStriker regarding Hack. I think the honeymoon is over.
You had better look for more quality up front than that. Those guys might be contributors, but Philly isn't a threat if Hoppy's playing major minutes, and while there has been encouraging results of late, the jury is still out on Jack too.
true, then pick a guy worth keeping and build a team around that guy. Assuming there can be one of those guys
It's not a terrible defensive team. They're giving up 1.28 goals/game, which isn't great, but last year 2 teams made the playoffs with that mark. The Union are a terrible goal-scoring team, scoring just 1.09 goals/game, which is bottom 5 this year and would have been bottom 3 last year. If you're looking for players to build around, they're in the back--Williams and Valdes especially. Since they sunk money into Soumare you have to give him the time to find his feet in MLS again. He's been a quality player and there's no reason why he can't be again (look at what Rolfe did today. He was fantastic). That means giving Okugo major minutes in the midfield to find out if he can play there. I was never impressed with him there, but perhaps his confidence was boosted playing as a CB and he can give it another go. If you have those 3 defenders and a young, confident DM like Okugo, that's something you can build around. It might also be worth thinking about playing 3 in the back. Williams runs down the flank are impressive, but his inability to cross consistently or combine well with forwards makes them wasteful. You might be better off with a 5 man midfield with actual wingers.
There really wasn't anything good I could take from that match. That was dreadful. It concerns me that we have a half million dollar a year player and bringing in a player making less than a tenth of that is required at half time. That was a really bizarre lineup tonight.
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So what's our return policy on Columbia and Costa Rica players? Cuz this whole Pajoy, Martinez, Lopez, Perlaza, and Gomez (most the time) aren't really working out. And Freddy is Costa Rican too right? We can give him back too.... and is Torres hurt again?
but anyway time for some actual thoughts. season is over. time to look towards 2013. would anybody be legitimately angry if anyone besides valdes isn't brought back next year? macmath. sorry the mistakes just keep piling up. he shows potential, but I'm tired of all of these mistakes. can we please get a real, veteran goalie. Williams / gaddis - williams looked tired all game. put a couple of good crosses in. nothing spectacular. it appeared gaddis was covering freidrich on the fire's second goal..... WHY? WHY IS A 5'8" PLAYER COVERING A 6'3" PLAYER? COME ONE???? Okugo / Soumare - both could have done better on the first goal, but otherwise not terrible. Garfan - completely invisible the whole game. made absolutely no impact Carroll - awful game. played bad passes, didn't make tackles. had one decent header off a corner. otherwise one of his worst games Marfan - lost the ball too easily. had a couple of good shots Daniel - good hold up skills, wasn't the best but held possession well hoffman - awful first touch, wasn't very good. should have gotten a head on the fire own goal. his performance shows why he only played 80 minutes before tonight adu - great cross on the goal. spent the rest of the game rolling on the floor. he takes on 2 and 3 guys at once and it doesn't work out hoppenot / pajoy / martinez - none of them made really any impact.
Inside this country and out, revamping the scouting system which has by and large failed them should be a high off-season priority.
Friends, family, those of you with the deep pockets who got the cushioned seats between 103 and 109: We gather here to mourn the end of the Union's 2012 campaign, a campaign with so much promise, and yet so much failure. For many of these players, we cannot fault their efforts, but they just simply weren't all that good to begin with, and, much like so many other times in this town, we were fed a line about the "promise" of players, but nothing really developed. The season started with a dictator, followed by an upheaval, and then a story that turned out to be a tragicomedy where you have to laugh while watching to keep from crying (or falling asleep from sheer boredom). Although the season is not officially over, it's unofficially over, and it's time to start thinking ahead to the future. A future so frightening that you have to wonder what it will take to put something special together. We did have some great times: The US Open Cup run. Watching Nowak get run out of town on a rail. Watching Freddy Adu run towards goal like he's got concrete blocks tied to his ankles before being surrounded by two players, then doing stepovers because instead of running toward goal, he has no idea what to do, so he tries to slow play down while waiting for an open player before turning the ball over, and subsequently falling down like a child who has had his toy taken away, and looking at the assistant referee like, "Hey, I was fouled!" despite the fact that Helen Keller, Ray Charles, and Stevie Wonder could even see that he wasn't, followed by the lone chant of a frustrated fan that said, "We don't want you!" Arguments about "Soccer IQ". Subsequent arguments about what the hell that even means. The fact that you can't walk on the grass anymore when walking to and from Lot A. The fact that not only can't you bring bottled water into the stadium on 94 degree afternoon, but you can't bring a soccer ball in either. Late drama when we looked competent. Head-shaking moments when we didn't. People leaving early to beat traffic like we were the LA Dodgers. The guy selling beer and soda who looks like Mike Rowe. Porfirio Lopez. Jorge Perlaza. Allocation money. Fencing off Sections 131-133 when New York and DCU came to town. We certainly had some great times. How many people will be back next year? Not as many, I fear, but that's OK. That only makes the beer lines shorter for those of us who will be back. 6 home games left to go in the season. At least make them entertaining.
I'm a Freddy fan, though I've taken off the Fredua glasses a long time ago, and see him as a work in progress but I think the coach made a mistake today. The two clear chances in the first half were because of Adu. Yeah he made some dumb step overs and lost the ball but he changed his tactics and sent in an early cross and look what happened. The biggest problem with the subs is that they don't know how to effing play. They run around like chickens with their heads cut off, no rhyme or reason for half the shit they do, it's so maddening. Adu could be that someone with soccer IQ to set the table but he has many limitations, maybe too many. The biggest problem being that the ball needs to go through him, his teammates need to seek him out. Until he finds a team that's willing to give him the keys he will never flourish. I'm starting to think that his limitations may be too great for any team to take a serious chance on him. Although when he's been the centerpiece of a team he has always been spectacular. The U20 run and the Olympic teams. Makes me sad to think he's probably a bust at this point. Adu wasn't that bad today, he just looks out of sorts with moments of brilliance. Not many were better than Adu in the first half and many were actualy worse, way worse.. ( who the eff missed that sitter from 2 yards away? That's unforgivable for a pro soccer player) anyways you guys have a great stadium and awesome fans, I wish we still had a team down here in South Florida. I do feel the playoffs might be gone now too. Sucks.