1-0 aggregate, meaning a win, a draw, or a 1 goal loss where we score, and we go through. Big question is how Vermes is gonna have us play at altitude.
I'm afraid I might chicken out and not watch it... I'm already really nervous. Watching Sporting on the road really kills me sometimes.
Futbol Club is a nice place to watch matches. They will surely have the game on. Plenty of space and good food. I often stop by on weekend afternoons during the winter for lunch and watch La Liga or Serie A. One of the managers is a huge Real Madrid fan.
It's worth pointing out: this is as big a test as KC can possibly face in the CCL. If you guys survive, there'll be absolutely no reason to believe you can't go on to win the whole thing.
Yeah, there's no time to acclimate which is worrisome. There's going to be some burning lungs out there.
I really wish MLS would of gave us the Rapids this last weekend. It would of given us some time to acclimate.
I found it interesting that Cruz Azul came to KC last Sunday and trained here for a couple of days before the match. I thought that SKC might do likewise this week, but apparently not.
Can't recall I've ever heard of that working in any sport. Hope my memory just plain sucks. High of 84, low of 48 tomorrow in Mexico City. Probably a good thing the kickoff is 9pm. Hopefully most of the smog will have lifted by that hour. C'mon 2-1 defeat !!! Vamos !!!
Please for the love of God beat them tomorrow. Just progress so we can get this damn monkey off our back. I'll be rooting for you.
Thank you for the well wishes. Welcome aboard and happy to have you on the SKC wagon for this game! Please feel free to stay on board as long as you like - I know you'll jump off when we play your LAG (which I had hoped to be in the Semi's of this CCL, but alas that is not to be....). "If" SKC can get past Cruz Azul, it will be a definitive triumph for MLS as there will be no qualifiers or excuses for the victory over LigaMX. Namely: This will be SKC's 4th game in 12 days, just like CA (no excuse that "SKC took extra rest from MLS to prep for CA") The deciding game will be 1,700 miles away, at high altitude (both the fan atmosphere and the actual breathed atmosphere severely favor the LigaMX team) Cruz Azul is unquestionably the strongest team in Liga MX 2014 to date, and on form (no excuse that "MLS beat a weak/mid-table Liga MX team, or beat an otherwise strong team in a bad run of form") SKC will have at least 1, and possibly 2 of it's Best XI unable to play, similar to CA (no excuse that CA had less then full strength due to YC accumulation and/or injury. SKC will have the same). SKC will likely have 7 Americans in their starting XI (no excuse that "MLS just imported foreign players to win, US soccer/development/MLS still sucks"). SKC started 8 Americans in the victory at Sporting Park. An almost perfect storm of a victory, if SKC can pull it off in aggregate. And if SKC can somehow actually win the match and not just the aggregate, it would be a total victory. Having said all that, I think every reasonable person believes SKC is the underdog going in. I will of course be a totally unreasonable FANatic for the 90+ min after the starting whistle blows, as I've waited 19 season ticket holding years for this type of game. I'd be more than happy with a 2-1 loss to advance 2-2 on aggregate/away goal
The in and out approach is quite common in cycling as a way for flatlanders to deal with one day races at altitude so I'm not supprised SKC is going about it this way. I think most research has shown that if you don't have several days to a week before an event to acclimate to altitude performance suffers less if you just get in and get out.
LA losing to Tijuana means if we make it out of Mexico City alive, we face Tijuana. With Toluca in good position on the other side of the bracket, the road to a CCL Championship may very well be through three Mexican clubs. Can you even imagine how epic that would be if we beat three Mexican clubs to win CCL for the first time in MLS history?
Well Simon Borg thinks we have a good chance to advance...... so let's just say my confidence has never been higher.
You could beat Tijuana. Honestly, if we hadn't started Leonardo last night, we could have beat Tijuana.
Ugh. We are. I wish Borg would just keep his mouth shut on predicting SKC v Cruz Azul, or better yet, predict an Azul blowout win. Borg has a recent 100% WRONG track record on SKC in 2nd leg/last game of knockouts. For eternal reference: Simon Borg: SKC v. NE 2nd leg 2013 MLS Conference Semi-Final - Draw 0-0, NE advance "Unless they start their most experienced scorer, Claudio Bieler, and park him in the Revs penalty area, Sporting will continue to struggle in the goals department against a Revolution team that has shown they know how to pack it in on the road." DRAW 0-0 (SKC loses on aggregate). Actual result, Bieler does not start, SKC gets 2 goals w/o Bieler to force Extra time. As a late 2nd half sub, Bieler did score the game winner in Extra Time, SKC wins 3-1 (series 4-3 on aggregate) http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/artic...-split-sporting-kc-new-england-revolution-sho Simon Borg: SKC v HOU 2nd leg 2013 MLS Conference Final - HOU 1-0, HOU advance "We know what to expect – Sporting will be on the offensive, but they'll have little space to operate and the crosses will be easy pickings for the Dynamo backline. Despite likely missing key players, the Dynamo will still have enough to nick a goal. Sporting Park heartbreak, Part 3." HOU 1-0 (SKC loses on aggregate) http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/artic...-fail-come-consensus-tight-eastern-conference Actual result, SKC had plenty of space to operate partly due to HOU missing Ricardo Clark. Dynamo do nick a goal, but SKC scores 2 to win 2-1 (and on aggregate), with some nifty plays up the middle. Simon Borg: SKC v RSL 2013 MLS Cup Final - RSL 1-0 and Champions "RSL have found their groove and are playing the best soccer of these playoffs. If Portland's press couldn't stop them, neither will Sporting Kansas City's. In what could be Jason Kreis' last match, they're playing with a purpose and without pressure. They get it done." http://www.mlssoccer.com/mlscup/201...can-mlssoccercom-editors-find-consensus-final We all know what happened in the "Coldest Game Ever Played in MLS".
I was really, very surprised by how soft LA's defense was last night. Seriously, its like they weren't expecting that onslaught. A mentally unprepared Bruce Arena team was strange to see. I think LA having the weekend off may have hurt them. Its not like they had to travel far. Also, that field played like it was sprayed down with Stick'um as well. I hope to Hades Sporting don't come out so flat. I don't think they will, but a Cruz Azul team turned up to 11 still scares the bejeezus out of me from a speed stand point. I actually think sitting Collin for Opara is the best idea. Ike is faster, has already seen CA, and I cringe when I think about an early Collin "professional" foul. Though, strange as it is, Collin seems to play better on a yellow. Big game.
Agreed. We saw a dialed up CA team from the 18th minute on in our home match after we scored. CA looked faster, were physically challenging everything, had significantly more possession, and honestly we were somewhat lucky not to be scored on at home. Having said that though, SKC now "knows" what CA can and will bring tonight, so unless CA has yet another level of intensity (and maybe they do) the shock factor hopefully won't hurt us, and I'm hoping PV has the team ready to absorb an even higher level of CA intensity then last week.
Riley was terrible too. Gonzalez was only a little bit better. De La Garza was the only one playing on that back line that should be proud of their performance. Terrible all around though. I think LA could have done better which is what is frustrating from a purely MLS stand point.