You're putting too much of the blame on Bouna. Dallas was absolutely his fault, and he gets partial blame for the first goal against Columbus, but other than that he's been left out to dry by Erpen and Ihemelu. And its a world-class save to stop TFC's goal last week, not one that a keeper should get to 100% of the time.
whats the deal with Petke again? isnt it a foot injury of some sort? has he been training at all this year? is there anyhope of him coming back? i hope this isnt the way he ends his career. hes been a solid pro for 10 years in this league.
I know Bouna has made some great saves and will continue to do so. But I do think he's going through a rough time right now. That Dallas game alone was a big downer for the whole team and the first goal against Columbus was crucial: we're not chasing the game without that. Admittedly he never should have had to deal with that one-on-one situation. And I'm definitely not leaving the defense out of this. I just think midfield and attack has looked pretty good over these last 4/5 games. As for the TFC goal, do take another look at it. He's lining up the wall to protect the left side of the goal and stationing himself to the right hand side meaning that he's got that side. It was a great strike but from 35 yards and didn't appear to have one of those 'new ball', last second swerves to it. I really think he has to have that. Looked like he never got his feet under him.
You talk a lot of sense. You should post more often. If you sat Bouna and Casey down right now and talked to them I don't think there's any question that they would concede they haven't been at the top of their game recently. The only way I saw Toronto scoring was from a set play. It was a good free kick, no question, but I don't think it was unstoppable. Its impossible to prove, but I reckon its about 50-50 that the Toronto keeper - and the Columbus keeper - would have kept it out.
I reckon Bouna had his confidence shaken from the national team duty or upon return. He seems to be settling back down.
I just pulled up the goal. From Bouna's point of view he is covering his left side. When you look at the strike, the ball does start to Bouna's left. Bouna makes a step to the left and the ball does start to swerve to his right into the up 90. It would have required a world class save. Barrett struck the ball perfectly. I think that part of it could have been when Bouna came back FFC bitched about Bouna not calling him while he was with the nats and threw him under the bus.
Had we passed on Gibbs, we would be on top of the allocation order. Word is that Benny Feilhaber is coming to MLS. We could have had him instead. According to Ives..... "U.S. Olympic team midfielder (and part-time karaoke singer) Benny Feilhaber is in talks with Major League Soccer about a move that could land him in the league with the New England Revolution. According to sources familiar with the discussions, Feilhaber and MLS are in talks over a three-year deal that could result in Feilhaber joining the Revs, which are currently holders of the top allocation in the MLS allocation order after Los Angeles recently put in an allocation claim on U.S. midfielder/defender Eddie Lewis and Colorado claimed former U.S. national team defender Cory Gibbs."
Where would we play Feilhaber? He is better than some of our midfielders, but is it worth paying him what he would require to upgrade an area that doesn't really need help?
I'd question picking Benny. He definitely has upside but he has a reputation of being a cocky mother ********er. Is his heart really going to be in the MLS or simply waiting for his agent to find another gig in Western Europe? I don't question his skill. He'd improve the mdifield. And one can argue it's the coach's job to manage the players, to find ways to motivate them and get the best out of them. So his attitude shouldn't be that big of a deal. I'm a little excited over Gibbs. I would be more excited except for his long history of injuries. And his stint with FCD, the super skirts, wasn't horrible but for the dollars shelled out wasn't great. God knows we could use a steady head back there (we miss you Petke!!!) but if he isn't healthy that could be a lot of $$$$$$ being used up just to keep the physio busy.
I with you ...... at this point, Gibbs is an good addition for the Rapids. We definitely need consistency in the back and I'm thinking his longevity in the MLS is greater than Petke.
If he does play, will it have been Gary Smith's decision? Or is FC still pulling the strings even though he is away?
If you don't notice a defender or a referee, then they did a good job. Aside from a dumb foul late, I didn't notice Cory last night.
I wonder how many quality MLS players would publicly proclaim they never want to play anywhere but MLS? I'm sure there are some, anyone know of any?
Getting back to Bonji's point, yeah, it's a crapshoot. The fact is MLS, for many of the good players, is a stepping stone to the big leagues. Hopefully that will change over time, but for now it's a reality. In MLS you want good players, but not so good that they can get a better job elsewhere
I believe he did, yes. Maybe not explictly but he signed a very long contract with MLS at a time when most people expected him to make the jump to Europe, and when he talked about the contract he talked about how he wanted to stay here to play in MLS and work for American soccer. You could also add in the likes of Tab Ramos and Marcelo Balboa, who came home in 1996 specifically to play for MLS instead of staying in Europe. That was an unique circumstance though, given that they were helping to found MLS.
I guess I should have put asterisks on my question Maybe I should have included: * The "public proclamation" doesn't count if they already tried elsewhere and didn't cut it. * They must actually have the option, i.e. be good enough, not injured or collecting social security