The Crew come up about three minutes short of a complete Brinks job, but still get a point out west. Discuss.
To sum up: we don't look very good, YES!!!!!!!!!!!, dum de dum dum dum, I'm a bit concerned, OH SHIT!!!!!!!!!!! Thanks for the point Andy; oh yeah you too Meram.
Hesmer - MOTM and MLS Weekly XI with that performance. Good News - Almost get the win but settle for a draw on the road against one of the better West teams at the moment. Bad News - These kind of performances mean that Bob will probably not be seeing the door during the break coming up... so we are probably stuck with him until the end of the year...
Hammer was the meshugana. Crew should of have been blown out nine ways til Sunday. I will take the point on the road against a hot as hell San Jose team gladly.
Justin Meram may have just won the starting job until further notice. Once he gets his legs underneath him, he may turn out to be a game-changer for us. That goal was just amazing. Andy Gruenebaum was amazing tonight. When a PK save isn't even your best highlight, that tells you something. He's the hands-down MOTM. I feel worse for him losing his clean sheet than I do Columbus losing the two points. Tchani still sucks. Gehrig is still a liability. Gaven was kind of quiet tonight. Had some decent chemistry on some give-and-go's, but didn't have much around the box. Except for the one chance where his touch took a chance away from himself. Was Vargas out there? Way, way too many chances allowed. You can't allow 30 attempts at goal and expect to win. And Mirosevic on the other end can't pass that shot up when you're barely getting the ball. Dwight Burgess gem of the night: "Two-thirds of the Earth is water. The rest is covered by Andy Gruenebaum." It's a point. On to our yearly raping by Seattle.
Renteria didn't see the pitch as a sub, even though he was the only F sub sitting on the bench tonight. I'm guessing we'll see him in Seattle since he's rested.
1-1 is a very good result away to SJ . The defense and keeper were excellent overall. A 1-0 win for us would have been absolute robbery. a very pretty curler from Meram too.
Tchani is really bad. I a wonering why they would not put Duka in the middle here he is comfortable and moved Eddie outside where he is comfortable in the last few minutes? Where was Renteria. He has found RW's poop list I guess. Overall I thought the Crew controlled most of the game but showed no heart when it counted.
The subs pretty much astounded me. So did the fact that this was nearly three much-needed but completely undeserved points. Hammer was so awesome that it kind of pains me that he kicked the ball out of bounds. I know that everyone here hates Tchani. It's not that I like the guy much, but he showed me something in this match. So he'll clearly start for the rest of the season. Vukovic has pretty amazing composure. He'll need it, playing on this team. Are Milo and Meram (learn to pronounce the kid's name, please) being rested for our annual humbling? Will the Crew FO extend Bob's contract yet again on Tuesday night? Danny going forward as much as he did was ridiculous, and I liked it. Damn, is it hard to love this team so much.
The defense was pretty solid considering it is three guys with nearly no MLS experience and were facing one of the best offensive team in the league. If Marshall doesn't retire, I can't wait (and hope) to get him back after the international break.
The top two fundamentals are: Move your feet and keep your eyes on the ball. Shaun Francis needs to learn these after seeing SJ score.
Andy G. was outstanding. He saved us with so many key saves I lost track of the number. I thought Gehrig did well. He was pummeled all night but stuck in there under intense pressure Meram's goal was sweet, GOTW material. Vargas and Vukovic looked good. Gaven had an off night. Tchani is terrible. He blew two scoring chances and was terrible at marking and passing. One point on the road against a good team is fine with me.
You're not going to shut down SJ in their current form without both the back four and keeper making some good plays. Most teams in the league would be thrilled to allow just one goal against SJ right now. The defense and keeper both earned this draw. A win would have been gravy, but given our poor production up front the defense needed to keep the score down to get us any points, and they accomplished that.
Already so mad that I can't sleep. And then, from Craig Merz, moments ago on Twitter: And with that, I bid you all "good night." And f*ck.
Tchani is terrible, hope Duka is ready for 90 in the next week or two. Meram has proved himself a starter, see ya later Renteria, maybe if you put the ball on frame once every 10 chances you might have a chance of seeing the first team. Gerigh is a decent replacement until Marshall gets back, but that is all. Williams will have a fight with James when he gets back, they are both f*cking tenacious out on the pitch. I really like Vargas's hold up play, but I am pretty sure I can sprint 40 yards faster than he can, and I haven't played competitively in 5 years. Overall, I'll take a point in San Jose. Seeing Wondo and Lenhart both end up scoreless is a testament to the Hebrew Hammer, who is First XI material, if MLS still knows that the Crew exist. Next Wednesday we can expect our annual schelacking from Seattle, then we have to worry about the F*re coming to town. Let's hope the injuries do not get worse.
What an intriguing soccer chessmatch this game was last night--mostly well-played and well-coached! The Crew had a ton of good luck in the first half and then some bad luck at the end of the game. All in all, however, a fair result. Andy was all-world at goalie and, as his last name implies, a forest of green trees that yielded almost no entry to the hunters from San Jose. The Crew back line battled hard all game and were just outmuscled at the end. I thought the PK call was a little lame, but (from the referees perspective) had to be called. However, do we have two class wingers in Miranda and Vukovic? Our midfield play was erratic but generally very good. Tony is getting better but still holds the ball too long. I get the impression that he trying to think too much rather than let his instincts dictate his passing. Thank God we had an active Eddie last night. He makes a difference wherever he plays (even uptop last night during the second half), unless he starts to complain too much about being fouled. I was very interested in the play of Grossman and Duka in the second half. I thought Grossman did very well, although I would like to see him paired with Mirosevic. Dilly looked a little rusty but ran well and picked up steam the longer he was on the field. It is no mystery that the Crew's weakness comes from the forwards. I enjoyed Justin catching Bushie out of position on the Crew goal. I suspect that he could make that shot seven out of ten times in practice. However, the Crew usually looked dangerous only when the midfield moved up in numbers. If that is how we are going to score this season, someone really has to hold the ball. On one last point dealing with the last ten minutes when we were trying to lock the game up, it would help (I think) if Andy would roll the ball out to Miranda or Vukovic and let them distribute the ball up field. Just punting the ball over and over leads to that ball being jammed down your throat--exactly what Gordon did to us last night.
