Hamid was suffering from some severe cranial-rectal syndrome last night. He looked out of sorts from the first time he got near the ball. If it was the pressure getting to him, he either needs to man up or enjoy the bench for however long this playoff run lasts. And WTF is up with Najar? Was he trying to channel his inner Gomez? (Edit: I just read a previous post where someone else recalls the Gomez meltdown against the Fire. Seems like a hundred years ago) I hope the second leg is howler & meltdown free. It's one thing to play well and not get through to the next round. It's unacceptable to have a chance and piss it away because your head is up your ass.
I agree. He worked his ass off, he was swarmed every time he had the ball. There was nobody there for him. Random thoughts. Wow that atmosphere in the first opening minutes was just electric, I couldn't stand still...was pacing back and forth watching from the concourse. I paid particular attention to Korb, Kitchen...well basicaly to the whole team to see if there were any nerves evident in those opening minutes. I'm proud of this team and amazed by the fans--when we say Blackout we mean it. That was amazing. The roar was awe inspiring, the guys had to have felt it. We looked up a man when we were down a man...how long has it been since we've seen that? Seems I recall the reverse was true for a good long time. Settle the stadium question and this franchise has a bright future.
It was pretty frustrating last night. But it's in character with the season I guess. Hopefully it'll be a 'Ben's miracle substitution goal' wherever the Wednesday game ends up being or something.
I'm not worried about Wednesday. I pretty much expected a draw or a 1 goal win anyways. We haven't beaten anyone convincingly in ages. Hopefully this team just got over the playoff jitters. They have to believe now that they can play at this level. With just a little more composure in key moments they could prevail. As for specifically the Najar absence, I agree with what Olsen said in his post game interview ... Najar is irreplaceable. At least Red Bulls are not dangerous on the wing, so it's as good of a chance as Russell will get to win a matchup. This may also free up DeLeon to focus on offense instead of always covering for Andy.
Squandered opportunity but let's take it to the bastards on Wednesday night and come back home with a win.
damm*t Pontius, damm*t Hamid, damm*t Najar. I still fully expect us to win on Wednesday, but that game last night was just frustrating.
No yellow/red for the deliberate handball by Lade in the box. The Backpass? I mean 10 players on the field and the entire DC bench all raised their hands in the air... Also, which ref was it that rescinded a shown yellow which would have been a red recently in I believe a SJ game? Prolly not Marrufo. But the player was shouting (obscenely) at a teammate and the ref at first thought he was yelling at him. But changed his mind and took the card back. I missed the play live and watching the replay it kinda looked like Andy was firing the ball back at the metro player but Marrufo happened to be standing there. Still, no call to do it at all. Great game by Korb. Nice to see he got Le Toux dislodged from his back pocket before the game was over. Pajoy did as well as can be expected*, too. At first he looked to be overmatched by the tallest pair of centerbacks in MLS, but he managed to fight and win. Was it over the line? It looked like the AR signalled something by raising his flag straight up but was it for the phantom foul on Bill, or that the ball never completely crossed the line. From my view in the stands it did, but the TV replays were much less conclusive. Still, like Kyle Martino said, if this same metro team shows up on Wednesday, it's ours for the taking. Thx, Jay! *that's if you don't expect him to take shots or score goals.
To be fair to Gomez, we were down 3-0 in that second leg when he got tossed. Were they going to come back? Still, no call to do it at all. Thx, Jay!
who gets the start wednesday in najar's place? i think our options are: korb to right back, chabala at left korb to right back, neal at left korb to right back, woolard at left russell at right back none of these options feels very secure. chabala, woolard, and russell haven't had minutes in ages. neal has but isn't really a defensive player. russell always makes me nervous and you'd think chabala would be the most ready between he and woolard, but your guess is as good as mine.
While Chabala may be the most ready, he makes me more nervous than any of the other choices, including Woolard.
I'm not at all convinced that Najar meant to throw it at the ref at all. He looked surprised/horrified when it went towards Marrufo. I can't recall Najar ever losing his cool before; it just seems so out of character. Still, I would be somewhat surprised if he doesn't get an additional game off. That shitbird Mike Magee got suspended one game this season for throwing the ball at the ref.
championships and titles are won by strong play and minimizing mistakes and taking your chances well. Pontius misses a PK Hamid bumbles and the ball goes over the line Najar demonstrates that mentally he can act like a kid at times Marruffo was poor - but we still controlled our destiny in that game We had our chances ... I still think we look a much better team and can take them on Wednesday.
my son and I were in the mezzanine looking right down that line. It did go all the way over. He raised his flag as soon as he saw it go over the line completely. He was bumped into but there were multiple bodies involved and it could have been called either way.
That Lade handball was not intentional. The ball popped up at him from 2 feet away. The PK was called because the hand was so far away from the body the ref had no choice. As for the backpass it's a 50/50 call. You can interpret that it wasn't a backpass but a defender toe poking the ball away from Pajoy's path and it just happened to go in the keeper's direction
Not intentional? Lade's arm shot out and he practically punched the ball away. It certainly was deserving of at least a yellow. The other questionable calls, of course, were Pajoy getting wrestled down in their box in the second half, and Pajoy getting wrestled down in their box in the second half. The back pass? Even if it was just a toe poke that happened to be in the keeper's direction, it's an intentional play on the ball to a teammate. Granted, at that point in the evening the Red Bulls had demonstrated they've no fear of playing the ball at their own net, but still.
I conquer. His arm moved toward the ball-deliberate. It wasn't DOGSO since the ball was going away from goal, but deliberate handball is usually rewarded with a yellow. A second yellow gets you a red card. Thx, Jay!
I didn't realize this at the time, but caught it watching the highlight video. The handball leading to the PK was on Lade - who already had a yellow card (given in 23rd min), so if a card had been shown, DC would have had a man advantage for a while
That's a pretty partisan take. That Boskovic flip was totally unexpected and hit Lade's hand from a couple of feet away. It would be superhuman to intentionally handle that ball. The PK was for reckless positioning of the hand away from the body. As for Pajoy being wrestled down, that was a clear case of a player clumsily looking for a call. I actually laughed at both of them when I saw them in replay.
Amazing how you demonstrate complete lack of understanding the Laws of the Game on multiple threads throughout Big Soccer. You should be congratulated.
I didn't see it anywhere as egregious as you do. Lade would have gotten his second yellow at that point and while I would have been thrilled with it, it would also have been an incredibly harsh sending off.
Given Olsen's habits, I would guess 2 or 4 as likely solutions. I think defensively we'll be...okay, but going forward is when we'll really miss Andy who was often well ahead of the rest of the back line.