The game looked great and exciting until Bill's red card. After that, the effort was not there. Ben looked quiet and PISSED sitting on the bench. The midfield and offense has been improved this season, but the back four still needs major work. I expect some new faces in that starting XI this weekend. Bosko should have stayed in and ran his way into match fitness, but I understand the tactical decision.
Besides Willis and Korb that will be necessary due to red card/injury, who do you expect? I suppose we could give Salihi a shot at starting, or Neal or DeLeon for Cruz. Other than that, I don't know what other changes are needed.
I would like to see former Rapid Vienna teammates Boskovic and Salihi together on the pitch for at least one half.
For me, the big mistake by Hamid was is initial hesitation to come out. I'd have to watch it again, but it looked like he would have won the ball if he came out earlier. There appeared to be a clear moment of hesitation that cost him. He didn't seem mentally prepared to play sweeper-keeper. Some here suggest that Jakovic was making a run to recover, but I don't recall any DC defender being any where close to Kandji (or covering the goal) at the time of Hamid's challenge. I suspect this (no help in sight) may have influencd his decision to make a desperate challenge. Bad decision. I agree that it would have been better to concede the goal rather than get the early red. That being said, WTF happened to the defense? Sure, Hamid f-ed up but come on that was a criminal lapse in defending. Was the back line playing too high at that instant? Miscommunication? Did Russell make overlap run and get caught out? I was watching on Galavision and didnt record, so I can't watch the sequence again. thanks.
My issue with the Kandji play was they never showed a replay to see if he was onside. It was a mysterious non-replay a la DeRo against New York (in New York) a few weeks ago. Does anyone have any video of the play where we can see his run? I am not saying it was definitely offside or onside, just that I couldn't even tell.
I only saw it live once and a couple replays later, but I didn't question it much, mostly because he appeared at least close to even and it was a pretty early ball played in-- which is also why there probably isn't a good replay. Many times good early balls leave the receiver out of camara zones.
