Sean Franklin @SFranklin5 We stumbled upon this merchandise...Gonna add this hat to dem Mitt Romney T-shirts. #go @ Century Link Fieldhttp://instagr.am/p/SM2LusG7iV/
I believe the team addressed this last year. They are not a team satisfied with winning conference championship. They only celebrate MLS cups because its the league champion. In other words getting there is not enough, they expect to win it. Love the attitude.
Also remember that in 09 we lost to 2009 they realized its not enough and only MLS cups will sooth their souls.
First: Big props to Seattle and their fans for bringing it. Seattle ALMOST came back from being down by 3, so I'll applaud them for their amazing effort. Second: IF I READ ANOTHER HANDBALL OR OFFSIDE WHINE IM GOING TO LOSE IT. Third: I liked the juxtaposition of my sweaty, nervous, early heart attack symptom'ed body with the teams nonchalant trophy lifting "celebration." Loved it.
Apparently, both Robbie and McKayla have the same opinion of the Western Conference Championship Cup: Not impressed....
The offside call was definitely a bad call and Galaxy got a break, but Seattle scoring 2 mins later rendered the call a possible/near non factor. If the goal stands then Johnson doesn't necessarily score 2 minutes later to make it 2-0. A different chain of events happens. Now if they're ahead 2-0 and have a goal wrongly disallowed late in the game then it's definitely a factor. I felt it was poor sportsmanship on Seattle's part attacking the ref at the end of the game. But the Galaxy would have likely done the same thing and emotions run high especially in playoffs and after a game like that.
This is the real point. It's unlucky, but by not punishing the behavior you'd be encouraging more deliberate attempts.
It's about 50 here right now, never got much into the 40s even (had to take off a layer after a few minutes as it was far more mild than expected) and the rain and slackened off by the end (you know, when all the green ponchos were flooding the exits). The muted celebration was 100% down to the fact that the focus is on Dec 1. Tough game to watch but the sounders were balls tired after the first 60 and it showed. Saunders came up with some big saves but I hope we see a more energized team at the HDC, I have no doubts we will. And for the record, beer never tastes so good when it's being flung over you by angry Sounders fans screaming conspiracy. The only thing that tasted better tonight was their salt tears.
Kinda felt bad for Seattle. Geiger's call was godawful in my opinion, and many of the bad calls were in our favor. And the PK, while probably the right call, was a little ticky-tacky. So I was kinda sympathetic. But then Drew Carey started going all Smurfy on the Twitter, and now I'm just laughing.
Therefore I'll take an early red card for Houston with 3 goals scored early and quickly...kind of the Kings way from Game 6 at the last NHL game that has been played at this point.
Thank God. It's 1am and I need to go to bed...but THANK GOD. Also, good googly moogly can Seattle fans whine, and whine, and whine some more. Guess what peeps? Don't lose 3-0 in the opening leg! Offside call was horrible, PK call was legit. You lost 4-2 on aggregate. Ok, EJ's goal counts...you lost 4-3 on aggregate. Oh, might have changed the game? Okay, we could have scored two after that. Jesus. It's like their god given right to be butt hurt. Yes the call sucked donkey balls. But you were losing 3-0 on aggregate. I don't know what else to tell you. It isn't a conspiracy, it isn't Geiger, it's your defense let in 3 goals in the first leg. I was very glad to see Robbie's PK which evened things out in the "but what if the goal counted" sweepstakes. Made everything a little better. This is why even though I hate that team I would MUCH rather have faced RSL in the Western final. Their fans tend to be more rational. Seattle acts like it's their god given right to go somewhere because 43K people attend a match. Kudos to the fan base, but MLS isn't around just for you. For example - the dude in the neutral thread who is comparing the "worst ever" PK call to Frings' handball in the 2002 World Cup. ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME???!?!?!??!? Who are these people? Whatever. Our team played a stinker. Meyer had a shaky first half, I have no idea what Gonzo was going, Sarvas had a zillion misplaced passes, Becks was out of sorts, Sean F had more success passing to the other team, and I had no idea where Magee was defensively for a good chunk of the game. Plus, I literally lost it at Edson walking for a good chunk of the match. Credit to Robbie Keane who worked his ass off. Literally. We badly missed Landon. He actually really is important to the composure of our side. With that said, MLS CUP FINAL BABY!!!!!!! We absolutely deserve to be here, and I hope we got the stinker out of our system. Houston is a different team than last year. We have to be prepared, and I want another MLS Cup! Also, love the qualification for 2013 CCL. I expect us to participate in that from here on out! Love the guys for at least trying. And kudos to them for a great season, and a great comeback. P.S. I once again am back to having no interest in Edson Buddle up top for the final. I hate to say it, but I agree with this: Josh Guesman @jguesman Can someone please tell Edson Buddle that MLS Cup is being played in Houston on December 1st? Please?
Also, credit to Hurtado for coming to shake our players' hands. Classy. Unlike several of his teammates.
It was cold and rainy. Before the actual presentation Bruce was circling his hand in a "let's get on with it" motion. They just wanted to get into the warm, dry locker room, I think. And, appropriately, their focus is on the only cup that matters.
I agree that the real problem here was that the team gave up three goals to your guys and gave themselves an uphill battle to try to get the comeback. The fans that have said that we would have won if not for that handball are completely discrediting that performance in the first leg. Had they not needed three goals it could have been a completely more open game because your boys would have at least had to be really doing some searching for a goal after that first one. I'm not saying Geiger and his line judges called a good game by any means. Besides that incorrectly called goal, there were quite a few bad offsides calls on Johnson where he was definitely on. Geiger was too inconsistent with his calling and never had the game under control. You guys should have gotten at least one yellow for some of the hacking too, and that foul on Alonso that got him the yellow was after the exact same thing had been done to him off the ball. That said, we don't go down three in the first game, all that crap is white noise, instead we needed everything to go our way. Our boys put themselves in that position, and I'm glad that at least our players acknowledge that. (I'm a Seattle transplant and I can attest to the fact that Seattle fans for the Seahawks, Sonics and lesser extent the Mariners seem to have this whole conspiracy thing in their minds.)
Btw Mike Magee is not only super-human, but he watches the other playoff games, including Geiger's reffing in the NY-DC game with the PK retake. Just before Keane took our PK, did you see Magee walk the entire edge of the penalty box, reminding all our players not to encroach before the kick?
I think it’s a few things. I remember in 2002 we won the Western Conference in Colorado and same thing there was no celebration. So I think it’s a little bit of: This isn’t the trophy we want We aren’t going to gloat in front of away fans, especially when we didn’t play well Damn it’s cold.