Preseason: Houston Dynamo v. Portland Timbers, Wednesday, February 5

This will be a good test for trialists and such since Portland is well coached, dangerous on the counter, has speed all around, and likes to press high.

So MLSsoccer.com will live stream this? How good is the stream? In the past it hasn't worked well on my laptop at home. Very interrupted and jumpy.

 

I have business in El Paso, Deming, Las Cruces areas. I might be able to see a match or two. It's a mere 4 hour drive to Tuscon from my hotel. We'll see, but if I do, I'll take some photos, and give analysis.

 

red's and yellows in friendlies already?

wow.

 

Had to be Collin.

 

hopefully the stream is decent enough to get a idea of how we look against a good team.

 

Blast from the past-where have you been?

 

if you guys have a chance, check out Bruin's feet. i paid extra attention to him at the Colorado scrimmage and i could of sworn they've gotten 'softer'. pretty good control in the box for a guy that big.

 

Good catch. I've been impressed with his touch, and on-ball skills many times. He has moves, and a speed that is deceptive. He may need to work on his nutrition a bit to stay lean. Remember last spring when Bruin, Boniek, and Sarkodie were combining on the right? Great football. Obviously his shooting has suffered since he went to the Gold Cup.

 

It's funny, but Bruin isn't the only forward to have hit a rough patch after the Gold Cup. Wondo, Jack McInerney, and Bruin looked poor since the tournament.

 

The kid is a young forward. His physical traits carried him into MLS and gave him reasonable success. Now he has to work on refining some of the finer points of his game. He has always been a very hard worker so I expect that he will bounce back this year. Plus, he was injured during the playoffs last year and played through the injury which shows significant heart and dedication to the team.

 

Frankly, I don't think any of the MLSers looked all that great upon returning from the Gold Cup. I don't know if they were worn out, or if JK asked them to work on things. As a golfer, you don't "practice" mid-round on the course, that is left for preparation. I think these guys ended up working on things throughout the season instead of doing what they were good at this past year. Some recovered quicker than others (Besler, Beckerman,) others took longer (Omar, Bruin, Wondo).

In addition, I think it is becoming a bit of a trend, that our guys do not look as good returning from USMNT extended play as they did before they left (Davis, Ashe, Bruin).

 

Marriage and working 70+ hrs a week. Finally got a office job and actually have time to post on a forum again. I go to the games with the wife and kid every so often.

 

Every preseason game can be caught on mlssoccer.com. They use the least amount of equipment possible for these games so it may be a lil shotty. at least these games are being shown. never would of thought this 10 years ago

 

well then you will have to tell that to matt pedersen and darrell bevell bc when I saw them yesterday they said all games will be streamed online

 

This first shift is very telling. With the exception of Hall it's players who are fighting for a contract (Holden, Chabala, Sito); fighting for sub minutes (Carrasco, AJ, Horst, Alex); or fighting not to be Pittsburgh Riverhound roster spots (Ownby, JJ, Sherrod).

 

Seone, Alex, and Chabala have looked good so far.

 

Ownby looks very energetic. Making good moves.

 

Shame no one was in the area to finish that cross he sent.

 

While Arena is down I'm checking out the DCU TOR stream... I thought the sun was bad in our game.

 

You see Portland's #10? That's 'La Gata 'Fernandez. The guy I kept going on about that would make a good partner for Bruin.

 

Sigi in the house!

3rd shift are your starters minus Brad, Taylor and Kofi. Love Giles at CAM. Finally!