Only caught the highlights; the build up play to the second goal was simply glorious. The penalty save on a terrible call was one of those defining moments in a season. Overall a good weekend of soccer for us, with games in hand over everyone but Seattle we are poised to make up ground.
In a way, Sarvas seems like Bruce's kind of player. A generally good player who doesn't have a specific position. IMO, his best fit is at AM which means that he spells Beckham. Otherwise, he's a more attacking/less defending version of Stephens, which means that he's good depth but nothing more than a situation sub. The one thing I really liked about Lopes was his defense on set pieces. I've come around to the position that we really need one tall central defender, so a long-term plan of Meyer and AJ isn't going to work. I'm not sure what is wrong with Buddle. He made a good run on Landon's goal, but he just doesn't seem able to work with Keane. The announcers were describing him as a bruiser who wore down the defense, which is fine, but that's what Alejandro Moreno does and you can get that kind of player cheaper. I don't remember that being his role when he had his good year here. I think he plays better if has someone else to do the hard work and he is left alone to make an individually great play. I don't remember most of his goals coming from combinations.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i49k3R-f1MA"]GOAL: Beckham, Magee force Rapids own goal - YouTube[/ame] [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBftqck7Xr4"]GOAL: Landon Donovan and Robbie Keane connect to seal the game winner - YouTube[/ame] [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yycGBE_5YYE"]Postgame Interview: Josh Saunders - YouTube[/ame]
If you are in LA, it's on Directv on channel 56 or something like that. I watch on Directv from LA. It's one of your local channels.
Hope that the penalty gives Josh a huge boost of confidence. That finish was interesting to say the least. i thought we played a fantastic first half. This is a really solid result. You know the PK is bs when the homer of homers Marcelo Balboa admits it was a horrible call. Go Kings! (oh wait, wrong sport.)
We are playing better as a team and got a win on the road. Huge for the team psyche. The defense did enough. Still a work in progress but gettiong better. My one comment about Lopes is his tendency to over commit and misjudge some balls. Despite all our attcking talent it is Donovan pulling the strings in the midfield to propel the attack. His one touch passing and vision are sublime. I'd say we are firing on seven cylinders but as long as the team continues to improve I'm happy. We are still in preseason form about maybe 1-2 weeks before the season begins. Light years from where we were two weeks ago. Slow and steady progress and we are movng up the table. Nice!!!!!
Love it as well!!! In the next day haze and watching the highlights, I have to say, that first 45 minutes we played pretty well minus a couple of defensive brainfarts. Then we got tired. But that first 45 gives me confidence.
Highlight Time Folks [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HE5O2HPgrVw"]HIGHLIGHTS: Colorado Rapids vs LA Galaxy - YouTube[/ame] [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IW4YD1dRb5Q"]Galaxy in Five: Colorado Rapids vs LA Galaxy - YouTube[/ame]
Well... I was at a party while this game was being played, so I was watching it on my phone on MLS Live, and missed a lot. My over all impression is that we continue to improve, but I'm still not convinced with Lopes. We're still giving easy scoring opportunities to our opponents (although, ironically, the Cummings goal was not all that dangerous despite all the errors that led to it... he misses that 9/10 times). I think our offense looks pretty good. I didn't think Buddle looked that bad, and we've got to remember that his strength is that he's a streaky goal scorer. We should expect quiet periods from him. If he gets off a couple of good shots, he'll start to pick up steam. I also was happy to see Saunders' play seemed more steady. I've seen several Montreal matches, and I think he's looked much better than Ricketts (for those of you who may be second-guessing that decision). The next three matches should be a test, but we need to come out 2-0-1. I think we can do it.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kY-a_o_7hXk"]Post Game Interview with Coach Oscar Pareja (vs. LA Galaxy 4/21/12) - YouTube[/ame] [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXWnC1cSKi4"]Post-Game Interview with David Beckham (Colorado Rapids vs. LA Galaxy 4/21/12) - YouTube[/ame]
Deja vu all over again....we've seen this script before. Anyone remember Alexi Lalas with the phantom foul against the Kansas City Wizards (yeah, they weren't the Wiz anymore at that point) in the last minute only to have Hartman save the PK attempt by Preki (oh how sweet that was!!!) and preserve the victory? Interesting note about that match is that it was the very first night game at the HDC ever....quite a memorable one (to me anyway). Opposing fans should note that throwing sh*t at Beckham just causes bad karma. Toronto fans felt the wrath and so did Colorado fans. Its funny that our boys stalled the kick but it was further delayed by some idiot in the stands throwing something at Beckham...a Rapids player cleared out the trash pretty quickly but I like to think those additional seconds cost Colorado a point.
My 2 cents on the match. I was able to watch the first half and listened to the second on the radio because it was date night. I was actually very impressed with the way we moved the ball around at times. Those times we clicked we just looked head and shoulders above Colorado. We also had bad spells but were able to hold it together. Obviously we are not 100 percent yet but I still think with the talent we have amassed if we click at 100 percent this team is above the caliber of most teams in MLS save for Seattle and Salt Lake which i consider almost even with us.
I remember the save and Hartman and that it was one of the first HDC games, but not the opponent and Lalas. I was sitting up above Kevin (in section 229 I think) and the whole stadium, including me, went absolutely berserk.
Said by every fan of every league in the world. Surely you remember just last weekend when Martin Atkinson awarded a goal to Chelsea in the F.A. Cup Semi-Final. It’s the nature of the sport, but I’m really pleased MLS has decided to be proactive in moving forward. The retroactive suspensions & fines and the stated commitment to goal line technology this year. I don’t think we’ve seen a Davies-esque dive yet this season, but I hope if we do the Disciplinary Committee metes out a suspensions & fines inline with the retroactive violent conduct fines. In regards to diving I want to see a minimum 1 game suspension with additional games based on the number of points gained/lost; e.g. the D.C. game last year Davies cost us two points, so his suspension would be a total of three games. Subsequent transgressions incur a 1.5 multiplier. You start sitting guys 3, 6, 10 games a season and diving is going to disappear real quick.
Looks like Keane decided passing the ball to anyone whose initials are not LD is a waste of time. What'll he do when Donovan's out?
I agree that it's in all leagues but the MLS certainly see's poor decision more often than the other major leagues. Just look at the last world cup, there wasn't a single american ref, that's disgraceful for how big our country is.
I’m not sure World Cup participation means much of anything. India, Russia weren’t represented either. China only had one official. Howard Webb, the cream of the crop according to FIFA, should have sent DeJong off midway through the first half. I’d need to see some facts before asserting MLS officials make more mistakes than those in other leagues. We tend to remember recent transgressions and usually those in which we are the aggrieved party. Not a weekend goes by in the Premiere League where there isn’t some officiating controversy penalties give or not, red cards give or not. Again as a Spurs fan you should recall the blatant stamp on Parker by Ballotelli that should have seen him off and Spurs walk away with at least a point. There was a game against, oh I want to say Stoke away earlier this season where two stonewall penalties were waved away by the notorious Chris Foy. The game where Spurs were eliminated from UEFA by PAOK Defoe’s goal was for no reason whatsoever disallowed. Those three along with the Chelsea debacle are just four egregious mistakes by official in one season for one team; two of those mistakes have seen the team eliminated from Cup competitions and two have cost Spurs 6 points and likely a Champions’ League spot. Actually to be fair that’s four egregious mistakes that hurt the team, there were games where poor decisions went in our favor, but as if to prove an earlier point I don’t recall the specifics.
I love how furious Beckham was with the penalty "which should have never been one" that he refused to talk about it anymore because he knew he'd say something nasty about it, again. I'm sure the Ref got a lot of it from him already when they were on the pitch. I wish he would talk about it though because I would love to hear what he really thought of it, especially would love to hear the things he said to the Ref during the game. Hahaha!