WAIT - the final is not going to be special game E? is that correct - everyone will have to buy tickets to this game???
I have to disagree with this last part. Vilar might have been one of the worst goalies I have ever seen, and would probably take most MLS goalies over him. He was always way out of position and he's tiny. The US has been producing top quality goalies for a while now, so I doubt most of those goalies you mentioned would be the best in MLS.
I think the best way to describe Nyassi right now is that his legs are faster than his brain. That's not meant as a serious knowck against him, but his soccer brain will develop with experience. Right now you can see him get by a defender and there's some hesitation about what to do next (take on the next defender, cross, shoot, pass...). It seemed that for periods of the first half Atalanta had figured him out by having the midfielder take him on, then putting a defender 10-15 yards behind the midfielder ready to challenge for the ball when Nyassi pushed it past the midfielder and started his run.
Excellent point. That may really haunt us against the Dynamo if we can't get a goal from the run of play. Hopefully Taylor will see some action in that game. Castro tiring isn't surprising as he is coming back from an injury and needs to work on fitness. I was impressed by Nyassi's back-tracking as that seemed to be a weakness early in the season. He really gave Atlante's defenders fits as they could only stop him when they got three guys on him. Nyassi needs to learn to pass a little quicker, but given how young he is, he has a lot of promise. I suspect at some point he may be getting a bigger payday across the pond with the Revs reaping the benefits of a transfer fee. Agreed with it being a all-MLS final. Special Game E is the CCL qualifier against Joe Public. You can pre-order, though right now it may be too late to get it mailed to you. I agree. Granted, he got a shut-out against Chivas, but that is because the bar and post saved his butt. In three games against the MLS teams, he got torched for seven goals. Of the goalies in the tournament, I think Pachuca's goalie would do well in MLS. The others, not so sure, and they definitely would not be the BEST by a long shot. Mike
I'm not sure you can do an apples to apples comparison between the goalies...from what I've seen, the mexican game is much more areal with longer range shots, you don't see a lot of goals scored off rebounds. the MLS game is more of a cramped penalty area with lots of caos...different skills for the goalie.
After watching the clip several times, I place most of the blame on the punk ass Mexican team's goalie. He alone knocked Heaps down, sucker punched Ralston I believe, circled around the pack and knocked Heaps down again. The punch to Albright came in from Albright's left side and he couldn't have seen it coming. It was a Mexican staff member that whacked him. I honestly didn't see any other punches thrown but a lot of pushing and shoving. Of our big guys, only Joseph got involved. Smith stayed outside the pack and big red was closer but not involved The goalie deserves a big fine for doing nothing but trying to ramp up the whole thing. Nobody went after him and he was involved with three incidents within a minute
I didn't see it, but they people around me did, becuase they were talking about it. I also saw Dougie get slugged in the melee. I saw Matt Reis up in an official's face off the field yelling profanties and something 'how could you let this happen?'
I can only pray I get the chance. Also, before our teams even kick off, I get a certain smug satisfaction from knowing there are twelve MLS teams out there rolling their eyes in disgust at yet another tournament final between f'ing Houston and f'ing New England.
I think Atalante got a total of 5 with 2 being straight up. We got one with Hot Head Heaps. It was on the match tracker last night. Maybe after video review there could be more? Man, they were such sore losers.
Watching the clip I did not see Heaps do anything but get knocked down twice and a lot of yelling. I guess that might make anyone a Hot Head
Some fat guy in a red shirt, on Atlante's staff, ran out from the end line and was pushing and shoving everyone. He was a real instigator, and should be suspended for months.
Yeah, But I would like to point out that it's not because of Soccer's popularity or lack thereof, it's that newspapers are all hurting from the new internet age.
That's funny, I think I saw the same guy come through the drum circle after the game. Then his buddy got choked out by the police. They never learn
i'm an FMF fan, and i've never been sold on vilar as a GK. he's mostly flash, in my opinion, and tends to try to make things more spectacular than necessary. chivas' GK michel, i believe, would be among the better keepers in MLS. calero and ochoa as well. as for last night's match, joseph was a beast. i'd never really paid much attention to him until this tourney, but he's quality. the african players are active and produced some scary moments, but overall i thought the match was less than spectacular and didn't think either team produced much to speak of. NE took care of business at home and that's that. i have to disagree with anyone extrapolating the relative strength of the two leagues based on any of this. i'm not sure how good atlante or pachuca are right now, as neither were overly good in the previous mexican league tournament. NE is a top MLS side and i would say that they'd compete well in FMF and probably would be in the top 5 or 6 in the table. the four wins by mexican sides in this tournament, however, are still four more positive results than the MLS has ever obtained in mexico. MLS sides beating mexican sides at home is really nothing new. anyway, the gap between the leagues has narrowed, no doubt, and it will be interesting to see where it is in five or ten years.
I just gave positive rep to GodofJebus, though I disagree with his assessment of the national teams. I think MLS fans & FMF fans can have a spirited rivalry without being dismissive or antagonistic--I'm happy to see this thread stayed a lot better than the one in MLS N&A. GodofJebus seems to know a bit more about the league than your ordinary FMF fan, and kept the punches up even when outnumbered, so rep to you, sir. We just keep winning games, huh? Pretty good feeling.
Vilar reminds me of an even less talented Fabien Barthez. He might make spectacular saves, on some occasions, but that's mainly due to him being incredibly out of position.
yeah, and occasionally he'll come off his line and grab the ball with one hand, even under pressure, or chest the ball and settle to his feet when he's allowed to handle it. he's a skilled guy, without a doubt, but he seems to think he's a rock star. he does make spectacular plays, but i don't like the dude. the only Atlante player i really love is hobbit bermudez. it's a shame the dude's only like 5'3.
I have watched a number of these MLS - FMF games over the years and what has become clear to me is that the Mexican players go after MLS black players. I've seen it in Dynamo games with Clark, Corey Ashe, and Joseph Ngwenya when he was with the club and Joseph and Dube were clear targets in yesterday's match. I am an American of Mexican descent and I have little patience with what I see in matches like these.
I was at the game (sec 110, Row 31) with my wife and very tired 9 year old daughter. I THOUGHT I saw the fat guy in a red shirt run up on Kahno, put both hands on his chest, and shove him back a foot or two. Kahno put both hands up with a kind of "what the f***" look and the guy did it again, both hands, SHOVE. Kahno put the arms up again and started yelling at the guy who did it a third time after which a Rev's coach/staffer arrived and/or Kahno started walking away (not sure which happened first). I did notice that by the time the Atlante players were finally starting to walk off Kahno was standing at mid-field waving good-bye which under normal circumstances would be pretty classless but given what had gone before... Anyway, I haven't seen anybody else mention it so maybe it was seeing the Albright stuff and mistaking him for Kahno but I'm pretty sure this all happened after/away from Chris's fun which took place in and around the middle of the scrum.