Yeah, there really wasn't anyone on the bench to help out. I would've entered stertzer with grossman to try and clog the midfield, but at that point I'd really just be tossing bodies into the mix. (Like a certain team from SJ) Salcedo... uhm, What the hell happened?
I don't like that we lost 2 points that were in hand, giving up a 3-1 lead. But, if at the start of the season, before the team got on the plane to LA you had been told, "RSL will come back from the 2 game California road trip with 4 points in their pocket" you most certainly would have said, "I'll take that with a smile!" It is only the circumstance of losing the 2 points that were in hand that has you pissed off.
The ref was not calling much of anything. We had multiple tackles from behind not called against us as even fouls, much less cards given, throughout the night (many on Lenhart). While the ref called it differently than many would like, he called it pretty fairly, IMO.
Obviously, you object to the religion of business in the USA: Positive thinking: Get it or get fired!
What the hell happened is our new head coach kept a target striker on the pitch up two goals when everyone in the stadium and on television watching knew RSL was bunkering. First sub at 60 minutes should have been Garcia for Sabo, or grossman for Sabo. RSL needed to either bunker with a strong midfield or force San Jose's defense to stay back and respect a dangerous attacking player. Instead all they had to do was casually keep track of Sabo who might as well have been picking mushrooms like my nephew did at age 4. Total screw up by our rookie coach. Let's hope he learns.
Yeah, worried about Allen. That falling-on-leg thing looked like a high ankle sprain thing. I hope there's no break.
Just like last year when we were told that we should be happy that even though we had great opportunities at all three major trophies, we did even win one. "Well we didn't expect to really contend for any, so you should just be happy we did well." Or the year before where we lost in the first round of both the cup and the playoffs. "But we set records for attendance and total points!"
Ehhh, Allen came on to be the last minutes keep away guy and it didn't work out so well. Not sure Garcia would've fared much better with how SJ was defending. I find it odd how intent you are on putting this loss tie on Sabo's shoulders. Everyone was tired, not just sabo. Everyone was doing a poor job keeping the ball, not just sabo. What did Sabo do to make us concede besides not having a mega dp salary? Like, sure he had a pretty poor game, but you seem to think he's the sole reason everything went to shit and I just don't get it.
Just rewatched the final 20. We are fortunate we didn't out-right lose. They had crazy good ops on goal. We were just ragged. Fitness, substitution, room for improvement.
Uggh.. Just finished the game on my DVR. I felt so freaking good the whole damn game and then the end happened.
Felt the need to come on here to tell you that RSL players lying on the ground for most of the second half bit you guys in the ass. The soccer gods are real. And that flop when Koval got up was hilarious. as that Sabario? Anyways, good game, you guys shouldn't have bunkered at the end and you should have took advantage of our 3 man back line. Good luck this season. P.S- Romando is God
Agreed, just annoying when the way the ref chooses to call the game so clearly and heavily favors one teams play. I hate, hate the SJ attitude of fouling every time knowing that the ref won't actually call all of them.
Few comments; people here have really strong opinions on Sabo and Gil. Lot's of hate going on for those two. Personally I can't say that they were significantly better or worse than anyone else. With one exception, Sabo absolutely does not even try to defend on set pieces. I get being a bit lazy as a striker and picking your spots, but defending a set piece should always be a spot that demands full attention. People here like to criticize what RSL did or didn't do without giving much attention to what the other team did. It is hard to keep possession with the type of pressure SJ was bringing at the end. I agree that Garcia for Sabo could have provided the pressure release we needed, but JC hand was forced with the Maund sub, and tried to use Allan like last week, but it didn't work so well. There is nothing wrong with Salcedo, he just is not good against balls in the air. Sadly Borchers isn't anymore either. Borchers used to be but I think his age has effected this aspect of his game the most. He just doesn't get the elevation he use to. Salcedo had some great reads and stops on a few balls that were played on the ground. Right now I think our worst CB pairing is this one, because both players have the same weaknesses and strengths. Can't help but wonder how this game would have looked with Schuller in there.
I think we would have win the match if Schuler had played. He's great defensively but also proven to be lethal in the attack. He could have been the pressure valve we needed during the second half. But that's life.
Are you kidding me? Koval straight up hits him in the face with his head. If you really want to talk about flops, then look to your boy Lenhart. If you actually pay attention to his game, you get one of two things: If he's able to make a play, he'll make it. If not, then odds are he'll look to go down with little to no contact hoping for a foul. Nearly every time. He's a straight up average player that looks better because he'll flop around and occasionally get you calls in dangerous spots.
This is one of the times I'll agree with you. If you're going to pull a forward and try to play defensive, then your best bet is to take out the slower player. There's no sense in keeping in Sabo, because he's not going to do much on an island with the defense, and he doesn't have the speed to run onto most clearances. A far better choice is to either leave Plata as the lone striker, or have him drop back into a 4-5-1 mid, while subbing Garcia who has the speed to beat a defense on those long ball clearances. I also feel like we should've kept Mulholland on, and either took out Gil or Grabavoy. I felt like he was the worst player to take out, as he was doing a good job in possession, which is something we sorely needed. When are we going to learn we're one of the worst team with a bunker? We almost never close out a game when we go into an early bunker, and when the opponents tactics boil down to, lob the ball into the box and charge players down, we're bound to get scored on. Wondo's goal should've been offsides. It went off of Bernardez's head, at which point Wondo is offsides. Gordon just charges Rimando so he can't make a play, and we give up the 3rd goal. At the end of the day, we only have ourselves to blame. We should've kept playing our game, and not bunkered.
Ja, Ja, Ja, the 14 fouls that RSL committed should have been counted as 8 and the 8 fouls that SJ committed should have been 14. The referee is so bad. Have you any referee training at any level ? May be MLS should make you RSL's games at Rio Tinto. LOL. BTW, those guys who were keeping statistics must also be equally bad, did Quakes really outshot RSL 27-12, it must be the other way.
LOL are you really trying to quote the stats? RSL fully outplayed SJ in the first half. Both teams had 10 shots, while RSL had 7 on target, and SJ only had 3. I would EXPECT you guys to out shoot us in the 2nd half when we played far more defensive. The sad thing is, out of the 27 shots you had, only 10 were on target. RSL was still 8 for 12 in total. You got lucky that you weren't called offsides on your first goal, and lucky that the ref was buying Lenhart's bullshit. Go troll elsewhere.
Why are Earthquakes fans so dumb? Are they paying too much attention to their team's broadcasts? Are they really so excited about dropping two pints in their home opener that they feel the burning need to gloat in another team's forum? And a question for our team, why on earth did Salinas get so many chances to serve balls into the box?
Especially when we are playing a team that specializes in lobbing and crossing for headers taking advantage of their height and physical play for in-the-box scrums. Quakes played their game in the second half, particularly in the last 20 minutes. The subs didn't increase their risk in going that direction. As pointed out by dozens, Mulholland was the wrong guy off. I thought at the time that he'd been getting much less of the ball and that maybe the coaches knew he was gassed and that it explained the Quakes increased possession. But, that was missing up cause and effect, because the Quakes possession increased due to their willingness to risk pushing forward, Mulholland getting less of the ball was due to that. We needed to increase their risk to their tactical choice by putting in a speedy forward. Garcia was available. Take out the least effective midfielder and shortest, Grabavoy. While Sabo sucked, he has height and is supposed to be helping on set-pieces. So, you can't take him off unless you have similar height to put back on. We lost height with Maund going out, no fault on coaching for that, it was what it was. The Grossman for Mulholland sub was wrong. Grossman for Grabavoy would have been better, IMO. Even then, even if the coaches had done everything right, I think it is very likely the result is the same. Quakes have specialized in Goonie soccer, they make it work. Few teams are able to deal with so much height and so many excellent crosses/lofts into the box for 20 minutes of soccer, 20 minutes of sustained pressure. It's ugly, but it is effective.
If you go to their board, they are happy to see their new crew is not so over the top in homerism compared to last year.
Little clarification, I put this loss of two points more on the head coach than I do on Sabo. Sabo is the last guy you want on the pitch as a lone striker when your club is trying to preserve a two goal lead. San Jose had no reason in the last 20 minutes to fear a RSL counter. Their was no threat of one, so those backs simply pushed up and pinned RSL back. Piss poor decision from our rookie head coach! I think he will learn from this one.