well, we basically have to win out now to advance. anything less than 6 points in our next two matches and we're cooked.
Lets all take a step back we all agreed that this was likely going to be the toughest game of the group stage. We didn't play well by any means, in fact as a whole we were quite horrible. However, we left losing only 1-0. We didn't get murdered, we didn't lose our cool, we didn't even get completely out played (we had 2 or 3 golden chances to their 1 or 2). Yeah, we've put ourselves in a rough spot, but we have 3 games left with 2 at home and 2 against what is supposed to be a weaker side in Tauro. We aren't out of this by any means. Fix the ship against Tauro with a multiple goal win and we're not only right back in this thing, but we're in the drivers seat. If I were a Herediano fan, I'd be pissed my team didn't go for the jugular once up a man. This was a reality check for the guys. One this team has needed.
Uh, all I saw was that the CB who finally got off injury is now injured again. . . f*ck this tournament. Let's stay healthy for MLS play.
All the talk of "we need to get 3 points here" was just stupid Yeah, only one team gets through, but that suddenly doesn't make it so you have to win each and every game. In this format, you should be expected to win at home - especially if you the Costa Rica champion. Only losing 1-0 with all the other crap that was going on was actually something the defense should be somewhat proud of. In this format, you have to dominate at home. Herediano didn't do that tonight, thankfully. Monterrey did. Say we win both of our next games and so does Herediano, when we play them on the last day, at home, all we have to do is win by more than a goal and we're through. Yeah, the positioning for KO rounds will be more difficult now (if we go through) but I just want to go through. We'll deal with who we have to later, lets just focus on the group stages, eh?
quite frankly i think we MUST win our next two matches against Tauro, i don't know if herediano will get a win against Tauro on the road, but we cant take that chance.
Agreed but we didn't lose on the road to a shit team tonight. We lost on the road to a pretty decent side. It's out of the way, we still have destiny readily in our hands. Lets go kick the living shit out of the cRapids to get that game out of our minds
I don't get the whole forcing a trade thing. Everyone knows you want out, so nobody is going to offer anywhere near the market value. You may even keep part of the salary. If I'm Orlando, I keep Howard and bench him the whole season. Sure, it's petty and doesn't help, but it may show that not all clubs can be bullied and held hostage by the players.
RSl did not get outplayed, in fact I think had Borchers not gotten sent off we would have seen a RSL win. Thank god the Herendiano coach lacked the killing instinct up a man and up a goal, he made some defensive minded substitutions and allowed RSL to get out of Costa Rica with only a one goal loss. Some thoughts: Sabo took a couple horrible long shots on goal that resulted in his own country men mocking him. He needed to think pass first and glory second. Will Johnson is great to love if you love hustle and Heart, but less so if you love good soccer by good soccer players. Sabo needs service and RSL could not get him any service tonight. I think Kries needed to pull Sabo instead of Espindola, at least Espindola can create on his own. Borchers should have known the center official was waiting to go red and should never have given him the opportunity. This thing is not lost, we will kill this team in October at home, in the cold, and at altitude.
I'll agree with all of 15's sentiments except one: this was a much-needed reality check? Then what was our Open Cup loss? And the 5-0 thrashing? And losing to the Galaxians? We should have had a LOT of reality checks by now. But seriously, we're positioned well in the league right now and we're definitely not out of this thing. So we really don't need to be contemplating throwing ourselves over the edge quite yet. Seriously, am I the only one who remembers the absolute futility of our first couple seasons?
I have to call BS on this. It goes back to another post I made, where I was flamed, but all of these games matter. Yes, a road game is hard to win - but that is the job of a team and a coach. At least get a point, which we could have done imo. Maybe it is the stupid college student in me, but I would prefer not to wait until the final exam to know exactly what is going to happen. And this team does that - time and time again because, and I am sorry in advance, I don't think this coach gets them ready to fight. They came out flat, and got burned: again. From minute one they were out of sorts. Only 1 team comes out of this group. The red on Nat was shit, but it is nothing new. He should know better, and Kreis should prepare the squad for the fact that a game on the road, in this competition, is not going to be called equal. I can't stand to watch the same mistakes made over and over again without wondering if it is not JK. He has been amazing, taking us from a joke to MLS champs, but maybe CCL is over his head for now? I think he can be something amazing but perhaps for now he has reached his depth. The subs seemed suspect to me, and truly the team seemed out of sorts. Again, hope I am wrong...
I don't think it's Jason. I've been wondering if it is CJ. The defense seems to have gone downhill since he took over. The offense has always been this way, but the defense is what kept us in the game. Since the defense has crapped the bed, everything else follows behind. Javi not being his old self doesn't help either. But I don't think it's as bad as it seems after a loss. When we take a step back and put everything in perspective, the team isn't as bad as it seems. We're in 2nd place in the league after all. We didn't get there because everything had gone to crap. We've just had our annual slump. Last year it was in May, the year before in June, etc.. I think Jason and co. can still pull it off.
Just some observations: The Mexican referee let Herediano do whatever they wanted pnhysically. However, I expected that. The Mexican referee gave us one Hell of a break by not calling a handball on Beltran in the box. It should have been a PK and unsurmountable 0-2 deficit. I don't come away with great distaste for Herediano as I have for all of the other international opponents we've played in CCL. Herediano was surprisingly average to below average in their passing game. They really didn't impress me in that regard. That right back for Herediano is one baller! I'm in agreement with georg. I think we get at least a draw without the red card. The red card was a bad call. I think Garson needs to seriously look at moving Olave. His early blunder almost gave up a goal. But, the biggest issue is his leg health. The chances of tons of playing time for the remainder of this season just don't look promising.
The Canadian referee could have justified adding 20 minutes to the end of the Arabe game, but didn't do it. I think Arabe got a break that only 8 minutes were added.[/quote]
Tactically we did pretty much everything right. In fact we used space even better down a man. Like many of you I'm of the mind that Herediano screwed up big time not pressing more. It's good to play skilled quick teams like that, I wish we did more of it. It shows our issues with speed and our issues at some positions. More than anything I blame our bumbling in the box. Morales, Espindola, Beckerman, and Grabavoy (who was in the right place a lot) just couldn't get their balance or right foot or anything right it seemed. So many of our free kicks and corners were just crap. Our field play deserved better than a 1-0 loss but it's not an unfair result. It's a loss, but it's about as limited in damage as we could hope. This is a quality side we should be able to beat at the RioT
While I wouldn't be terribly bummed about trading one of our CB's for someone younger, it's the fault of the coaching staff for rushing players back before they're 100% How many times have they rushed him back before he's been 100% only to reinjure it? While a CB combo of Borchers/Wingert isn't ideal, I'd much rather see that than watch another player miss another month or more because they were rushed back a couple weeks early.
Anyone worried about our centerbacks? The drop off in quality after our first two is deadly. Can we get some real help there, like a DP? Coach, spend some money!!
Considering our 3rd choice (Schuler) was playing better than Borchers/Olave I'm not worried. We just need to get them healthy and we wouldn't need to see Watson-Siriboe nearly as often. If we were going to be spending DP cash on someone, I'd much rather see it in the midfield or forward spots. At any rate we don't have the cap space for it so it's not really worth worrying about.
It's not CJ Brown's fault (entirely), it's not Jason Kreis fault (entirely), it's not even Garth Lagerway's fault (entirely). It's everyone's fault on the coaching staff/front office that assumed we could age 1.5 years as a group but still compete in this tournament. This team's age is catching up to them. It shows in the inconsistencies of our performances. From Rimando to Saborio, everyone has lost a bit in their game (from speed to touch to mental strength) yet we have all assumed (we're guilty of it as fans) that this same group could still get the job done. On some nights, they can. On some nights, we see the flashes of brilliance that were 2010 and early 2011. However, we are also witnessing the affects of stagnation and age. It's a double whammy of sorts. In keeping faith in our core group of guys, we've also completely killed any room to make moves for new faces. As has been said anytime we talk about making a splash for a player "well, who goes then?". We don't have the wiggle room to just pull a Chicago, for example, and say "here is some allocation money, we'll take Fernandez." This team rolled the dice at the end of last season by making small moves but still keeping the core together. Anyone with a soccer IQ larger than 1 would know that keeping the same group of guys together this long is risky business. It can pay off in chemistry and continuity. It can also cut back with content and predictability. To be sitting in 2nd place in the league suggests they haven't done an awful job. Small moves have helped in certain ways. However, there isn't unfounded reason for why the fans are constantly a bit worried and upset with this team. We aren't playing like what is being advertised. We don't look even close, at times, to the team we all want to be (2010). This coming off-season might be the biggest one yet for Garson. They can't roll the dice again. There is no way you can justify keeping this core together with the injury bug and age issues that have arisen since early 2011. Right now they have to make do with what they have - as moving anybody seems impossible (when exactly does the window close?). Which means this tournament will be intriguing in so many ways. In essence, a lot of these guys are playing for spots on the team next year via this tournament. If we don't advance out of our group, there is zero justification for keeping the core together. In this case I expect to see some serious changes to this club. If we do advance, then you need to find the guys that can carry that along while cutting off those that don't seem capable of contributing further. While age is the obvious thing to talk about, so is injury history and mental strength.
I should have been clearer in what I meant as you make a very good point in that we've had plenty of "wake-up calls". What I was saying is that this team, from all the press that has been published, seems to think CCL will be their saving grace. That they'll go into this thing and advance deep. All the talk is about reaching the final or making a really deep run. There seems to be a lack of respect for the group stage. They somewhat address it with a simple "with the new format there is small room for error" but that is quickly followed with a discussion about going to the final. I know the media types want to talk about that and are pushing it, but I've yet to hear someone on RSL say "we can't worry about the knockout phases until we qualify". I know they aren't openly saying it, but I get this feeling that the guys are a bit overconfident that they'll just breeze through the group stages. That this group thing won't be easy, but hey, we'll get through it, we did it before. Last night was a wake up call, I hope, to stop worrying about how to get back to the final. A wake up call to stop even thinking about the knockout rounds. Our full focus on this should be Tauro FC and nothing else in terms of CCL. Maybe I'm way off with this, but I've just had this feeling that this club thinks they can repeat what happened in 2010-11 with far too much ease. There is a lack of appreciation or recognition for the amount of work, effort, and, if we're being honest, luck that came into our last run.