Post-match: San Jose Earthquakes - Los Angeles Galaxy Western Conf. Semi Game 2 (Wed., 11/7) postgame thread [R]

I failed to mention that the Ultras were amazing last night (and throughout the season). Great, great atmosphere and really helped the team in this game. Also, after the game, they kept cheering the Quakes after such a disappointing loss for them. I'm looking forward to seeing the Ultas in the new stadium. A few years ago, I might not have said that. Major props to them. Bravo!

 

I was referring to the game and at this moment...

For the season, it was the Quakes, even the later part. Part of the season is getting through the down part. Ours just turned out to be later part of the year...

 

Silver lining? First replay I've seen of this - not on the MLS Live highlights, Gonzales elbow to Lenny's face:

http://prosoccertalk.nbcsports.com/...-2012-mls-playoffs-steven-lenhart-suspension/

Perhaps a litmus test for the conspiracy theorists out there. Will MLS DC do what it has been doing all year and suspend him?

 

I said early in the season that SJE had what it takes to win the MLS Cup. I still say that last night notwithstanding. Just want to congratulate your team on a great season. And to congratulate you fans of SJE for the tremendous support you give the club at the games. In turn, the Club treated you to some exellent play!

 

Who played well:

Lenhart did everything that could be asked of him. Gordon was effective in his minutes.

Cronin was our best player the whole game until he blew 3 attacking passes late. He was reading the field and protecting and distributing the ball well.

Chavez was consistently able to befuddle his man but never had the ball close enough to goal for it to matter.

Everyone else was flat or worse
Dawkins generated zero offense from the wing and totally quit on the team on the third goal.
Baca made a couple of dreadful turnovers that could have been punished and his attacking balls were poor.
Wondo hardly touched the ball but when he did took hopeless shots, turned the ball over, and missed a sitter.
Opara and Hernandez played well under pressure in the 2nd half, but didn't keep track of Keane on the first two goals.
Morrow and Beita consistently crossed straight to the keeper.
Salinas generated nothing against slow Dunivant.

 

the Victor yellow card was fascinating to watch on the game highlights.

It is freaky in that it involved Omar G in our own attacking half at the ~4:00 mark of the
1st half.

You have to give some credit to Stott for his consistency for elbow shots while the defender is
jumping for head balls

http://www.mlssoccer.com/matchcenter/2012-11-07-SJ-v-LA/highlights?videoID=205502

 

Astute comment from the article: "Before talking about the Disciplinary Committee, lets consider referee Kevin Stott, who produced a yellow card on the play. How do you see that challenge, adjudicate it a foul, and not issue red? We often see players dismissed to merely leading with an elbow on aerial challenges. This was more than leading. This was swinging." (Emphasis added).

The video adds real credence to the conspiracy theorists' case. You don't need to be a referee to see that Gonzales' elbow was obviously deliberate. Stott saw the foul yet inexplicably blew the call.

 

Truth!
And I love your new avatar!

GO QUAKES!!
F#$% el-lay!!

- Mark

 

I noticed just how little energy Cronin seemed to have in the last twenty minutes of the game. There's a lot of hate on Baca so far (not sure totally deserved) and quite a bit on Ike (deserved). The tiredness is, for me, what was the root cause of the issue last night. It's also why winning the Supporter's Shield doesn't make much difference in the playoffs. The best play of the Quakes was pretty well behind them going into the end of the season as players were accumulating tons of minutes, had worked very hard to earn points where they probably wouldn't have given slightly different circumstances. And of course disrupting the back line with Bernardez' injury was the catalyst for terrible play.

Another thing is that the Quakes and LA played a lot of games against each other this season with the Quakes getting the better of LA in all but the last one. In some ways, it would have been harder to believe they couldn't beat the Quakes given the amount of data and experience they should have had playing against them.

The biggest issue, in my mind, and what needs to be looked at for next year, is figuring out how to spread out minutes more evenly with players in the central midfield. Baca had a bad night, but he isn't the bad player so many are making him out to be. I think he simply just played too many games this season and couldn't hold up. Cronin, too. This is where Frank and his staff really need to shine. They did an excellent job finding the right talent, and managed it very well over the season. But you can always get better, and with a lesson hopefully learned, maybe we'll see a little more conservatism during the season, and a little more bite come playoff time.

 

After seeing that replay, I think yellow was the right call. He was more pushing out to make space than throwing an elbow at Lenny. Very similar to VB's yellow. Another +1 for Stott in this game.

 

I disagree.

 

I noted this in the in-game thread right after the play happened. That said, is this really that surprising from an MLS ref? How many times have we seen refs punish a red-card offense with a yellow and a stern look? And put yourself in Stott's shoes for a moment. Big game. National television. You already gave just a yellow to an Earthquakes defender for an elbow (which, I'm more than willing to admit, was to the back of the head on a jump ball). Now, in a heated moment at the top of the Galaxy box, a Galaxy defender elbows an Earthquake. You give a yellow to be consistent.

I disagree with the call (especially in light of the things Gonzalez has said to the media about Lenhart in the past two weeks), but I don't see a conspiracy. I just see an MLS ref acting like an MLS ref.

 

For the record, I didn't say I saw a conspiracy, merely that the video added credence to those who theorize one. Interestingly, a Quakes fan on this board has looked at the same video and announced (s)he doesn't see a red-cardable offense. So, I suppose there's room for reasonable disagreement.

But I am convinced based on a review of the video that Omar Gonzales threw that elbow deliberately and with intent to injure. And the circumstances, including his much-publicized pre-match comments, corroborate that notion. I think Stott was willfully blind to what he plainly witnessed.

 

For sure. I wasn't referring to your post, but rather to those that are positing a league conspiracy.

I tend to agree with your view about the elbow itself. However, with regard to Stott, I see only a pattern consistent with MLS referees. They either allow too much violent, aggressive play and then try to snuff it out late (long after the game has gotten out of control), or they are overaggressive against it early and timid late. I think Stott's performance last night was an example of the latter. Some consistency from MLS referees would be nice, but I see little evidence of it from any of the league's refs.

 

Thanks for acknowledging that! I don't think that Stott changed the outcome of the game or anything, but the filth got way more slack from him than we did. I think that takes a mental toll on the players. It's attitude crushing. Also, just because this bias exists in every sport doesn't mean that it should, or that we should tolerate it, or that we shouldn't try to eliminate it.

GO QUAKES!!!
F#$% el-lay!!

- Mark

 

it is funny how you can miss some smaller but important details when you aren't being very very careful. The look on Victor's face after the whistle was troubling me so I re-watched the highlight again! Guess what I noticed? Omar G was starting to throw his elbow at Victor first!! I'm guessing here but I think Omar G has a reputation for throwing elbows when he is jumping for head balls

 

Don't hold your breath...

 

I'm watching the DC-NY game. I wish we still had McDonald. Maybe they'll trade him for Ike.....:/

 

could this be why Omar G is not getting call-ups to the USMNT!? This sh%^&T elbow throwing will not work outside the MLS.

 

For those of you calling for Ike's head, here's a little different perspective:

http://prosoccertalk.nbcsports.com/...ffs-san-jose-earthquakes-la-galaxy-ike-opara/

“After Victor went out, Ike comes in, not playing on a regular basis, and is asked to adjust in the biggest game of his career,” Earthquakes captain Chris Wondolowski said, empathetically, after the match. “I can’t even explain how difficult that is to do.”

Also, apparently Beita called for Ike to track Keane as he went through on the 2nd goal, but Ike didn't hear him, which explains why Keane was able to spring free.

 

That goal was on Beita for sure...He's the one that had a better chance to challenge Keane because he was already tracking him back and was the more urgent threat.

That miss at the end however is just inexplicable, but I expected him to miss nevertheless.

 

Omar doesn't get a call up because he has no balls. He doesn't even know how to talk trash.

 

I don't think Opara had a bad game. I blame Beita more in that he can't rely on Opara to pickup someone who is behind at the top of the box. Beita should have followed the run.

The biggest problem is that Opara is not the leader the Bernardez is on the field. Not his fault...

 

That's a great observation. Omar definitely swinging his elbow up into Bernardez.