Him and Benny both have clearly stepped up their fitness and mentality for this season. Neither wants to be on the bench, and they're showing that.
Omg talk about Benny. If you would of showed me a clip of his current game 3 years ago. I would of laughed.
Regardless of who's starting up top (it'll be Dom), somebody needs to open their account. It's been far too long since one of our forwards has scored. Best case is Dom gets one and plays 70, and Bieler comes on and scores too. It would be great if both of those guys get going and makes PV's job a little harder/easier.
I saw someone call him the best American player in the league so far this season. I struggle to think of one other than maybe Bruin who's been better.
Not a surprising or wild game, really. Pretty much as expected. Both teams and the ref could have done better. But oh well. I had fun with friends and beer, while Sporting earned three points. Things are okay. Looking forward to next week when SKC can hopefully play a full bank of starters (minus the injured Myers I suppose). Only thing I'm truly bummed about was not getting to see the new kid. But then, if Vermes is trying everything he has to lock down a result against a team known for being almost impossible to lock down, inserting a new, dynamic variable into the lineup is probably not gonna happen.
Thank goodness that double post didn't come back to haunt us in Goonie time. Not sure how Dwyer didn't get a shot off in that sequence in the second half where he ended up dribbling from the penalty spot to the baseline.
Okay, serious question: is Benny Feilhaber an alien? 5th game in 15 days, played damn near every minute, and he's still a freakin' beast out there. I'm blown away we are getting this Benny Feilhaber game in and game out at this point. Amazing. Funniest part of the game: around the 37:50 mark (not on the live feed, unfortunately, happened completely off camera), Ellis is about ready to throw a ball in. Salazaar blows his whistle to tell Ellis to wait so he can yell at Collin and Lenhart about something. Collin and Lenhart just kind of look at each other and shrug like "what the hell is he stopping play for?" then shake hands like they're best buds. Absolutely hilarious. Also, for all the discussion we had on Zusi's corners, he had some really dangerous ones tonight. It was ugly and cold, but three points is three points.
Missed a goal off Opara's shin, got lucky when Wondo missed a shot he really should have made, and Ricardo Salazar is still an equal-opportunity crappy ref. In other words, a pretty typical SKC match. Take the 3 points and move on.
dwyer being dwyer. i'll have to see a replay first, though, before i come down too hard on him. from my view live, it looked like a terrible first touch/decision and then he just dwyer'd the rest of it. my mouth was agape that he missed that. again, i need to see a replay first, but it looked harder to miss than it was to make it. also, another yellow for time wasting for kronberg.
I think he wanted to turn and shoot, but the space was gone once he had control. And he commenced to Dwyer it while searching for that space again.
Benny is a joy to watch. Other notes: Great defensive poise. Poise overall builds from the confidence that guys like Feilhaber and Nagamura show. You start to see Sinovic gaining it too. Opara/Collin could be a great tactical pairing given how they owned the aerial game tonight. Good call on the PK, watching the replay--Lenhart swatted that sucker intentionally. If he wasn't sitting on a yellow, I bet he would have gotten a card, but Goodson took the fall for dissent instead. A number of times in the second half Zusi got on a break and looked left checking to see if Sinovic was overlapping with him, but Seth was always behind the play. Not sure if that was tactical or what--probably was once we had the lead, but I think it happened a couple of times when it was 0-0. The sod on the east side is horrible--almost broke up a couple of attacking plays. And finally we've found a way to successfully kill time: not just CJ down in the corner by himself, but Dwyer with him and Feilhaber supporting. I used to hate it when they'd send one player down alone, but with two they were much more effective running out the clock.
Really should have been hit one time...and I'd hope he feels at least somewhat comfortable with his left from that range to do it. That said, that pitch in front of the south stand is awful. We had a lot of created chances where just a touch would go wrong...wonder how many of those was due to the crappy grass.
Went home and watched the recording of the game just to see the handshake. It was pretty funny live. Also wanted to see Sinovic venting that Benny didn't get him the ball. The arm waving and traffic controlesque gestures cracked me up. I'm sad neither made it to tv.
Yeah, Seth really doesn't look back to 100% yet. Very much looking forward to him getting back to his a-game, because when he's on it, he's one of the very best Sporting has. Ellis has been showing pretty well. Guy has started stepping up, and quickly at that. Pete has put him at left back before, right? I'm wondering if Ellis might become the number-one number-two guy for both fullback positions, as he apparently has stolen the right from Jerome and also Gardner is bad. One more thing... I think I'm falling out of the Uri fan club a bit. Too many awkward/foolish fouls and subsequent cards, for one. Olum is not exactly special or gamebreaking, but he seems to have a much calmer head on his shoulders. I honestly feel a little more secure with him shielding the back four than with Rosell out there.
Agreed. I know that these are the "secondary", but I'd like to see them more than the "primary". What a sequence in the 18th minute. * Seth's throw-in was all the way to the 6-yard box. * Opara's header has to be saved off the line. * Zizzo takes a measured shot and drives it off the post. Other than going in, I loved seeing a shot from distance not go into the stands. * Opara is in perfect position, but he's first contact hits the post, then he misses wide. I thought that Collin brought order to the backline. Nothing reckless, just good solid play. I wish that he'd play like that more often. Ellis was ok, but I'll be happy when Myers is starting.
Olum very much reminds me of Cesar. As you said I feel more secure when he's on the pitch and I really don't know why. And was it just me but did Olums passes look really impressive last night? However I still think Rosell is the best option at CDM. He has a better overall game then Olum.... but I'm glad we have both.
The Quakes (at least the version from last night) are a bad, bad team. Nobody stood out at all for them. Kroneberg looks very slow to me still. Dwyer has already been talked about, but my goodness that was aweful. Everybody else looked pretty good to me. Now there is one thing I would like to change. Can we have one nice weather game please!!!
On the funny side of things Salazar spit his whistle to the ground twice including the final whistle of the game. He looked kind of sheepish each time. Must be out of practice blowing it in cold weather.