US Open Cup - Sporting KC vs Colorado 6/5 7:30 p/i/p [R]

i hate him just because of his first name. seriously ... wells? come on.

sorry, this is lunacy. i completely understand why you feel that way, and why i'm sure many agree with you... i really do, but it's just the wrong approach. if our reserves can't beat dayton at our home, we don't deserve jack shit anyway. we should absolutely be playing our starters against philly, reserves against dayton, and then starters again against chitown. i'd even be willing to bend a bit and play a mixed squad of starters for the dayton game, then re-examine everyone's fitness for the chicago game. sacrificing 6 points in league play to beat a ... what, semi-pro team in our own house? sheer lunacy.

if we can't make those 6 points up later in the season, we don't deserve to win shit. philly is hardly a 6 pointer. neither is chicago, for that matter. not like it's one of the new york games we're talking about.

My favorite moment was when he gave Collin the yellow card, but then gave us the ball for the restart.

Still trying to figure out what that call was.

My take was that it was a foul on them, but when the official came over to view the COL player on the ground, Collin came over and started screaming at the COL player, pointing down at him, and generally losing his cool. I assume that the card was for dissent or unsportsmanlike behavior directly as a result of that action and was not due events in the run of play. And frankly, if that's the case, then good. I get tired of watching players yelling at officials. It sets bad examples for kids and it's just generally unsportsmanlike.

I thought Teal was going to blow a gasket on the phantom foul in the box. Thankfully he didn't let go of the ball when he acted like he was going to throw it at the COL player's head or head-butt the COL player too hard. I thought he'd get a yellow for the head bump...

Now, that that's said.... HOLY CRAP, what a tackle by Collin. Chance and Seth both had good ones too, IIRC (on the south end of pitch). But that tackle by Collin was right in front of me and he made a great decision on space, chose the right defender when retreating under the initial run, squared off the attacker, and then pounced less than two feet outside the 18-yard box. Stopped the ball cold. The spacing, timing, and execution were flawless.

I am just wondering....is there anybody else who is not all that impressed with Joseph? Not sure if it's fitness or what, but he reminds me a bit of Jeferson in his value on the field so far. I was expecting a bit more from him just based on his nickname alone.

What a chippy game. Ref must have been close to ripping his pocket off with all the cards he pulled. There is obviously a growing disdain between these two teams....lots of rough play from the maroon dive team, as expected.

I assume Buzz can answer this, but is there a limit on yellows in the USOC before suspension? I am worried about Collin and these dippy refs.

His card was for a 'reckless foul' not 'unsportsmanlike conduct'

I also enjoyed later in the game when he gave Colorado a drop ball (I think when Jimmy kicked it out when Joseph was down in the box), they kick it back out of bounds back to us...then he calls it back, pretends for a second that he is giving a free kick to Sporting, then re-drops the ball for Colorado who re-kicks it back out of bounds.

But as much as Col players were pissing me off with their attitude, a lot of our guys were doing the same thing which sucks. Chance especially seemed easily irritated, luckily he never did anything too dumb about it. I give Bunbury a bit of a pass on the call in the box. He had every right to be upset about that one, there was nothing there and he was set up pretty well for the shot.

Lastly, regarding Dayton I would be fine with playing it similarly to how we played last game. Start a mix of starters and backups and bring in more starters if needed.

Actually I've liked what I've seen out of Joseph, if he can deal with the physicality of MLS he'll be fine.


On your Collin question, I've got a request out to try to answer it.

Offside was called first by the AR. The foul happen seconds after. The ref didn't notice his AR until after the card was given, and play was about to restart. The 4th and the AR got his attention after he was doing he worthless talk to Collin.

I really don't understand the "Reckless Foul". It should be going under "Unsporting Behavior" since it was a "after play" card.

Well the ref as a whole failed to impress so I'm not surprised...





Btw, heard back, 3 yellows in one tournament and you sit a game.

He was pretty bad. How do you tell a keeper & a player from Colorado to speed up play when the ball goes out of bound in the first half.... THE FIRST HALF. It was 20 mins in. Then when we score and have the lead, and you say nothing to the KING of time wasting Jimmy! It was the little stuff that he wasn't even good at. Sad really

For people who think MLS refs are bad, please be reminded that the refs doing these game are the "up and coming refs". So you can understand why some of the old school guys are still around.

does that mean that's what the ref decided, or what the 4th official assumed--pointing to poor communication between the two.

Absolutely reminds me of Jeferson, but without the price tag and only 22 y/o. I hope he can work himself up to being a nice roster option for PV, or more....

Joseph too likes to dribble through traffic. I like his speed and quickness on the ball, but am curious to see if his decision-making picks up. Also, am curious to see if he can stick people when needed - looked like he pulled out of some 50/50s last night. I don't think that's his game (132 lbs), but there's a level of physicality he must obtain. (Id say the same thing about Saad).

With no Espinoza, it looked to me like we pulled Zusi back a little so as to play Joseph higher up the pitch. He's going to have to create goals at that spot.

if you get your third in the semis, will they suspend you for the final? i thought some tourneys wouldn't suspend for the final for accumulation, but can't actually name one off the top of my head.

As far as I know they don't get wiped out, but I'll check

The PA was playing John Denver, Rocky Mountain High, last night when announcing the CO player lineup. Totally missed that. 7:30 mark:

Collin seemed to be more focused in the 2nd half....merely going up and winning every ball in the air within 10 ft of his dome. He is going to have to tone it down a half-notch now that he has two cards. I hope there is the rule about the semis (assuming we get that far), because it would truly suck to not have him for the final if he has another brain fart. He has been doing better in MLS play....maybe part of it is these new refs aren't quite used to some of the aggressiveness of MLS compared to the other leagues they may be working. I thought the guy he knocked down actually bounced off of him because Collin had better positioning, but I may not have had the best view of the play. What's done is done though, so let's hope there is some leniancy on the yellows, or he can tame himself a bit like he has done in league play.

In other news, I will be rooting wildly for San Jose in the next round. Seattle needs to go down....

well, if he has it in the quarters, we'll have him for the final.

Wow, that response was almost Buzz Killington-like....you should be proud you beat him to the punch. Any suspension at this point would not be favorable, considering how disastrous it nearly was against Orlando with only one starting CB playing most of the game, but yeah better if he got it out of the way in the next game. Hopefully the coaching staff is looking into this as well and plan accordingly....maybe hold him out of the next game or something. With a lot of games in a short amount of time that week, that may be in the plan anyway.

the upside, of course, is that if he doesn't get one in quarters, he'll have demonstrated he can go an entire open cup match without getting carded. unless, of course, he sits.

warzycha's being groomed to be a CB but isn't there yet. olum and cesar could play CB, but they aren't CBs proper. is that everyone, pretty much?

With our schedule in that stretch I'd be shocked if he played vs Dayton.

I almost wonder if there is a precedent for intentionally getting an additional yellow so as to "time" a suspension. For example, in our case: Up 2-0 with two minutes of added time, we know we are playing Dayton in the quarter-finals, we know of the upcoming schedule congestion, and we know he's sitting on a yellow accumulation situation... Do you ask him to pick up the ball so he gets another yellow = red? Result: Down to 10 men for 1-2 minutes. Collin sits vs. Dayton and re-emerges for the semis with no card burden.

Just tell him to take his shirt off. He would comply.