Post-match: Vancouver Whitecaps FC - San Jose Earthquakes (Sunday, 7/22) postgame thread [R]

I think they should pull Wondo back behind the forwards and leave Lenny & Gordon upfront. If it comes down to Lenny and Gordon though, I'm just not sure. How can you bench a goal scorer?

 

Part of the issue is that nobody was wide to receive passes, so they had no option but to go to the box. Both Chavez and Dawkins spent a whole lotta time around the center circle. It seems that this team has basically one operating speed. There wasn't a whole lot of patience in the attack. If the Quakes got the ball, it was pushed up as fast as possible with little thought to whether or not they had the numbers to support those efforts. Hopefully game management is a topic of discussion before the next game because the team could use some schooling on that.

 

As much as I'd like to heap this entire loss on MoFo, I can't. This is the second time we came to Vancouver and played on their crappy, plastic field and lost. Did they play a physical game? Yes. Did Camillo dive and flop and act like a pu$$y? Yes. But both of those things are par for the course when you play in Vancouver. The reality is we were playing our third game in 8 days and we don't play well when we're tired, we don't play well on artificial turf and we missed Lenhart terribly. I had a bad feeling before this match even started and unfortunately it came to be.
One small ray of sunshine, the Caps win pushes the filth lower on the totem poll.

 

Will the Disciplinary Committee do anything about the Camillo dive in the box or will they continue with their same gutless nonsense routine?

 

Was the PK a foul? YES
Was the PK an actual PK? NO
that was a foul, no doubt; yet he did not have any play for the ball. If that was a pk, the move where bernardez was taken down at the end was a PK. A lot more cards should have been given, but over all, aside from that major blunder, the refereeing was fine. Vancouver's back line is a pack of thugs, and should all have received yellows or reds. Lastly, we really miss Lenny.

-Go Quakes!

 

Marrufo did make the call...he motioned for play on and only later changed his mind. He let an AR 40 yds away overrule him and call on a foul on a play where there wasn't a foul, there was a dive, and only Busch was getting to the ball anyway. We lost points due to a mistake even the rookie refs with <5 games to their name wouldn't make.

 

I don't think it was a foul. Rewatch it. Cronin aborted the tackle and the contact with Camilo only happened because Camilo was dragging that leg already starting to go down, realizing his first touch had failed him and Busch was getting the ball. No ref in MLS would say that's a PK...only ARs 40 yds away that can't see what they're calling do. Marrufo saw it correctly and inexplicably let an AR overrule him and thus get it completely wrong. I don't think Marrufo has ever called a decent match in his entire career; he always does bonehead stuff like this. No MLS ref lets their AR overrule them from 40 yes away when they saw the play just fine themselves--no MLS ref other than Marrufo that is.

 

Sad!

 

Now Busch is going to get a fine for speaking the truth after the game.

 

I thought we looked off from the opening whistle. I was particularly disappointed in Wondo tonight (and last game, truth be told.) His touch has been absolute crap and tonight his play was so lackluster, he looks like he needs some rest. I agree Sercan should never even suit up again. Question I have is, if Lenny is still out due to the concussions, how is it that other teams are making deals - a couple of forwards changed teams in the past two weeks or so that we certainly could have used. I get the sense that Frank and John are sitting on their laurels. Problem is, they haven't accomplished anything yet...

 

Cronin made a stupid play!! I've said this before,
Player may flop to avoid damage to the knees ie
how much contact do you need to make for
a foul to be called?

 

I am also worried that Lenny's concussion is serious....

 

Wondo needs to learn how to bicycle kick.

 

Lenny had had a few concussions in his career as is. Like to the degree he may have to call time. Guys like Lenny generally have a short shelf life.. I hope that isn't the case though

 

If that were the case why would Yallop or JD not look for a possible solution to the problem with a new signing? Even with Lenhart though, we still need a player that can deliver a final pass. That is the biggest void right now.

 

VAN has a few speedsters!! understatement!? Mattocks .. wow wow fast!
Richards .. same fast Richards!!

 

did anyone happen to see Richards make mince meat of Justin on that one play? At that point,
I was screaming at the TV for FY to bring on Corrales

 

That was Morrow's worst game of the season. He got roasted most of the game by Dane Richards. Looked like he might have had on the wrong shoes for that surface. He was cutting gingerly and didn't have the explosive acceleration I'm used to seeing him have.

On the other hand, having Simon Dawkins in front of him on defense makes his job harder. Dawkins didn't suck, but that side was clearly our weak side and Vancouver did much of their best offensive work against them. We might lose some offense with Salinas starting for Dawkins, but we gain better balance in defense.

Finally, it's hard to believe that Sercan is paid more than Bernandez. He's not up to MLS standards and unless he has a guaranteed contract, we should cut him and bring in someone with a more polished skill set. The transfer window is closing soon. If we stand pat with Sercan, we're making a big mistake.

 

http://www.whitecapsfc.com/news/2012/07/notes-and-quotes-vwfc-defeat-sj-2-1

also

http://www.mercurynews.com/earthqua...ose-earthquakes-suffer-controversial-2-1-loss

 

Oh the "blame Dawkins" crowd is out I see. Yet no one mentioning the weak game Baca had. Totally unrelated.. I preferred to see Baca and Dawkins switch. I don't know why Yallop has been going with a straight four midfield lately, we obviously have been playing worse because of it.

 

That was an odd play - he waited a long time for the ball to drop, giving the defender time to come over and knock it away. But instead of a bike, he could have just taken a step forward (though away from goal on that play) and chested it down to himself and/or forced a foul in the box.

But it isn't as if that play from Wondolowski changed anything overall. Dawkins, now - he holds the ball and take shots like an in-form striker, bypassing chances to lay it off to people making runs. Several of us non-Quakes types (whose opinions matter little in the grand scheme of things of course) find your team much less in synch from midfield to forwards (and, for that matter, the defense to midfield transition) when he gets the start. Less midfield cohesion as well.

 

I thought Dawkins was fine. Cutting in and attacking, taking on players and getting the ball into the box. He did it many times, putting Vancouver on the defensive. This is what he is supposed to do. Just that the final pass wasn't there today. Not all his fault - at times he was anticipating breaks / runs from Wondo or Gordon that didn't transpire. With teammates and defenders in close proximity like that, things are very tight, and you need to get just the right little touch and corresponding movement to get a good chance. The timing has to be right on, or you need a fortunate deflection or something, and it just didn't happen today. On another day he has an assist and a goal.

I thought Dawkins would go out for Salinas instead of Chavez, but I think Frank liked how Dawkins was playing. Yes the Quakes do well attacking from the wing, but you need to also create pressure down the middle or teams will take the outside away from you. Chavez / Salinas and the fullbacks were providing the wide play. Really the team did fine after the first 20 minutes or so. I think they played better overall than they did against Dallas at home. Just didn't get the bounces today.

Edit: According to the "chalkboard", Dawkins led the team in successful passes with 50 (and just 9 unsuccessful passes), recoveries, with 9, and shots (I think), with 4.