The Revolution stink and I blame Steve N. He may have been the player of the EPL in 1989 and a defensive lion, and I admire his grit, but he does not know much about a #10 and how important a South American type of #10 can make the team so much better. The team's style is really the depth of longball from English lower league's in the 70's. I was at the game today, 1/2 way line, 4th row and the game was unwatchable, literally. No way a fan of soccer from anywhere in the world can watch such tactical garbage. The team works very hard, but the soccer brain on the field is missing. I was saved by a seriously enthralling and impressive game USNT vs Haiti. Haiti were awesome save for collapsing into a long ball, defensive shell in the final 15 minutes, for which they were justly punished by a devastating US equalizer in stoppage time. The atmosphere was WCesque. That #9 for Haiti needs to play in MLS.
Jankauskas can play. His ability to receive passes out of the back, hold the ball and distribute, today, was better than I have ever seen by a Revs player (might not be saying much). If the Revs had a midfielder with confidence on the ball and ball skills similar to EJ's we would be dangerous. I look forward to him being able to go 90 minutes. Regardless, the Revs still need to send more players forward. Would have liked to have seen an offensive sub late, but not sure who it could have been? Why not 11 V 10, at home... live a little. Liked Alston going forward and like Mansally on the left. Would have been nice if he could have finished early. Stick with the kids, it will pay off in the future.
I'm excited once (if) we get healthy. We should see The Big E, Ralston, Joseph, and Larentowicz combining in the middle, Pushing it out to Mansally and Nyassi, and then over the top to Dube. DIRTY! When (if) we get healthy.
I respectfully disagree. the fort was pretty good tonight --- thought for long periods, uncoordinated. the crowd was largely in favor of Haiti. I'd call attendance for the US game at 20,000, Maybe 23,000. find me a WC game in a 65,000 seat stadium filled 1/3 to capacity.
Fair enough. I was sitting on the 50 yard line close to the fiels on the cameras side and the section up about 50 rows was filled with Honduran fans, Haitian fans, US fans, and a bunch of Grenadians, and the entire crew was very into the US-Haiti game everyone taking sides (all in good fun). From my vantage point, the fort sounded very good at times, but it was overshadowed by the huge group of Haitians on the other side of the stadium from you when they were up in the 2nd half and they understandably went ballistic. The unending cheering and yelling by the group in my sections was the part that reminded of the WC versus the quieter fans during Revs games.
you actually make a good point, the support was pretty good all around in terms of volume, and enthusiasm, and I talked to a bunch of Honduran fans that were going to be there for the second game. -- I suppose I just expected better support for the USA. it was a Very mixed crowd, and the Haitian supporters overpowered the US regularly, at least where I was in 102. also, I've never actually been to a WC game, so to say you're wrong about the atmosphere is really unfair, cause, I've got no clue what it's actually like. I think after a 5 hour tailgate, and 2 hours if stadium time, I was a little too agressive in posting, so sorry if it sounded like I was attacking you!!!
The Fort was great, and the crowd had energy. I've been in the stands for World Cup games; it lacked the intensity that World Cup games brings. The Haitian fans were loud, but not as loud as 20,000 Czech fans jumping and singing in unison. Not to mention World Cup games (for the most part) aren't played in 1/3 full stadiums. The KC game was dreadful. The KC fans were sitting in front of me, and they said at the start that the game was going to be ugly. The team seemed to be in a holding pattern. I did like what I saw from the Lithuanian.
I agree with the other posters that tonight's revs game was pretty awful. There were a couple of things that stood out for me. First, the negative. It seemed that Nyassi/Mansally spent way too much time with the ball when they had it, and they also appeared to be looking for each other across field, in spite of wide open forwards. It was driving me nuts to the point of distraction... pass it or cross it already. jeez! Some of the other guys in my section noticed this too. Second, Jankauskas looked really good on the ball. The guy has class and is going to be a real threat up front... if the other Revs can figure out what to do with him. It was almost like they don't know how to play the game with a big guy up front who is just begging for the ball. Is it just me or is it like they were afraid of him or something. Anyway, those are just some of my thoughts. Here's hoping that they can pull together a little bit better on Wednesday night.
Yo, KC fan checking in. Agree that the game was less than thrilling - any thought to the mid-day start contributing to that? Just wondering (wasn't there so I have no idea). Thought that Reis put up a good showing - career high saves (from what FSC said), which is pretty impressive.. not just because he's had a decent career to date but also because I'm utterly shocked my team was able to put that number of shots on goal. Usually we miss by about a foot or two (apparently we practice with larger goals during the week or something). Thought my main reason for stopping by was to ask your impressions of the red card to Watson. A) It seems that our two teams can't come together without at least one red card being shown B) IMO, looked like a clear-cut yellow, but I realize that I am not always as impartial as I'd like to be when it comes to calls against my team, so I was wondering what you thought. Good luck in the superliga - and a conditional good luck in the league, the stipulation being that you don't knock us out of the playoffs.
I was in the fort in the third-fourth row on the right side. From my view, and I thought I had a pretty clear view, it looked like a yellow card. I had a Philly Union supporter beside me and he agreed that we got ourselves a little bit of a gift on that one. I was not impressed with the referee for the Revs game. It seemed he never quite made the right call. Some points he is handing us freebee's the next he is missing clear cut fouls against us.
I was at the game and wished I'd stayed in the parking lot during the Revs game. Absolutely horrible, boring game. Why do they think people would pay to watch that? The Revs have not kept pace with other teams in adding quality players and we're now hopelessly behind. Janks will not make any big difference for this team. Too old, slow ... held the ball nicely but that's all. Reis Kept us in the game
We played for the tie at home. A totally frustrating performance. I kept thinking, "he's gonna bring in Badilla for Phelan and move Ralston into an attacking position". Instead we got Colaluca. We are not a very good team right now.
It was also clear that Nyassi also was grabbing at a hamstring for the last part of the game. Finding enough players for Wednesday is going to be even more of a problem than usual. That we haven't seen Badilla suggests to me that his body isn't/wasn't ready to return to playing and that he's still having lots of symptoms. Of course it could be that he's not fit and on the same page as the other players and that's why he's sitting but if I had to be I'd bet his body rebelled after his open cup stint.
What about the gift PKs we got against DCU and Dallas earlier this year? Enough about the referees. If the Revs had put on a soccer clinic and just toyed with KC but were held back by the referee, then you might have a point.
Doc, you're right that Badilla wasn't ready to play - Nicol echoed that in the postgame comments. Badilla has only been training for 2 weeks and isn't ready to step into fullspeed situations. On the red card, I thought from my vantagepoint it was a yellow. Felt like we got lucky given the Revs made similar tackles earlier in the game and got off the hook. That's a 50-50 decision and they usually even out by the end of the season. As far as the Revs game, we tailgated right until halftime anticipating a brutally ugly match. Seems like we made the right call from the indications that the first half was awful too. EJ looked good holding possession up top, he just needs the service and we'll start to generate goals. Can't wait to get some of the troops back; with Shalrie and Twellman out there alongside EJ we may actually have a team, not this shell of the Revs that are trotted out each game lately. The Haiti game was exciting but I'm surprised there weren't more people out for the US Nats, I'd agree with the 23-25k guesstimate on attendance. While there may have been more US support, the Haitian fans were loud and intense the whole game which helped the atmosphere. Great ending, definitely one of the most exciting Nats games I've been to in person. Just hope we get these 46' goals out of the way now, can't afford them in the World Cup!
Here was a HUGE plus - I actually saw people across the stadium - not just blue tarps. Some of the sound of the Nats game was much much better. Im so glad they did not try and jam us all into one side.
Mansally really should have scored in the early going. Also, EJ shied away from a header near the end. Should have had the 3 points. Hey, not every game is going to look like Brazil 1970. I thought the red card was deserved. The US got reds in the Confed Cup for much less. We need to adjust our officiating to the rest of the world. The sport is getting too physical in the US. Colaluca looked like an upgrade over Videira. He really nailed that one shot just wide. Hardest lick I've seen an American player take in years.
Question for me is whether Jankauskas will fit in well with the flow of the team this year. He did some good things with the ball yesterday, but I don't think the movement overall was as good with him in the line-up as compared with Dube in.
Worst game of the year for Revs players and coach because of the lack of urgency. We didn't get 3 points because we didn't go for 3 points. We were: --at home --in front of a sizable crowd --facing a team w/o its best defender (Conrad), its best attacker (Arnaud), and that had been all the way out in Seattle for a midweek USOC match, which it lost in disappointing fashion. --facing a direct rival for one of the wild-card playoff spots. We played a 4-5-1 with a non-attacking attacking mid (Videira--useless), then subbed out one forward for another to maintain a 4-5-1 in the second half. We didn't even try the Jank-Dube combo up top against McKenzie, an untested central defender. We were even gifted a man advantage in the second half on what should've been a yellow. Osei was horrific and should've played in a KC jersey. Videira was totally useless. I still have no idea why Colaluca isn't starting. In the end, if it weren't for Reis, we would've, and should've, been down 2-0 or 3-0. I predicted 34 points for the season and we're just about on pace for it. But I never expected us to roll over like that. This team is NOT making the playoffs if it doesn't start going for wins at home.