According to the US Soccer scoreboard, Burn are up 2-0 at half, goals by Nhelko and OBrien. That's great, put them away with another before long and play some young ones. No idea who's in the lineup though.
no Virginia Beach forum to post this in, so I stuck it in the US Open forum: https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?p=2745676#post2745676 i'm an anti-violence kinda guy, which is why half-a-man Bile-ic needs his @$$ kicked, bad. and headbands are still for chicks.
We played well in the first half but F-ed around the entire 2nd half. Reyes got a double yellow for a tackle and then for shoving in the ensuing skirmish. Apparently the Va Bitches could shove all they want because even though several players were pushing Reyes around none got a card. Reyes got the assist on the first goal and Nunez on the second. We got kinda lucky in the second half with some just over the bar headers and absolute grand larceny from Cassar on one save.
that Cassar save was save-of-the-week in any league in the world caliber (IMHO). i'm not sure if he would've been able to get to it before it was put on frame, though?
The official Va Bitch site lists Bilyk at 5'7". I think they are off by at least 5". What a friggin ankle biter.
a couple of other notes: we had about two (2) good flowing plays, and both of them were goals. Eric Quill: it's not a treadmill, it's a pitch. the pitch doesn't move, and apparently you don't either. if you're not gonna run, GET OFF THE PITCH and let someone else play, you roster-sucking black hole.
How can you forget 3 in 5? That was the time the Burn had to play 3 games in 5 days thanks to US soccer screwing us by scheduling our US Open Cup semi-final game on in between a weekend MLS game and mid-week MLS game. So the Burn got to the semi's in 2002 with Jeffries before losing to LA.
started: ---------toni ---------nunez quill stone valakari o'brien behnke gibbs goodson reyes ---------cassar reyes sent off davis on for o'brien talley on for valakari thompson on for toni jolley on for nunez nunez looked good at times, but inconsistent. sometimes it seemed like he was trying too hard, but his ball to set up ronnie was well-played to spring ROB one-on-one with the keeper (who he calmly beat). i think with more PT, nunez is gonna be really hard to keep out of the first XI
The starting line-up was as 3rd Degree posted earlier in the thread. Talley, Thompson, Davis, and Jolley all came on during the second half. I thought Nunez looked pretty good in the first half. The 2nd half was pretty sloppy for everybody. He was creative but not terribly sharp. Quill not knowing how to make a run and being slow hurt. But in the end he was a key contributor on the first goal, maybe deserved an assist for springing Reyes, and got the assist on the second.
The ref was freaking joke. When the small skirmish broke out, there should have been 2 send offs:Reyes(Which got screwed for the stupid 2nd yellow) and half man. Plus at least 4 yellows for the twats who decided they could tackle Thompson and push his head in the ground. Glad to see he got some payback with the tackle. The coaches and the bench players were a bunch of prats afterwards,m but it was fun asking if they bought the jerseys from the local sports store. Hey one of the cops had a good laugh. Who said cops don't know how to have a good time.
Got home in time to catch the WB(33) giving the Burn some love. Had cameras and everything. They showed a great goal line replay of Cassar's grand larceny on Dante. I was more impressed with the save after watching the replay. It was him and Dante mano y mano. I'm still amazed he got a big glove to it. We should contact them to send the tape they showed to MLS.
Observations from tonight's game: - Wednesday night in Duncanville must be slow. It seemed like the entire local police dept. was at the game, hoping to break up another American soccer riot. Also, there's a noise ordinance after 9pm. - Field conditions looked a bit dangerous. Players were slipping all over the place. - Dallas was sharp in the first 30 minutes or so, then play fell off drastically. No coordinated attack in the 2nd half. Kick it down field and hope something happens. Bunker ball with Va.Beach pressing on offense. ZZZzzz... Cassar made another magic save to preserve the shutout. - The ref lost control of the match towards the end. Reyes needs to watch his temper. Not good if you're trying to earn a starting spot on the roster. I would much rather see him instead of Gbandi. PieHole guy from the Mariners should have been ejected for being a total hack. Several Burn players (and fans) wanted to stuff him in a dumpster. - Gibson looked good at center fullback, but is a bit slow. - I've seen cripples hustle more than Quill. - Nunez was inconsistent. Long way yet to fill Oscar's shoes. - Who was that buxom blonde with the World Double D Cups? Good gosh! She was loaded for bear. - Word on Eddie is that he's out 2-4 weeks. This game was still fun. Kind of strange to see a different roster. Va. Beach didn't play too bad (and Dallas didn't play too great). I think Colorado is our next opponent...
Yes - the Rapids come to Dallas (again). This time, the Cotton Bowl. Most of the comments have been spot on so far. Props to Jason Thompson. He did what he could and showed a few things - both with the ball and with his guts. He showed some offensive prowess at times, and he also showed he can dish it out. A good bit of 'fiest' in the kid. Reyes - didn't have to defend much, so I'm not sure how good he would be in MLS. But he did show speed and skill. Nunez - is a kid with lots of talent. He was looking in many of the right places, just having trouble placing the ball just right. Then again, he did that for both Reyes (to set up the first goal) and to Ronnie later on a longer ball - something that neither Oscar nor Simo have been able to do (let alone Brad....) Bottom line on the kid - time and experience will help him get to where we all want him to be. He needs to be brought along like Adu - and maybe not as aggressively. But I have seen some of what had gotten Buzz all hot and bothered about the guy, and I think once he gets more time in and isn't trying so hard, but is just playing with confidence, he will be well worth the pick. IMO, he has shown that he will be better than Vaca -- sooner rather than later. Glad to see the boys show some heart. They didn't get b!tchy when Terry was letting VBM basically sodomize them at times - they just tackled hard back. Reyes got somewhat unlucky - it was a tackle that a half a second earlier and it wouldn't have been a yellow. His reaction to PieHole getting in his face... different story. The pitch was soggy and the grass was long - something that was going to help slow the game down for VB. Jeff did make a great save, no doubt. And he has allayed most of my fears about him - except that he keeps doing this Jorge Campos impersonation that is going to get him scored on like Henry Ring.... SOOO good to see Simo back. Toni is still missing a step - not sure where it went, but he didn't have it tonight. Eric Quill - if the guy isn't healthy, he shouldn't be playing. If he is healthy, then he is showing a complete lack of heart and that can't happen. EOM on that. We're going to have to use a lot more starters next time - the Rapids are going to take it seriously (they did the last time we played them.)
My thoughts on Nunez - sure he was inconsistent, but this was the first time he was really brought in to play such a role....control the offensive attack. In the early part of the first half his passes were off, mostly long, so that leads me to think it was nervous energy. Once he settled down he made some great passes and was extremely comofortable with the ball at his feet. I don't think I've seen another Burn player this season who is so confident dribbling in tight spaces. He sees the game extremely well....particularly for a kid his age with his level of experience. That kind of thing can take years to teach, and we don't have to worry about that with Ramon. He just needs a little seasoning, some PT, and he is going to be a star. Did anyone else notice that the only two times we didn't play "lob it into Toni" in the first half that we scored. Coincedence??? I think not. It looks like with that lineup we had the ability to play a posession, passing game....waiting for the holes to open up and then exploiting them. It's too bad we went back to the "lob" game after the two goals. It just wasn't working, Toni was well marked most of the game. I wish I could have seen more creative passing and movement.
My thoughts on Mariners. Their weak arse web site lists PETA as one of their sponsors! Am I missing something ? Don't fish count as animals that deserve ethical treatment? What kind of Mariners are these? Soccer Balls & cleats made of leather? Papa John's pizza, some spare Mexican restaurant. I was not at the game so my contributions are quite limited.
I actually made it for the game thanks to the driving and navigation skills of Texgator. I had a good time, well worth the 5.00. I was a USOC virgin, now I cant wait for the game against Colorado. The Vagina Mariners turned into hacks in 2nd half when it became clear they were going to lose the game. I had fun talking noise to the coach after the game. I saw Zen & Arsenal Texan 3 giving it to him. Bottom line- good times.
I agree. Too many times last night, I saw plenty of space in front of one of our players with possesion, but the option was to not attack the space and keep possesion, but make that over the top, low percentage pass.
Where's the beer man? Classic chant. Problem was he never showed up. Cassars makes me nervous when he gets out of the box. He almost gave up a goal Saturday when he did it. Enjoyed the game.
I don't think Reyes and O'Brien were on the same page for much of the game. However, Reyes did exhibit more offensive ability then any other outside back has this season. Can anyone imagine Gbandi or Salyer doing what Reyes did on that first goal? I didn't think so. Stone was a non-factor for much of the game as far as I could tell. He did make a run or two towards goal, but either the pass didn't get to him or he was offside. IMO, the only two non-starters that showed they deserved considerations for PT were Nunez and Reyes. It was great to see some of the other guys, but none of them knocked my socks off.