Agreed. Even though Baldy McShitTheBed gave the ball away in Toronto’s third 4 times in the last 5 minute Columbus couldn’t score... they must have gotten the memo from SUM and USSF that Baldy Must be the MOTM or else!
It's not weird. Our whole system is based around protecting profit. That's what the suits have ordered, protecting the DP investment which is Mikey. Of course, it's a bit funny to see the whole "offer our YA a billion $$$ to come back here to market him", only to see Bradley turn into arguably the most hated player in the league.
When Vanney pulled left outside midfielder Delgado, who had been man marking Afful, the Columbus right back, Toronto put Zavaleta in. So add a cb for an outside mid. That meant there was acres of space where Delgado had been previously. INdeed, every time Columbus went down that side they had plenty of space and opportunity. But what did Berhalter do with it? He didn't put a striker in on that side. He added Manneh on the left where Vanney had already added Zavaleta!! So they used the acres of space to have Afful proceed into the space and cross - to the place where Zavaleta was now playing !!!
Apparently they were originally not scheduled to overlap but Houston wanted to move the game up a half an hour so the game didn't end so late on a weekday.
The Seattle-Houston game was good in the first half, kind of settled down in the second half. Demps was quiet, I thought. In any case an enjoyable game to watch. Wish that Porter had the foresight to attempt to get goals for the away Houston game...maybe that is why he is no longer at Portland. As he found out, you cannot count on winning at home. Seattle now has a really good chance of getting to finals.
The story of the first MLS final, back in 1996 on a rain soaked Foxboro pitch. Great interviews and memories from Marco Etcheverry, Jaime Moreno, Jesse Marsch, Jeff Agoos, and Chris Armas.
It will be the dmid (Svensson) who got Sweden to the World Cup by beating Italy, against the dmid (Bradley) who lost to Trinidad and failed to qualify his team for World Cup.
Steffen with another PK save tonight. He, Hamid, and Guzan (in some order) are probably my top 3 GKs right now. With regard to the other flavors, I thought Bradley was decent, outnumbered in CM at times, but also had some big defensive plays. From the handful of games I've seen, Toronto look better with Delgado at CM instead of Osorio. Delgado does more of the dirty work. Trapp looked decent as well--circulated the ball well and had the one great defensive recovery to track down Movinga. I'm still not ready to kick Altidore out of the pool. His physicality has caused some problems, and he also had some nice layoffs. I still can't tell how good Bono is. It seems like every TFC game I've seen, he's had very little to do.
This sets up the final with Seattle. Could be epic: 89th minute, Clint stares at Jozy and naturally Jozy falls down and rolls around. Bradley collects the ball in midfield and immediately back passes in case there might be a Seattle player within 30 yards. Dempsey picks off the pass and blasts the back of the net. Dempsey immediately raps at Baldy and Brozy about how they lost the T&T game and facked up his and Pulisic’s plans for the summer.
Pretty much stand by these halftime opinions at the end of the game. Altidore scored a nice goal after occupying the CB and having a nice little exchange at the top of the box. Bradley was a lot more effective with Delgado doing the running in front of him. With regard to this matchup and January camp: Definite invites: Steffen Maybes: Trapp, Delgado, Altidore Probably not, but still in consideration: Bradley, Bono
I doubt Jozy is fit for final. They showed Jozy's ankle getting rolled with weight on it and looked like something that will blow up like a balloon tomorrow. Something where you can go for 10 minutes but not good after that.
I'm hoping USSF has the presence of mind to hire Vazquez and keep him on payroll while he gets his license to coach if that is what he wants to do.
7 tackles. But he's too soft? No, he's not. Want to say this was a coming-of-age postseason from Wil Trapp, who played 5 straight excellent games on both sides of the ball. Was a menace tonight. #TORvCLB— Matthew Doyle (@MattDoyle76) November 30, 2017
No forgiveness needed from that crowd. Although even so I suspect they're not dumb enough to attribute total blame to Bradley and Altidore for the U.S. failure.