I don't think there's a blanket rule saying there wouldn't be simultaneous events, but definite cooperation between the two teams to avoid scheduling conflicting events when possible. Also, I think that weather will actually be a help for United fans going tomorrow. It's going to be gross and stormy which will keep Nats-Phillies crowds fairly small and probably spread thin through the day. Other than bars/restaurants being more crowded between 5-7 and Nats lots with more cars in them - don't see it as a big deal. Maybe 20,000 butts in seats at Nats Park and 3,000/4,00 at Audi Field.
I'm not sure what DCU could have done when they won the right to host this round. Outside of playing a weekday afternoon game, all DCU could do to avoid the Nats would be to play Saturday afternoon or Sunday night, but I'm sure the team didn't want to do that with a league match against Orlando scheduled for Wednesday the 26th.
Oh yeah, it definitely looked fairly unavoidable - and there was only one baseball game that day when they first scheduled it Doesn't make it any more convenient. I wonder what the attendance would have been like if the DCU game had been scheduled for 1:00
I guess it's good that I can't watch this, although following on ESPN Match-tracker demonstrates how brain damaged I really am.
Well, that was lackluster. I'm glad I canceled my SpotHero reservation and didn't decide to buy a ticket this afternoon. I got to watch whatever that was in the comfort of my air conditioned house. Once again an Olsen coached team comes out in an elimination game and shits the bed by looking disinterested and unprepared. The subs and lineup made no sense as well. Last game Jara was in DM, paired with Durkin that pair would have been more effective than Bustamante and Durkin who were just too passive. Bustamante isn't MLS ready and Durkin is either still fretting over his poor U-20 WC or maybe he's just not as good as the hype....... I don't understand waiting until the game was over to put in Yow because DCU needed some dynamism out there. I would have pulled Segura by minute 65 and let Yow run around for 25 minutes and find the game. I didn't understand pulling Titi - he was far more dangerous that Segura who really vanished during the game. Playing in this heat and humidity sucks. But NYCFC played a normal tempo and just looked more organized and -- ahem -- better coached and prepared than DCU. Probably the last game I'll see until early October is Wednesday night. Thing is, when this team plays this poorly and so disinterestedly, I'm not sure I'll really miss it.
I am not afraid to lose Acosta. Not this Acosta. I am not afraid to lose Rooney either. But I do am afraid to lose Arriola. The Arriola seen in the last 12 months - even if tonight he wasn't there)
I was saying it to my screen all damn night. He put the rookie winger in defensive midfield and the veteran defensive midfielder on the wing. That some serious whatthe********ery. His subs were charitably mystifying. That was negligent homicide. I just have to remind myself that nobody cares about the Open Cup the way that I care about the Open Cup.
In today's Post write up Olsen sort of admits that he didn't stress preparation for this game and that showed in the results and effort on the field. Given that there was no fixture congestion, I can only say WTF when a professional coach admits that he didn't take preparation seriously for an actual sanctioned competition. We will argue all day about whether or not Olsen is a good coach, but regardless, after 10 years maybe you need a change just to reset a culture of complacency that seems to show every time this team is tested in single elimination settings. The old Arena and Nowak coached teams would impose themselves on the opposition regardless of the competition or the stakes in the game. The trophy locker created by those teams speaks volumes to that approach.
For him to admit that is like begging be to be fired and maybe he's just burnt out after so long in this role. Given the current schedule, there's no reason to not go into this game with both barrels locked and loaded. And while no one "cares" about the US Open Cup, there are only 3 things you can realistically win if you're an MLS team, this, the Supporters Shield (which who really gives a shit about it?) and the MLS Cup. CCL is neat and all, but given the schedule and challenges to putting together a salary cap compliant roster, its not realistically in the cards for MLS teams. So with a comfortable schedule right now, I'd have really liked to have seen us go for this a bit more seriously.
I think way too much is being read into this: The offending quote: “It wasn’t a real mature performance from us,” Coach Ben Olsen said. “Bad habits defensively, poor turnovers. It was just an off night. Maybe the mentality and the importance of this game wasn’t there from our guys and maybe that trickles down from our preparation, so I’ll take a little bit of blame for that.” Translate. We played like crap and didn't act as if this was a big game. I don't have an answer as to why. I'm not going to call out my players in the press. So if you want to say I'm to blame, that's fine... I don't there's much to see here with this quote. --- With that said, last night's game was really disgraceful. My random thoughts. Olsen did a mind-boggling terrible job with the subs. He always waits too long, but last night was really bad. Yow should have been on by the 60th minute, certainly no later than the 65th. Amarikwa by the 80th at the latest. The Acosta contract can't get sorted out soon enough. If he wants to be here, get it done. Right now, he's acting like he doesn't. He quit last night (again). Rooney also quit last night. Segura quit. I saw him half-jogging back on defense multiple times. Titi was playing hard. I still haven't figured out what he really brings though. He doesn't score goals. He doesn't make the killer pass. As for our attack, one of our biggest issues is an unwillingness to pay a ball over the top. I understand Rooney isn't going to out-run anyone, but we have speed on the wings and those guys are making the runs. It's just the ball is almost never played to them. That makes our attack extremely one dimensional (and easy to defend). One thing about Jalen Robinson. He's really fast. I wonder if he can shoot. He's not very good at defense. Maybe he could be the stretch the defense late-game forward we're looking for. I say this half in jest... I'm beginning to think Jara has an inordinate amount of big blunders - is he becoming that really good defender who has one what the hell was that moment at least every game? I'm not there yet. But it's a trend I'm now going to be keeping an eye on. This team, when the move the ball quickly, is interesting and dynamic. When they move the ball slowly, it's terrible.
Yea, because who else would they get to come in here and deal with this ownership? Chad? I haven't really given much thought to this in a while, but based on the most recent payroll information out there, if you took Rooney out of the mix, this is a bottom 5 payroll. While he's panned out spectacularly, you'll never convince me that the Rooney acquisition wasn't at least significantly driven by marketing motives. What did we have, 11 pts coming into the new stadium last year? That wasn't unexpected based on the roster and the prior year's performance. The surprise was that it wasn't 7 or 8. While there were some upgrades this year with Titi and Jara, the fact of the matter is that there is still no depth on this team. No plan B. Didn't we come into the season with open senior roster and international slots? They failed to close the deal with Lucho and got themselves in a place where his head was turned and still looks to be out of sorts. We're still one banged head away from asking who the F do we replace Birnbaum with? We're one more tweeked knee from who the hell is our keeper. Given the state of his knee I wonder inf Mytijaland just lets Bill stay. He cost them nothing. The only bright spot is that maybe we will spend the Zoltan money better. He was free, we could just let him walk to free up the payroll, assuming Levien and Kaplan don't pocket it. Its still blatantly obvious that this team is being run on a frayed shoestring. Rooney covers up a lot on the field, but the rest is still held together with popsicle sticks and bubble gum. They haven't even paid out all of the stadium contractors. There's some gyrations going on with regard to final payments and all, based on what a new guy in my golf group said. Granted NJ has continually made the playoffs with a low to bottom 5 payroll and Houston has had some good regular season finishes, they're just like us, up/down, up/down. Some playoff finishes, some wooden spoon runs. Both teams run much better free to play academies and thats not the kind of thing that fixes itself over night. I don't think there's a line out the door of brand name or even promising coaches lining up for Olsen's job. Even with Rooney on the roster, because lets face it, he's only under contract for another year and its always going to be debatable what he's got in the tank. He will suddenly be old at some point on this side of the horizon.
Thats been my observation from game 1. He got rave reviews, but there were always 2-3 times a game where he looked clumsy, lazy or just plain bad that I couldn't quite get squared away in my head. My 9 yo asked me back in early May why I thought he was so good.
Assuming he played like he did at the end of last season I'd take Oniel Fisher at RB over Jara given the difference in salary and need for an international spot. Fisher would sometimes move way too far forward but the offense definitely lost something last season when he got hurt and NDL took over.