Post-match: Los Angeles FC - San Jose Earthquakes (Wednesday, 8/21) postgame thread [R]

Truth be told we had a snowballs chance in hell to win that game going into it but a tie or a close loss (1-0) wouldn’t have us all flipping out (rightfully).

For me I see two issues, Kashia is a liability and the opposition has figured out that if they clog the middle of the field vako will dribble right into them or a cross from the wing won’t make it thru.

Time to bench Kashia and go back to a quick release pass over the top so our attackers go 1v1 on the keeper.

Luckily we have Vancouver on Saturday and it’s a must win game!

 

I looked at the no pk call again but was it really a pk? It seems to me like he went for and got the ball....

 

The main complaint seems to be that there was no delay in play to at least give some time for the VAR to review.

The play happened and very quickly their was a stoppage in play in which the VAR could have addressed the CR, that never happened so play resumed quickly. Basically in a very short time the VAR determined there was nothing more to review. I believe it was that non-review that turned MA inside out.

Remember that this also happened shortly after there was no VAR review for the rough slide tackle of Espinoza in the box which looked like contact to the player's legs before contact to the ball.

I am with MA on this one, pk or no-pk, it certainly seemed like the VAR was not willing to delay play to have a good look and conversation with the CR.

 

He got the ball with his arm. Vako was about to slide by him. PK all the time, 100%, new rules or old. Alymeda right to get upset and I loved it.

 

Its disappointing how long it takes for our new signings to get up to speed with the rest of the squad. Fierro and Rios are the latest in that line. This has been a problem for us for some time. We dont have the luxury of them "coming good" in a year or two.

Godoy was bad, primary signing need this offseason is a defensive midfielder. I cannot believe we skinned Nashville for as much as we did.

 

Look, they are a better team than we are and we're going to lose 9 times out of 10 in LA. But we made it much easier than needed for them to beat us... so many errant passes up the middle from Kashia (mostly), Lopez and Yueill (less so) putting us under continued pressure.

Kashia was the big problem for me, but, as others mentioned, Hoesen was awful too. Espinoza was off and Vako had an average Vako game (not a good thing).

Flo continues to consistently play well and I thought Shea offered a big spark, I thought. At this point, I'd start Shea at left back and TT on the right (Lima's not been helping himself much).

Cummings has to be in the doghouse or stealth injured; I just can't explain Kashia starting every game over him by a reasonable coach.

Finally, the most important point: for all the Samurai way crap Almeyda spouts, he acted like a child. He must be more professional as he is our most important player and the figure that all the players should try to imitate.

Our last drubbing by LAFC sparked a good run. I hope this one does too.

 

I couldn't watch the game because it was on a "premium" Spanish channel. And I really don't want to watch the game on twitter on my tiny phone either. It seems like they have switched the broadcast to favour the Mexican fans lately.

With that said, it seems like I didn't miss very much.

 

Almeyda on his confrontational sequence that led to his ejection. #Quakes74 pic.twitter.com/xiQN6mF5cb

— Joel Soria (@soriajoelfutbol) August 22, 2019

 

At first I could see why it wasn't called, as it seemed to be in a natural position and the shot would have hit his body of not is arm.
T
thing is though: it wasn't a shot. Vako was trying to dribble past his sliding body and his arm was out away from his body and stopped the sideways dribble. If Vako had been able to dribble him he would have had a wide open net.

Seems like the exact kind of thing the VAR is supposed to fix. That said: Vega clearly took down Vela and he didn't see Bradley loose his mind. Judging from the comments on the MLSsoccer.com articles about the game though none of the LAFC fans are pointing out that they deserved a penalty too, so maybe I'm wrong

 

Vela took a dive to sell that as a PK. Probably should have gotten a yellow card for kicking his feet up in the air to simulate hard contact.

There was also a Quakes player that did that later on to draw a foul Stott called. I think it was Fierro who took a step after the LAFC defender touched his chest and when he realized he wouldn’t catch up to the ball he just twisted and collapsed like he had been grabbed. That should have been a yellow card on Fierro for simulation.

 

Disagree. Matias showed fight, which was lacking in several of the more dispassionate-by-nature Quakes last night.

 

Passion is fine but one needs to know the place and time. I'm not sure what kind of law you practice, but my guess is that if you approached a judge in a similar manner, it wouldn't go well.

I do like that Almeyda immediately owned up and apologized for it. He wasn't wrong, but life is unfair and we need to accept and overcome.

 

Soccer field isn't a court room. I wouldn't watch if it was!

 

I am fine he got ejected, the bad no calls were terrible but after the ejection he needs to leave the field and not get into it with fourth officials, security guards and fans.

 

Maybe we need to bring in some quality players and not projects or possibilities.

I do think Vako did good when he was added in the summer of 2017.

 

Why are you fine with the ejection, if you believe his verbalized complaints were valid?

 

I understand that as fans we want the team to win (I want them to win, too), but I would caution not to frame your arguments this way. Fisher has the luxury of doing whatever he pleases with the team. He owns it and he has enough money to operate it indefinitely.

I'm not sure why anybody would have expected him to play well in this game. He hasn't played in ages and he was never a great player to begin with. Frankly, I didn't expect him to play, but when I saw him on the field, my only thought was that they weren't serious about winning this game at all. There's really no way one could expect Godoy to play to the height of his ability after recovering for so long and having zero competitive minutes in the meantime.

 

It's pretty clear in almost any sport you play or coach, you respect the referees. His actions were perceived as going beyond what is acceptable and was ejected. He should of then left the field and can go pound sand somewhere else but chose to continue his rant on the slide line.

He did no good to then point a finger at the fourth official and get in their face, then go to address some fans. That was not discussion, it was out of place. MA did issue his statement and apologized for the actions post ejection.

 

As a fan, I've thought Flo would be a good captain because of his 100% effort. However, Kashia was the captain yesterday. I don't remember if captain is selected by players, the coach, or both, but it means Kashia is valued by someone on and off the pitch.

 

LAFC may be better, but it looks like the team regressed in this game. Collectively, there was some real poor play by the Quakes, with some standouts with Danny, Kashia, Lopez, and Lima. Poor passes by Danny, Kashia, and Lopez led to counterattack goals.

The team looked like it has lost it's confidence again and was pressing. Teams have figured out to focus on Yuell and Vako will kill most of the attack.

Physically, I'm wondering whether the team is also struggling. We didn't track back nearly as well as we did in mid-season.

Better finishing (from other than Vako) needs to happen if this team is going to finish the season off with a good run.

 

Joel Soria agrees with you:

 

I asked why Matias' ejection was warranted if (as you admit) his complaints were valid. You say that his "actions were perceived as going beyond what is acceptable." Why? Coaches regularly verbalize complaints to officials in all sports.

 

"Why?" because he was ejected. He is not new to this coaching thing so I am sure he knows what is acceptable and what is pushing his luck.

 

Love Almeyda even more now for that sending off, stuff of legends right there. Love the passion and the fire.

 

I'm not following the logic. If Matias' complaints were valid, then the refs were by definition in the wrong. Accordingly, their ejection of him merely for pointing this out was also in the wrong.

Only if Matias said something that was itself beyond the pale, apart from noting the officials' errors, could the ejection be deemed justified. I've yet to hear evidence of that.