Well, that wasn't bad. Back line was pretty solid. I like seeing Hedges and Zim dribbling forward when given space. Grana continues to impress with his dribbling and passing. Not so great on the PK (yeah I know it shouldn't have been a PK) caused by him getting in bad position not goalside of Romney. Acosta and Gruezo were tremendous. Keep feeding Acosta, he's hot! Barrios' crosses seem to have improved from last year. I like Lamah's speed, but some of his decisions are really not good. One backpass to Seitz sticks in my mind. All the preseason reviews speak of possible weakness in goal. Seitz seems solid to me. Maybe it's lack of service, but Colman hasn't impressed me much yet. Seemed like LA expected us to attack up the wings and did a fair job of bottling that up by getting guys outside. I though we reacted to this OK by moving the ball into the middle for Gruezo or Acosta to push forward. Not crazy about the extreme bunkering in for the last 8 minutes of the game. I think we only avoided getting tied due to Cermeno deflecting a shot with his thigh. Plenty of room to improve. I think KC will be a tougher test for us.
Anyone else think the Univision broadcast direction was awful? I don't remember them being that bad for Liga MX. LOVE when they linger on the face of the guy who just made a pass while not showing what happened to his pass. Need more shots of Onolfo hydrating! The prioritization of showing the 4th official showing the 5 minutes of extra time over showing Seitz having to deal with a hospital ball backpass was particularly inspired.
I was fortunate to see the game live and not on Univision but the (English) commentary I heard on the highlights was awful. I DVR'd the game at home and was surprised when it recorded in English. I don't think we have that much to improve on. We played very strong and finished our chances (well, most of them). Lamah needs to improve some decision making but he looks a lot better than he did at home vs Arabe. Colman is already making me want to bang my head into the wall with his first touch. He could've been in on goal early if not for (yet another) a bad first touch. Defense was solid again but was lucky that Lasiter didn't connect on that header late. Grana was a fantastic pick up. Urruti continues to impress. Bring on KC.
Game: Sporting Kansas City vs FC Dallas Date: Saturday, March 11th Time: 8:00 PM [CST] Location: Children's Mercy Park, Kansas City, Kansas, United States of America Weather Forecast: Snow; H 40, L 25 Competition: Major League Soccer Last Game for Opponent: 0-0 draw at DC Live TV: TXA-21; FCDallas.com [DFW only] Radio: KWRD 100.7 FM [English]; KFLC 1270 AM La Voz del Pueblo [Spanish]
Glad to see the FO made sure to replace our former heavy first touch guy Castillo with a new heavy first touch guy.
Much younger lineup tonight, with Paxton (who was born after our famous win over Chicago in 1999) getting a start and Pareja having an eye towards Wednesday.
Canceled? For CCL? Side note: the KC color guy and sideline reporter are awful. Play-by-play is pretty decent.
Refs' strike in Mexico. That game was 35 kinds of ugly, but I'll take the point and smile. I do hope that Lamah's knock isn't serious and that he's available for Wednesday night.
Well done by the second-stringers. Pomykal had a decent game; good to see him do well against top-notch competition. Not a world-beater, but pretty impressive for a high schooler. Gonzalez had a fine showing, as well. Seitz is still my preference, but there are definitely no major worries at the keeper position. The double punch-out-cum-front-handspring was very athletic, but I'd have preferred to see him catch the ball on the second opportunity. The whole team acquitted themselves well in a very hostile environment against a quality opponent. This group of backups is starter-quality, for sure, which bodes well for the rest of the season. Good job by our team management and Coach Pareja.
4 out 6 pts at LA and at KC to start the season is fantastic. Could've been more with Colman hitting the post. Now on to the real challenge from south of the border.
Thought J. Harris had some nice passes in the first half too. Colman needs to score and Paxton needed to pull the trigger faster on his opportunity but hard to argue with a tie on the road at a tough place to play early in the season. Would have liked to have seen Cannon but hopefully that's coming soon enough. Looking forward to Wednesday.
Just love how Oscar is completely unafraid to play young and unproven players. Good 4 road points to start the season. We've got a "B" team capable of picking up points in this league................and we're still without Ulloa, Hollingshead, and Chala. FCD youngest starters, all-time:1. Pomykal (17 yrs, 84 days)T2. Alex Zendejas (17 yrs, 126 days)T2. Eddie Johnson (17 yrs, 126 days)— Carter Baum (@CarterBaum) March 12, 2017 Of course, FCD currently has two players younger than Paxton on their roster. Ferreira has a full calendar year to break this record, and Reynolds has even more time......................
I thought Oscar pulled off a master class with the young lineup and tactics. Every time they showed Vermes I thought about how frustrated he looked going up against so many young players with his very veteran squad. This was Hedges, Harris and kids.
On my list of opposing coaches who I love to see whining after we beat (or in this case draw) them, Vermes is right at the top. It must be really upsetting when the other team dares to use tactics that you don't have an answer for.
If I went to our home opener and the opponent fielded a second string team and we failed to even score on them (or barely get a shot that troubled their goalie), I'd really be p$$d. Well, done OP and boys (some literally boys)! I didn't see anyone on the team we fielded who really looked out of place.