Game: Columbus Crew SC vs FC Dallas Date: Saturday, August 26th Time: 6:30 PM [CST] Location: MAPFRE Stadium, Columbus, Ohio, United States of America Weather Forecast: Clear; H 77, L 55 Competition: Major League Soccer Last 5 for Opponent: W-D-W-L-L Record & Standing of Opponent: 12-12-3 | 39 pts | 4th in the East (7th overall) Live TV: KTXA-21 [DFW]; FCDallas.com [DFW]; Spectrum Sports Ohio [Ohio]; CW Columbus [Columbus]; BCSN2 [Columbus]; MLSLive/Direct Kick [Out of Market] Radio: KWRD 100.7 FM [English]; KFLC 1270 AM La Voz del Pueblo [Spanish]
Another delayed away game broadcast due to Cowboys exhibition football. As if I didn't already hate the Cowboys.
Go watch it live with me! Why wait until later to watch a goal called back for asinine reasons when you become infuriated immediately!
Poor form. Road game. Columbus has been decent. Most important thing to consider: VAR seems to like Columbus. This is an obvious loss to me.
Yep. What's the over/under on VAR being a story after this game? A draw is as optimistic as I can be.
MLS.com advertised this game as being broadcast on TXA 21, but apparently the LA Rams preseason football game usurps MLS in this market. No local broadcast, but that's probably for the better at this point. These guys are bums.
Aw come on, he can't be the only one you don't want to see. I would go with Tesho as well. So many bad first touches, then slide tackling all over the place to try and make amends. The offense is out of ideas. The defense is porous. When do we see Reggie Cannon, Pomykal, or Ferreira? Lol at the Hedges yellow card. What happened to that guy on Columbus? Must have been a sniper.
It's on tape delay, since CBS 11 is showing the Cowboys, and TXA 21 is showing what's on CBS... which is the Rams-Chargers game. Enjoy! My own HSO is that Acosta and Hedges need to spend a game or two on the bench. I don't know what happened at the Gold Cup, but they've been a bit poorer since then. In the case of Acosta, I don't want to blame all the transfer speculation, but I don't know that it's a coincidence that his form dropped right as the transfer window opened. I can harp on Atiba Harris, but it's clear at this point that he is to Papi what Bruno Guarda was to Hyndman: A player who sees far more of the field than his play warrants.
I'd rather see Colmán out there instead of Tesho, but to his credit, he scores the occasional goal and earns the occasional penalty. Atiba Harris is neverending source of giveaways and ballwatching that result in Jesse Gonzalez pulling a ball out of his net. It's a damn good question. The last time we saw Ferreira, he scored a goal. Or maybe he played one other match. My only supposition is that we're getting closer to the end of the season and Papi is putting together a core for the playoffs, and the time for experimentation with young players is over. The funny thing, though, is this: FCD might not make the playoffs. Right now, the top eight teams in the West separated by nine points. Only six teams will make the playoffs. And the way FCD is headed at the moment makes you wonder if they'll find a way to be one of the two teams out.
Honestly, he needs to shake up a lot of the younger players to get their attention -- maybe a game or two out of the 18 -- and he's gonna have to let go more of his own security blankets named Atiba Harris and Tesho Akindele.
Feel like this team also has a major identity crisis. When Diaz was out at the beginning of the season, Acosta/Gruezo worked well in the middle. Now without Diaz still and Acosta taking a dump lately, we're seeing everything go wrong. Do they hold out that Diaz will return to his pre-injury form just in time for the playoffs (not likely)? Or do they totally change formation? One thing is for sure, Lamah, Atiba, Hedges and Kellyn probably need to ride the pine soon. When everyone pulls their head out of their ass, this is what I would start putting out there... -------------Colman-------------------- -------Maxi------------------------------ New Guy----------------------Barrios ------------------Acosta---------------- ---------------Gruezo------------------ Fig------------------------------Cannon ---------Hedges-----Zim--------------- ----------Gonzalez--------------------- Have Ferreira and Pomykal on the bench and ready to go on the wings/up front when need be. Run at the opposition. Run them to death. Simple passes. Back to basics. Stop playing panic ball.
Oh the thrill of the pre-season exhibition new NFL LA Dahhby! Anyone else notice on the first Columbus goal that Tesho failed to recognize the loose man on his side of the field and was casually cruising back on D? I also blame Jesse for that one. He should recognize early that there’s a loose runner and yell at someone to mark him. Again, not a terrible performance, but bad enough to lose the points. And now we lose 5 guys this weekend to national team duty. Good news, one of them is Tesho. The ray of hope I’m hanging onto is that IF we can win both the games we still have in hand, we’re tied for first.
When I watch this FC Dallas team play, I can't help but think that the players are not training hard. I'm sure they run hard and sweat, but they don't look sharp. They look like a group of guys who chat about how they are underpaid and probably are. Another thing - yes the refs suck in the league, and VAR isn't helping that, but I'm fed up with seeing Barrios and Urruti complaining about the physicality. They are both super physical players, but are often diving and giving up on plays when they think a foul should be called. It happens too many times to count, and it's partially a reason that the refs don't give Dallas attackers the benefit of the doubt. Diaz is also guilty, but refs are less cynical about him. Last, I think Bruce Arena and the international game exposed our players, and they are struggling to deal with the consequences.
1) Diaz, as predicted, is struggling to return from major injury 2) off season signings have not made the team better 3) the defensive strength which powered early season has evaporated 4) Hedges & Acosta returned from Gold Cup w/ a case of the yips 5) Urruti can only produce a "special moment" so many times I asked the question on Twitter if missing the playoffs would put OP's gig in danger. Did so wondering where the fan base sat, considering it is OP's job to sort these things out and so far has yet to see it happen. Happy to report the fan base, at least in this case, is not reactive and all seem to support Oscar. But, for those that want to put many of these failings at the feet of Clavijo and Hunt - it should not be forgotten that Oscar has publicly and privately been just as much a part of all of this decision making as those two, and probably more. OP is a critical supporter of "the FCD Way". He is not about big name/$$ signings, believes he can build this from within and do this another way. While there is no reason to think or want Oscar's seat to be warm, or even lukewarm, the undying love for OP shouldn't blind us to his culpability of the current roster situation.
Absolutely. Oscar is one of us. He's like family to us who have been around since the get-go. But when players routinely take games off (this goes through to last season) and then begin to take significant portions of the schedule off, you have a culture issue. Something is not right in the locker room, and when players don't want to work, it translates into losses with this group because it is allowed. OP is like a tio to these guys. He needs to be more like a father and sit them when they are not performing so that the rest of the guys understand that this is about form.
Agreed 100%. It's no secret that I've given Pareja a pass because the man means as much to me as this club does but there comes a time when I have to wake up and smell the blood. I've been told numerous times in the last 3 years that everyone who plays for Pareja would walk through a wall for him. Well, let's see them do just that. These guys need to fight. They need to remove their heads from their asses. They also need to know that they don't get to play every game just because. That starts with Pareja. There are too many examples of what not to do in the last 6 games. Let's sort this shit out. The good news is this is completely saveable. We get a big win against the other Bulls on Saturday and we get that confidence back. We then win our games in hand and we're right back at the top. Some very winnable games to finish the season (2 against Colorado, 1 against LA, 1 against Minnesota) and some tough ones (Seattle, Atlanta, etc).
Well the game didn't look any better in person even from a suite. Luckily I was hammered and the Columbus folks hosting were so nice I couldn't get as angry as usual. I too think something is different this year and think OP put aside his usual way to win MLS cup this year before a host of players leave. It's not working. Of course he gets more time. If it's bothering us it's killing him.