You apparently saw Bruce Arena 'magic' I saw Guzan watch a shot go in that Tim Howard could have saved. It seemed to me to be much more of a case of Mexico failing than of us succeeding, not sure how much credit Bruce gets for that? All in all a great atmosphere and World Cup group stage-like match.
That was the least dangerous I've seen Mexico at the Axteca against the US. Bruce gets some credit for the defensive plan. And I'm not sure Timmy gets to the goal either. The blame there goes to the 3 central defenders that all tracked Chicharito instead of giving Run DMB the support he was rightfully expecting.
Actually, Ream was chasing the play and never got back before the goal was scored (he had gone forward for the dead ball), but I think you're right on with respect to Cameron and Acosta.
This is a cool story, how Arthur Blank (Home Depot/Atlanta United owner) became interested in soccer. His son plays at Elon...I wonder if Clint Irwin has made a connection?
One quote in the article jumped out: “Basically we were told by existing [MLS] owners that this is a long-haul building franchise, and you have to get into the sport because you love it, and you have to have patience to build a franchise,” says Blank. Kroenke won't even watch a match. Can we trade owners?
My neice just graduated from elon, played lacrosse. Her boyfriend was on the soccer team, they all had a strong connection with past athletes. I am sure Irwin would know him at some level.
The DisCo fined Feilhaber for his Halibut-like flop against Montreal. That's 1 down, 1,000 flops to go.
Charlotte Feeds Off New Venue’s Energy http://www.uslsoccer.com/news_article/show/805084?referrer_id=2333971
Haven't followed this, but their original plan was to play in the renovated Memorial Stadium, which is now being targeted for demolition as the site of a new stadium for a proposed MLS expansion franchise: http://wfae.org/post/charlotte-independence-plays-1st-game-new-stadium-sat
For me, this should be the main role of Disco, this is the hardest call to make live for a Ref. Start handing out after the game suspensions from video review, I would think would stop most of it.
I had heard Germany was going to send a "young" team to the Confederation Cup, but I was surprised to see their starting lineup. Everyone's under 30, but it seemed part young, part B team. It's also harder to get excited about the Gold Cup after seeing the US prelim roster and Mexico's roster.
I thought it was mostly DMB getting lit up by a better player. If he had anticipated support, he should have been much tighter. I was very surprised that MX didn't keep running at DMB. With not-quick Ream behind him, he was the weak link.
It'll take suspensions to get rid of diving - punishments that actually hurt the team, which fines do not. Now diving is a very low-risk strategy that sometimes pays off big, but maybe that's about to change.
Colorado Springs Sky Sox are losing their AAA status and picking up a Short Season A League designation via moves of franchies to San Antonio and from Helena, Montana. After this move, the Switchbacks will be the team playing in the highest league in Colorado Springs. Also interested in what fewer games does to the Switchback's attendance. One other interesting fact: "The Sky Sox provided attendance data showing only 28 percent of its attendance over the past five years was accrued in the months of April and May, a span that accounts for roughly 40 percent of the home dates. Of the games lost to weather since 2006, 81 percent occurred in the time before the Pioneer League schedule opens." Triple-A baseball leaving Colorado Springs; Sky Sox will join a new league http://gazette.com/triple-a-basebal...ky-sox-will-join-a-new-league/article/1605606
Rookie ball (Pioneer league) is the lowest level in the affiliated minor leagues. It's like the Grand Junction team. These teams will typically get players drafted out of high school and younger players out of the Dominican academy, and sometime college players if the team thinks they're not advanced enough to start in the short season A ball team. It sucks for the Springs. They could eventually lose a team altogether.
Chicago won the Wooden Spoon last year with a 7-17-10 record (31 points, 0.91 PPG). After 17 games last year, Chicago was 4-8-5 (17 points, 1.0 PPG). After 17 games this year, Chicago is 10-3-4 (34 points, 2.0 PPG), second in the East. Yes, RFO, it can be done by teams that give a rip.
I think there were Fire fans last year lamenting along the lines of "even the Rapids can turn things around, why are the Fire so hopeless. Hauptman out!"
True. Colorado did it with a good defense. Chicago has a good defense and a scary offense, and is well coached. They are on pace for 60+ goals and a nearly +30 goal differential. They have more of a "killer" feel than the Rapids ever had last year. The Rapids rarely have topped the mid-40s on goals and only hit the 60s once in the shootout era (and we won't remind people how many they surrendered that year).