When: Wednesday June 26th, 8:00 PM ET Where: Audi Field Why: Because we have not had a home or any MLS match in weeks
For some reason when Orlando was an expansion franchise people were putting it up as an example for doing things right. For the life of me I can't remember why this was so.
Cute purple stadium? An advertising budget? Can't be for how their FO operates. We know United has shown no interest in playing soccer during this break - even thought they had 2 USOC games - I wonder how Orlando has taken the break. Will it look like your typical hot, humid game where all the players jog around and only occasionally make an effort? Does heat and humidity favor Orlando? DC United - 2 FC Barney - 1 If we sub out Rooney before the 80th minute we might score an extra goal. Chances of that happening are slim. And of course since we haven't played a league game in a few weeks - we have yet another one in a few days and another a few days after that - whoever schedules MLS games should be beaten severely in public for my enjoyment.
yes and those bells you are hearing are an Ice Cream truck coming to bring you all the ice cream you can eat.
I think it was the amazement that a group of investors could get any of the residents of the god-forsaken swamp to be interested in soccer. Some may have another opinion.
They played in the Citrus Bowl and got crowds and enthusiasm larger than anticipated even as a USL side before making the move. The organization changed the stadium plans and made the venue larger. They had decent attacking talent even when Kaka was injured. The fans didn't go peak Florida until in their new stadium. There's also the matter of them joining the league as some other team that made it easy to not dislike them as much.
A series of unsuccessful seasons will bring your moral down to zero. Let's not forget that USL Orlando had won two titles in three years if I recall well, so when they came up to MLS, there was the enthusiasm of being in the highest soccer US league, as well as the entusiasm of the titles won in the previous league.
Based on our last two USOC games, I am very Meh about the games this week - and I am already busy dreading the pre-game/TG/walk for Saturday's game. Anything other than a complete drubbing of Orlando will just make my dread worse.
Here's what I'd like to see. --------------Hamid--------------- Jara - Pines - Birnbaum - Mora --------Durkin - Canouse-------- Yow----------Acosta---------Titi --------------Rooney--------------- If you told me you wanted to try Yow ----------- Titi ----------- Steiber I'd be ok with it. What I think we'll see: --------------Hamid----------------- Jara - Brilliant - Birnbaum - Mora -----------Durkin - Canouse---------- Segura--------Acosta---------Titl --------------Rooney---------------- The key for this team's offense is two simple things. 1. The ball has to move quickly. 2. Acosta has to touch the ball a lot, even if he is deeper in the field than we would like. If we're struggling to the ball beyond Canouse and Durkin, Acosta needs to come back and get it and start the play from there. He is the straw that stirs the drink but too often he's too far up the field and not touching the ball enough.
Acosta often has to come back well away from the goal in part because neither Canouse nor Moreno get involved very often in the attack. I see Durkin as more inclined to think offensively, and Canouse has all the tools, including a very hard shot, but either through personal inclinations or Ben/Chad's coaching, our two midfielders behind the Titi - Acosta - Arriola/Segura line think defense first, last, and almost always. We need at least one of our Dmids to help out on attack, especially when Acosta has dropped well away from the goal.
See, I feel it's less about Durkin/Canouse/Moreno needing to get involved in the offense and more about the fact that we never get the ball into the offensive end because Acosta is almost always staying too high. We are trying to possess the ball and build out of the back. But the ball almost always dies at the Canouse/Moreno/Durkin line or when it goes to the next level it never keeps going forward it always come right back. But when Acosta drops back and takes the ball from them either from two feet away or by making himself easily available, it causes the entire opposing defense to react and they start getting pulled out of shape. When Acosta then moves the ball, even if it's just playing simple one-twos or moving it from side to side, we become much more dynamic and move forward dangerously. But too often this year it seems to me like Acosta has been hiding from the ball too far up the field. And since we refuse to play the ball over the top to a wing, our offense has been complete crap. As for getting numbers forward, I think the design of the offense is that the additional numbers come from the fullbacks - that's why the Canouse/Moreno line stays back... I think of Higuian for Columbus. (Before he blew out his knee) he was always on the ball. He goes and finds it. And he makes stuff happen. Acosta needs to go and find the ball more.
Anyone having an issue with the electronic tickets in the app? I can view them and pull up the barcode, but I can't transfer them to Google Pay.
Yup - I thought it was just a thing for the OC tickets but same thing for today's game - no save to phone option (same for the STM gift voucher). They broke the app :-( I've saved a screenshot of my ticket in case the WiFi is useless at the gate.
That's what happens when you continue losing. You can't be crappy forever and hope that things work out. I remember going there in season 1/2 for them (I went twice). The atmosphere was AWESOME. People showed up hella early, hung out outside with all these festive events, and generally had a great time. Well, I went early last month to their game in the new(er) stadium (against Toronto) and it was night and day. The road was blocked off outside, but it really wasn't necessary. It was shocking to see how empty the place was, both inside and out. It's a shame, because the stadium is very accessible and decent enough as a pure venue. Anyway, onwards and upwards for DC United.
Without Arriola, we don't have anyone making runs into the box, it seems. That's making it really easy for Orlando to defend us -- no one making them uncomfortable.