A midweek game after school has started with an 8:30 start against a "rival" on ESPN. Looking on Seat Geek there are probably hundreds of tickets for sale for less than $30 anywhere in the stadium, it's going to be pretty empty there Thursday I'd guess.
They're really stretching with this one, I think. I realize that Missouri and Minnesota are pretty close, alphabetically, in the list of states, but I'm having a hard time seeing Minn as a rival. St Lousi, however, gives reason for hope (though they will gravitate towards Chicago...
+1 Rep and big smile from me to see that someone else besides me calls our Eastern brethren "St. Lousi" (Lose-y) *** Re: the game. Minnesota needs one win to hoist their first franchise trophy. That game is on Tuesday in Atlanta. Perhaps 2nd place Minn wouldn't want to risk key starting XI to injury or fatigue on a Thu night - Ike Opara should really be kept rested for the US Open Cup Final, right? I can see them being "greedy" though, and "going for it all". If so, I hope they get punished, lose USOC, and get bumped out of the playoffs by us (Minn have 2x vs us and 2x vs LAFC, so if we do our part, the ending stretch for MUFC could be brutal). I still like Ike. But when that whistle blows, I want SKC to demolish the team he plays for. SKC needs 6 points in the next 2 home games or this season is effectively over. Sure the odds of making the playoffs are long, but hope is a powerful thing, and this is the type of setup that legendary comebacks start from.... I hope SKC can win enough to at least keep our home finale vs Portland mathematically meaningful.
Nothing say "rivalry" like MLS forgetting to advertise the game and $17 Cauldron tickets. That said, watching Alonso vs Espinoza is worth price of admission.
If anyone from MLS STL is reading these, my suggested name for the new team is....... Futbol United St. Louis.
Seatgeek won't let me list my tickets at less than $24. I'm eating a cool almost $50, so thanks you piece of shit greedy app. Wish I could go tonight but this is about the least convenient midweek game ever.
Am I the only one who does not care for the ‘nicest rivalry’ crap? Come on Sporting let’s bury Minnesota!
I don't care about Minnesota at all. I've seen it more as them being tongue in cheek about the fact that MLS is trying to make it a rivalry when neither fan base seems to really care.
Where have I heard that before? We are looking pretty good in the first half. Need to keep it up in the second half and steal 3 points.
BTW, what a beautiful night. First time it hasn't been oppressively hot. Pretty decent turnout, all things considered.
Hoping this back 4 stays together and continues to play well. I have been a big Zusi critic, but he had a solid game. If Sporting can start (and keep healthy) the same team that ended the game (except Roger replacing Medranda), the team could actually make the playoffs and even make a run. No one had a bad game tonight, which we haven’t seen in quite awhile.
we're gonna make a run here and squeak into the playoffs, only to have the playoff streak continue so that we only have to paper over the cracks, aren't we?
My one-sentence game summary was going to be that SKC's wing play was pretty good (as the commentators kept saying), but Hurtado's movement gave them nothing in the middle. Then he scored late on a quick counter, which is really his one and only tool--not worthless, but not consistent with how the rest of the team is built.
Smith has been quite good the last few games and the new LB seems like an upgrade. The back four seems decent again. All four mids that played meaningful minutes looked good, but Guti sitting deep is a waste on this team. He should not be playing deeper than Espinoza, but was a lot last night. The issue last night was front three. Salloi has fallen so far its difficult to comprehend. My only explanation for what he is doing is that he is intentionally trying to lead MLS in shots without goals (he's second right now). 36 shots, 9 on goal and zero goals. That is abysmal. Add to that Hurtado and whatever it is that he is supposed to add to this team. I'll give him credit on the finish, but he's a one trick pony and really makes the attack aimless. Side note, season is nearly over and it still looks like SKC have never practiced corner kicks. Back in the day we had Kei, CJ, Collin and Opara that could all score. Now, we might as well just pass the ball to the keeper.
Salloi has looked better the last couple of games. He looks really well built to combine but never has players to work off of. Should have been in on goal if Hurtado knew how to pass. That bummed me out, because Daniel really needs the boost, and he did everything so right on that play. I like Hurtado plenty. He's a great value sub/depth/specific weapon. Really fun to see someone with both pace and relentless effort. But his combination skills are way too lacking to lead a 4-3-3. That's my biggest beef. If Vermes wants a striker who can score, run hard all day, hold up the ball some, and make critical passes to his goal-threat wingers... we all know the answer. It's gonna take a bit of cash. We suck on corner kicks because we're little. The four you mentioned are about the only guys with enough strength and athleticism to threaten consistently on a corner. Did you notice Ike won basically every offensive corner Minnesota had? If he'd been on last night, he could have single-handedly ended our season (which would have been weirdly karmic). Not sure why Vermes is resting Ilie so hard. I like it, because that guy gets a lot of miles. But when he's backed into a corner and trying to scrap for every point possible, it's weird to sit one of your best players for 2/3 of every game. That said, it's worked out, so if Pete has learned how to balance his minutes with his effectiveness on the pitch, it's about damn time!
I was sitting in the Cauldron directly behind goal. My assumption was that Ike would score on a corner in the 89th minute, and that would be that. I'm fine with Hurtado coming off the bench as a change of pace, which is what he was brought here for, but I am not fine with him being the 90 minute CF. The attack has no fluidity or purpose with him in there. He's a less skilled version of Dom. That just doesn't fit anymore, unless we want to play dump and chase hockey soccer. Salloi had some moments in the game, but more where he looked plain bad to me. Several balls he couldn't settle out of the air, looks slow dribbling players, etc. Biggest problem with him now is his shots are all off target. For a small, skinny, slow guy to be effective, he has to have good feet and a good shot. Daniel still has great feet, but his shot is way off.
I was thinking of the same moment, Salloi I thought looked eager last night watching on tv and really active. A better pass by Hurtado and he’s at the very least in on goal on that chance in the second half. As for Hurtado, he scored because we actually made a quick counter. He does well when he can run at/behind defenses (see his other goal against Seattle). But when we’re having most of the possession and slowly building up (another issue entirely), he doesn’t give enough movement in the box to be an option for Gerso, Russell, Salloi, etc. BTW, I think we can add Nemeth to the group of players absolutely not coming back, along with Croizet. 2 games in a row now we’ve need a goal late and 2 games in a row PV hasn’t gone to Nemeth.
I really like Nemeth but I'm okay with that. He doesn't fit here like we'd hoped and he's very expensive for someone who doesn't. Letting his contract expire, likely Benny's as well (or at least restructuring him way down to match his probably less-involved role for a future season), shipping off Croizet... some money there starts to add up! Fontas dropping to fourth on the chart and being straight-up named as the reason we lost a few weeks ago by the coach tells me they'd jump wildly at any opportunity to pass him along as well. I don't like to revel in people's careers being disrupted, but we just might be able to salvage enough roster space to not waste the really good half-XI we have right now!
I really think we're going to have to do what LA did with Giovani Dos Santos and the ownership is going to have to buy out his contract this offseason.
Surely we could sell him back to a lower team in Spain for a low sum at least? Get him off books, get a couple hundo k in cash? I thought the GDS problem was that no one anywhere at all wanted him, at least that was in-window. Or is there something else I'm not thinking of?