Well, hell, that was fun. I lucked into a ticket at the last minute. Such a beautiful night for a game. Feels great to beat Portland. Small thing in the grand scheme of things, but I loved Pipa's hustle in second half added time that rushed the keeper and resulted in him kicking it into touch, so we kept possession. Really like Crognale. Gregg's going to have a hard time keeping him on the bench.
Yep, worked as well as could have been hoped. Couple hiccups here and there, but overall the corner was engaged, in sync, and loud throughout. Best I've heard it in a while. Only one real incident of competing chants, when its usually more like 10 a game.
As maddening as the Portland goal just before halftime was, the Crew scored three non-penalty goals, all nicely taken, and looked like a team that may continue to be fun to watch this season. And beating Portland doesn't exactly suck, either.
Hmmm. So there were capo's over there huh? From the other side stadium, the corner was definitely louder. I noticed it and thought it was because it was Portland or something.
When we say 'capos' its literally just the exact same guys as before, but now they have a megaphone, some signs, and organized all the drummers into a single group. Nothing that much has changed per say, people were just sick and tired of all this 'organic' nonsense. Some simple organization is all it took. Glad to hear it sounded better from someone sitting on the opposite end of the stadium. Hard for me to judge being in the corner myself, but it definitely did seem louder and more cohesive.
Crognale was solid but I thought Mensah showed his experience. He had his hands full with Adi and made a few stops that saved goal chances. Findlay had a few bad moments but settled in and looked good in the second half. Pipa hustled until the end. Everyone looks good when we get the W!
Boooooo capos. Yay for Pipa - looked good indeed. That second Portland goal should have never happened - dodged a few bullets on Valeri shots too. But, we got a goal when we needed one, something we couldn't do last year. Good work by the team.
And the club might have a hard time keeping him, if he gets a Yanks Abroad itch akin to Matt Miazga. So glad seeing the team do this as a team unit again.
In the stadium from my view, I'd wondered if two of our three goals came courtesy of handballs (Pipa's left arm was extended to set up Ola and for the winner, Ola lunged with his right even though he had it tucked in). But I'm still not certain on either having seen replays after getting home and in any case, don't really care. Really happy for Hansen, I've been eager to see him since draft day and the kid delivered. That's another satisfying win and we've managed to put together a nice start.
Man oh man, few things give me more joy than knowing that the Timbers Army that made the trip travel home like the losers they are. I know that there is some weird camaraderie between some groups of Crew fans and Portland on the basis that they aren't Seattle, or something, Not for me. ******** that team. ******** Cascadia. ******** Caleb Porter. Bon Voyage, assholes. We are top of the East, Sing We are top of the East!
A few other thoughts... I was really happy to see Francis back in the lineup...and then that fist goal happened. What the hell? I mean it was well struck, but I have no idea what happened there. Just seemed so lackadaisical. Really uneven game from Francis, in my opinion, but a guy I really want to see get more minutes. Raitaila has been uneven as well so far this season, so that will be an interesting position battle to watch going forward. The second goal came on a cross from Francis's side and we had at least three defenders who could have stepped up to Adi and none did. Really bad goal to give up. I love Justin Meram. I really love Crognale. Good to see Hansen score a goal off the bench, horrible to hear the Crew announcer team yell MMMBOP after the goal. One of the biggest concerns is that we don't have an impact sub off the bench. Still not sure Hansen is that guy. But, right place right time is sometimes more than just luck. One of Pipa's better games in 2 years. Can he do it back to back weeks, or over the course of a full season? Or against a team that plays less open than Portland? Maybe, maybe not. But that doesn't take away from last night's performance. I saw some praise for Mensah earlier. I thought he was pretty average, again. Artur's best game of the season. Nonetheless, Free Tony Tchani goddamnit. Caleb Porter remains an asshole. HUGE two game games coming up to pad points before 3 against top of the East teams to close out April (Toronto, NYC, Red Bulls). Two of those are at home. However if we can grab 4-6 points vs Orlando and Chicago over the next two weeks we are in a very decent position.
Our captain was the architect of their second. A needless shove in the back on halfway right in front of the ref. He should have just held them up making them go backwards.
I can see why Portland have scored so many goals this year, as their chances that didn't go in were very close (Valeri hitting the post). That is icing on the cake to send those llumberjacks home in tears finally. Wonderful win.
There was plenty of time to prevent the goal between the foul and the shot though. Mensah's marking and spacial awareness is horrific.
This. Had the foul been near the 18yd box, I might be upset. But giving up a foul at midfield with nearly your entire team behind the ball isn't a bad foul to give up. I can't even call out a single player on that goal because there were multiple players who looked worse than a U10 side.
Much better performance, both goals conceded were concerning though. Poor defending. Still not impressed by Mensah. He looks like a forward being asked to play defence.