A few words from the Freep today... http://www.freep.com/sports/othersports/soccer18_20040518.htm Missed the game tonight though. How'd we look?
Ack! Last season watching the Bucks could be very difficult; they often blew a lot of chances to put opponents away. After the first two road blowouts I thought maybe those problems were behind them. I was wrong. The Bucks endangered their 2004 Cup hopes with a frustrating 1-1 tie against Fort Wayne tonight. More later....
It was just one of those games. The Fever played a tactically sound match and save for some incredible luck, this game could have very well been a blowout. Neither team rested control of the match, and although the Bucks dominated possession through large stretches, they just never seemed able to get that last ball perfectly placed. The Fever were always a threat going forward and could have easily taken this game if not for some very fortunate defensive plays. Kevin Taylor was especially shaky on several plays. Fortunately, despite being clearly shaken by a what appeared to be a shoulder injury, he proved to be very difficult in the air knocking down several dangerous through balls. The Fever used their total team speed to pressure the Bucks early and often. They ran so much that most of them appeared gased by the end of the game. It was truly a battle of attrition. Knox Cameron had his hands full basically playing the lone forward in a 4-5-1 formation. The Fever pressured so much through the middle third that half the time the Bucks were content just banging the ball forward completely bypassing the midfield and hoping that Knox got on the end of it. The midfield also missed some excellent opportunities to put the ball through to a streaking winger. The Bucks were most dangerous when the ball was played out wide. In fact, the most dangerous plays came from the left side of the field and eventually resulted in the first goal. There was a hint that the flood gates would open shortly after that, but it never came to fruition. The ball never seemed to bounce their way and following the Bucks tying goal, the Fever defense regrouped and closed out the game with some solid play. The tempo of the game changed after Knox was subbed for Omekanda. He and Turpin linked up on several plays. Omekanda's first touch was a brilliant move to the outside left. He picked up the ball about thirty-five out and beat their defender on the dribble on the left side. If not for a fortunate touch by the keeper to push the ball just off the post, that would have given the Bucks a 2-1 lead midway through the second half. From there, the Bucks took control of the game and set the tempo. But their run of play wouldn't result in a goal. Omekanda hit the cross bar late in the game from another brilliant move on the left and their keeper made a great save on the followup on-time shot from Nelson(?). In the end, it was just one of those nights in soccer. We've all played in one game. Let's hope that lady luck didn't ruin the chance for the Bucks to advance to the USOC. They have an all important game against Cleveland Internationals on Sunday. This should be a win against a young orgnization just getting its start in the PDL. But, as the Bucks have proven in the past, they certainly know how to make things interesting for themselves. I have more analysis from the game, but I don't have time to really break it down. I'm sure that Editor Dave will want to chip in with some insight. He seemed much more gripped by the action on the field.
It was a damned frustrating game brightened principally by meeting Trevor. I was indeed "gripped" by the action a bit more than Trevor, but I certainly saw the game much the same way he did. I'm not really sure the Bucks were in a 4-5-1 formation; I think it just looked that way. Now for some random "stream of consciousness" observations: Omekanda hit the crossbar late; it was Minagawa-Webster who nearly put the rebound in the net. Fever goalie Lopez made what will probably stand as the best save Bucks fans will see all season. The Fever are a pretty good team, and are fairly well organized in the back. Their road kits suck; the stripes obscure the numbers. Kevin Taylor is still an amateur. He has college eligibility left. I have no idea what the formal rules are, but apparently you can be drafted and train with an MLS team without endangering amateur status. The Rapids retain MLS rights to Kevin until next year's draft. Newcomer Joseph Kabwe, who reportedly played quite well in the Bucks first two games, previously played with the Des Moines Menace. In 2002 the Menace were undefeated(22-0?). While off season rumours had Kabwe placed with either Indiana, Fort Wayne, or West Michigan, the Lindsay Wilson connection proved its worth in luring "Jo Jo" to the Bucks. Kabwe did not distinguish himself much last night. Bad News: It looks as though the Berkeley parents who volunteer their time at the Bucks games have found another way to squeeze more $$$ out of the crowd: parking in the lot now costs $2. IIRC, last season we only had to pay at the Metros' game. Good News: If you claim to be a member of the Bucks' staff this charge is waived! If Greg Andrulis attends another Bucks game this season, he may well place himself in grave physical danger. Rzepka: Filled out his upper body a bit. The game appears to have slowed down for him. Last season Ryan's play could be described as "hyper". Was an offensive force at times pushing up the left flank for quality crosses in 2003, though his D needed seasoning. Now his D is better, but he is slower of foot. Gomez(defensive back): The Argentinian newcomer looks like a stiff wind could blow him off the field. But when he has proper position a Mack truck can not dislodge him. Not terribly fleet of foot. Will take some time to acclimate to his teammates. Cameron: A treat! I think that last season Knox thought himself too good to take the PDL seriously. He is possessed of a sense of urgency this season. The effort really shows. He presses defenders when last season he would not. He works harder to communicate and make himself available. He is also lighter than in 2003, though reportedly still well above his UM weight. Minagawa-Webster: Last season I sometimes wondered why the Bucks had him on the roster. Now I know. Had one or two nice attempts on goal with a left foot simply didn't exist in 2003. He is not one of the Bucks' top tier of players, but if he improves *during* 2004 the way he has since last summer, he will be. Against the lesser lights of the PDL his left foot will find the back of the net. Omekanda: Trevor touched nicely on the explosiveness Simon brought to the Bucks' attack when he subbed for Cameron. Simon has filled out over the last year. His shoulders, chest, stomach and calves all looked noticeably larger. Has a unique style that makes him a striking comparison to Cameron. Did a better job than Knox in coming back to midfield to get the ball, but this may have had a lot to do with fatigue in the Fever back 4. Knox took a lot of punishment and dished some of his own out as well. Armstrong: I didn't know too much of this guy; Trevor told me he had been cut during the offseason by the KC Wizards. After watching him last night I understand both his MLS membership and why KC cut him. Armstrong has the ability to perform under pressure with multiple defenders draped all over him. The problem of course is that PDL defenders should not be able to climb all over him. He is slow even by top PDL standards. Still, Bucks' midfielders need to do a better job of finding him when he is open. His nickname is "Kudu"(sp?). I'm looking forward to Sunday; if anyone wants to get together before the match I'm game. I would have liked to do that last night, but a sick child made it impossible.
Just a note on Minagawa-Webster: he sustained a season-ending (knee, I think) injury during the college season before last year's Bucks season, so last year with the Bucks was essentially rehab. He played extraordinarily well for MSU this season, so expect much more from him for the Bucks.
Bucks Game Summary vs Ft. Wayne Nice summary of the game, the Bucks will definately be fun to watch once they get used to playing with each other. Just a few things I noticed from the game. John Menagwa-Webster has definately improved from a year ago. He seemed to be a huge sparkplug off the bench. Plays a bit in the mold of a Tino Scicluna. Joseph Kabwe was excellent one-on-one in the midfield but hung on to the ball way to long at times slowing up the flow. Knox Cameron is definately in a class above the PDL. I would love to see him play in shape, he seemed about 20 lbs. over his college weight. Kevin Taylor seemed a bit shaky in the back but that could be cuz' he has some new backs this year. Oh yeah, Taylor has finished his collegiate career. Four years at UofM, went thru Training with MLS and was cut during spring training. More than likely he's making sme money with the Buck's this season. They usually pay a few of the better player's, not for playing. but for working the "camps". This is the only reason I can imagine him not playing at a higher level. As far as Armstrong, he suffered an injury at the end of last season with the Wizards and two days after he was cleared to play this preseason he was released. He decided to play with the Bucks until he recieves the "right" offer according to him and this will allow him to get into playing shape. I think that's the reason for the slow play and his coming off the bench. He's definately a high quality player having played for Watsford of the English 1st division, and another 1st division team over seas after his Buck's days. Unfortunately we probably won't be seeing him for too long. The nickname come from the fact that he's from S. Africa which kinda' hurt his MLS chances as he counts as an international player. I myself was a little dissapointed with Mike Tyrpin, last year he seemed a bit more dominating. I would definately like to see Samon Omekanda and Webster see a liitle more PT. The team will only get better, let's just hope for a win on Sunday and a little luck to get the Bucks into the Open Cup.
This is not correct. Please don't come on here and make statements of fact that are actually wrong. Kevin Taylor does NOT have any college eligibility left. Yes, you can train with an MLS team and now screw up your amateur status and NCAA eligibility, provided you cover all your own expenses and don't play in any games with the pro team, even exhibitions. But, that's a moot point here because Taylor was a SENIOR last season at Michigan. Here's his bio from the official University of Michigan website. http://mgoblue.com/bio.cfm?bio_id=218§ion_id=295&top=2&level=3&season=235 Note that is shows he played FOUR complete seaons of college ball at Michigan. Unless the NCAA has suddenly and quietly changed its rules and allows athletes to compete for more than four seasons in one sport, KT has no college eligibility left, at least in soccer. (With his height, he could probably make Tommy Amaker's team!) His participation with the Rapids has zero to do with his standing at UM as a soccer player because he can't play college soccer there, or anywhere else, anymore because he's played four full seasons. With that established, I'd still like to know why he's playing PDL ball. If he didn't make the Rapids because he wasn't ready for the pace, playing ANOTHER season of PDL ball, something he's already done at least twice, ain't gonna help him bridge the gap. If he wants to have a future in this game, he needs to at least be in the A-League and leave that roster spot and place in the Buck's starting lineup to a college kid who would benefit from it.
Scott: thanx for the tidbit on Webby. Funny thing though; I didn't remember Web's problems last year as being physical, but rather judgmental. You wouldn't happen to remember *which* knee was hurt? I bring it up because I found it surprising last night to see Webby using his left foot quite a bit after playing the 2003 season on the right.
Is nothing sacred?! That's the last time I share a secret with anyone. If that tard shows his puss in my presense again, he could go home with a limp. He may be a nice guy, but this is business and he's totally hosing up my team. Knox definitely needs to shave a few pounds off. He lacked some explosiveness that was needed against the Fever's speedy defense. I, too, was surprised by his lack of speed. I didn't watch him too closely last year, so I'm not able to make a more complete assessment of what his true abilities are. But he was definitely comfortable on the ball. He just appeared bored at times and unmotivated until late in the game. Clearly an individual that's just stopping for a cup of coffee and nothing more. I don't believe the Berkely Front is open on Sundays. I remember that from last season. I will find out for sure, though. Either way, there's the chance that some minor tailgating can take place prior to the game. I know that I wasn't harrassed last season when I partook in the parking lot. Hope to see you all there.
Lighten up, Francis. To find out about KT, I asked one of the Duggans before Tuesday's game. I don't know them well enough yet to know which one is which. He specifically used the term "college eligibility", but he did not say precisely "Because KT still has college eligibility, he is an amateur". Thus, I decided not to source my statement. I will ask again on Sunday.
If you think Knox is carrying a lot of weight this year....well lets just say that in a 2003 Bucks' uniform he looked like a young, black version of Billy "The Whopper" Paultz. There I go showing my age again. Sigh.
Thanks for all the insight, could you go into just a little more detail. What a great thread! A few notes on the previous posts. Knox is a big boy. Last year, you'd read the away reports and he'd have a goal, assist and be the PDL player of the week. He didn't show that form at home. They were in a 4-5-1 a lot of the time last year. Don't know why, may be due to personnel, but it made it tough for Knox as he was double or triple teamed most of the time. From what I can tell, we may be SOL for the USOC. We're at 2-0-1, Fire Reserves and SL Strikers are at 3-0-0. Only two can make it from the Central Conference. Fire Reserves play Thunder Bay Sat, not sure if that counts toward the USOC as they're a Canadian team. They play Des Moines the following night. Strikers play at Colorado Springs Friday. I guess Bucks need to win and have Fire Reserves lose (whichever game counts) or have the Bucks win by 2 and the Strikers lose (only 3 goals per game count toward the Goal Differential). Anybody have another outlook? Save the anger for an MLS board, I'd like to see only love on this thread. Maybe It's easier for him to move back to the Rapids midseason if he starts out with a PDL team rather than an A-League team. Mastroeni will be on significant Nats duty 2 pts for the Stripes quote, whaz up wit John Winger not being in the Stoney & Wojo movie character tournament? Big Ups to the Bucks for the 6:30pm (rather than 7:30) start, I can get home in time for the Sopranos.
USOC: I'd also like to know what is up with the Strikers -- their first 3 games were at home. Were all 3 of those USOC qualifiers? They play their first 2 road matches in Colorado on Fri & Sat. To be fair, one of those home affairs ought not to count towards USOC qualifying. I googled the Strikers and couldn't come up with a team website. Anyone know more about this?
Yeah, I just read Josh's post myself. Looks like I was right about the Strikers' schedule: only 2 of their first 3 games counted towards the USOC. Since they gave up 4 goals in their second home affair, I'm guessing that one didn't count. When Josh gets over here this thread should take off.
Ok, now I'm aware of this thread....good work fellas... The deal with St. Louis is that it's not the first four games...it's four games that are selected as your qualifiers before May 23rd. Some teams can play as many as 6 games before May 23, so the Open Cup committee simply picks which of those will be your qualifiers. Kinda sucks for St. Louis because they have to travel to Colorado to play Colorado Springs and Boulder Rapids Reserve. That's kind of a tough road trip for your 3rd & 4th game. And my partner in crime with the usopencup.com website put it best in explaining why they use the +3/-3 max for goal diff. -- "because not everyone gets the chance to beat up on the Wisconsin Rebels in their first four games" (WIS: 0gf 13ga, 2 games played...last year was worse) So bring your friends to the Cleveland game...cheer your asses off...(besides, it's an important game, and it COULD be high scoring, could be good for that borderline soccer fan.) NOW, to catch up to speed...for a thread that will likely last all season, it's a shame that "official" will be spelled "OFFICAL" in the title for the duration. The Bucks pretty much have the same team as last year, (minus Snape and a few others) I expect big things from them. The picture on the front page of the Bucks homepage: I was at this game...anyone else? One of my favorite sports moments...wish I had been able to attend the Miami game, and that probably would have been #1. Does anyone know a friend who's an aspiring photographer? I think it would be really cool to have someone shoot a few Bucks games. Have some new pictures to add to the site.
Anyone else go to this game? Maybe one day I'll share my little story attached to it. I still have the t-shirt from the game. Also...Does anyone else think that the new logo kicks ass? I'm tellin' ya...(since I'm out here in Philly -- home of Mitchell & Ness) those t-shirts you have with the old logo are gonna be "old school cool" before you know it. You'll earn lots of cool points with your kids...maybe. NEW: OLD:
Good news for Bucks fans: COLORADO SPRINGS 5 ST. LOUIS 3 We're going to be updating www.usopencup.com all weekend, so if you wanna see how the qualification unfolds, we'll do our best to keep you up to date. I mean, really, who else will?
I fell asleep in my chair last night waiting for that Strikers-Blizzard score. My wife hauled my ass into bed at about 4 am and wouldn't let me look at the screen. In the word of Howard Dean: Yeeeeeaaaaarrrgh!
Been all over Uniting the OC, live in RO now, but have been in N'Ville, Farmington and Clawson. I was waiting to see how long it would take for someone to notice. Not only can I not type, I can't spell either. Maybe a mod will step in and help me some face.
Yup. Last year, someone from Demosphere (the website company that does www.uslsoccer.com and MANY other soccer websites) emailed the show and said "you guys and your listeners would probably really enjoy this new website"... They had just bought the domain name of usopencup.com and the guy had just whipped together the site. I contacted him, told him about how our show was pretty much the only show covering the Open Cup, and how we had plans to broadcast as many Open Cup games as possible, and we agreed that we should work together. He gave me access to the site, and let me slap a bunch of Soccer Fanatics Radio stuff on the site. And we kept the site up to date until around the quarterfinals, when that guy left Demosphere to take another job. When he did that, he said that someone else at Demosphere was going to take over the site. So I no longer had access to the site, but unfortunately, the person who was supposed to keep the site going, didn't. So usopencup.com had quarterfinal results on the site from then until a few weeks ago. So I emailed Demosphere and asked if I could run the site again, and they said "sure". So I recruited Chuck Nolan (chn71), who runs one of the best Open Cup websites on the internet (http://lhusoc.tripod.com) to help with the site. So it's me and Chuck, and Scott Yoshonis (you can read his column on the site) who are basically running the site. We're looking for anyone who would be willing to help with it, so drop me a line if you're interested in writing any articles, or helping us call around for scores/results, etc. If there are any suggestions or things you would like to see on the site, let me know too (josh@soccerfanaticsradio.com)