Moving on quickly from the ugly defeat in Columbus (I'm noticing a trend here). Let's talk about the home match up with joint Western Conference leaders Vancouver. Saturday 6/27 7:30 pm kickoff, CSN. Vancouver come to Foxboro in good form, having beaten both NYRB and LA on the road this month. They are on a 1.71 ppg pace, tied for second best in the league. They also boast a strong 6-3-1 record on the road. The revs need to snap out of their funk and stop squandering points. They are just 2-4-4 in their last 10. A statement win against a quality team like Vancouver is needed on Saturday. Who starts? Predictions?
(Cross posted from Columbus thread) I'm bringing 7 first-timers to the game. That pretty much guarantees a 0-0 draw...
So we haven't really beaten any good teams yet this year, period. Additionally, Vancouver is fantastic on the counterattack and plays well on the road. Kekuta vs Tierney is frightening. Rivero vs a sometimes-naive Farrell or a sometimes-overly-aggressive Goncalves is frightening. As for our home unbeaten streak, really it's D-D-D-W (against an awful Chicago team that also had half its starters missing). Not really meaningful. If we get blown out at home, does someone with the last name "Kraft" wake up? What we've seen in our last 2 MLS games does not look like an MLS playoff team, nevermind 2nd seed in the East. Positives - Woodberry's rested, Nguyen's looked good again, Davies is rested. Dorman is unavailable so I assume it'll be Caldwell and Kobayashi, with the option of Caldwell and Neumann, Caldwell and Rowe, or simply playing a 4-1-4-1 with Caldwell actually staying home for a game instead of wandering up the field like he has been this season. I'm not optimistic.
Me neither. I'm also worried about the DMid situation. Kobayashi had a poor game there on Wednesday, but he's a player I generally like, so I'm hopeful he can do better. Still, when I feel bleakest about the team's chances, they often seem to outperform my expectations.
The Revs will have to watch out for Kekuta Manneh, he has plenty of speed and can do a lot on his own. As I have said before, hopefully we can hold our spot on the table until Jermaine Jones comes back, cause we're not going far without him.
Anyone in or around Plymouth not going to the game? I am up for the night. Was thinking of going out for a beer tonight.
No Watson for Vancouver at the back, starting a rookie in his place. There's opportunity there. I think Watson is the best CB in MLS along with Ciman from Montreal this year.
And there it is, against the run of play, Vancouver 1 0 That was a defensive cluster******** but Woodberry made a stupid decision to head it back toward the middle in front of his own goal and made it easy for them.
DOGSO for Farrell, see you Andrew. Phantom Pk for Vancouver, player trips over himself. Farrell makes a dumb decision to take him down there but that was a harsh call. 2 0 Vancouver. This ref is a ********ing joke! As is this league for employing him. This game's all but over. Say goodbye to the home win streak. Good thing we didn't sign Packwood, with Farrell suspended the next game, we have plenty of CB depth.
Every supporters forum every other week in MLS has this posted by someone. Even if the quality of mLS refereeing improves, I'm not sure supporters can ever be impartial in their viewing.
It was the right call. Soft, but he clearly grabbed the arm/shoulder. Perhaps outside the box, but a definite red.
Not all MLS refs are shit but recently it seems like they all have been for the revs. I hate that Heaps is a whiny bitch about the ref just like his mentor Coach K and rarely complaint myself, however it's frustrating to watch that. Yes Farrell grabbed him but he tripped and was already going down. I would consider it soft even if the revs were the beneficiaries there. Just aggravating.
The question of referee quality notwithstanding, it seems to me that even a novice observer of the sport would notice that Vanvouver players drop routinely almost like daisies! Course, Revs. players don't seem skillful enough not to be drawn into the fraud ...