You guys are utterly insane, Vela sub would have been a disaster, exactly what we did not need....a guy who gives the ball away EVEN MORE than the other 10 on the field. And a point in this game is massive, MASSIVE.
Well, that was about as good as the first three quarters of last night's Utah v Oregon State game. Both teams offenses sucked relatively speaking. Too bad it didn't follow last night's script with a thriller ending. Keep in mind, this is the exact same result as this time last year. And RSL looked worse in that game compared to this one.
Half Empty: Sabo isn't back to being Sabo and Schuler (our Playoff MVP last year IMO) isn't near playing yet. I wanted a Sabo sub, but God, he was not ready. Half Full: I'm kind of with you. The effort on defense was good and playoff-y tonight. That said, we could have easily lost 3-0 with just as much effort if Portland were more clinical.
You think so? I think RSL doomed themselves. I see Dallas winning out and RSL playing the play-in game.
It was an exciting end to the RSL game, but still not pleased with it. I'd rather have RSL playing well going into the playoffs than finishing in 3rd place.
I think Grossman was the right move to get 1 point, but I'd prefer RSL play better attacking players.
The only thing to have given us more attack would've been starting Plata, and having Mulholland in the starting XI. Seba has been pretty bad in most games he's played out on the side, and his defense is worse than what we had in there. While getting a win is nice, throwing caution to the wind for 3 points we don't absolutely need is stupid. This isn't the time of the year for roster tinkering. Whether or not you agree with how the usual XI are playing, you're insane if you think tinkering with it is a good thing. You want cohesion. You wan't a team on the same page. Throwing in new starters all the time isn't how you get a team gelled and ready for the playoffs.
It wouldn't matter what sport was on before. If the game goes late, it's going to cut into the next broadcast. If it were MLS first with NFL after, and the MLS game went to extra time and penalties, you can guarantee that the next event will be either delayed, or they'll cut in when the prior game is done. Although I do recall ESPN? Having the other event start on one of the other channels until the game had finished up.
We don't really know yet if we absolutely need them. It all comes down to how Dallas plays out their season. If Dallas wins the rest of their games there was no difference in this game between getting 1 point and 0 points.
What I meant by that, is that we're in the playoffs. While all of us would prefer to be the 3rd seed, we weren't in danger of missing the playoffs. This result hurt Portland more than it hurt us. They're still in it though, especially if Vancouver loses.
I love this quote from Fanendo Adi: “I was already shouting goal,” Adi said of the sequence after the match. “I spoke to Darlington just now, and he said he also shouted goal. But I didn’t know where the goalkeeper came from, as I said it’s a credit to the way he played today.” Two shutouts in a row. Make it three on Wednesday heading into the playoffs, and that's a good thing.
So we're relying on the Rapids to get a point or three today to keep us ahead in the 3-4 playoff race.
With different keepers, lacking a key starting defender. The first thing to do in most sports is to prevent losing. Once you have that under control, figure out how to win. We seem to have the defensive side in good shape, even with the replacements in the match. That's a VERY good thing. Still, we can't beat Chivas, so this is all wasting of brain cells thinking about possibilities.
RSL benefits from some remarkable press coverage from both the mainstream outlets in and around SLC and from a number of bloggers still active (not to mention official stuff on MLSSoccer.com). But it would be nice to have people pursue lines of questioning such as "what's up with Mulholland not being in the 18" which arise from time to time.
Well we didn't really think Dallas was going to lose to Colorado did we? Sometimes I feel Cassar has his own agenda and doesn't even bother looking at the table.
Massive? How massive does that point feel to you now!. Massive would have been to understand the situation we were in. The one massive point we got last night means dick. Had we played for thre points last night we would be in control of our own destiny.
Had we thrown everything into winning last night and come up short with zero points, we would still be in this same position.
Or in a worse position because of injury, stupid red card, etc. The fact is, this wasn't a must win game. It was far more of a must win game for Portland. Even after this weeks results, Portland isn't out, and we're not counted out of getting 3rd. The nice thing about this weeks results, is that Portland can leap into the playoffs by beating FCD, since they play before Vancouver so they'll have everything to fight for. All we need to do is beat Chivas, and we know Portland will be going all out to get into the playoffs. I really did want us to win and be in control of our destiny, but in the long run this wasn't a 'must win'. We had no chance of falling out of the playoffs, and while higher seeding is nice, it's not the end of the world if we have to be in the play in game.
I think the advantage of avoiding the play-in game was worth going all out in this game offensively. I just can't really think of any reason not to have. If three points wasn't necessary then I don't understand why one point was either. I guess that's just a difference in opinion though. If your opinion is, "meh, the play in game is no big deal," then why not just go for the full three?