1. I am surprised we didn't let in a goal. I am not yet ready to chalk that up to a good defense vs. luck or a bad TFC offense. 2. the game was pretty stable between minutes 30 and 75 or so, whenver Luke Mulholland came on for sunny. 3. Plata didnt look like a DP to me... 4. our back 5 (beckerman included) are fairly slow. Thank goodness TFC didnt try to exploit that much. Schuler finally looks to have a frame that can command a box-- i would now call him a big ole giraffe now, instead of just a giraffe. 5. I wanted silva on instead of mulholland, but life is not perfect. Cassar will sub in mulholland almost every game, i think. The main reason I wanted silva is I know who luke is and what he brings. Better than I expected, over all. I even got passionately engaged in the last 5 minutes, hoping for good things from CHAD BARRETT. If you said that to me a year ago I would have sneered.
Jessyca and Nonesuch came over to watch at my house this afternoon, and I have to say that Nonesuch can really get entertaining after drinking almost a full bottle of $8 wine. He was saying crazy things like "Thank heaven for Horst" and "Chad Barrett looks great." I was pleasantly surprised at the result. I didn't see much to get really excited about, but we held our own against a better team. It'll be interesting to see Rusnak develop chemistry with the team. I still think Velazco has promise. Nicky is the best ever. Eat Arby's.
Did you guys not watch Barrett over the last 5-10 minutes? Jesus, the dude single handedly gave the ball away, which lead to very dangerous counters and opportunities by TFC, at least 3 times. He was awful, just awful. He had like 2 decent moments in the minutes after he came on and then was absolute trash. This "team" plays with no system at all, it's just boot the ball up and hope something happens. We looked decent in the second half when TFC was very obviously winded and all we generated from it was the Plata chance on a brilliant chip from Beckerman. Other than that we had a few wide shots taken from long range that didn't bother Irwin at all and Beltran's "cross" which Irwin had to deal with thanks to the wind. Offensively this was exactly the same as last year, no dynamic movements/runs, no tactically passing up the field, just hoof it and hope. Defensively we were stronger in the 2nd half, Schuler was awful in the first, but did a good job disrupting and stepping into passing lanes in the 2nd. Horst was solid after the first 20 minutes, which were complete shit. Gio terrorized Tony, but that's to be expected, and Wingert was pretty much a non-factor. Velasco did not show much, a wide shot and not much interchange with his teammates (then again, nobody really showed that all game). Luke was frikken sloppy with the ball, not really effective at all. The thing that concerns me the most was just how ineffective Yura and Plata were, Yura was an absolute ghost the entire time on the field (it's hard to blame him considering our "tactics") and Plata just did not have an impact outside his one chance. These are guys who should be the driving force of our success, the ones that take sloppy 0-0 games and figure out a way to drag out a victory, the ones that should make something out of nothing. I can't fault Rusnak for being somewhat ineffective, he's just figuring it out in terms of playing on this team, but Yura and Plata have no excuse.
Enjoyed the game. Check that , enjoyed being at the RioT. My wife blurted out during the middle of the game that she loved being back at the games. Loves the atmosphere, all the different smells, and just hanging out. What a gal! I thought RSL would get smoked today and are lucky to have stolen a point in this game. TFC should have put 2 or 3 away on us. It would have been apropos if Tony's shanked cross would have hit the back of the net. Thought Horst was solid. But both he and Schuler had howlers that TFC should have punished RSL for. Thank you Nicky. The offense is offensive at this point. I'm still in the trade Plata camp. Not a fan. As much as I love Yura he has to start producing but I don't see how anyone could be productive on a team without a shred of offensive identity. Don't know what will happen on Saturday at Chicago. It's going to be an interesting season to say the very least.
Barrett had a lot of ******** ups, but he made a much better effort to get himself involved than Yura did. A lot of times we give Yura a pass because of the poor midfield, but Barrett showed that he could probably involve himself better than he does.
So this new changed to electronic tickets is a nice mess. It took far too long for anyone's phone to actually scan to get in, then you had to wait for your ticket to print out. WTF is the point of going to flash seats if you still get a printed ticket? They may as well have stuck with sending out generic tickets, because this new setup is ridiculous. As others have said, do we even employ tactics? Once again, players occasionally make a run, then just stay where they're at, instead of moving around and showing for the ball. Beltran is still a black hole on offense. I had to laugh when he puts a shot on frame due to one of his poor shots. The CB's were ok, but they're clearly not good enough over a stretch of games. I had to laugh in the post game when one of the reporters asked about Schuler and more or less if we have confidence in him after one game. Really? One game is all it takes in your mind to assume someone is good enough? Cassar once again said he's really proud of the guys. Clearly they did nothing wrong since we won the game.. oh that's right, let's be proud of a draw. I guess on a slightly positive note, Cassar actually used all 3 subs, which usually doesn't happen. Once again, he waited until at least the 70th to make a change, and the last sub was a few charity minutes. I'm happy enough we got a draw since I thought we'd lose, but there's little to be proud about this game. If we keep playing like this throughout the season, it's going to get rough.
Interesting sightings at halftime outside the West side suites: DLH ushering around his guest Don Garber. And also, talking to DLH... Olmes Garcia. What could it mean folks? Did we bring him back (only would make sense for Monarchs) or was he just there to see his favorite player J. Plata play (he was wearing a Plata jersey)?
I was pleasantly surprised with the defense - and this is not our first choice back line. Maund and Demar are injured and Glad is getting international experience. Schuler took Alitdore out of the game. He ended up making some decent runs, but the defenders or Nick shut down crosses meant for him. He ended up losing his cool and getting a yellow late in the game. As a RSL fan, I liked seeing him get frustrated. As a Nats fan, I'm worried about his positioning, and mental toughness. One of the most interesting matchups was our new DP against our Nats captain. Rusnak matched up well against Bradley, seemed to be quicker and have better distribution, and megged him a few times for good measure. Bradley didn't seem impressive. He had some great passes like we've come to expect, but also had some bad giveaways. Cassar always gets criticized for substitutions, but Luke and Velazco brought some energy and speed into the game. I also like what this represents. If players are not being effective (Yura), they will be taken off the field. Jeff is subbing this year, and this should increase the pace of the game.
Cassar did sub earlier than usual. I blame both fitness (lots of Arabe-Down moments) and Chapman (the ref wants to be the star) for the pace of the game being very stop-start.
Earlier than usual? He subbed Barrett around the 70', Luke around the 80', and Velasco near the 90'. It was prototypical Cassar, nothing different.
Didnt the front office say both wingers would likely be getting subbed out much earlier, and expect them to run harder? Like 60-70 minutes I thought. Ah well. One game is not enough to judge a trend.
Yura better step up his game this year! He has been given a lot of money for doing nothing so far. Tired of hearing he isn't getting the ball !
We had all of last season as well. He did use all three subs, so credit there. He still subs very late, which gives those players almost no time to get into the game and make an impact. If we're not scoring, I'd rather see a sub come on around the 60-65th to give them more time to make an impact. The FO loves to talk up the youth, and I'd personally love to see some of these guys get more minutes to show what they can do.
He should've subbed Yura by the 65th minute - he was repeatedly stretching behind the play. Probably wasn't obvious on camera if they weren't showing the Toronto half while the ball was in RSL's half. I think Velazco did well for his little time in the game. Wasn't intimidated, made a few nice plays. Plata did ok, but he and Yura didn't have much synergy. Plata and Rusnak combined better. Toronto's defense was pretty solid. While Bradley wasn't spectacular, but looking through my pics of the game, he was all over the field.
He had one good attacking play that I remember. Unfortunately he was lost defensively. His teammates were consistently having to guide him into the proper spots. And he failed to challenge for a ball in the RSL half that led to a quick Toronto chance with numbers that could easily have been a goal. I'd rate him subpar. He looked very good in some moments in preseason. Hopefully he earns more chances and can correct a few things defensively.
Downside to drinking a ton of wine... Saturday: None - pure merriment Sunday: Brief but intense discomfort as the soluble fiber hits the lower intestine and one excretes a surprisingly high volume of grape purée.