Something else I liked on Lennon's goal: as the shot heads goalward, both Velazco and Yura are in behind the defense, onside, making very good following runs and being in good position to knock home a potential rebound.
Just listening to the post-game interview with Petke and it's like night and day compared to Cassar. Every time we lost a game under Jeff all you'd hear was "proud" this and "pleased" that. Here we win a game and Petke is saying "we didn't play well" and "we need to clean some things up". This pleases me.
What Petke should say given how RSL played this game. "Proud" and "pleased" are two words that should be reserved for when RSL wins the MLS Cup.
This is almost exactly what I said to the friends we watched the game with. He's no longer Dadbod--he's "One Chance" Yura.
Well, I got RSL's score and Lennon's first score right. Too bad the coaches didn't do their part, despite Mestrowanki losing his mind at points. Nice ending to the game. cRapids should remember that RSL set the standard over the last couple years for falling asleep on leads - no need to copy them.
What a smash and grab. It wasn't pretty, but it's always nice to somehow walk away with three points. While we didn't play well, getting two wins in a row should help with morale. Now we just need to get some players healthy, and get to playing quality soccer.
This was better than Cassar, but still not very good. We are a middling WC team that is on the cusp of making the playoffs, but definitely not winning MLS cup. At this point, ********** it. Truly make this a rebuild year and don't play anyone over 30.
I think this is a result of Petke laying down the law. Plata started to throw a bit of a fit after being subbed out during the Winterfest last week, Petke stared him down, but Plata still went to the showers instead of joining his team for the rest of the game. The cameras didn't show this and I noticed it because of where my seats are. Barring any injury, I wonder if this was a punishment situation.
To mis-quote Rudyard Kipling If you can play like a team of strangers Be inept, unentertaining and generally sterile And still come away with three points Then you will possibly win the league And - what is more - you will be a lucky B******d, my son
To the dozens of RSL fans that made the trip: thank you. Not our best away showing, by any means, but there were good portions where I could hear y'all singing. Well done. We may have had to live through the difficult times of Jeff Cassar, but thank god we don't have Pablo ******** face Mastoreni. That dude is a ********ing hack. The dude cares more about how he dresses than how his team plays "soccer" (if you could even call it that). Last year he got lightning in a bottle with Jones there to make his shit show defending first style into something that got points. This year he is getting exposed for what he truly is - inept at figuring out the game past midfield. If the "rumors" with Plata are true, then let his ass go. We have enough talented youthful depth on the wing that we don't need his (rumored) bullshit attitude on the pitch. I'm really curious to see what Petke does about the midfield of this team. For all but the few minutes where we had a man advantage, our midfield was essentially two players playing like chickens with their heads cut off. No connection. No purpose. If the cRapids had any smarts to them, they would have settled the ball and gone through the gaping hole that was the middle of our formation. This has to change. Better teams will destroy that. Thank god Howard was suspended. I think, if he guesses right, he saves the pk and probably gets at least a finger to Lennon's shot. Maybe not, but McMath always leaves a lot to be desired. We were definitely missing the youthful Javi that would drop deep into the midfield in a game like this to dictate. I saw glimpses of it from Rusnak, but far from what was fully needed. The cRapids goal was the byproduct of our apparent desire to lose possession as quickly as possible. Acosta launches a ball forward, past the headless chickens, in an attempt to "quickly get the ball into the attack". Problem is, the cRapids were setup to counter this really well. They punished Acosta with a through ball that he would typically be in position to pick off, but wasn't because of his previous header. Also, ******** Wingert at CB. Sure, Schuler got beat badly and deserves a ton of blame, but what in the ******** is Wingert doing? Is the top of the 6 going to score on us? @SALTLAKEJAKE shot back at me on twitter for giving Yura grief over the "one chance" thing. No, I don't expect Yura to always finish his chances. That's absurd. And even if it was hyperbolic, it was bulletin board stuff for a defender. The bigger problem I have with yura is how much his style doesn't match the three young player behind him. Him shanking his first chance, consistently, is just a bit ironic. To that point, in two games under Petke, despite him saying they wanted to use Yura's feet more and get him support, we still are seeing balls being whipped into him like a target 9. Something has to give there. Please tell me something is going to change... ******** Pablow What a moronic foul by the cRapids to setup the pk. Velazco was going to dribble out of bounds and the dude chops him down. Then the triple whammy red card - sheesh. I almost (key word here) felt bad for the cRapids. Almost Gotta love that the best soccer in that game was played while the cRapids were down a man and RSL decided "hey we could actually do something good here" in the last 5 minutes. Again, a better team, in those same circumstances, finishes the chance(s) we gave up late. Take what you can get, though. To me, this game was a slightly condensed version of our game against LA earlier this year. The better team takes a lead but then commits a moronic infraction to go down a man and the other team finds the holes to punish it. Brooks Lennon is our best player right now and it's not even close.
Good stuff 15... All, don't underestimate how incredibly difficult it is to break down a team that really, really knows how to pack it in. Pablo has then playing as organized defensively as I've seen ANY team in MLS history. Others have managed great defensive seasons with keepers standing on their heads or center backs dominating, but, systematically, that was something else to watch. It would have made Gansler's KC teams jealous. On the other side of the coin, I'm sorry Crapids' fans, that is absolute shite to watch. i don't blame RSL at this point under Cassar for not really having a clue how to break down that D. At the end of the day it took 2 nice individual plays, a completely brainfart, and a little fortune to come out with the win. The Crapids will be playing on a knife's edge all season. Without anything resembling an offense, they will struggle to win, but be in every single game. I love that Lennon was about to be moved to the other side of the pitch and told Coach, "I've got him!" He certainly did. I will say, it has been at least 2 years since I had an RSL related "jump off the couch" moment like Lennon's goal. (Howard doesn't get that shot either...from the keeper's perspective, it looks like the defender has the near post shot covered...he didn't...and that ball was absolutely TAGGED!)
I was holding my son on the couch when Lennon took the shot When it hit the back of the the net I was no longer holding him Good parenting moment. He laughed at it, luckily
they scored twice in a matter of minutes to turn the game on it's head. I think this is a time that word actually makes sense, if context is given. Petke also said they played like crap. So, that's a double plus. If you wanna laugh - go look at what Pablo had to say after the game. Jesus
90% of this game was ugly, IMO. I know we're missing some key players with injuries and with a new coach, I can let it slide somewhat. I didn't feel like RSL gave up at all, though. There was an aggressiveness that I haven't seen in a while and I liked it. Yura seems to be playing with purpose and Lennon's goal was stellar. I was happy to see an RSL player take a shot from more than 8 yards out. CB continues to be a problem and maybe RSL can move Plata for a serviceable CB. I have a crazy idea of moving Beckerman to CB for two reasons. 1. He has a good defensive presence and 2. It could extend his career.
/Cockney, English accent mode on/ 'E did what? Said 'e was proud of 'is players? Bloody 'ell!! What''s 'e goin' to do next? Give 'em bloody colorin' books and Play-do? Cake 'n' ice cream for lunch? Biscuits 'n' chockies for tea? Bloody 'ell! The bloody pansy! /Cockney, English accent mode off/
Updated RMC stats, no major changes Records Overall (W-D-L) Real lead 16-10-12, 45 GF, 36 GA Games in Colorado Rapids lead, 9-5-5, 24 GF, 18 GA Games in Utah Real lead 11-5-3, 27 GF, 12 GA Margin of Victory, Real 4 Real 5 : 1 Rapids, 2014-09-19 Margin of Victory, Rapids 2 Rapids 2 : 0 Real, 4 times; Rapids 3 : 1 Real 2015-07-11 Scoring, Career Total Goals, combined 6 Saborio Goals, Real 6 Saborio Goals, Rapids 3 Casey, Cummings Assists, combined 4 Morales Assists, Real 4 Morales Assists, Rapids 3 Cooke Scoring, Single Season Goals, Real 3 Cunningham (2006), Morales (2014) Goals, Rapids 2 Ben Dayan (2005), Hernandez (2006), D.Brown (2013) Penalty Kicks 2006 Game 1 Cunningham 2006 Game 3 Cunningham 2008 Game 1 C. Gomez 2010 Game 2 Saborio 2013 Game 3 Saborio 2014 Game 1 Morales 2017 Game 1 Movsisyan Goalkeeping GAA, Rapids 0.86 Coundoul (Minimum 3 apps) GAA, Real 0.74 Rimando (Minimum 3 apps) Shutouts, Rapids 3 Cannon, Pickens Shutouts, Real 9 Rimando Shutout minutes, consecutive, Real 331 2007 Game 2 through 2008 Game 1 Shutout minutes, consecutive, Rapids 438 2010 Game 2 through 2012 Game 3 Appearances Appearances, combined 32 Beckerman (10 Rapids, 21 Real) Appearances, Rapids 14 Cooke, Cummings, Mastroeni, Moor Appearances, Real 24 Rimando Starts, combined 31 Beckerman (10 Rapids, 21 Real) Starts, Rapids 14 Mastroeni, Moor Starts, Real 25 Rimando Minutes, combined 2795 Beckerman (871 Rapids, 1924 Real) Minutes, Rapids 1260 Moor Minutes, Real 2195 Rimando Appearing in RMC for both teams Ballouchy, Beckerman, Borchers, Cunningham, Harris, Kotschau, Mathis, Wingert RMC Titles Won 10 Beckerman RMC Titles Lost 6 Casey, Cummings, Mastroeni Discipline Ejections, Rapids 1 Denton, Watts Ejections, Real 1 Russell, Olave, Harris, Sequera, Jaime, Maund, Cassar (HC) Cautions, total 9 Beckerman (3 Rapids, 6 Real) Cautions, Rapids 4 Burling, Freeman Cautions, Real 6 Beckerman Most cards, single game, combined 10 August 8, 2006 (6 Rapids, 4 Real; 8 yellow, 2 red) Most cards, single game, Rapids 6 August 8, 2006 (5 yellow, 1 red) Most cards, single game, Real 4 5 times (4 times 3 yellow 1 red, 1 time 4 yellow) Most consecutive games with a card, Rapids 4 Burling Most consecutive games with a card, Real 3 Espindola
Very solid, again! I always look forward to your post-game analysis. Pablo's tactics lost the game as far as I'm concerned. I don't care how good you are defensively, if you allow your opponent to constantky attack your box bad things are eventually going to happen. Regarding the midfield, Luke just wasn't athletic enough to compete against Colorado. He lost every contested header and free ball, and couldn't keep up when marking. Up front Boffo almost scored on a surprising, and nifty shot. It just skimmed the outside of the post. It was one of the better RSL shots this season even if it wasn't on-frame.