Ellinger and Pastorino are taking this match very seriously. We do not want RSL to have the stigma of being beaten by a lower division team, ruining our chances of winning the Open Cup. Anything could happen, but I think MLS learned its lesson a few years ago when Rochester? won the entire cup and beat DC and two other MLS teams in the process. We are NOT sending the reserve team.
My reason for thinking that RSL might not take this game seriously are not based on RSL disliking the USOC or disrespecting the Thunder. Its based on the fact that RSL has to play a MLS game the saturday before and the saturday after this match and they are only 3 games ahead of perennial "winners" Chivas USA. With that said, I hope that RSL sends the A Team and wins their USOC match against the Thunder. That will also set a possible Utah match in the next round of the USOC (correct?).
No. If RSL wins, their next match is at Colorado. If Minnesota wins, their next match is at home against Colorado.
Well Colorado is closer than Minnesota. So its possible that the RSL fans to make this one. I know the CRapids fans want to make a big deal out of this potential match. But lets beat the Thunder first.
The Thunder beat LA and took SJ to panalty kicks after a 2-2 tie last year. Both games were USOC and both teams had many of their regular starters. There were a few other MLS teams eliminated by lower division teams last year as well. I don't think MLS learned from the Rochester wins in 1999. It could be that they don't take the tournament seriously enough or that the difference between the USL and MLS is not as great as some would like to believe. Are any SLC folks coming out for the game? If so you are welcome to stop by the tailgate and say hi. We can set you up with discounted tickets as well.
Thanks for the invite. I know for a fact that our resident mod, prk166 is going to attend. He'll probably be the only red-shirted fool in the crowd! (What are the Thunder's colors BTW?)
Yep... never underestimate the effects of travel, playing lots of games in short time, overconfidence, eagerness of lower division team to prove itself, etc... Upsets and unexpected runs happen in the FA cup too, but it doesn't make the Championship or Div 1 or 2 on par with the Premier league as a whole. I think we can safely say that MLS as a whole is clearly higher in terms of talent and capability than the lower leagues, but we definitely can't say that individually on a given day / game... that's the beauty of soccer. I'm sure RSL has more collective talent at a higher level, but the difference is not insurmountable and there are plenty of factors that make games like this anything but a sure thing. EDIT - If you do end up beating us... you better damn well beat another MLS team too!! (hey, we lost to the Cheetos... it can happen. )
The thunder - san jose match was a classic. San JOse didn't know what to do when Menyongar came on the pitch and started zippin' around. Too bad the Thunder didn't win that one.
prk166: You're more than welcome to join our tomfoolery with or without the RSL kit. Not sure what we'll be grillin' in honor of your first visit to the Jimmy. Maybe some comfort food from the Cottonwood Club? FAKE SALT LAKE
Well it appears that neither club had a good weekend, so it will be interesting to see what transpires on Wednesday. While your boys lost badly to Chivas, the Thunder lost in Rochester on Friday, and gave up an early 2 goal lead to tie Seattle at home on Sunday. Plus one of our better wide midfield players, Jay Alberts, was injured and may be unavailable. Actually, in terms of helping the Thunder's chances, I was kind of hoping you all would thrash Chivas and come into this game feeling a bit full of yourselves. Now my fear is that you'll react by beating up on us "little guys" to prove a point.
According to the Trib today, Akwari, Dunseth, Kamler and BROWN will play defense against the Thunder. Comments?
Looks like they've scored in all but one of their games, but they've given up a lot of goals too. If Dunny can keep our back line coordinated I think we should be able to keep them from doing too much damage. Then we can score some and come home with a win. Maybe that would give us some confidence on the road that could help for our next game.
not clicking quite right this year. A lot depends on who is starting given all the the games they've got going on. For example, this game is wednesday night and then firday night Montreal is in town. A lot of play can flow through Jeff Matteo with more than plenty of long balls, too. Tarley's big and fast his touch fails him. Meyongar a slippery lil' guy who can make the ball stick to his feet but isn't a natural goal scorer (gets bounced between mid and forward a lot). As they showed last year, they can play play with the big boys and this team is much of the same at the core as the one that beat LA and nearly beat San Jose. BTW - The Thunder fans have a great web site : http://www.blueskysoccer.com
I'd say that's a pretty accurate assessment. The offense this year has been very sporadic - as has the defense for that matter. One frustrating thing (to me anyway) is that the attack too often tries to make an extra exquisite pass through even the most packed in defense, rather than taking shots from distance. The long ball strategy is odd, given that the team is pretty short and farily average in the air. But Johnny M, as well as Aaron Paye, another young forward who has gotten more playing time recently, are both pretty fast, so it's more an attempt at long balls played to the feet or a man sprinting forward, rather than to a target player who knocks them down to teammates. On a completely unrelated note - a few of us were out in SLC for the Costa Rica match a little while ago. I don't know that I met any of you, but if you saw the guys in the 1st MN Volunteers shirts at the tailgate or wherever, one of those was me.
In case anyone didn't know, SLC's 1280AM is webcasting this game. http://www.1280thezone.com/ And here is the press release for it: 1280 THE ZONE TO AIR U.S. OPEN CUP GAME: RSL and KZNS 1280 AM The Zone, "First with Sports" across Utah's Wasatch Front and the home of Utah's highest-rated sports radio programming, today announced that it will air the RSL U.S. Open Cup game against the Minnesota Thunder in its entirety on a one-hour delay starting at 7:00 p.m. MT with 1280's own Ryan Hatch calling the play-by-play action and Wayne Scholes providing the color commentary. In addition, some Loyalists will be recording the webcast and the Loyalist website will have an archive of the game by friday(if anyone needs more info, PM me).