GAME AT DC, JULY 14-- 1-3 LOSS- A STATEMENT: a stunner of football genius by the KID- who cares about the final score- if anyone from euro came to see rooney, they SAW davies do something that is beautifully wonderful that he -- again- pulled me off my fat ass, screaming and taking my breath away the euro press and club scouts saw why everyone in the football world looking for a genius youth saw him tonight... and he is in vancouver until sometime in late 2018-2019
ANTHONY BLONDELL: as a professional footballer- slow moving, slow passing, slow shooting, slow decision making not the qualities you want in a young striker trying his gig in MLS another poor investment in a foreign player -- so many over the past 4 years
RE: ALPHONSO'S AMAZING GOAL VS DC: upon watching the genius goal many times, i was even more moved by the special relationship that the KID has with kamara after scoring the goal, davies went and retrieved the ball and then buried his head in Kei's shoulder who in turn, patted Phonsie's head- a total sign of respect and deep appreciation and understanding beyond words a very touching move between an elder footballer and the youngster- it will probably endure a lifetime it will last an eternity in my Whitecap memory locker
sometimes there is not much to say and the potential loss of davies has gutted me- it will be difficult to go to games without him being on the pitch once in awhile, yordy reyna can do something special that wows me, but the rest of the players are "Joe Average', especially in MF where we are one of the weakest teams in MLS
GAME VS MINNESOTA, JULY 28-- 4-2-- REPORT: 1. Can he keep doing this?-- the Wonder Kid was absolutely brilliant world class tonight- 2 explosive goals and 2 assists says it all 2. Let the good time roll-- as Phonsie goes, it also electroshocks yordy reyna to do his thing- its great to see yordy excel to his potential 3. Gotta feel-- watching minnie defender, michael boxall, get destroyed by davies was not a pleasure- boxall has been a great MLS professional, but he was trying to grasp the wind as the Kid went by; and actually davies burned most of the minnie team tonight 4. Euro snobbery defeated- i just hope the media shows davies' wonder moves tonight and they will have to admit that their club got potentially the Kid for a bargain-- what might he be worth in another 2-3 years?? 5. HAPPY, HAPPY, HAPPY- really happy that davies went with bayern, a quality, classy club- the Kid made the right decision (apparently, other top teams like chelsea and paris st germain were in the hunt) 6. Other noteables tonight- jake nerwinski had his best game in several months, teibert worked his socks (and why the hell robo doesnt see him as a starter bewilders me!!)
GAME AT NYCFC, AUGUST 8-- 2-2-- some thoughts: 1. Bewildered and pissed- the gaffer continues to bewilder me with his penchant for making player selections- i think its stubborness and a reluctance to admit he makes huge gafes in his non-MLS players- how does he select blondell and ibini over hurtado, and juarez, mutch and ghazal over teibert and mezquida?? 2. Isnt it great!!!- to see hurtado work his socks off and then be rewarded with the tieing goal- you just gotta love the guy- he rarely gets a break from robo... except as a half-time mascot 3. Gordon Banks reincarnated- seeing the world-class stunning save by marinovic reminds of the classic 1-handed save by banks in 1966- and almost as good-- WOWWWWWWWWW ! 4. POTM- while no player really stood out, i thought that mezquida, marinovic and ghazal had strong games, but if i had to choose one, it would have to be stefan 5. HUH!!- why is that shea looks terrible and disinterested for much of the game and then makes some strong moves? he is such an enigma- anyways he will be gone in the off-season as his salary is truly BLOATED 6. Be thankful- somehow we gutted out a tie with a makeshift team against one of the better clubs in MLS (they have to be seriously disappointed to get a tie)
TBH, I found it a poor game to watch. It's a bad venue on a postage stamp with crappy footing on the sodded baseball infield; the tv sight lines are mediocre, not helped by the camera work and direction/production being at times absolutely amateur (like a high school a/v class doing it); I don't listen to the TSN pbp guy. Apart from Marinovic's fantastic save (you're dating yourself there, hot potato!), my interest got perked only after Davies came on. Reyna had one of his "on" nights after entering the match as a sub. All the goals conceded benefitted much from lousy defending and Brian Rowe-esque positioning by the NY keeper. But, the Caps back ups worked hard, stayed in it, and poached a point. Glad to see Hurtado get the equalizer.
how the hell MLS brass got it sooooo wrong with NYCFC not having a SSS deal 100% IN PLACE is quite amazing and it makes the league look amateurist IMO
I guess the answer to that can be found in the cachet of the high profile club with which NYCFC is affiliated.
They won't have a SSS at least until year 10 of their existence, maybe longer. They don't even have a land purchase. Everything is still "proposed" and the most recent one looks to be not an option as they have said they are looking for more sites. Unless their attendance absolutely crumbles, they will likely deal with Yankee Stadium for as long as possible.
Not like there iare a ton of places to build a stadium in NYC. That is how NYRB wound up in New Jersey.
CANADA CHAMPIONSHIP GAME VS TFC, AUGUST 8-- 2-2 (OH SHIT!!!) 1. The snake bites again-- 30 seconds to go and we give an OG- can anyone shoot this snake?? its a curse- gotta feel for doneil, especially to do for his former team 2. Can we believe its possible??- hurtado gets another goal with some sweet touches and nice finish- will the gaffer play him over ibini and blondell- 1 thing i know about robo is that he is hell bent to prove everyone else wrong and he is right- that degree of stubbornness is 1 of the hallmarks of his tenure in vancouver and it hasnt served the club well and his coaching career will suffer unless he addresses it 3. The KID- looked so disinterested for much of the game and then went on 3 scintillating runs bringing everyone to the edge of his/her seat- supreme talent needs other supreme talent around him in order to flourish 4. Cap POTG- russell teibert- but knowing the gaffer, he will start juarez and mutch when they are ready to make us fans suffer 5. Tip of the hat- both teams came to win, but the return match is definitely in TFC's favor with its 2 away goals 6. Another blunder by the ref, dave ganter- controversy- a red card to felipe which should have been a yellow- follows him like pitch to the fingers
GAME AT PORTLAND, AUGUST 12: 2-1 WIN 1. Player of the Match- the TEAM- the sum of the parts added to a bigger pie- its great to enjoy a meal on the host city of portland- SWEET VICTORY 2. The best- i thought that aly ghazal had his best game as a Whitecap and brek shea actually put in a whole shift 3. The gaffer- chose a lineup that seemed very vulnerable on defence, but did enough to get a win- franklin and levies was a bold move that could have seriously back-fired, but the Timbers didnt capitalize- thumbs up to Robo 4. Its obvious, isnt it ?- the big prize is winning the canadian championship on wednesday vs TFC- not having either davies or reyna was questionable, but now we can hope they will be ready for wednesday- henry's OG puts a difficult spin on the game in TO 5. Got it right- the gaffer played hurtado and kept blondell on the glue- lets just hope that the KID is fit and energetic for TFC
...6. Opposing goalie curse- that's the second recent league match where the opposing goaltending has been questionable and, in this case, laughable: what was that guy thinking on that Kamara goal?
Before the kick GK was positioned on the edge of the 6 and once he took one step forward after free kick was played, he was sunk and kind of knew it. Poor awareness. Not often you can score on a header from outside the 18.
CANADIAN CHAMPIONSHIP GAME VS TFC, AUGUST 15-- 1. Class is out- TO was a far superior team on the night and should they make the playoffs, they will be a FORCE 2. Humiliated- marcel de jong was picked frequently on the night- he's going to have bad dreams about this game, his worst as a Cap-- as a professional that he is, marcel will come back strong on saturday vs the Bulls 3. Groaning on a groin- the KID looked nowhere near himself- groin injuries are tough to get over and he should sit out the game on saturday 4. Mental toughness- doneil henry sagged under the weight of giving TO a goal last week- its over, Doneil-- move on and come back strong 5. Looking good- jonathan osorio is becoming a MF force in MLS which bodes well for the Canadian team- we are having the best run of talent in decades
GAME VS SEATTLE AT BC PLACE, SEPTEMBER 17- 1-2 LOSS: OBSERVATIONS: 1. What it takes-- kendall waston, the Caps captain, did it well when he went over and picked up brent levis after levis has made a blunder that cost us a goal- WELL DONE, KENDALL!! 2. YORDY, YORDY, WHERE ARE YOU ?? missing the skill and threat in yordy might have cost us the game - try as hard as he does, mezquida is not at the same level and it showed when nicholas floundered with several good scoring opportunities 3. Jealousy???? when techera failed to pass to davies who was 8 yards, wide-open and the Bug didnt want to make the pass for the Kid to make an open shot- i have watched reyna and techera play with alphonso, but they arent really interested, especially cristian 4. A good combination- coach,robo has FINALLY discovered that teibert and ghazal make an effective team in MF-- and mutch and juarez are deservedly benched- and where, oh where is felipe?? 5. Wasted money- seeing almost $2.5 mill USD sitting out of the starting lineup points to a lot of mistakes by the coach who got these players signed... and its why he should be fired at season's end 6. Wizardly personified- when Phonsie gets the ball, every Sounder player goes on major alert- he's magic with the ball at his feet and several seattle players ended up being in the rinse cycle as davies did his magical footwork with the ball 7. Age means nothing- kei kamara should be resigned with a 1 year plus option contract- he had a terrific game
This was the most glaring thing when watching the halftime workout. It was wow, it really puts it in a visual what is going on here. I honestly don't blame Carl for Shea. Barnes demanded to be moved and nobody takes an under performing DP problem unless you take one back (usually, although we got Toronto to take Hassli!). he did what he had to do. But the rest, well, it sure was laid out there on Saturday .Imagine if that salary cap money (it isnt even ownership cash) was put into better players. We would be talking a completely different look and expectation of success. The Carl Baldwin pipeline needs to be shut down immediately. Maybe Justin Trudeau can buy it.
anything that the 'prince T' decides to buy would be as smelly as a mouse fart; much like most of robinson's non-MLS signings
UPCOMING GAME VS DALLAS, SEPTEMBER 23 AT HOME dallas has one of the best records in MLS and : 1. is fighting hard to win the west conference title (1 point back of SKC) 2. has a very good defensive record (37 goals against vs the Caps 54) 3.has scored 1 more goal than the Caps (47 to 46) 4. has a +10 compared to the Caps -8 for goals for/against 5. has a .500 road record 6. has 10 more points in the standings the Caps MUST WIN, but its going to be tough- with reyna returning and if he plays to his level, the Caps have a shout at getting all 3 points but it will probably come down to the Caps defensive play which has cost the team a lot of points- eliminating errors is a MUST coaching decisions: 1. i might be tempted to go back to de jong at LB and davies MUST track-back better 2. kicking davies' butt to relay that he is over-dribbling and doing too many foot cross-overs (entertaining but not always effective)- he needs to use his speed more wisely 3. if he starts, kicking techera's butt to relay that he must link up with reyna and davies to get the most on counter-attacks 4. Lineup- marinovic, nerwinski, waston, henry, de jong; ghazal, teibert, felipe; reyna, kamara, davies - bench- techera, maund, rowe, mezquida, mutch, shea, hurtado
DANGEROUS LIMB: i must be crazy but i am predicting a Caps win - 3-0; and at worse, a tie reyna will be the difference maker BTW- his contract ends december 31, 2018- its one of the reasons he has been motivated over the past 2 months- that fear will hopefully stay over the next month- he is the skill and inspirer in MF that any playoff team needs and NO, i dont think the Caps will make the playoffs
This will be a bus park, hit off the fast counter, type of game for the Caps. They'll let the home team own possession and then soak up the pressure. The problem is that they have been shipping way too many goals through their own mistakes I could see them conceding a penalty in this one. This fixture resulted in a surprise, convincing road victory for the Caps last season but I don't think that's happening this time around. I'm going with a Dallas win here.