Oh noes. Andy Gruenebaum playing his first game back against New York? I like Andy. Against anybody but New York.
God I hadn't even thought of that. However, the rubber field is gone so hopefully Andy G will be safe.
Interesting, I don't recall MLS banning Blanco for his dive against us last year. Or getting rid of Padula's suspension. Or ever banning a Crew opponent for something not called in a game. And I certainly am not seeing Umana's suspensions for his various bullshit he pulled on Saturday. ******** off MLS.
I had tried so hard to forget about that... But hey, what better way for Gruenebaum to redeem himself than with a win on Thursday.
According to the Crew Supporters Union page on Facebook, Frankie Hejduk and his wife welcomed their fourth child to the family on Monday. Haven't been able to find much about it, but (A)congrats, and (B) I wonder if fatherly duties could mean he may not be available for one or both of this week's matches.
Well, this game should be interesting. As should the week. While it was unlikely GBS would play both games, the same could said for Padula and Hejduk as well. I'd love to see Carroll get a rest one game. Plus, I saw some people list Griffit, I thought I read something (here) where he was going to be unavailable until after the WC. Is this right? Anyway, I'd go: Thur: GK: Andy G D: Hejduk, Iro, Brunner, O'Rourke M: Renteria, Ekpo, Moffat, Gaven F: Lenhart, Garey Subs: Pool GK, Zayner, Oughton, Padula, Carroll, Herrera, Griffit/Duka Sun: GK: Hesmer D: Zayner, Iro, Brunner, Padula M: Ekpo, Moffat, Carroll, Gaven F: Herrera, GBS Subs: Andy G, Hejduk, O'Rourke, Renteria, Oughton, Herrera, Garey I'd expect Bob to go. Thur: GK: Andy G. D: Hejduk, Iro, Brunner, Padula M: Ekpo, O'Rourke, Carroll, Gaven F: Lenhart, Garey Sun: GK: Hesmer D: Zayner, Iro, Brunner, O'Rourke M: Ekpo, Carroll, Moffat, Gaven F: Lenhart, Garey
The league doesn't want the Massive in first place so they are trying to prevent that. I have to side with GBS cuz the whole time he was getting beat up especially in the 1st half when Delgado went cleats up on the tackle that had GBS limping to take the CK. Also funny how the "intentional" handball on the Chivas player didn't get him a card for that (reason why Frankie was screaming for the card). Redbulls are just lame and will suck during the match. If Andy G starts at least the field isn't turf jkjkjk Crew 2 NYRB 0.
I have a habit of sometimes defaulting into Referee Defense Mode, so before I do, I'll make you a deal: Tell me what ANY of that has to do with Guillermo swinging an elbow at an opponent's face, and I'll shut the f*** up right now.
A few things about how post-match discipline works. I don't wish to start an argument or anything. I always try to remain neutral whenever I pop in on other teams' game threads. First of all, according to the Laws of the Game: "The decisions of the referee regarding facts connected with play, including whether or not a goal is scored and the result of the match, are final. The referee may only change a decision on realizing that it is incorrect or, at his discretion, on the advice of an assistant referee or the fourth official, provided that he has not restarted play or terminated the match." FIFA takes this from the Laws and tells member associations (like USSF) and leagues (like MLS) that there are only certain things they can do in relation to discipline outside of the scope of the match itself. 1. If the referee sees an incident and determines it to be a red card, it is a red card. The governing body reserves the right to increase the severity of the automatic suspension, but they have no right to nullify the send off or to let the offender off without at least a one match ban. 2. If the referee sees an incident and determines it to be a yellow card, it is a yellow card. The governing body may not increase the severity of the punishment, nor may they strike the caution from the records if they consider it to be the wrong decision. 3. If the referee sees an incident and determines it to be either a simple foul or no offense, it is either a simple foul or no offense. The governing body may not infringe upon the referee's right to enforce and apply the Laws of the Game by retroactively punishing a player for something that was, at the time, not considered misconduct by the referee. 4. If the referee does NOT see an incident, he has made NO DECISION concerning it. Therefore, the governing body reserves the right to punish a player as they see fit. If they feel that something not seen by the referee should have been punished by a red card, they may ban that player for any number of matches. They cannot add yellows or reds to the statistics of the match, however. 5. If the referee sees an incident, shows a yellow or red card, but either shows the card to the wrong player or reports the card as having been shown to the wrong player, he has made a mistake that falls outside the realm of "the referee's opinion." The governing body has a responsibility to correct these mistakes in terms of statistics and suspension. Now, if you follow English football at all, you're probably scratching your head because the above does not seem to be at all what goes on, and you'd be right. England's Football Association is downright infamous for ignoring FIFA's directives on post-match discipline, not to mention half of the changes to the Laws over the years. In England, it's quite common for red cards to be appealed to the FA, and it is quite common for the dismissals to be overturned, either on recommendation from the match referee after he views a recording of the match or on the disciplinary board's own accord. FIFA really doesn't like this, but England consistently gets away with it, probably for a number of reasons, not the least of which being that they pretty much invented the game. In the US, Major League Soccer GENERALLY follows the FIFA directives. On rare occasions, however, they have been known to impose suspensions for what they deem "egregious" offenses, despite the fact that they were seen by the referee. They try to restrict this to incidents in which either a serious injury occurred or could have likely occurred. It's happened once this season (Michael Lahoud was suspended for two matches for a tackle on Justin Mapp). The first time I can specifically remember it happening in the past was when Ugo Ihemelu nearly broke Andy Williams' leg (I believe the injury turned out to be a severe high ankle sprain). I hope that helps to clarify why GBS has been suspended but why other controversial (and sometimes obviously wrong) decisions don't get this kind of response. If it's any solace, that's twice in a row where the referee in question had what you could say was a rough go of it. If he failed both assessments, he'll be pulled from the remainder of his MLS assignments this season.
The Hesmer news is bullshit. Okay, that's not a mature or helpful response, but the words Hesmer + lower + back make me nervous. Hesmer missed two months with a lower back injury last season. This, June of '09: "For about two weeks I did nothing. It was pretty miserable. It's just a really bad feeling. Most injuries you can go do something, but your lower back is part of most everything." I'll want to hear some very reassuring words before I pencil Hesmer into a starting line-up for a while.
Uh, as others have pointed out, we were actually significantly better without him last year. We had a markedly better goal differential, and accrued points at a faster rate, when he was off the pitch. I know it doesn't make a lot of sense (especially since he was our leading scorer, and he's undoubtedly our best player), but it's true. I endorse this message. We should all bust out Irish flags for the RBNY match here... Like, the entire Nordecke covered in Green White & Orange, singing Republican rebel songs. It'd be glorious. This is why you don't vote too early. Anyway, for the meat: [LINEUP-4-4-2]Lenhart,Garey,Ekpo,Moffat,Carroll,Gaven,O'Rourke,Iro,Brunner,Hejduk,G-Man[/LINEUP-4-4-2] Bench: [pool keeper] Zayner Padula Oughton Griffit Herrera Renteria If Padula is held out via injury, then I'd guess Francis makes the gameday roster. Duka has a chance of dressing, too, depending of Griffit's status. That's what I'm expecting to see.
[QUOTE I endorse this message. We should all bust out Irish flags for the RBNY match here... Like, the entire Nordecke covered in Green White & Orange, singing Republican rebel songs. It'd be glorious. .[/QUOTE] God yes, can we get the leperchaun from Notre Dame for that game? We need to inform the Shamrock Club, Hibernian Brothers, and any other Irish Social Clubs in Central Ohio of Henry's impending visit to our fair city.
Ekpo on the left? Seriously? My admittedly half-assed guess: Hammer Frankie O'Rourke Brunner Padula Carroll Renteria Moffat Gaven Ekpo Lenhart We saw the Ekpo/Lenhart thing in the first Toluca match. Of course, we had Rogers for that game. So maybe Ekpo plays on the right and we see a Lenhart and Garey/Renteria pairing. If Padula needs a break, I assume it'll be O'Rourke on the left and Brunner and Iro in the middle.
Thank god Cepero isn't playing for the Red Bulls any more. With the Hammer in goal we would be down 1 Nil right from the start.
He'll probably start on the right, but I expect we'll see them flip sides fairly regularly. I'll agree that he's more of a right-sided player than a left, while Gaven can play anywhere across the midfield equally well. BTW, it's so easy to forget that Gaven has played 116+ games for us, is in his fifth season, and is still only 23. He's one of the youngest players on our team! I hope he's here for another decade.
Watching Ekpo's skill set, you would think a left side position would encourage him to cut back right in order to set up a right-footed shot. Completely different from the Rogers dribble-to-the-flag-left-footed-cross-to-no-one we have been seeing so far this year.
Agreed. However, if I recall correctly, they did try starting him on the left a couple of times with relatively limited success a year or two ago. I could be completely making this up, but I seem to recall that on more than one occassion, Ekpo received the ball deep in our own end, turned inside to his right foot, lost the ball, and gave up a prime scoring chance to the opposition. Again, I have no idea how accurate that memory might be, but at least I think they've tried it once or twice before. Perhaps his game has progressed over the last year or so. But based on past experience, while I would like to see him on the left every now and then to change the look, I don't know that I'd want to see it for an entire game.
For some reason, he just plays a lot better on the right. See Saturday versus all his other appearances this season.
Just like that, Will i Am Hesmer is back in business. http://blog.dispatch.com/crew/2010/05/hesmer_probable_for_thursday.shtml
God yes, can we get the leperchaun from Notre Dame for that game? We need to inform the Shamrock Club, Hibernian Brothers, and any other Irish Social Clubs in Central Ohio of Henry's impending visit to our fair city.[/QUOTE] Here is a good song and easy to remember at least the chorus. [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjMrPgk1eU8"]YouTube- Irelands call[/ame]