Game 2 - Red Stars vs Portland Thorns 4/27/13

April 27th?

 

There were actually a nice number of Seattle fans last game.

About 20+ or so.

 

So how far out of the way is their stadium?

 

From where? It's in Lisle which is probably.. 40-45 minutes from downtown.

 

From where? Somewhere. Anywhere. As opposed to nowhere.

40-45 minutes from downtown doesn't sound too bad unless it's the opposite direction from the rest of civilization. Toyota Park wasn't exactly central either, was it?

 

Correct. Toyota Park is a bit SW of downtown ~20 minutes or so unless there is traffic. But Lisle (where CRS play) is pretty deep into the suburbs. The area definitely has plenty of people and soccer success with the local high schools nearby, but obviously there isn't a big crossover there. I think Chicago's biggest problem is going to be getting the word out. Nobody knows the Red Stars really even exist and until basketball and hockey is over in this city, it will be tough to get people to pay attention.

 

Not a particularly good match for the Red Stars. They did hold a team with a lot of offensive firepower scoreless for nearly 70 minutes, but...
1) Way too many giveaways throughout the game. They gifted the first goal to Portland. They might as well set it up on a tee for them. Not sure if it was Moscato or Hemmings who made the bad pass.
2) No offense at all in the first half. The only strategy seemed to be long balls over the top and it wasn't working at all. A couple of times, both Boxx and Chalupny had the ball around midfield with nothing but open spaces for 20 yards and instead of running at the defense and putting pressure on, they elected the quick long pass, which was easily picked off by the defender.
3) The Red Star midfield should have been more dominant against Portland, but really did not keep possession for very long at all in the 1st half. It was better in the 2nd half and they did create 2 or 3 good chances, but none found the net.
4) On the 2nd Portland goal, I believe it was Foxhoven against three Red Star defenders. They let her dribble in a circle and keep possession until Morgan and Sinclair got into the play. That just shouldn't happen.
5) Masar was a virtual non-factor and was having to track way back to get the ball at times. It wasn't lack of effort, but nothing seemed to come to her.
6) I hardly noticed Bywaters, until she nearly scored on a volley early in the 2nd half.
7) I think I would have like to have seen Dominguez and McDonald a little earlier, when they might have had more impact. McDonald gives Chicago something they don't have a lot of up front...size.
8) I really can't give high marks for any part of the Red Stars' game, except maybe McLeod, who did make two or three really tough saves.

As for the feed, I didn't have too many problems. It froze or hesitated a few times, it was a little fuzzy, but overall not too bad. I liked Arnim's insight and thanks very much from a former Athletica fan for giving us a mention. In the first half, the camera was positioned so that you couldn't see the one corner at all. That was apparently fixed at half time, so thanks for that.

I think this team has possibilities. I think there are definitely the parts present to make this a strong team, but they've got a long, long way to go at this point. Grings is supposedly going to be here by late May, which will help the offense. The problem is they will see Kansas City and Portland a lot in the coming weeks and those teams are going to be ready to play. This definitely was not a solid match for the Red Stars overall.

 

Just got back from the game and I agree with cville kc"s comments. A first in pro soccer an honest announced attendance of 2,855. I thought they would announce more as the stands were filled. They even had fans behind both goals. I guess alex morgan brought out the fans. I saw quite a few girls with alex morgan national team jerseys. It was very nice of the wps to gift Portland with both morgan and Sinclair. Just one wouldn't have been enough I guess. I could tolerate the artificial turf and gridiron lines if the red stars won but in losing it aggravates me even more.

 

they knew what portland's following and attendance numbers would be from the get go, had no choice but to guarantee a winner there. could you imagine if portland turned out to be chicago or washington with 7000+ season ticket holders?

and i don't think kc's allocations were a mistake either when i look at them. no one wanted to be there, but they get the #2 keeper, #2 defensive captain, hot and cold cheney, and the rest of that sub 25 roster. and renae must be the #1 mexican allocation from what i've seen.

i'm assuming they will stack one of the canadian teams or a LA team, esp if the Galaxy are one of the many interested MLS teams now. a quarter of the usa girls must be from california, so pali and the strikers would have their pickings, just from drafts and free agents, would just need an a-rod, press or sydney as a marketable forward.

 

Their contract w/ Zurich ends May 20. I wish they could some sooner, too.

 

It seems to me the league stacked the newer franchises with the best allocations (Portland, Seattle, KC), and gave lesser allocations to the existing franchises (Red Stars, Washington, Sky Blue FC, etc). To me, the Spirit are the Freedom, in terms of their local system for plucking players.

The reason why the league did it this way, is they wanted to assure the newer franchises had talent.
They knew the Chicago's, WNY's, and Washington's of the world, could pluck their local talent, and recent talent from their last year's WPSL Elite teams, and W-League teams, etc.

Of course, Seattle had the Sounders last year, but I think this had a lot to do with it.
Not to mention, you can't have Portland in the bottom 4. They must be in the Top 4.

 

No, they didn't. As recently as mid February there were still negotiations about having at least some of their matches in the more intimate confines of 5,000 seat Merlo field. I heard this from administrators at UP and an executive the Timbers organization. It wasn't until just a couple weeks before seat selection that talk about that ended. And if you hunt around these forums, I believe it was echoed here.

That got blown out of the water when season ticket sales went through the roof. But when Paulson went into this, and when I plunked down my deposit money, they though the effort would be much more modest. And they still thought that by allocation time.

 

Clive, facts are as nothing against the juicy Portland conspiracy theories. It's grand to be the pantomime villain.

As with all such theories, the inconsistencies are conveniently left unaddressed. Most notably: wow, Portland was just handed the best players on a plate - but, wow, does the Thorns' midfield (and, sometimes, defense and GK) suck!

 

And everyone knows Morgan came to Portland because of her big fat Nike contract...just like Michael Jordan did.

Oh,...wait.

 

Whether you believe in conspiracy theories or not, it is still absurd that the two best scoring forwards in the league go to one team, and arguably two of top 3 or 4 individual draws in the league on one team. It doesn't matter how bad you think the rest of team is. Those two players, along with maybe Wambach, are probably the only players that individually put a significant number of fans in the seats just by them being there. That is simply not right, conspiracy theories or not.

Call it the Marta effect. The LA Sol drew nearly a 1000 more fans on their road games than their opponent would normally draw at home in 2009. For one team to have maybe the two biggest draws gives them a huge advantage in attendance.

 

I hear what you're saying, Cville. My take is this: was the allocation "fair," in terms of team parity? Whatever imperfections there were have been made up for in the draft, etc. The league looks pretty darn competitive so far. The Thorns probably have the best attacking duo; KCFC, likely the best midfield; Sky Blue, possibly the best defense.

Was the allocation fair in terms of boosting local attendances? Probably not - but Morgan is really the only X factor in that regard, it seems to me. She will draw crowds everywhere, no doubt. But I'm not so sure that Sinc has that same level of appeal outside of Portland, where she has roots and connections, and is greatly loved. She would bring some fans in, of course, but nothing close to Morgan - or Wambach, or Solo, IMO. Also, from all accounts, Sinclair would have gone to play in France if she hadn't been able to play in Portland.

So, it's really about where Morgan was allocated. Would it have seemed so much more just if she'd ended up on the same team as Syd, or Cheney, or Kelley O'Hara? I don't know. My best guess is that AM wanted to play in Portland, and the NWSL went along with it - but none of us knows. Two final things: Portland would have had the best attendance, with or without Baby Horse; and, the Thorns aren't odds-on to win the league, not by a long shot.

 

Now, why you wanna do something that ridiculous and put Morgan in the same sentence with Jordan?

 

Because Portland actually had the draft pick before Chicago and picked Sam Bowie?

( yeah, I know...Who?)

 

I agree with nearly all of your points. But, it appears the league has shot itself in the foot by placing its biggest draw (Morgan) on a team that "would have had the best attendance" anyway. So what you're going to have is one team drawing great, maybe three other teams drawing pretty well and the other teams will struggle to get 2500 in the doors, except in those one or two matches when Morgan comes to town. That's just a poor marketing strategy, if nothing else.

I hope I'm wrong, because I would really like to see the team in Chicago do well, both on the field and in attendance. But it's going to be a constant struggle for them to get around 2500-3000 in the stands. It doesn't do Portland any good to draw 17,000 if the rest of the league folds.

 

Alex Morgan wasn't going to save any team that doesn't have the business savvy to save itself.

Mia Hamm nor Julie Foudy, not Morgan last go round did it . Even Marta and Abby couldn't save bad marketing and owners.

She wasn't all that much of the WNY marketing effort. Marta and Abby, when she came to town, we're the draws there.

I don't see a steady stream of 16K games in the records with Alex as the draw for WNY.

 

First of all, WNY doesn't seat that many, so let's not even talk 16K, because that's absurd. Second, Marta was the best player in the world (and the most costly from a salary standpoint) and Wambach is a home town player which always a bigger factor. Third, it was really before Morgan became a superstar player. At that time, she was just a supersub on the national team, not yet a 20 goal a year scorer for them. Remember also, Morgan was away with the national team a good part of the 2011 season, as was Marta and Sinclair and Wambach for that matter. She only played 13 games that year in WPS, probably at least half were on the road.

She could make a difference on any team in the league. We're talking about a league where an extra 1000 in the stands makes a huge difference.

I will agree to most of your points. Whether you are trying to or not, you're making it sound like Alex Morgan doesn't matter that much to the league, either from a competitive standpoint or an attendance standpoint, and that's just not true. She is huge asset for this league and would probably make a bigger impact for other teams, simply because of your point, Portland's draw is already there.