Atlanta Ties with Edmonton: http://www.atlantasilverbacks.com/fc/news/item/silverbacks-fc-edmonton-battle-to-1-1-draw Menjivar starting today settled all that Cosmos/MLS mess which is nice. Very frustrating game today though. I really feel like we need somebody selfish up front to take some damn shots. Just too much passing around in the final third. If only we had a Matt Horth type up there we'd be unstoppable. Also, I will be very surprised if Mighty Joe is still around next year. He's been killing it in goal and people are noticing.
Who was up front? I missed the whole first half and part of the second attending my kid's birthday party. Was it Stisser?
Mendes and Barrera were up front in the first half, Stisser and Gulley got subbed in during the second.
How did Mendes & Barrera look? They obviously didn't score themselves. Perhaps they created space for Horace James (who I'm told did)?
James' run and goal was great, and Edmonton's defense isn't exactly easy to get through. However they and whichever mid came forward at the time would get to the box and just have trouble deciding what to do and it would end up getting booted away. There were several times a shot could've been made but it was passed around instead. It was very frustrating. Obviously not every shot is going to go in or be on target even but I'm a firm believer of testing the keeper once in a while.
As the saying goes, you can't win the lottery if you don't buy a ticket. There were a few opportunities yesterday that were just begging for someone to shoot, but instead one too many passes saw them squandered. As it is, I'll take a road point to preserve the unbeaten start to the fall. Maybe a decent point, too, when they were opting to play rugby at times.
Silverbacks Crap Out to Strikers 1-0 http://www.atlantasilverbacks.com/fc/news/item/atl-ftl-game-story Awful night. ATL didn't look like they wanted to be there first half. Referee was a Railhawks fan looking for revenge. Attendance was awful. At least our food was good before the game.
I'm down in Tallahassee covering Auburn and Florida State, so I unfortunately wasn't able to drive up for the game last night. Maybe a good thing? Never mind the announced crowd; what's your estimate?
I didn't go either. Stayed home and watched the NASCAR race on TV. Just wasn't up for it. Another practice game against a struggling FTL team ( I consider all the second season just practice games for us).
Apparently the team considers them all practices too because they weren't playing like a professional team. Well, second half was better, they realized they were losing to the damn Strikers and started trying but were down to 10 men by that point. The estimated crowd sounded about right, it was way down. BUT we were very vocal considering the ref made shit call after shit call so we had ample time to get worked up. The section directly across from where we were sitting were absolutely losing their collective mind.
So far this season these NASL refs have been horrendous! There was an awful offside call that negated a RailHawks goal in our game too. I wonder where the league is getting them from? Are they training them?
I'm honestly curious how the whole system is set up. I know they have to be approved by USSF but do the lower leagues get the newbies and less experienced ones? Is it random? Do experienced refs cost more? Like I tweeted to Bill Peterson, it always seems like the talk after games is about the refs rather than the games which makes the league seem amateurish in my opinion. Like our game against Edmonton in the spring - a goal was called off for offside which was impossible because play had just started. The line ref then changed it to handball when Stisser went to complain. It was so bad some write-ups had handball and the others had offside. And I know every single team in the lower leagues has similar experiences.
That happens in most leagues around the world, it is easier to criticize a ref than to break down a game. But I agree it would be interesrting to know how ref assignments work with USSF and do Canadian refs get also allocated when games are in Edmonton/Toronto/Montreal.
Sick and don't feel like doing any work. So let's talk players - who has really surprised you this year, and who do you think needs to step it up? Honestly, Brad Stisser seemed like he had promise but he hasn't produced too much. I don't think he's a bad player by any means but he just hasn't figured out how to break these teams down yet. I did notice he was getting frustrated with his lack of service last game, too, so I'm sure that has something to do with it. As for surprises I have to say I'm constantly amazed that I find myself thinking how solid the backline is. There wasn't a huge drop-off when Bloom left and comparing the defense to years past is kind of insane.
http://www.atlantasilverbacks.com/fc/news/item/silverbacks-settle-for-1-1-draw The scoreline doesn't reflect the work the guys put in. Much better than last week - lots of pressure, creativity, and hustle. Still missing that final piece of the puzzle up top, though, as that game should've been killed off early on in the 1st half. Hopefully the game against the Almighty Soccer Saviors Cosmos is where everything comes together and we smash them at home. Also, very cool to see Paulini back.
Luna returns! http://www.atlantasilverbacks.com/fc/news/item/silverbacks-bring-back-forward-luna Best news I've heard in a while. Maybe we'll start scoring like crazy now.
Good news, but how...odd. I was wondering why he was still tweeting about being back home in Dallas as the European season was starting up.
I like this news very much. We have been looking kind of anemic in scoring this Fall season. This should help.
"Kind of anemic" is putting it kindly, but yeah once he gets in form things should pick up. No better time than this weekend against the Scorpions too, who basically have to come out swinging and will likely open themselves up. Luna may get the start too since Pedro got kicked out of last game for no reason. I hope to sit with you guys this weekend too - I wanted to last game and join in but I was REALLY weak from some weird bug I had picked up. Plus we had some newbies who wanted a better view. I actually almost blacked out from yelling too much lol. I have some ideas for chants/songs but I'm not much of a music writer guy.
http://www.atlantasilverbacks.com/fc/news/item/luna-barrera-lead-way-in-2-1-win We scored more than one goal!!! Considering how awful the Scorpions are right now the Backs could've just decided to take it easy but they came out swinging the whole game. Definitely like seeing Reiss in a midfield position and glad to have Luna getting back to form (shanked penalty or no).
Heading over to see the Silverbacks tonight for the first time since we moved to Atlanta from Columbus, Ga. Looking forward to seeing some live footy. Hope to make a habit of getting over to see a lot more matches now.
Last night was certainly a good night to take in a game with good weather and a solid crowd on hand. Too bad the quality of the game was comprised by way of Barrera's phantom red card, but alas, three points are three points. And good to see you on here after having not personally seen you around BigSoccer since the old B@W days.
The replay online doesn't show it too well, did you happen to get a good look at Barrera's ejection? On the video it just looks like Proctor came sliding in and Barrera jumped over him.