I know I'll feel a lot better after a good vent, so I'll get the ball rolling. Let me know if you think it's too harsh or too light. 1. Mike Jeffries - Through his quixotic quest for the Open Cup, turned a Supporters Shield contender into a likely 5th place seed. Twenty-four games of herculean effort flushed down the toilet in one week of ill-considered decisionmaking. Hope he didn't clear a space on the mantle for that coach of the year award. 2. USSF/MLS - Thanks guys for all the thought and consideration you put into the schedule. I guess it would have been too simple to just have the KC/Columbus game Thursday, and NY/Dal this weekend. 3. Ryan Suarez - conspicuous failure on all three goals vs NY. Were we playing a right back during that jailbreak on the flank for the first goal? I bet Suarez wasn't even on the TV screen during that play for the viewers at home. The next two goals involved futile stabs at balls that wound up in the back of the net. He needs to stop planning his move to Europe and start thinking about his defense or he'll be the next Clint Mathis. 4. Matt Jordan - Once again, we lose a battle of the keepers. Howard stands on his head a dozen times to keep Metro in the game. Jordan lets Faria of all people score from a bad angle. A soft backbreaker against Jordan for the second game in a row. He was looking a lot better with Countess breathing down his neck. 5. Jason Kries - Firmly entrenched in his annual late-season slump. Made Cerritos look like Carlos Ruiz. Blew the beautiful cross O'brien put right on his head. Created nothing, and as usual, absolutely no threat on the long ball due to total lack of speed. 6. Bobby Rhine - This was a joke right? His whole game was summarized in the play where he was in alone 1v1 with Howard and was too afraid to even shoot on goal. Utterly embarassing. 7. Paul Broome - One of my favorites, and very active in the game, but got tired and started pulling on jerseys to cover his fatigue. I can't stand that kind of candyass play from anyone The only players who made a positive impression on me were Cerritos, O'brien, and Johnson. All three looked quite good.
You're pretty much spot on IMO. I would disagree on: 1. Johnson - showed nothing. Clearly shows his lack of experience in situations like this. He's talented, but very raw. 2. O'Brien - played well, but it was his horrible cross field pass which went awry which directly led to 1st goal. Put the team in a huge - and unnecessary - hole. 3. Jeffries roled the dice and came up snake eyes. I suspect he's a player's coach and the players wanted to "go for it" in the Open Cup - for various reasons, including financial - and he thought it was the right thing to do. Even though it blew up in his face, it still may have been the right thing, in terms of playing it straight with his players. 4. USSF/MLS - no way they would ever move Clb-KC to last night and Dal-Met to this weekend. Soccer ain't fluid enough in this country to operate like that. In fact, KC, given their brutal schedule of the past month, would have complained a lot louder than Dallas ever would have thought of doing if this had even been considered. 5. Suarez is a strange player. Did you see him chase players all the way to the other side of the field and then chase the ball like a drooling drunk as the Metros played a triangle around his confused and dazed *ss? Hard to figure out what he's thinking from one moment to the next. Also, while his foot skills are better than most MLS defenders, he often leaves the ball behind him when racing forward, and has to look back at it through his legs to see where it's at. Another talented but still learning youngster. Anyway, just my .02 FWIW, which is basically squat. Way too early to toss in the towel on the 4th seed, and anything can happen. Hope the Cerritos injury wasn't too serious. He's been playing better.
Good points on Johnson and O'brien. Looks like I should have put O'brien in the goat column. But I still like Johnson. He holds the ball much better than Rhine, and unlike Rhine, he's not afraid/unable to shoot. Also he could add speed to our front line which we currently do not have. On Jeffries I'm sure you're right. He probably went for the Open Cup because that's what the players wanted to do and he's a "player's coach." Therein lies my biggest reservation about Jeffries. I don't want a coach who is a buddy to the players. I want a Jimmy Johnson type coach that the players are actually terrified of. Someone who will demand better from them. Key word - DEMAND. Machiavelli said it best in "The Prince." "Let them love me, but if they do not love me, then at least let them fear me." That is the type of coach that I always respected most, and that tend to be winners. Was Arena buddies with Mathis, Regis, or Keller?
I think Jeffries' strategy for the 3-games-in-5-days torture fest started off well, but then took a turn for the worse. Had we somehow managed to win the Colorado game, I would have fully supported going all out for a win in the Open Cup. But after we had lost the Rapids game, it was obvious that the Metro game gained key importance. At that point, I think Mike should have saved the starters for NY/NJ and let the reserves play vs. LA. As to our situation at forward, I've been plugging for Ronnie O'Brien to be given a shot up front. Rhine's play has been inconsistent, Johnson is going through the growing pains you'd expect from a young, raw talent, and Cerritos may be out for the rest of the seaon. So I say give Ronnie a try at forward and let's see what he can do. And if that doesn't work, how about putting Behncke at left back, Broome at left mid, and Chivas at forward. As I recall, Chivas did pretty well at forward last season when called upon to play there, so moving him up front with Jason just might do the trick in jump starting the offense.
I don't blame any of the players for what happened last night, it was to be expected after what they had to go through. Mental and physical fatigue was evident throughout the match. I do blame the coach though for the way he played the players in the three games...
Let's not go over the top after having 3 games in 5 days. Cerritos out, EJ in. He needs to step it up, he's still tentative. Just imagine you're with the U20s Eddie.
While I did not agree with all of Jeffries game time strategies, he almost pulled this thing off in the two MLS games. It may have come down to a tale of two penalties. The one that was called and the one that was not. The first one called a few minutes into the Red and Black's journey with Homer. The second one not called when the journey almost was over. The youngsters got no respect in Colorado as the assistant ref waved the flag to call a hand ball on Morrison in Colorado. It was early in the game, and the Red and Black did come back to tie it after going down by two, but who knows what would have happened had the ref waved it off because he did not see it. In the span of seconds in the first half of the Metros game a shot by Cerritos is knocked down in the box by the left arm of Akwari. The ball ends up at O'Brien's feet and he crosses the ball and Akwari takes down Kreis in the box. Two no calls in less than 30 seconds. A goal by the Burn at that point of the game would have killed off the lowly Metro for they did not show anything other than the ability to counter-attack against a tired team that was pushing up to get a result and losing its defensive shape while doing this. The one that was called and the two that were not made all the difference. La locura rojinegra
I didn't see the Colorado one, but I did see the Metros ones. Very good point Chamo. Kreis was pleading with the referee, but didn't get the call. It's odd, but don't the home teams usually get those calls? Not once, but twice in the same attacknig sequence ... bizarre no call. Then again, it is a New York team, and they are fighting for the final playoff spot. Who knows, but a PK there sure would have helped the Burn cause. ... and the DC United cause, and the NE Revolution cause ... -Tron
That's why Ref Salazar is a rat bastard and I hope he dies of a raging case of painful syphilis! F*** him and the linesmen for those two blown calls! That's why the ownerless Dallas Burn is the bitch of MLS. No home field advantage calls, no break in the schedule, no respect from the Main Office. Why? Becasue we have no one wielding the money, the investment, THE POWER in our favor. Our front office does an excellent job with promotions, raising attendance, drafting players... We just need an OWNER with sharp fangs, balls of steel and deep pockets who can stand up for this team and tell the MLS main office to go screw! The sore loser, Sweeper33
He's right you know. We need an owner. What happened to Hunt Sports Groups? 1 week to prepare for a MUST WIN VS New England.
This has been a very difficult week. However, I will not become bitter about the coaching job Jeffries has done. The Burn were tired and if not for the stellar goalkeeping of Howard, they might of had a better result. Although it is difficult to see Cerritos out, there may be a silver lining. EJ has a chance to prove to everyone he can deliver. He may just suprise all of us. No one likes to see a season end poorly, but I still believe that I may have to purchase tickets for New England in October.
Well, since you ask, there is a rumor that there will be a Tuesday press conference by the Dallas SIDEKICKS that the Hunt Sports Group is buying into the ownership of same. !!?? If so, what effect might this have on our Burn ownership?
Jeffries not only did the right thing because the players wanted a shot at the $100k, he did the right thing because it's a 90-freakin year old trophy. Not only did the players want it, the knowledgeable die-hard fans wanted it as well. The naysayers who moan and whine about blowing the shield and dropping to 5th have no understanding of the Tradition of Football in Europe and South America. You go for the frickin cup for kreis sakes. Also, having a coach who "DEMANDS" results in MLS won't work. The players don't have freedom of movement, but it works both ways. In MLS, if you piss off your employees, you can't get new ones very easily. You can't fire 18 players but you can fire a coach. And with respect to Il Bruce, he does have the ability to "fire" anyone he wants (see, Ralston, Steve, and Kreis, Jason) as well as "promote" anyone he wants (see Williams, ABMOD). At the Nats level, you have a pool of 50 guys who are willing ready and (sometimes) able to step up. -bs
THAT WOULD BE FREAKIN COOL. A better option IMHO than starting EJ, who is just not ready yet to start in MLS. -bs