I'm sure that's what people in Atlanta were thinking when Mike Vick went down. Rimando is the ONE PLAYER who was irreplaceable. Even though he lets the odd soft one in, he was grace under pressure during an all-out attack. I don't have the same confidence in our BACKUP. He played it well in NY/NJ, but can he withstand that kind of pressure over a game. Because you know everyone will be bringinig it to him. Notice NY/NJ didn't go with their backup when Howard left. Unless your backup is a National Team caliber player, he shouldn't be starting 5 or 6 games in a row, let alone closing out a Cup run and Playoff fight. Is it possible that management will try to discover someone late in the game to replace Rimando? Thx, Jay!
I'm assuming that this means the MetroScum will come out firing in the first 10 - 15 minutes to see how Doug reacts to the pressure. Petke might have to hang back more than usual to cover for the loss of Nicky. Question: Is Doug a "stay at home" keeper or does he have decent ball skills?
The camera kinda panned past as he was doing it and I noticed him rolling onto the ground. I remember thinking "I've never seen a keeper do that before. I wonder if he can get extra momentum throwing the ball out that way." I caught it out of the corner of my eye and thought it was really odd, but intentional. Then play stopped and the camera went back to him and I thought "SH!T." Warren played well. I was really freaked out when he came in. My roommate was like "relax, you guys have a two goal lead." I was in agony for a couple of minutes until he made some stops and looked calm. I hate to see Nick out, but I think Warren might be able to hang.....
That's what I'm thinking. Actually, what I was thinking is that if (of the big variety) Warren steps up, what you've got is potential trade fodder... Either Warren or Rimando, depending upon the leanings of management.
To the Morons who run MLS: Stop being a Mickey Mouse League..Fake Grass is not for First Class Professional Soccer leagues.
To the jackass who just posted this inane tripe: MLS doesn't exactly control what kind of surface is laid in Giants Stadium. They don't exactly have a lot of other options re: venues. Stop being a Mickey Mouse boarder and come back when you understand the situation a little bit.
What are you talking about? I'm sure absolutely no one in Atlanta, when Vick went down, thought Doug Johnson was going to be as good as Vick. Not even close. The difference between Paul Grafer and Doug Warren is pretty significant. Grafer has been a scrub throughout his career; Warren was the most highly touted goalie in the draft, is number 2 on the U-23 depth chart (National team caliber), and performed pretty well last night, from all accounts. Whatever Ray says, Rimando is certainly replacable. It's obviously not what you would want, but, except for Colorado, D.C. was probably in the best position of any team in the league to lose their starting keeper.
EXCUSE me, but MLS approves the FAKE grass for use by it's teams. No team would play on fake grass if MLS didn't approve the fake grass. Plus, Last time I checked Billionaires own MLS teams, if they cared about their players, they would insist league play on grass fields. I am very certain a grass field could have been found in NY/NJ area. There is no need for Mertos to play in Giant stadium, after all the average attendance for Metrostars is Approx 16,000 not 80,000. You know why european leagues are considered first class ? Because they take care of their players and conditions they play on. Please, stop feeling sorry for MLS and it's owners.
Unfortunately, MLS is not a charity. Although these owners are billionaires, they're not billionaires because they are in the habit of throwing millions of dollars out the window. The problem with finding a different field is that, inevitably, someone's going to end up unhappy. High school field? People say the league is a mickey mouse league, that the stadium does not befit a first class league, that they can't get beer. College field? We run directly into college football, with the additional problem that college football teams play on saturday. Not really a viable option. Baseball field? Exactly the same things people say about a high school field or about fieldturf. You're playing on dirt. If you have a stadium in New York to suggest that you think would befit a major league team, would be an improvement over Giants stadium, and wouldn't having the message boards people clamoring over some perceived fault, please, send it my way, but not before you forward it to MLS. I'm sure they would be very happy to get out of the Giants Stadium lease. But, if you don't know of such a stadium, it's not fair to criticize a league that's still losing significant amounts of money for not going out and finding an alternative. It looks like they're very close to a deal with Harrison, and with luck, that will be built by 2007, after which we will hopefully never see artificial turf in an MLS match again. I will be just as happy as you when that day comes.
If I rememeber correctly, he's multiracial. I think his mother is filipino, but he's at least 1/4 hispanic. But I guess the DC fans would know better than me. And I know 1/4 isn't much, but there aren't a whole lot of MLS quality hispanic-american gk's around.
Re: Re: Re: Warren Well, given, that “Harry” didn’t start posting on BigSoccer till after Doug Warren started to play and that his favorite team is “any team with Warren on it” and that he lists as being from Chicago and Warren is from suburban Chicago, it doesn’t take a genius to figure out who “Harry” might be. So, when he says he has from an “inside source” that United is looking at another backup, I’m going to take this as fairly reliable. I had pondered the past couple of days whether the club might do this and this as it was risky to have an even less-experienced rookie backing up an inexperienced rookie and this little nugget from Mr. Warren – I mean, “Harry” – confirms it. So, who might the club go after? Here are some ideas. Charleston’s Dusty Hudock. He’s 31 and 6-2, has MLS experience, just helped Charleston to the A-League title (and looked good in the final) and is a year removed from being the A-League’s GK of the Year. He also played briefly in Miami so Ray is, no doubt, familiar with him. Montreal’s Greg Sutton. The 6-6 former Fire backup is now 26 and was named the A-League’s GK of the year. He has MLS experience and holds dual US-Canadian citizenship. Rochester’s Bill Andracki. A 33-year old native of Woodbridge, Andracki has been in the A-League for donkey’s years and has often been called up to serve as an MLS emergency backup. A while back, the Metros wanted him but he opted to stay with the Rhinos. (That should endear him to some DCU fans right there.) He also played one game in MLS, for the Fusion in 1998, giving up one goal. Richmond’s Ronnie Pascale. This would be ironic as Warren backed him up with the Kickers a few times. He’s 27 and had four seasons in the A-League but only two as a starter. He’s not my first choice but he’s close by. Minnesota’s Joe Warren. By signing this 29-year old former D-III All-American, United could corner the market on Warren’s. (No relation to Doug, btw.) Virginia Beach’s Matt Nelson. Joined the team late and didn’t play much at first but was splitting time by the end of the season. He’s 26 in November and was the former D-3 Pro League’s GK of the year. He’s also played in the Irish first division, elsewhere in the A-League and has been an MLS emergency backup in the past. Who it won’t be: Former United backup Mike McGinty. Rimando’s 2002 caddy is now a fulltime assistant coach at Virginia where he works with the GKs and the Cavs two ‘keepers are both freshmen and NEED the coaching. Don’t see him giving up the security to come back up a 22-year old rookie. Seattle’s Rich Cullen. Second team All A-League this year but he’s also a fulltime Air Force officer (he was All-American at the Air Force Academy a couple of years ago) and is stationed at a base near Seattle. It would be a great signing, but I don’t see the logistics of it being worked out. Virginia Beach’s Joe Larson, who is a fulltime assistant coach at Liberty. Obviously, it could be none of the above or, the club could stick with the status quo. But, if it does make a move, I’ll be surprised if it’s not someone I listed.
Re: Re: Re: Warren If people didn't see this coming, wow. Geddes is the one who, in all liklihood, will ultimately be hurt the most by Nick's ACL tear.
What about that guy that the league signed at the beginning of the year but assigned to whatever club needed a backup? He was on the bench for us for the Spurs match, I recall.
Re: Re: Re: Re: Warren Me thinks it could be Q2, as Hudson let slip that he now possess "hair on his balls" after a strong performance several weeks ago...