Auckland beat Al-Ahli today 2-0. Auckland City now advances to play Atlante on Saturday. Atlante finished 9th in the Mexican Apertura. I wonder what would've happened if they would've qualified for the playoffs. As it is, they've now had a month off. Their last game was Saturday November 14. But as long as they're not too rusty, they should be able to handle Auckland.
Atlante gets their game against Barcelona today. The big question is: will there be more red cards? Atlante easily got by Auckland 3-0 on Saturday, in a game where 2 Atlante players got yellow cards for questionable handball calls. But then yesterday Estudiantes beat Pohang 2-1 in the first semifinal thanks in part to 3 red cards for Pohang that saw the game finish 11 v 8. (Though to be fair, Estudiantes got both their goals before any of the red cards.) Just finished right now was the 5th place match between Auckland and Mazambe. Mazembe's keeper got a red card in the 23rd. (Looks like it was still a thrilling game though. I won't spoil it since it looks like FSC is showing it after the Atlante game.) And now we're about to get the Barcelona-Atlante game, featuring the man that some speculate is to blame for FIFA's card-happy tournament, Thierry Henry. If I were an Atlante player and Henry was anywhere near me, I wouldn't bother trying to pass the ball, I'd just kick it straight toward his arm and wait for the inevitable red card.
That was 7 different kinds of WOW right there. Max is right, though, I think Atlante just pissed Barca off. And whoever had the 7th minute on the first card wins.
That is poultry feces... you can only improve by playing better teams. Atlante was treated to a free education today... but I am proud of their performance. No excuse but consider that Atlante is in pre-season form vs. Barca which is in top form Atlante featured some 2nd Division talent & bench warmers vs. Barca's mainly starters Navarro had a great opportunity to nail the 2-0 on an impressively fast counter attack... had he passed it correctly to Rojas I think we would have had a different game Atlante played well enough to force Barca to break a sweat... granted Barca owned the entire match... but they had to play near top gear to subjugate Atlante's passing prowess... and then of course made Atlante look like Auckland City or some MLS team All in all.. great opportunity for Atlante to play against the best team in the world... a great learning experience... had they been in competitive form I think could have given Barca a little more of a scare.
If the Crew ever have the chance to play Barcelona in a serious match, I would hope we would be playing our starters.
I think Atlante is nursing some players back to health... and also Cruz seems to be testing out a lone striker formation (supported by the fact that they played a lone striker against an overmatched Auckland FC squad), as well as seeing if his reserves are ready... I think the Atlante that kicks off the Clausura 2010 will be different than this team particularly on defense. However... Rojas (a bench warmer) played a hell of a two games, his goal today was simply fantastic... I think he could potentially bloom into a second coming of Guardado... so while he was a bench warmer this past season.. who knows maybe in 6 months he even makes the trip to South Africa.
The Crew would have the luxury of being in the offseason (time to heal from dings and dents of season, not needing to rest guys for league play). However, Atlante could have put out a little more representative of a side. I mean, it is the WORLD FRICKIN' CHAMPIONSHIP!!!
Since the game it is becoming apparent why Atlante did not use certain players like Gab Pereyra... he is returning to Cruz Azul... word is they are close to bringing Nery Castillo back from Ukraine... and they are going to sacrifice their Defensive starters to be able to bank roll Castillo's loan (USD 4 MM)... because the Castillo deal isn't done.. I imagine the coach wanted to see if his squad could be competitive without those starters before finalizing a risky deal.
Clearly none of us want to talk about it, but it's a very real possibility... Fake Sigi: MLS work stoppage implications on CONCACAF Champions League
As far as an alternate is concerned, there's always the possibility of letting Saprissa take the Crew's place (in this worst-case scenario), but for that to happen, CONCACAF would have to impose a deadline at least a week before the game to get a final answer from Columbus about if they will be able to play, before calling up Saprissa on short notice.
So after a single email telling me i can get tickets to the Toluca game, i've heard zip, zero, nada, about the champions league. Every statement from/about the Crew is about the *league* home opener against TFC. Maybe, hopefully, i've missed some quotes from players and coaches about getting ready for Toluca. But I get this feeling like they don't really care about it, it's basically pre-season for them. Am I the only one who feels this way?
http://web.mlsnet.com/mls/schedule/important_dates/ Check out the first two "important games" of the year, according to MLS itself. And... http://columbus.crew.mlsnet.com/new..._id=7988820&vkey=news_coc&fext=.jsp&team=t102 http://columbus.crew.mlsnet.com/new..._id=7997422&vkey=news_coc&fext=.jsp&team=t102 http://columbus.crew.mlsnet.com/new..._id=7971670&vkey=news_coc&fext=.jsp&team=t102 Almost all of the articles on the front page of Columbus's MLSnet website have at least a mention of it.
I know they realize that the distances between the two leagues are too great... but Toluca is playing piss poor in the Mex league... there is an outside chance this series might be somewhat competitive.
Trust me, the Crew does care about this one. Witness how much they sacrificed in the late season to get here. Given that March 9 in Columbus is still very much winter in Ohio, the Mexican hatred of wind chill may very much come into play. This is not going to be the slam dunk many Mex fans think it will be.
You do know that Toluca is an extremly cold place right???? its sitting at about 2,800m above sea level and i doubt the cold is gona be as sever to where they will be affected...
The forecast for Columbus, Ohio over the next 10 days: 34, 30, 25, 28, 32, 27, 24, 28, 33, 34, ranging from snow to scattered snow to cloudy. The forecast for Toluca, Mexico over the next 10 days: 63, 66, 67, 66, 69, 67, 69, 69, 68, 64, ranging from rain to sunny. The forecast for Columbus over the next 10 days is pretty indicative of the forecast here until (and sometimes through) April. What about Toluca? Because I would say there is a pretty considerable difference.
of course right now its not... i mean the players are used to cold weather...the winter is very cold there...obviously right now its a really nice place to visit to be honest great weather... but i dont see the weather as a factor with this team...maybe the way they are playing...cause they are sure sucking it up... these are the lows though 29, 32, 34, 38, 39, 39 in the next six days...they are used to being cold nothing new to them
You realize those were high temperatures for c-bus, right? A low of 39 is more Tampa or Atlanta. Oh, and we are getting 5-10 inches of snow today as well....