Amazing how he makes the players around him look so much better. When doing my MOTM voting it was simple to vote for Shilawski and Nyassi but that third vote was really tough. Tierney continues to impress and Sinovac shut down DeRo. I gave the third vote to Sinovac. Rather amazing when a stellar showing like Joseph had tonight doesn't even get him on my MOTM score sheet. Just rewatched the highlights on MLS Net. Burpo should have gotten that DeRo header--I think Reis with his great lateral movement would have. Nick Garcia is a punk. Great to see him get burned a few times.
we looked good in the second half. Hope it keeps up but remember, Toronto is 0-2 now. It may not mean much. Still, we looked good.
The way we have looked in these first three matches (esp in the first half's) I have the impression that they are quasi--preseason in quality with the team evolving and building up a rhythm. I know some will say that needs to happen before the season opener but MLS has a long season and the Nicol way is to do a laid back buildup to the season. It sure looked like they they hit their stride in the second half last night. Say what you will about the two wins being against DCU and TFC, as games to build rhythm and confidence they were ideal. Now for another trip across county
Either Tierney has gotten faster or his position as a wide mid better suits his skill set because he certainly looks as if he is not physically overmatched out there. And his deliveries from both dead ball and the run of play have been terrific.
Great game....but what was up with "first name" only team introduction?? It was like something from High School Musical!!
Clearly they were waiting for the crowd to fill in the blanks. Not necessarily a terrible idea, but it was bound to not work the first game of the season with so many new folks on the field. Later in the season, perhaps.
Completely agree - He defends well also and has a great understanding with Sinovic. He looks like owns that position at this point.
With sell-on clauses and good talent spotters and talent-developing coaches (and we would seem to have the last 2 down) it's a pretty good way to make some good money, though.
My preseason prediction was that we would be slightly better this year than last, squeak into the playoffs but not win anything. After watching the first 3 weeks of the season, I still think we'll be a little better than last year, and I still think we won't win trophies. But man oh man, I didn't know how god-awful the rest of the East would be. We won't have to squeak into the playoffs at this rate. Toronto is in shambles. I'd think about trading them Phelan and/or Barnes (they desperately need the steel) but they don't have anyone worth trading for besides DeRo, DeGuzman and Frei.
There's that, plus Shalrie shaking the rust off, and everyone getting bedded in again with him running the show.
Agree. Tierney belongs. And Sinovic is something special. Together they locked down the left side (which Toronto clearly tried to exploit, stationing DeRO way way out and throwing hail mary's to him at every opportunity in the first half). But if that's our left side, then where does Perovic go? At striker with Schilawski, like last night? As for Barnes, I think he'll get lots of minutes in a rotation -- but it is surprising to see someone who was such a key player last year lose his starting spot. And weird to see Mansally not even get on the field tonight. But that's what happens when you put together a team so deep and with so many attacking options. (I know. I know. That's getting carried away after one good half against one bad team. But after wondering for months where the goals were going to come from, it's funny to think that the answer might be: from our forwards.)
Very awesome 2nd half to watch...VERY EXCELLENT FOR US!!! But honestly...DCU and TFC seem to really SUCK!! Either our guys are playing MVP football or MLS slightly downgraded the talent pool just before the announcement of the new CBA! We almost have to wait until at least half the season is over or until we've played everyone once!
Tierney looks like he's watched a lot of Steve Ralston film..and then actually put into practice what he learned!!!
I think you answered the Perovic question - he'll play up top unless Tierney plays himself onto the bench or there are injuries. For Barnes, I think he understands that Cory Gibbs is the veteran and captain so it was fairly inevitable he'd lose his starting spot. There was a shot of Barnes late in the game reacting to the play so he doesn't seem too put off by Nicol's decision so far. On Mansally, I don't think it's weird at all that he's not seeing the field. We just had so little depth last year that he saw games where on a better constructed team he'd have been coming off the bench. Nicol was quoted as saying Mansally is too inconsistent to start so it makes perfect sense to have him in a bench role. Against DC that paid dividends.
I think what were seeing with Tierney is a kid with a good soccer brain that is able to learn from a coach who knows how to develop young players. Not all the players Nicol brings in work out but he's clearly shown he has a nose for kids who can be developed into solid players. It's been fun to watch Tierney's development over the past 14 months.
And usually he's relatively astute about cutting his losses. So how in the name of a just and merciful God do you explain Wells Thompson???????????
Thompson had more physical potential than most players---but his brain just wasn't able to grasp what it takes to play soccer at this level. Since the key to advanced, mature cognition is the prefrontal cortex and that part of the brain is the last to develop and in some people it doesn't reach it's full development till around 30, I think Nicol was willing to give the kid time and every opportunity to develop a soccer brain---and the kid just couldn't do it. With less physical potential he might have been gone after year one.
A little Historical context on our openers (IIRC): 2004: Around 11k announced on a gloomy Saturday afternoon 2005: Around 10k announced on a cold Saturday night 2006: 10K on a beautiful Sunday afternoon 2007: 20k on a chilly Saturday night for a doubleheader with USWNT and also a Beckham 4-pack game 2008: 10k on a cold night at the end of March 2009: 10k on a brink drizzly night at the start of April 2010: 12.7k on a nice night during the second week in April The funny thing is that crowds immediately following the openers always looked significantly less, but the announced numbers didn't reflect the visible drops. The Revs have a lot of games coming up at home at a time when they historically drew very poorly. This 12.7k figure may help avoid the average from going below 10k heading into June. As for what I thought, it seemed to be right around the amount of people there as our game with DC last year, which I think was recorded as a similar number.
The crowd sure felt like more than 12,000 or so. Big props to the supporters groups, even Toronto's. Sitting in the middle of the stadium it was quite impressive to hear the chants, drums and singing. For a while at the beginning of the game I felt the real competition was coming from the stands! The Fort was packed, looked awesome, the flags looked awesome. I think anyone who isn't a soccer fan that was at last night's game can't help but feel impressed at the atmosphere the supporters create, the crowd going wild with each goal and the rifles going off from BOTH sides of the field.
I agree with most here, the crowd felt bigger than it was. Much credit to the Fort for setting a great atmosphere. As far as a the game goes. Wow!! Killer Schilawski was very impressive, great finishing. Joseph showed why he should of been MVP last year. Tierney is turning out to be a nice surprise. Nicol owns Preki. Sinovick really impressed me, he kept one of the best players in the league out of the game. He reads the game really and loved the fact that he pushed forward in the attack a few times. Is it me or am I the only one dying to see Alston score a goal?
I wasnt able to see the game last night as Comcast didnt give Verizon a channel to show the game on(one of the major problems with cable providers having their own channels, but I digress.) I'm pumped to hear that Schilawski scored a hattie though and look forward to seeing the game tonight on CSN. My question would be did the Revs play well throughout? Or was it like last week where they played bad for 85 minutes but managed to nick a couple of goals?
Astute about cutting his losses? More like reluctant to admit he made a mistake. How long did we carry Badilla? Castro... where will he get minutes. Time to cut that mistake too.