Alright guys, we are in the Sweet 16 of the US Open Cup. Please tell me about your Aztex. What can I expect? Style? Personnel? Approach to the Cup? Here's what I can tell you about Chivas USA. Our record doesnt reflect our talent. We've lost many 1 goal games in the last minute. Our Goats have very fragile confidence. They are a possesion orientated team that lacks creativity in the final third. Johnny B. is with the USMNT and Sacha is gone to Belgium. Look for our new pickup from El Salvador (Osael Romero) to get more playing time. Justin Braun has been our biggest scoring threat. Also, any of you guys making the trip here?
I'm curious about the uniforms for the game. Since Chivas usa has red and white stripes AND a red back to their home jerseys it negates both our home and away jerseys (the Red and White at home and the occasional Red on the road). I think Austin may be wearing their practice whites for this game. Chivas usa has a similar look that the new Stoke City uniforms have, except with more red on the front. Style: A lot of goals scored this year. Speed on the wings and a good holding forward in Eddie Johnson. Big defenders in the back. All relative to D2 of course. The Griffin brothers are from LA, went to school at UCLA. I hope they bring a good crowd out in support. One is on the backline and the other on the frontline. Our team seemed to change for the better once Max Griffin became a starter up front. Our coach said on his radio show this week (to paraphrase) that games like these were opportunities for our players to shine and make an impression on better teams and leagues. Which tells me that we are going from reserves to starters for Tuesday's game. I'll be looking for a twitter feed, no travel for me. What kind of crowd is expected? Has Chivas USA hosted open cup matches before?
That sounds like the exact opposite of us. We serve from the back and finish well, IMO. I think we do not possess the ball well in the midfield, generally speaking.
In general, the Aztex tend to give playing time to our "second string" players in the Open Cup. I expect that this will continue as our starting players just finished a match in Miami this evening and we don't substitute a lot. These "alternate" competitions seem to be important to us, though. We will sub in our more normal players if it looks like we have consistent problems in one area. We seem to be near even on playing "long ball" or "possession ball." I think our coach prefers to maintain possession and press hard, but the player's do make nice plays on the long ball forward, so it sometimes evolves that way. I hope there is some sort of web feed for me to be able to watch the game. Cal State Fullerton is a nice campus, but work and money will prevent me from making it out there. I also wish that this will be a classic case of what Aztecs do to chivas. Should be a decent game if the Aztex show up healthy.
We know at least two starters for Tuesdays game: Sullivan Silva and Max Griffin Both have red card suspensions, Silva still needs to sit out next Saturday's game and Griffin is going to miss the next two (for his redcard last night).
Dito for me,would someone please post a link here as soon as it becomes available. Cheers!! MON THA RAW!!!!!!
For some reason I thought it was two games?? Maybe because Coach Heath got a two game ban earlier in the month. I couldn't find the rule in any USSF DIV2 information online. If it's one game for a red card, that's good news! I did find this interesting article on the ref who invented the red and yellow cards: http://www.fifa.com/aboutfifa/developing/refereeing/news/newsid=80623.html/
Coach Heath got the additional game ban after his red card because rather than going to the locker room he went up and watched from the stands, which in U.S. Soccer is a no-no. I didn't see the Miami match but unless Max did something extraordinarily bad (unlikely given his sweet nature except when in close proximity to the ball and goalmouth) his ban should only be one game.
Hey, is Cesar Zamora going to play? I got to interview him at the Dallas Cup for Yanks-Abroad.com and really liked talking to him. he's a good kid and pretty nice player too.
I have been told that--as of this morning there will be no broadcast, but the Aztex are working on it. I have my fingers crossed that we will get a chance to see it.
Gees! Max was subbed out for Joey Worthen earlier. Can I blame the poor video feed? The announcer destroying last names with announcing aplomb? Leonard got a two game ban according to the Aztex website, link below. Silva had a two game ban for his red. So is it one game for two yellows and two games for a red? Or just bad luck for us? http://www.austinaztex.com/news/headlines/index.html?article_id=372
Full time: Chivas USA 1 Austin Aztex 0. Jesus Padilla goal in the 15th minute was enough for the goats to advance to play at Houston next week. According to twitter it was a hard fought game. That sucks. Now the Aztex have to concentrate on maintaining being on top of the league.
I heard the Aztex played awesome. We had the upper hand most of the match, just couldn't score. There was more than a hint of offside on the Chivas' goal. Playing games on each coast Saturday to Tuesday, playing eight games in June with a short bench, putting up a good fight against Chivas' top guys. I am really proud of our team. I too wish we could have played Houston at House Park, but now we are free to focus on the Commissioner's Cup (or whatever they are calling the trophy for the tops in league play).