With DeRo playing up top, I think Davies has become superfluous (a one-trick pony - speed with mediocre ball skills). If that is correct, then I think Tino slides into the position Onalfo wanted for him last year -- AM. Only this time he has DeRo, Wolff, Najar and and an uninjured Pontius to help carry the load instead of Allslop and Cristman -- aka "the fenceposts". I think Tino could shine in that position because he would be playing in the center of the field, wouldn't be expected to carry the entire load of possession and distribution and could unleash some shots from distance because he still is the best pure striker of the ball on the team.
Third goal, a horrible mistake, second goal he missed the right time at jumping to the shot. He made a couple of saves that gave me sheevers, one of them with his chest, in another one he almost lost the ball to a Toronto guy in front of him. First half he was impeccable, but second half he was a disaster...
There aren't any. They are at least overweight as I am, wonder how you can be "quality ref" that way...
Here's the Toronto goal broken down with statements from the ref and Ethan White... http://www.blackandredunited.com/20...en-anno-screw-d-c-united-ethan-white-responds
It may have started out as a stoppage for a throw-in, but a substitution was, indeed, being made. That then makes it a stoppage for a substitution, and your argument falls to the ground. And by the way, even the Toronto player knew Anno and his clown-crew were wrong: Toronto FC Midfielder Julian DeGuzman on the controversy surrounding his goal: "Any moment you can get like that, you take advantage of it. Many of the best teams in the world - how should I put it? - cheat when they have the chance to do something." Being as how he's seen more soccer at a higher level than you and me combined, I'd be willing to take his word for it.
Yup, if the 4th official is standing on the sideline with the electronic board displaying a player coming off and a player coming in, it's a sub. Check the link I just posted for possible explanations. What I came up with after reviewing this cluster**** is that the ref just flat out blew it. (not his whistle )
Well back from that maddening soaker fest and recovered. What a screwy situation to be in. Just echo everything that's mostly been said. Boy is TO awful, I can't imagine how many goals we would have scored if we were at even strength. 1) DeRo is on fire 2) More bush league referring enough already 3) Our guys were getting killed out there, what horrible conditions, can we just get a break with injuries we were dropping like flies 4) Hamid certainly gave us the WTF moment of the night 5) Cronin was ridiculously rusty, I wasn't sure why he was punching everything for fear it was too wet and it would slip or something? He made some bonehead mistakes. I think the last thing that sticks with me the most is that DeRo is great and all that but someone else on this team needs to score otherwise were never going to win any games or get anywhere...
I don't know what it means; but I can take a guess. If you've been following the referee assignments at all, there's a lot of new blood around, and a lot of the new referees are getting a lot more of the matches. Again, I have *no idea* if that's what he meant. It's just a guess. If it is what he meant, though, I don't know that it would be a fair criticism in this case, because Anno isn't new (although he is new*er* -- I think last season was his first getting MLS matches. Hopefully someone will correct me if that's wrong.)
DeRo is a monster, a real top quality player. In the last 15~20 minutes he was doing it all by himself in the TFC half field. He scored 3, but he could have scored another 2 easy, he's always where he should be at the time he should be there, a complete player in all senses. Wonder how he never turned up to some big or decently big European club... Does he want DP status next year? Just give it to him, he deserves it!
It would be nice if White would give a step-by-step breakdown of how he didn't stay with his man [again] on Toronto's third goal. All I have to say to DeGuzman is if you have to "cheat" when you're a man up from the sixth minute in order to tie a game, you are a punk and TFC is a worthless gathering of players. Seriously, it's like a tag-team wrestling match where one of the team has been knocked out and the one is still whupping the other team's two and then the manager of the two jumps in with a chair. Three on one with a chair. I can't believe that referee's statement. Does he know there is such a thing as teevee and video?
Ok, we've whumped the ref (and richly deserved) and bemoaned DCU's goalkeeping (again richly deserved. The West Fairfax Garden Gnomes in their darkest hours had better netminders) but shouldn't we also acknowledge what an awful aggregation Toronto is and what a wasted opportunity last night represented? Toronto was truly appalling last night. Their centerback pairing in the first half made Jakovic and McDonald look like all-stars. Their overall play was incredibly tentative -- perhaps the result of starting over with a new lineup in midseason. But for me the cherry on the top of the sundae was Torsten Frings -- what a complete waste of a good uniform -- slow, slow slow and woefully out of shape. Every time he touched the ball in the first half (and Toronto was clearly under orders to play through him) the pace of the game descended another notch. In the second half when he moved to centerback, he was a DCU goal waiting to happen. When are MLS teams going to learn that while the league may not be the world's best, it does include a lot of athletic players and it plays under brutal conditions (heat humidity and so on). Your basic overage out of shape European player will simply not prosper in MLS. (DCU management please take note.)
I don't even consider that cheating. If the ref has restarted play (or whatever the hell happened), they've got the right to try to score.
Thank you. Yes, Cronin showed a great deal of rust, not unlike Onstad at the start of the season. Given that he has not started one regular season game, came on cold and was thrown in with his team a man down, he did OK. Those of you calling him a clown -- lighten up, I hope you don't supervise folks at work that way. While Cronin screwed the pooch on the 3rd goal, if White had held his mark, the shot doesn't even occur. White might be "athletic", but he consistently loses his mark on set pieces. In other words, he's not getting better as the season progresses, instead he's doing a Jordan Graye -- making the same mistake over and over. The other thing I noticed once McDonald went out is how clueless White is with the ball at his feet. Compare him to McDonald, Jakovic or Kitchen and he's not even close to their level. He's a look around and then thump it type of player. If he hones his skills to match his athleticism, he'll be very good -- otherwise he's just another Jordan Graye or David Stokes.
Sorry. It was a rhetorical question, Riz. I wasn't really personally offended by your lack of omnipresence.
Tough draw last night. Could have been worse, should have been better. I know the Toronto player said that he cheated, but it's not up to him to ref the game. It's not some pick-up game, players aren't calling their own fouls. Maybe De Rosario can score 4 goals next week. That might be enough for a DC United home win.
Tino always plays a 'more compact' wide midfield, but hard to fault him for it in this game when he was a) probably low on match fitness and b) likely staying more compact to help compensate with the team a man down.
http://www.blackandredunited.com/20...en-anno-screw-d-c-united-ethan-white-responds Bringing this over from the discussion in the MLS N & A section. The refs' post game email is a blatant lie and Ethan White just destroys the whole situation with how he recounts it (which holds up much better with what the video shows). MLS may have to address this one publicly as it's just too glaringly obvious to ignore.
Benny's public reaction to Hamid's call up was positive, cautious and somewhat prescient: "It's important for him to take it in stride and enjoy the experience but stay grounded and stay focused here, especially in the short term." His failure to stay focused cost us crucial points, and now he'll be out for another game. There's a reason you don't see many 20 year-old keepers starting on national teams or at big clubs. With all that said, I still like him, but these are the growing pains.
I talked to McDonald after today's reserve match and he said he's fine (whew!) - just a cramp last night. I though he had injured himself pretty badly, and I'm happy to be mistaken.
Iker Casillas at Real Madrid, David de Gea at Manchester United. The two biggest clubs starting an 18 and 20 year old respectively. Thx, Jay!