Brek looked pissed last night, trying to play off those two. He's yelling at teammates more frequently lately, and I don't blame him for being fustrated as hell that guys like Ruiz and Chavez can't connect on a simply return pass. What I find most fustrating, is Hyndmans tactics make life tougher on Brek, not easier. Brek needs to play in a more possession style offense, where he can play off others, not this constant long ball crap. Hyndman and the FO are the ones we have to look at, for not bringing in any players who compliment Brek, our best player. Aside from David, when healthy,Brek has no one to play off. Our mids are phenomenally poor at keeping possession, or playing simply one touch ball, which is what Brek does. I quick pass, dart into open space, and the ball is rarely returned. When you have a talent such as Brek, constantly playing long ball negates a lot of his ability. Tactically, I have zero clue what Hyndman is trying to accomplish out there. As for a CCL berth, I don't think the USOC winner should get one. The competition isn't taken seriously enough for that kind of a reward. It should be the top 3 finishers in the SS race, and the MLS Cup winner.
On the other hand... Seattle, since they've come into MLS, has played a grand total of three matches away from home, whether that home is Qwest Field or the Starfire Sports Complex in Tukwila. Two of those matches were less than 200 miles away in Portland. The only truly road game they've played has been the 2009 final at DC United, who has played 17 straight Open Cup games at home and who hasn't played a road game in the Open Cup since 2007. I find it hard to believe that it's not known by this point how much Seattle and DC United are bidding, and given that, we could not be hosting our entire Open Cup run if ownership truly felt that it was a priority and spent the money. That being said, I'd prefer that they spend their money elsewhere. But at this point, I don't think any of us can throw our hands up in the air and say, "We don't know how Seattle and DC United are getting all these home games!" They get all those home games the same way that Qatar gets to host the World Cup: by throwing around the moolah.
What else would be a higher priority than winning the first championship in nearly 15 years? Particularly the trophy with your founder's name on it. So they can waste more money on inneffective marketing? It's not like they have to continue to spend on roster expenses at this point, that's done and dusted for the year. Nothing they spend now will effect the remainder of the season. This was a huge opportunity....Seattle with two trophies from two years...understands that better than our club that is on a 14 year run of uselessness.
Okay, I just stopped reading after the underlined parts. Have you been watching FCD at all the past three years?
Let me be clearer, I don't blame Seattle for winning every bid. I blame US soccer for allowing it to happen. It's just another reason I don't care, nor have I ever cared about the Open Cup.
Exactly, when you can play a semi-final match in there, the whole thing is flawed. Don't get me wrong, that park is probably great for youth soccer, but playing top game at that place is basically cramming 11v11 into an indoor facility. The greedy folks at US soccer need to be called out here. Damn, a team is 18-0 now at a facility, I bet there is a reason...
As DC United can attest for three years now and as we can attest from the 2007 final, having home field is not everything. Yes, I would rather that they spend more money on marketing, on scouting, and and on development. That being said, I definitely wouldn't have minded hosting last night's game and the final.
That's true...and I don't think I was suggesting anything different. HOWEVER, the willingness to acquire that home field advantage does signify what level of importance the FO places on the tournament. Not only did we get outbid by Seattle for this game, we also, apparantly, got outbid by Chicago for the Final. Basically, the only teams our FO were willing to outspend were clubs from the lower tier of American soccer.......not exactly cash-rich organizations. That shows me exactly how much they care about winning the first trophy in 14 years. None of which helps us THIS year....and this team spending on marketing is like me spending on pork............USELESS.
We'll have to agree to disagree. The defense did give up a goal in each case.........but we didn't look like we could score in a Thai whorehouse. We're evenly matched........except for the fact that they've just beaten us two in a row, are ahead of us in the MLS standings, are in the final of the USOC, and are doing just as well in the CCL (winning in Mexico against a better team than we faced). I'm not saying we can't beat Seattle in the playoffs. That's a crapshoot. I just think they're playing better right now than we are.
All of the games have been very close, not sure you can say one team is much better than the other and the stats pretty much show that. Certainly Seattle won't be scared of Dallas' full compliment as you haven't really beat their best team yet either - the April game Morales was still finding his legs and spot on the team, and Jaqua played significant minutes (maybe the last time that happened). If I were you around Seattle I would be most worried about them taking George John from you in the off season. He's from Shoreline, a UW grad, and clearly isn't too keen on staying in Dallas being that he opted to stay at the league minimum rather than resign this year. The Sounders are a perfect place for him with great strength up the middle and potentially having Hahnemann coming home as well to replace Keller.
And how are they going to do that, exactly? I realize the majority of Sounders fans only jumped on the soccer bandwagon when they invented MLS in 2009, but do you not understand how the trade system works in MLS? Seattle aren't going to be willing to give up any of the players that Dallas would deem worthy of trading John for. The only way he plays in Seattle is after a career in Europe.
No, you don't understand, he HATES DALLAS. Just like we were THIS close to snagging Dempsey away from the Revs right out from under Fulham's nose. Deuce just hated New England is all.
And for those of you who have been around here for a while know that this is QUITE the strong statement. THere have been some AMAZING dumbasses posting in this forum over the years. To illustrate this point.....Im not even in the top 10.