RSL @ Vancouver. 10/6/11. 7:30MT. P/I/P

"food poisoning"? How about irritable bowel?

 

It's not hard to understand when you realize that a lot of that possession was passes between the backs, and between grabs and the backs. Plus, I was amazed at the backwards passing from the mids to the backs. There was an unusually high number of passes back to the keeper.

Oddly enough, this strategy might well have earned us a point if not for the game changing officiating.

 

That explains why Penso and the Vancouver players were chatting on the field like old friends.

 

Also, Schuler makes a lot of back passes when he plays outside back - not that I expect him to carry the ball forward when he plays that position.

RSL's outside backs have had their wings clipped since Wingert's and Beltran's injuries. I think Wingert continues to look more like himself with every game, though.

 

The saddest part of last night was listening to Vancouver fans boo the ref late in the second half when a couple meaningless fouls in RSL's end went against them. Seriously people, don't you know where your bread is buttered? Penso straight up gifted you 2 goals and a man advantage on one obvious ball-to-hand and another that was ball-to-hand in the worst case and not even a handball in the best case, and you're booing the guy for ruling against you on a 50/50 ball at midfield in the 89th minute of a 3-0 game? Some fans need a little more soccer education.

And I'm not agreeing with the sentiment that the ref didn't cost RSL the game. True, RSL was not going to score, but they weren't going to get scored on, either. Every good look Vancouver had was haplessly squandered by their clown-college offense, so the only way they were going to score was from the spot. Thanks to a bad ref, that's what happened. With a better ref (wishful thinking, right?) that game ends 0-0.

 

A lot of events have simply not gone our team's way this season. Injuries throughout the season, national callups, suspensions, a seemingly rather high number of dubious calls (I really really really HATE to bring up officiating but we've just seen far more controversial calls than you would expect to see in just one season), and of all things, our full squad was up in Vancouver back in June ready to play and an unplayable temporary pitch which didn't provide any drainage forced postponement to a date when many of our regulars were unavailable due to national team duties.

Just not our year I'm afraid. Hopefully we can at least get the results in the last couple of games and see LA or Seattle win the West in the playoffs so we get into CCL next season. Afraid my expectations for a playoff run are rather low at the moment.

 

You know you are playing a crap team when they are winning 3-0 they can't even show the score or the time clock on the broadcast.

The only reason for this is when their fans tune in on most nights they are down 3-1 they have to watch some of the game before they let you know the score or the time. Crap Organization and Ref.

 

According to the Points Lost/Gained thread we've had more good luck than bad luck this season. I'm with you, it sure doesn't feel that way, but I can't deny the logic that went into that thread.

 

It's called the negativity bias and just part of being human. Negative information tends to capture more attention, be more readily retained and readily recalled than positive information. So, when things are relatively 50/50 or even a bit positive, it will feel like it has been quite negative.

 

Yep! You got it!

 

This whole season is sucking big time. The Utes are on their way to becoming the PAC12 doormat, BYU's "Fiercely Independent" season is starting to look like a mistake and RSL's fortunes aren't any better. Well, at least the French National Rugby team beat the English at the Rugby World Cup in New Zealand. Allez les Bleus!!!

 

Nah, the Utes are still better than CU and Wazzu (though with the loss of their QB for the season it does get harder to stay ahead of those teams).

 

Nice! You nailed the 2 big problems for the Utes. The biggest problem is the O-Line. Next is the QB position. Utah will never contend in the PAC-12 until the O-line gets straightened out. That's going to be hard on Kyle, because the O-line has always been a secondary recruiting target area under him.

 

The Referee Week in Review goes over the second PK from the Vancouver game. Bottom line is it should not have been a PK.

http://www.ussoccer.com/News/Referee-Programs/2011/10/Referee-Week-in-Review-Week-30.aspx

 

And no mention of the first PK. Maybe because it was a no brainer.