Post-match: Seattle Sounders FC - San Jose Earthquakes (Saturday, 9/22) postgame thread [R]

You should add my tag! "thatflyingpig"

And I have no idea what she has planned, she just said that she is getting it for me :/ how? I haven't a clue, but i'll make sure I send you a PM letting you know how amazing it is!

 

Are you sure you're watching the right guy? Cronin only had 2 fouls, and for the position he plays he has fewer fouls than almost anyone in the league. His role is to break up the other team's offense in the middle of the field, and on occasion, a smart foul is the right play. If anything, Cronin doesn't foul enough.

 

From the Comcast broadcast on my dvr, the second replay (high angle) shows clearly that Wondo flicks the ball with the outside of his left leg, and the ball clearly was not going in if he hadn't done so. Picture is attached.

 

At first I blamed Hernandez, but rewatching the play a few times I realize that Dawkins was the primary culprit. He could have settled the ball on his chest and knocked it away somewhere, but tried to head it back to someone and it ended up being a hospital ball. Jason, as it turned out, would have been better off not lunging for the pass, but he made only the third worst play on that sequence.

Beita cut in because he thought Victor would close the gap with Hernandez, who had taken himself out of the play, but Victor saw that Cronin was moving into the space so stayed with Montero.

 

Agree, although another thing I really liked about Gordon is he seems to be covering a lot more space than earlier in the season allowing him to get involved in more plays. He must have been really dinged up earlier.

 

I'm not talking about just this game, but overall, and one that are obviously not "smart" fouls. Just saying he resorts to rough play too much for my liking.

 

When Dawkins came out I thought I saw him put a hand to his knee. At close to the 60th minute you could briefly see him on the bench with Bruce Morgan kneeling in front of him apparently looking at his knee or leg.

 

And where was his wife living when he coached in LA?

 

Its a good thing they aren't sleeping in the same bed anyway. I'm sure she doesn't mind Sigi is in Seattle!

 

I also hate Yallop's tactics of preserving the win. Trying to bunker a game for 20-30 minutes doesn't work well with our offensive-minded team. They can't play a defensive game well, and they start to fall apart. We were lucky that Seattle couldn't put the ball on frame, and we've been lucky on way too many games this season. Luck runs out. That's why Frank should instead expect the team to score insurance goals, rather than just protect a 1-goal lead. When he put Corrales in for Dawkins, I almost exploded!

 

That was very impressive. I don't remember seeing another team withstand the 2nd half offensive onslaught in Seattle. I really thought we were going to score. You guys look really determined this season.

 

Maybe the game did not go as offensive as you would like but it didn't seem like Frank was preserving the win, otherwise, he would have added a 3rd defender but he didn't do that. I mean he left Wondo & Gordon in and subbed in Lenhart , a forward for Baca who is not really much of a defender. This gave you 3 goal scoring forwards at the same time. Not sure how defensive a trio like that would be. If anything, on paper he was thinking attack or wearing the other team down. Either way, it worked and we should all be more than happy. I for one am not complaining about the tactics....

 

You know, we should probably take it a little easy on Sigi and the "heritage" he carries with him. His weight could be the result of a medical condition like hypothyroidism or Cushing's syndrome. But in any case, unless he's a freak of nature, it would seem that he is at very high risk for heart disease given his weight and high stress job. If I were his doctor I would advise that he step down and get his weight under control, seriously.

 

I'm still trying to figure out how Sigi said "MLS should do something about Lenhart". How dare he say something like this! I mean who gives him the right and why doesn't he worry about himself and his own club? Basically what he is suggesting is Lenny is a cheater but how and why? Because he doesn't let defenders get the best of him or because he scores goals? Give me a break Sigi!

 

I was hoping someone would push him over, just to see if he's capable of rising from the ground under his own power.

 

I think the team was gassed after the first half effort and the 3 in 8. That's why we did what we did for the final half hour. It would have worked better if we had Salinas or Chavez to bring in to counter with Lenhart.

 

No, over this much time he'd have been treated or be dead.

 

Interesting that Seattle is now in a dogfight to avoid 4th place and the midweek game (and us).

They are the favorite to finish ahead of LA and RSL, but they had better beat RSL at home.

Hopefully it's a 3-way battle on the last weekend of the season and each team has to field their regulars so the loser is burned out by they time they play us. We are big RSL fans from here on out. (Note that Seattle plays in LA the last weekend.)

 

Hmm, it occurs to me there's some bad news out there.

Vancouver has four home games left, including Colorado and Portland. This mean they will probably wrap up 5th place prior to the finale at RSL. (Dallas would have to win at us or at Seattle to realistically challenge).

This means they will rest their regulars in that match, in preparation for the midweek playoff. This gives RSL a chance to rest theirs as well. There's a pretty good chance the midweek game will then be a rematch of two rested teams, Vancouver at RSL, bad for us. Really gonna be rooting for Dallas at Seattle Oct. 21st!

 

When is the baby due??? more like "When are the triplets due?"

 

I think that there was a (small) kernel of truth in Sigi's comment when he said it. Of course, Sigi was mostly pissed that his defender gave away a cheap (but fully justified) penalty to Lenhart in the first game.

Lenhart was playing somewhat out-of-control at times in the first part of this season -- to the point that it worried me as a Quakes fan. It looked like he was at times focusing on irritating/provoking the oppenents more than playing soccer. Fortunately for the Quakes, he's returned to playing at an aggressive but not out-of-control level where he's been successful. It's important to the Quakes that he stay focused and not get over-emotional.

 

Interesting - I would have said if anything, Cronin at times is not physical enough. Compare him to some of the other defensive/holding midfielders in MLS:

Cronin 2218 min, 3o fouls committed, 2 yellow cards

Chara 2208 min, 65 fouls committed, 9 yellow cards
Beckerman 2232 min, 51 fouls committed, 6 yellow cards
Espinoza 2096, 46 fouls committed, 5 yellow cards
Koffie 2143 min, 53 fouls committed, 8 yellow cards
Larentowicz 2468 min, 52 fouls committed, 7 yellow cards
Kitchen 2444 min, 40 fouls commited, 2 yellow cards
Minda 1568 min, 39 fouls committed, 11 yellow cards
Juninho 2306 min, 38 fouls committed, 5 yellow cards
Bernier 1924 min, 37 fouls committed, 5 yellow cards
Hernandez 1797 min, 36 fouls committed, 4 yellow cards
McCarty 2559 min, 36 fouls committed, 6 yellow cards
Alonso 2238 min, 33 fouls committed, 7 yellow cards

Cronin has far fewer yellow cards than all of these other players except for Kitchen, and has fewer fouls committed than all of them.

 

Yeah and I'm sure Sigi wishes he had Lenhart on his team. Surprisingly, he drafted him so I don't know why he didn't go after him again? Probably because he didn't think he would develop into such a great player and that is exactly what he has turned into.....

 

From the write-ups on the game I have read so far, Sigi has praised the Quakes play in the first half and said having Johnson and Rosales out there probably would not have changed things. I will give him credit for being more Yallop-like in his comments this time.