Agreed. Signing of the year no doubt. Chivas' goal was a fluke and likely wouldn't have happened if the field wasn't losing a fight with a storm. Anything goes in games like this.
Hard done on Chivas....traveling time and then playing in that mess and then getting a call like that....I'll take the 3 points but that is very harsh! So can we get LeToux on the right and Fabinho on the left for next game or does he need another month to bed in??
He didn't play on Hack's U-17 team. It's going to to take him a while. The same team that is 3rd in goals against?
But he has a chance to get in the match because he is an older player. Right now I believe Columbia beat Hack's U-17 team at some point....
Sorry, tablet posting. Playing in a monsoon where all you have to do is run hard, not actually utilize any technical or tactical ability at soccer, is pretty much the best situation for Danny Cruz to succeed.
For a coach who likes his players to be defensive (from quotes I've read) he seems to play wide open....we can score with a loan striker and we can score with 2 up top, what we can't do is hold possession for extended periods, stay disciplined or keep organized. I would say Gaddis and Williams are a big part of that problem. Although Williams is a bonus with his forwardness, he can also be a detriment with forgetting his responsibilities. Gaddis just makes rookie mistakes but his speed helps him there......a partner for Carroll (Lahoud) could help with conceding goals, imo. In Case of Monsoon break glass...........otherwise the shrimp buffet is open.
We got the result that we should have, but I would rather it didn't take bad referring to get it. The weather was going to kill any chance of pretty football, which plays to Hack's preferred style of football (hoof and pray). I hope Hack is suspended next game.
Holy refereeing, Batman. I am sorry, but that pass back/ bump/ red card/ mass confrontation was probably the most unprofessional conduct from a referee I have seen since Jason Anno's whistle before a goal. However, Chivas was fading rapidly before this kerfuffle. 3 points earned.
Sure it might have taken a bit of a gift to beat one of the worst teams in the league, but I'll take it.*
As a fan..... Touch - yes. Awareness - he's good, but Casey is elite level, so I'd have to say slight no. Strength - not even close.
Chivas scored their goal the first time I got up and the Union scored their first goal the second time I got up. So, I stayed seated for the rest of the match.
Hackworth being tossed was comedy gold. I assume he'll be suspended for one or more matches? Will Vartughian or Burke coach in his absence? The third goal was a result of Chivas playing down after the ejection. Credit to Marfan for roofing that ball on the most bizarre set piece ever. The backpass foul that led to that goal was incredibly harsh and I didn't agree with it. Even after seeing the replay, I still don't. 3 points is a bit of a gift but it's one this team needs to stay in the playoff race.
Don't really feel like typing a whole review as I'm still drying out. But I can say that tonight may have beat out the Seattle Monsoon for the most fun I've had at a game. I can't recall how many times I yelled at the team "Stop kicking the ball into the giant puddle!" Oh...3 points...yay!
Every player who was on the field tonight deserves a cheer. That was a tough pitch to play on. The area in front of 127 was a swamp. The ref lost control of the match early on. there were several times he had to speak to players about off the ball incidents. We got some bad calls but Chivas got more. No idea what the call was on the corner. the only indirect free kick in the box I could think of was a back pass to the keeper. I then thought there was no way we could put it in from that close. Very well done. Fabinho showed very well in his off the ball positioning and ball control. I would like to see more of him. Great time. too bad more people were not there to share it.
Still drying out...................... rain games are so much better when it's 75 degrees, as opposed to 35 degrees (Revs game). The field and the weather were sh!t. Fernandes looked better playing up top with Casey. Casey is a beast. The way the game was going, I think the Union would have scored the winner eventually without the weird call from the Ref. Parke seemed off tonight, nearly cost us a few times with his play. 3 points in those conditions............... Yep take it however we can get it.
The giant puddle on the East side of the field was MOTM for Chivas. An incredible defender in top form. I still have no idea WTF was going on with the 2nd goal, but it was comical as all hell to see a free kick from 2 feet away. I felt like Forest Gump in Vietnam in that storm. It was definitely raining sideways right into the faces of those in TRE. And, naturally, it stopped raining and turned into a light little sprinkle about 15 minutes after the game ended.
We won because..... A) there was a red card and Chivas played a man down. B) the referee was shitty. C) the pitch was soaking wet. D) Hack got tossed. Did I get them all? Who gives a shit, WE WON!
You forgot how the only reason Chivas has one goal is purely because Okugo slipped which only happened because of the rain. ********ing negadelphia
How is it "bitching"? It's true, the Union are a chippy team that foul more than most teams. This isn't subjective, even--it's pretty clear in the stats. They're third in the league in Fouls Committed. Top 5 in fouls/90, and yellows/90. They're 15th in the league at Fouls Suffered/90, so we're not really being hacked to pieces, either. Regardless, the Union's situation with red cards this season is truly baffling. Almost 1/4 of the red cards in the entire league this season have been doled out in Union matches (10/41). The Union have only pulled one of those (when Sheanon tried to fight Lamar Neagle), and even then Seattle got 2 reds. Of the Union's 10 home matches so far, 6 of them have had red cards. In matches with red cards, the Union are 3-5-0. The 14 points from those matches represents almost half of their points for the entire year (14/30). At the same time, there's somehow only been 1 pk in a Union match this year (I think? The league doesn't make that info easy to fine). At any rate, the Union have been more than fortunate with the refs this year. Aside from the passback call being terrible and Soto's yellow being really soft (Avila's contact with the ref was waay worse), the spot of the foul was 2-3 yards away from where it should have been! What a catastrophe.
Weak call by Gonzalez on the Chivas back pass but he is usually not exactly a Union favorite so it often balances out in the long-run. Who remembers Hack's quote from last season that the team did not need a big target forward based on having smaller, faster, technical players after putting line-ups out there that were often 4+ inches shorter than their opponents and could not win headers if their lives depended on it? It killed them on goalie punts, goal kicks, defense on set pieces and created minimal offense. It looks laughable now. Casey has become a focal point of this team on all of those fronts and proves that the offense does not solely revolve around JM9 but it is good to have that multi-headed attack once JM9 returns. If the team only had a more creative CM/AM (like Kleberson showed in the LA game) - the goal total could really get impressive. After some initial rough touches (must be something with Brazilian vets on the Union playing in the rain), Fabinho showed the value of (1) having a lefty play LB or LM to keep the ball away from the defender and (2) having someone who can cross the ball (low cross created the 2nd goal, assisted on the 3rd goal). The combo of Gaddis and Cruz as LB/LM has not created much in terms of goals - good to see Fabinho contribute right away.
Got back, dried off, had some dinner and my thoughts. - I haven't been able to watch the replay yet but I didn't see the call against Kennedy that resulted in the go ahead goal. A friend of ours from Ireland who has been a soccer fan her entire life said she could not recall a time where she has ever seen a call like that. So I can't comment on it being a crappy ref call or not. Edit: While writing this I watched the replay and its a very, very iffy call. I don't know how you determine if it is a "clear" pass or not but not a call I probably would have made if I were the ref, but there ya go. - Chivas' goal was a result of the crappy field conditions, Okugo's slipping on the field meant that Chivas had a free shot at the goal. - Facing the field from the the river end, the right side of the field was utter crap. The ball literally would come to a dead stop within a second of hitting the patch of field, for some reason no other part of the field seemed to have this issue. But it affected both teams, I can recall at least two separate times where Union players had the ball at their feet and it stopped dead and they lost possession of it. - Okay Fabinho made me raise an interested eyebrow, his skill with the ball was good and he showed the ability to cross it into the box with decent accuracy. An assist in his first game means that I'm now intrigued to see more of him. - Conor Casey pretty much has solidified himself as the steal of the off-season, yes, he fell into our laps, but he is obviously a gamble that has paid off. The guy is a massive threat in the air and has given the Union a presence at heading the ball in that they have sorely lacked. - Seriously, it was damned near hilarious how much the players were slipping and sliding on the field, you could have played a drinking game by taking a shot whenever a player slipped and fell...and you would have been dead of alcohol poisoning before the end of the first half. - The environment got incredible later on, I was present in the Seattle Monsoon game and as others have said this may have topped it. A friend of mine had some distant relatives from Germany come and visit (they are Bayern Munich fans, have season tickets) and see a Union game, they were not impressed with the first half when I talked to them, I'm curious to see what they thought of the second half.