just as i suspected. portland was overrated. good solid win by our boys. oh, and portland sure does love hacking those ankles and legs, don't they? suck it, porter. suck it, adi.
I'm really liking Ilie. Really strong presence on the ball. And Melia made quite a save on the ball he directed into the crossbar. Also, a really strong plan to have an overlap defender behind Seth - and then the one time he had to make the tactical foul, he did.
Had to watch Fox Sports Go app, bc I'm out of town. Worked swimmingly. One step closer to joining my cousins in the mellinial crowd. Sorry to those that struggled thru the Royals post game. Agree, it's a bad idea by OnGoal brass. I think there's a learning curve here that Club should work harder to bridge. Sam McDowell tweeted out a freaking spreadsheet of what channel to watch the game if you're in the Midwest. That's what it's come to, but still, violins compared to what we went thru in the 90s, right? Fantastic play by sporting. Very organized and composed going forward. Thought our wings sucked today, but everything else was good. Opara is a boss. Adi is a pile of bags. Hope Roger is okay. He looked in a bad way.
A few thoughts, 1. Great team passing again this week 2. Ilie is smoother than a baby's butt 3. Ike had Adi's number all night. 4. Dwyer' got his groove back 5. Zusi is getting better each week 6. Good to have Benny back 7. Medranda is getting better 8. 22 to 12 fouls and only one yellow card for Portland? 9. Melia is still quietly one of the best keepers in the MLS 10. With that hair style, it looks like Matt Lawerence is auditioning for a role as an Elf in Lord of the Rings.
I liked that when Mustivar came on, he stayed forward. That kept the marking simpler. Also liked PV's move to bring in SAS as left back and push Zusi into Roger's spot. I would hope that means we would see the same if Roger cannot go next match. Is Sinovic now suspended due to yellow accumulation? If so, do we see Pasher?
They said post game that Espinoza's issue was just cramps. No, he has 4, 1 more and he's suspended. When he does get suspended I'd guess the team moves Medranda again and brings Saad on to play the wing.
I missed most of the first half because of the royals post game. So thats pretty lame. I think I feel comfortable at this point saying we have a pretty damn good defense. Have been happier than I thought I'd be with zusi back there. And it can't be said enough how big illie has been. And another good build up goal finally getting me a little excited that the attack could be gelling. Hope Roger was just cramping. Use some freaking subs pv. We are on track to be burned out again come mid August if it's going to be the same 11 players for 80+ minutes every game.
Portland is so collectively angry (or in denial) about this game they don't even have a thread for the game on their board. I am so very happy for this win. The snipping those Portland Pups did at us (with many uncalled) made me immensely satisfied to keep them down. Sit booboo, sit. Good pup.
Agree with everyone. Couple of great stats: SKC has only allowed two goals in six games, and ZERO goals allowed in three away games. SKC has never trailed in the scoreline yet this year. If everyone stays healthy, 2017's back six is on the way to challenging 2012-2013's for best KC defense ever.
Stumptown Footy provided an excellent triage of the Portland game and some interesting stats: http://www.stumptownfooty.com/2017/...ise-portland-timbers-0-sporting-kansas-city-1
Pretty well done article. This part is spot on. I knew we were bad at the end of the year the last few years...but yikes.
The ball movement and possession have been impressive so far. Ilie is the best No.6 we've ever had. Zusi's move to RB has improved two positions. Lot's of pace up top. Impressive!
Would add that only when Medranda is up there. This is one of the better matches for Besler in a while. He was in lock-down mode. He looked like a national team starter. Opara by the end was skating a bit too close to a second yellow for my nerves, but he was brilliant. I've never before been a big fan of Zusi. But he is quickly becoming the best RB we've had. He's as good as any US rb I can recall, Steve C included. He creates so many problems for opponents from that spot. Every week, he looks more and more like a national team fixture, instead of a stop gap. A brilliant move. Seth is back to his 2013 form. He might be better going forward than he was pre-injury. Ilie controls the pacing of the game perfectly. Every time you think, this is getting out of hand, he slows it down. When you think the other side is reeling, he speeds it up. Brilliant. Roger, Benny and Dom were all near their best. Melia is back at the top of his game. Gerso had his worst game for us, but was still effective, and Medranda was a beast for long stretches. But. we are going to need to find people besides Dom who can score to have any shot of going deep into the playoffs. And finally, watching on MLS live meant I had the Portland announcers, and I have to admit that while in the past I've found them brilliant they were falling into old and quite lazy traps on this game. Again and again, after Portland would hack at SKC, the announcers would say, "well, it's always going to be a chippy game with SKC, you just have to play their style and match their physicality ..." What I saw was an SKC side playing a really lovely, flowing brand of footie, and a Portland side trying to disrupt that with fouls. I have never really believed the stereotype, that our intensity breeds choppy, chippy games. But am I being a total homer about this one? I thought we were simply better in all areas of the field ( I would take Nagbe, though).
Honestly, a little bit you are, yeah. Sporting wants to control the game every game. If they can't do that with possession, which plenty frequently they can't, they do it through tempo manipulation. And that becomes chippy and choppy.
Not sure, didn't actually have a chance to watch it. Anyways, you're allowed to keep some irrational feelgood about the team. You're allowed to see them as better than they are. That's the fun in being a fan.
haha, sorry. mschofield knows our reputation, though, and he thinks it doesn't fit anymore. i largely agree with him. our reputation precedes us everywhere we go, and i don't think it does us justice. now, i'm certainly not saying we're the opposite of our reputation; we're always going to be shading in that direction due to our press and energy. i just think it's unfair to blame us for chippiness when the other team is fouling us 20+ times trying to slow us down. i'll admit, though, that peter's demeanor on the sideline, dom's antics up top (including his penchant for diving), and benny's constant complaining (whether warranted or otherwise) don't help my point. that stuff only gives ammo to those wanting us to still be that chippy side dirtying up the game.
That Portland comment is just sour grapes. Sporting is about controlling the ball this year more so than ever.
I see people on here and Reddit saying Dom dives a lot and maybe that is the case now. However, I might be a bit of a homer here, but I think his behavior is a learned evolutionary response to constantly getting mugged in the past and trying to play on and not getting a call and being disadvantaged by the non-called foul.
There were some stretches that were just beautiful, stringing 10 or 20 passes together until finally getting fouled or losing it. Ilie has started to step up into pockets to buy tons of time on the ball.
I get that Dom gets under the skin of opposing players. I get that he's a nuisance and more than a bit of an ass. But the diving thing, I don't get that. Does he dive, yes. So does every decent striker on the planet. It's what professionals do when they take contact, and esp if it's taken away an advantage. Opposition fans can whine all they want about that, but it's the whine that reveals the homer tendencies, as they almost certainly have a player or three doing the same thing. Dom doesn't go down any easier than Suarez. Does he dive more often or blatantly than the working man's honest Jamie Vardy? I don't think so. he dives when he thinks the dive will give SKC an advantage. I don't really like this approach, but it is far from unique to Dom, and he's more in the mainstream than my old man get off my lawn sensibilities.