Starting this thread to talk about the preseason games/results instead of it being in the roster movement thread.
Someone was there. https://www.thebluetestament.com/20...-crew-alan-pulido-shelton-duke-gadi-kinda-mls
I was blocked from viewing the RSL game (seriously, why bother with region only in preseason) but I am left wondering about Sanchez. My hope was that he would look like an upgrade as a second choice keeper, someone we would need to worry about if Melia was out for a game or two. Just wondering if that looks to be panning out?
Phoenix Rising defeats Sporting KC 2 to 1 last night. I've seen world rankings of soccer clubs, and I've seen Phoenix Rising rated above Sporting KC.
I went out to Casino Arizona field where SKC played Phoenix Rising FC. I should have stayed home and watched Netflix. Yes, it is still pre-season and PV is trying new things, but come on man... The final was 2-1 but really should have and easily could have been 4-1. I don’t know what it looked like for those of you watching the video stream of the game, but PRFC was the better team most of the game (and its their pre-season too). On offense, outside of the goal by Johnny, I can’t even remember SKC having a shot on goal. Gerso was very active, but just seemed out of sync. Hurtado was his usual lots of speed but little accomplishment. Salloi, Shelton, and Pulido were all mostly invisible. Pulido was the biggest disappointment of the night. Not only did he look ineffective, but looked slow and unmotivated. I really don’t know what to make of that. There was a large contingent of fans of Liga MX there all trying to get his autograph prior to the game, but during the game I heard some boos coming from the crowd when he did nothing with the ball. If the SKC defense got shored up by the new signings, it sure didn’t help much as the PRFC counter attack ran by the midfield and defense time after time. Both keepers, Sanchez and Melia made big mistakes but Melia’s cost the team a goal. I did come away from the game impressed with PRFC and can see why they had the best record in the USL last season. They were fast, organized and played very tough defense. Sadly, they were the better team on the field last night and that doesn’t bode well for SKC. PV has got a lot of work to do between now and the opener in Vancouver.
I have minor concern over the game, on how we allowed the goals, otherwise it's whatever to me and I'm not going to be overly worried about it. It's still preseason I've seen us lay eggs in preseason before and come out fine in the regular season
Clearly, Phoenix has spent more time in altitude tents that SKC has this preseason. Based on last year's results, I'm A-OK with that.
The difference between going all out in a game and going 90 percent is, well 10 percent but seems to play out as a massive difference. I'm going to assume that we're leaving something in the tank at this point. the final friendlies before the season starts are always kind of meh. More than anything, people want the preseason to end and without injury.
More than once I saw a ball to Gerso that in the regular season he gets to by pushing, he didn't, he was obviously holding something back, likely for that reason.
So is Russell really with the second team? the piece includes Rusell saying he is, and it's up to him to earn his way back to the first team, which is a great attitude but a WTF if not a MFSOBFMF sort of thought. That said, I am locked out of SKC's preseason viewing, and highlights both do not tell much or a story and are quite rare this preseason. I saw in the comments folks hanging their hats on the notion that last preseason Espinoza was on the outs looking in, but somehow that doesn't seem comforting.
If that last pre season game with PRFC is any indication, there is no way Shelton starts before Russell. Russell was the most effective player on the field while Shelton (and Salloi for that matter) were both missing for most of their playing time. Sitting Russell for either of those guys would be stupid (or just PV being pig headed as usual).
okay, so turns out the way to get around the high tech of preseason regionalization is simply to block the feed from reading the location. Huh. I thought we looked okay. Puncec looks really strong in the air, and that's a huge plus. Kinda is active, also good. Pulido was putting himself in a lot of good spots, so good there, though he was tripping over his own feet once in those good spots, so less good.