So MLS is just down 1 team after KC was badly out played by Saprissia, hopefully DC can win it. Pumas will be a HUGE test for Novak's side.
When are the semifinal games? Though I think there is a very small chance DC will beat PUMAS (DC's defense is like swiss cheese this year), it would be one hell of a great story to see Hugo Sanchez with his foot in his mouth after losing to a lowly American club team. That would be almost as good as the drubbing Mexico is going to recieve on March 27th.
Tieing the game in the 90 minute and winning in overtime = badly out played Geta Cluea... Even if Saprissia had the better of the play at home, they were very fortunate to advance.
Swiss cheese? We've played about 10 games total this preseason, including 2 that counted in the CCC. Total, we've given up less than a goal a game, including a goal apiece in the CCC games. How exactly do you know that our backline is swiss cheese? It hasn't been proven on the field yet, if it is.
I think the prospect of winning at least $1 million should they get to the World Club Championships this Dec in Japan is making every team take this at least more seriously than they used to.
i can't find a single thread on the away leg of the KC-DS match going on right now....very strange...
Um, what's going on now is a rebroadcast. That games over and done with. You want a post-game thread check out the KC Wizards forum.
d'oh! lol. and i considered myself informed. lol. hiding my head in shame... i was wondering why it was so dark down there though... lol.
It was pretty busy last night, though. Only folks with Fox Sports Espanol could watch the match live, so most of us had to rely on the PBP comments kindly supplied by Andy M. and others.
as has been pointed out, the prize $$ in Japan is too high to be taken lightly. fwiw: Pumas officials (mainly the coach) and the players seem to be taken this very very seriously. There are constant references to the tournament in the Mexican/Latino press. In fact, most of the coverage on Pumas deals w/ the CCC, as they aren't doing terribly well in the League Tournament (Torneo Clausura) right now. Although the away game for DC-Pumas won't be Azteca, playing at UNAM is really a difficult task b/c the fans are really intense there.
From the KC-Saprissa match that I saw, it looked as if KC was going to be this years version of Greece 04, the ultimate is successful anti-soccer. Of course Sap had been banging balls of the posts all day long. BTW how is it the MLS and MFL automatically get 2 teams in the quarterfinals, while Costa Rica, who provided both finalists do not get that luxury. Looks like Concacaf is finally screwing somebody other that Canada and the US.
Sometimes I wonder what game people saw, How dose a team that only had 3 shots on goal and whose opponent created 14 shots and 4 post not out play them??? KC was a defense tactic BORING shell. All they wanted was a dead ball or a counter. But when Saprissa tied it and late got 2-1 the Wiz couldn't get a single string of decent passes together.... KC WAS OUT PLAYED because they had no creativity everyone out there treated the ball like a hot patato... Saprissia was more fluid and more willing to win. Saprissia was not lucky to win, KC was lucky not to have gotten ran off the field. And they did although the score line dose not reflect this...
Bunker Ball does not equate to outplayed. Of course Saprissa had a lot more chances, and KC's defense was busier - that was KC's plan all along. It's boring but it worked in the first leg. The trouble with Bunker Ball is that it leaves too much up to chance. The tying goal was the result of a very lucky bicycle-style pass and a very awkward angle for the shot. KC did quite well, for a team in preseason condition.
CONCACAF Champions Cup 2005 Semi-Finals - Leg 1 - DC United vs. UNAM Pumas - April 6, 7:30pm EST @ RFK Stadium Deportivo Saprissa vs. CF Monterey - April 6/7 - Leg 2 - April 13-14
DCU's cause is helped by Pumas' current form. As of late, they've not been playing to their (back-to-back MFL championship) standard. Soccer is after all a very psychological game. DCU's game Vs. Chivas USA before Pumas, is a plus in mental preperation. How Pumas does that weekend, will also play a huge impact on April 6. That's how Libertadores and Copa Sudamericana work. If a high-quality team from a *better/richer* leauge is playing in bad form in their domestic leauge, and plays against a team from a *weaker/poorer* leauge playing in amazing form, odds are in favor of the latter team. I've seen a lot of surprises that way. Btw- if not @ Azteca, where will the second leg be played?
I don't really think you can judge this from an away leg in Saprissa with none of our players being match fit (Jimmy Conrad said last week that he felt about 75 minutes fit). Klein especially lacks match fitness after recovering from a torn ACL. Also, having players like Scott Sealy and Ryan Pore off the bench will help. The key to their attack is high quality combination play because they don't have a pure playmaker. This can take longer to develop because it really requires a high level of team chemistry as opposed to "Give the ball to Preki and see what he can do". Last year after 3 games, I really wondered how KC was ever going to score. It looked like they really were lost without players like Preki and Simutenkov. I thought that later in the year, they started to look better and better offensively until Klein's injury.
Dude, i clearly understand MONO MARIO...He means clearly superior the same way the US was superior to Germany in the 2002 WC... Or were the Germans outplaying us because the score said 1-0 in their favor? I agree (but give them a break as they were in preseason)... Due to those cricumstances, i'd say they did a decent job.... But yeah, lack of technical ability (especially to hold the ball) is a big issue with KC.... It does not show as much in MLS play, but it did show vs. Sapprisa: HOw many times did the KC keeper kick the ball straight to an opponent so that they could initiate the attack? It helped Sapprisa get off at least a couple of those shots they got on the post....That one bothered me a lot, as even in preseason, it should not happen so many frigging times....Maybe in MLS, the inability of some opponents to trap the ball cleanly disguises this lack of passing ability from KC's goalie, but here it showed and hurt..... And the lack of composure to hold on to the ball, as when they have a throw in: Aimed it to a players' head, and yet this player cannot give the ball back correctly to the feet of his teammate.... It happened a couple of times..... I understand it was "KC's plan all along", but you call Saprissa's goal lucky? It was far from it......What the heck was KC's goal then? A beautiful premeditated deflection from the wall into the net? Come on, i root for MLS clubs too, but i'm not blind enough not to admit that Saprissa was the better team in the second leg..... Although the score did not say so after 180 minutes; both teams are supposed to play the 90 + stoppage in each game -KC should have done better to kill the game in the second leg) .... But i do take issue with the overtime setting of the CCC.... I still don't think it's fair.....Should have gone straight to Pks when the game ended 1-1.....