This play happened right in front of where I was sitting. My guess is that Nagamura got carded because his boots were going up when he made the tackle. The SJ player just happened to be close enough to make this a potentially dangerous foul. I'll have to look at my recording of the game to see how it looked on the tube.
Naw, we do both, mostly gripe about our own, like any team's forum. Check out the Quakes / Beauty Queen's postgame thread on the Quakes board.
So you're agreeing that Alexi Lalas shining it on with your homer announcers in the booth shows he isn't one of ours. Thanks, that's our point. Too bad we're stuck with him as our GM. DougO
What I think I liked most about this game is that we played a full 90 minutes. In recent weeks it seems like we were running out of gas at about the 70 minute mark. As far as to why the team didnt look so dominant in this one as a few people have mentioned I think it might have more to do with the fact that San Jose is a slightly better team than the Chivas', Colorado's and Real Salt Lake's that we have been going up against in the last weeks, though I know we somehow managed to lose to Salt Lake once in that process. As far as game analysis goes I dont have too much to say other than this..... Nagamura- played much better. He looked like a quality defensive midfielder for the first time this year in my opinion. Ugo- picked up that second yellow card was a stupid rookie mistake. The tackle was ridiculous and in no way neccesary in the particular area of the field he commited the foul. That being said he seems to be a smart kid and if his coach and teamates give him a little bit of a hard time for it (in a constructive manner of course) I am sure he will learn from his mistake. Naldo- Great awareness to come onto the field and assist on a goal as soon as he stepped on the field. This was his first positive showing so far in my opinion. Sampson- I have to admit that the man played his cards right in this game. I liked his first and third substitutions bringing in defense for offense to try stop San Jose from fully using their man advantage. I almost came out of my seat to walk down on the field and lynch him myself when he pulled a midfielder (who though he was not having a good game had been much more useful then naldo had ever been to that point) for a foward because I was sure this was going to leave us vulnurable and that it would make San Jose's quest for a go ahead goal easier. I am still happily eating my crow. I give all credit to Steve here on what appears to have been some intelligent moves on his part.
Bretos and Hopkins are the Galaxy's announcers and, just in case you didn't know, every group of announcers who are hired to cover a particular team are, by default, homer announcers. I guess you didn't hear what happened on Mother's Day at the HDC. Alexi played the guitar and sang the National Anthem prior to the match against the Rapids. Upon completion, he turned his guitar around to reveal three full length San Jose Earthquakes bumper stickers which were plastered prominently across the back face of the instrument, to which he received no small amount of derision from the home fans. But you knew that, I'm sure. Just like you're stuck with Alexi, you're also stuck with the company which pays his salary as the I/O. Sorry that San Jose isn't part of the AEG elite, but if it weren't for them, the 'Quakes could have ended up like Tampa Bay's team.
Hmmm... I have to say that the last half hour after Ugo got himself sent off was some of the most gripping non-playoff soccer I've seen from the G's in a while. The atmosphere in the stands was great, too (except for those ***** girls in 139 trying to get the wave going).
Do you think Michael Enfeild will ever play??? Is he still on the team? I haven't seen him in the game yet and I want to see how he plays...
Enfield is seeing a lot of reserve team playing time, mostly as a striker. He does not seem as comfiortable in that role as he does when he plays in the midfield. I think this is an attempt to train him in a new position - he has skills - where LAG is proving to be a little thin.