no apparent Tiger injuries From what I observed, your guys came through OK ... I'm sure they might be nicked up a little, but I didn't see anything major. Good luck to them in the big show (and to all the ACC teams).
Spent the day watching college football (and maybe, just maybe, having a few beers) at a bar on Franklin Street so this is my first chance to post about last night's game. The first game was disapointing in that it wasn't as dynamic a game as I had hoped. UVa got the goal fairly early then basically protected it. Wake had a few chances but no golden ones. Keeping in mind that I'm a Virginia guy and a big fan of the US youth national teams, know that it pains me to say what I'm gonna say: Alecko Eskandarian is a dirty player. He's also a great player, but have no doubt, he's a punk. I've seen him play several times this season and each game it seems he's either committing a cheap and dirty foul. He did it against Penn State, he did it against Old Dominion, he did it against Maryland and he did it Thursday against Duke. At the end of yesterday's game, after Wake Forest had shut him down, he ran up to Deacons coach Jay Vidovich and started mouthing off. When that happened, I was embarassed to be wearing a Virginia Soccer shirt. In this morning's paper, Alecko said he taunted the Wake bench because Vidovich had been talking trash and yelling at him during the game. (I have a hard time believing that, but if it's true, it does't say much about Vidovich, but that's another issue.) Even if that's true, that doesn't justify being classless in victory like that. For all his talent, Eskandairan better change his act real fast in MLS next year or else he's gonna end up with a broken ankle from the likes of Ivan McKinley. CJ Brown, Pablo Mastroeni, Dema Kovalenko or Joey Franchino. As for the rest of the game, UVa got good performances from its center backs, Jon Cole and Matt Oliver, who just dominated Wake's smaller forwards. Wake has great depth and great speed but they don't have one true go-to guy who can physically make a differnce and that may hurt them in the NCAA's. As for the second game, I can honestly say something I've rarely said - Maryland deserved to win. For much of the game they carried the play and played much better as a team than Clemson did. The Tigers have more individual talent but they weren't nearly cohesive enough. They can go far in the NCAA's on talent along but they have to solidify some areas to make it to the Final Four or further. Case in point is the defense. On paper, a unit that has All-ACC pick Oskar Brinksveld at d-mid, U23 player Ricky Lewis at one back with solid, experienced players Chase Hilgenbrink, Nick Rivera and Justin Moore on the rest of the line and the best GK in the country in Doug Warren, should be much, much better than they are. The Clemson backs always seem to win individual battles but yet they gave up 6 goals in 2 games here in Cary? And, it's been like this much of the year. For all the talent they have, they should be much better. As for the Terps, it's scarey to think that they don't have any seniors. If they don't revolt against Sasho for being such a maniac, this team could make some real noise. They have the horses to do it this year but if not 2002, then next year they would have to be considered a heavy pre-season favorite. Once again, Clarence Goodson was just a rock (a long, skinny one) in the back and didn't lose a battle all game. He also snuck in - not sure how a 6-4 guy sneaks anywhere - and scored one of the Terps goals. Considering he's only been playing back for 4 months, it's hard not to envision him becoming a very good defender by the end of next year. To Sasho's credit, he has a lot of guys like Ian Rodaway, who scored the game winner, Scot Buete and Dominc Mediate, who weren't highly touted when they got to College Park but have been very productive college players. As good as Abe Thompson and the like are, it's players like Mediate and Rodaway who will enable the Terps to go far. As for the final, I expect it to be an ugly, physical, foul-plagued, close game played with great intensity and featuring a few really nice plays. Even though I'm embarassed by Esky, I still want the Hoos to win. But, while that's what my heart says, UVa, under Gelnovatch the Cavs have a history of wilting in important games (hence my nickname of Big Game George for Gelnovatch) and I'm gonna pick the Terps. Hope I'm wrong.
Sandon, did Freeman start? Yeah, Alecko is a bit of a thug. After the first Maryland game he had this quote in the C'ville paper: "Their goalie was talking a lot of trash, so when I scored I guess that shut him up." I'm interested to see how the game tomorrow goes. I say it will be ugly, at least one red card, gonna guess around 5 yellows (probably one for Sasho). 3-2 UVA in one overtime. I'm just glad I get to watch it live! Last year's ACC final brought all sortsa drama for me, and I was gonna tape this year's since I was going to DC tomorrow, but now I am sick and banned to the couch at home, where I actually get CSN. I'll tape it anyway though.
Hey Sandon, since you're coming clean with your UVA remarks, give your assessment of the Cavaliers #1 THUG, Mr. Arena. He tries to make up for his lack of ability with physical, dirty cheap shots. What's funny is that he's so clumsy he can't get into position in many cases to "take an opposing player out". He totally took a Wake player out that was so deserving of a red card. He didn't even try to play the ball. I don't think the ref saw it. Also, your pet, Hunter Freeman is turning into quite a hack himself. It's too bad, because unlike Arena, he has talent. I guess he could be just following the example of capt. Arena (what a joke). You are exactly right on with Alecko...I'll add he's too cocky for his own good!
to playable back & gunther...can't you simply respond to the post? if you disagree don't change the subject, just tell me how you saw the game any different...or were you even there?
I was there---and you've got it right. It's going to be really entertaining tomorrow. UMD is going to have to play some defense if they're going to have any chance. If they have to score 4 goals in order to win--they're toast!
????? It may have been one stat, but it was one WRONG stat. 2001 ACC Final Fouls 1 2 Tot Virginia Cavaliers 14 11 - 25 Clemson Tigers 23 16 - 39
My experience is that people that whine about thugery have usually just been beaten by a better team. Alecko will have an interesting learning experience at the next level. John