That's the truth. And this is the where the "Rhine's gw assist balances his giveaway for a goal" talk is just dead wrong. After a miserable first half where we we were mostly dominated, yet managed to get an equalizing goal, we came out after the half a different team and were really taking it to Chicago. It was only a matter of time before we scored. Until Rhines goal for Chicago that is. At that point momentum changed and Chicago nearly went up 3-1 shortly later which would have been the end of the game. The fact that we were even in the game for Rhine's gw assist was only due to a fortunate deflection that allowed Mina to score from distance. We were a Sala fingertip save from losing all three points and it would have been 100% Rhines fault. What we can do about it, I have no idea, but if Rhine plays anything like this for the rest of the season, he will cost us several games singlehandedly. And on the unrelated subject of attitude and temper tantrums, I don't see how Ruiz even rates a mention compared to Ronnie O'Brien. I have already had it with his arm-waving, head-tossing, teammate-berating, crybaby act and it's only the first game of the season.
Talking about just the game-day experience - Me and my friends had a total blast at the game - both with Inferno, then at the Verizon club. First real FCD games for us. My buddy looks down at the pitch for the first time and says, "..holy s***, that is awesome!" Buds asked many questions - "Does Inferno stop chanting in the second half?" (no) "Is this what it is like in Europe?" (kind of, I'm guessing) "How much do these guys get paid?" "Which one is Adu?" "Why is that guy wearing a plaid hat and skirt?" "Why do these beers taste so good?" "...There are a lot of MILFs here...." Much louder in 116 than previous games I went to (USMNT, Atlas). Smoke, confetti, streamers, it was all good - hopefully it looked cool on tv. Verizon is most choice - and for my early-mid 30s crew, it was the place to be. It is a very lively scene at these games - my friends all talked about the difference between an FCD game and your typical Ranger game.
You're not in Kansas anymore, Toto. Glad you had a good time. Only six more days intil the next round!
That is what will hopefully push this team into a must have ticket. The difference between active participation and the rest of the major sports in Dallas where you go sit and wait until the jumbotron tells you to make noise. Some folks won't / don't like it but for others it will be an eye opener. Props also to the hated Chicago fans who showed up en masse a long way from their city. It is always better when there is competition.
No I'm talking about how he was getting pissed at ROB when Ruiz passed the ball too far forward, giving it to chicago, and then Ruiz gets on to ROB.
I just want to say... I now refer to Cooper as Man Beast! And I mean that in the best sense of the word. He's big, fairly quick and if he learns to use his size better look out. He could end up drawing more defenders his way because of his size giving Ruiz a bigger playground right in front of the net.
Both Ruiz and O'Brien strike me as the kinds of guys who play a bit better when they are a bit pissed off. So this doesn't bother me much at all.
In watching the replay of the game (so far I've gotten thru the first half) I liked what I saw Ruiz doing. The attempted bikes (made my friend Riz from DC wince...hehe...bad memories of Little Fish doing that she has ) were even pretty to see him go for. And I also liked that he was making some sneaky little passes trying to get assists down close. Didn't quite connect on a couple of them but they were damn close. I'm liking the new and extra efforts from him. Except for the lines shaved in his hair on the sides of his head.
Interesting. The way I saw that play was that both Ruiz and ROB were in the area of a particularly promising through ball, but that it was clearly more favorable to Ruiz. O'brien, however, nearly ran up Carlos's back as Ruiz was collecting it and going to goal. In that confusion, Ruiz who would have had an excellent shot on goal himself, instead tried to send it forward to O'brien and missed on the pass at which point O'brien threw one of his fits and started bitching up a storm. At that point, Ruiz got pissed and started yelling back at O'brien. I haven't review tape or anything, but that's the way I remember it.
You have to admit though; his attitude so far has been noticeably improved over last season. So far, he looks to be a leader. Ruiz muscling the ball down the center before passing off to Alvarez for goal should be a good indicator of his reformed work ethic.
Well I guess the Kenny Cooper is GOD thread could do it, but what about Bobby Rhine being demoted to Infero III? That would be better than most reality shows to watch Chris B. yell at him as a coach.
Due to my quad injury IFC Black badly needs a right back. But Bobby isn't over 30 yet, so that's not gonna work. DAMN!!
Why bother? This forum has plenty of comedy gold in every thread that has been started since the game finished on Saturday
I was thinking about the team captain and I am not sure that Simo is the man anymore. I love the Tackling Fin but he doesn't seem to be a leader on the field during the game. I guess I think there should be a more vocal leader as captain. If it is chosen on work ethic, then Simo is the man. Any thoughts on who (if not Simo) should be our captain? Personally I think a healthy Mulrooney would be a good choice. Discuss......................
I thought Vanney was the MOTM. The offense was nice but it was the result of several players contributing big. Vanney was the only steady defender of the back four, and made several big plays.
And made some fantastic passes out of the back. If he plays like that throughout the season, and Goodson returns to form, we will be a very difficult team to beat.
The biggest thing I thought improved from Vanney was his communication - FINALLY! I hope he is just gettin started!
I think Simo makes a good co-captain if he's paired with someone more vocal. But I agree with justscore that we need a more vocal presence from the captain position.
Ok I'll finally chime in....it was good to get a win but we played like total sh!te for good parts of the game. Hopefully much of this was because of a light offseason and the team needing to get back into the groove of things. Notes.... -The defense still looks terrible. Gbandi is so unpredictable. Rhine on the other hand is very predictable, you know that he's going to give the ball away (see the 2nd Fahr goal) but you also know he'll contribute to the attack in some way (see our 3rd goal). Vanney and Goodson can be ruthless yet can be so passive (see their first goal). -I still hate Hate HATE ROB in the middle. You can just tell he isn't comfortable there and he was finding any excuse to switch and be out wide. Don't fight it Collin, switch him with Nunez. -AA....what can you say? I was bad mouthing him before he tied the game up and then some more after. He just can't seem to use his speed and his skills at the same time. There were numerous times he could have turned on the jets and got into some dangerous space but opted to hold the ball instead which allowed Chicago to reset. At least his goal showed that he can finish the occational opportunities he squandered time and time again last season. -Ruiz seemed really into the game, much more like a team player. Often passing the ball (our first goal) as oppose to going at goal himself. While he could have not gone so show-boat with the bicycle kicks (especially the 2nd one where he could have easily chested it down and had a go), he at least got them close to the target. -Mina had a solid game, he just keeps getting better and better. -And I'll end this post talking about Cooper. As soon as he came on his presense was felt. He challenged for every ball, he went balls out all game, and he made dangerous runs. Not to mention heading home the winner. If this game was any indication, he has a bright future at this club and possibly on the Nats some day... Now lets kill Salt Lake...god I love that the season is back!
He showed me the same thing. I particularly remember him late as we were trying to kill off the game waving the backline forward after each turnover to move an exhausted Chicago team that much farther from goal before their next futile attempt. After one game at least I sure owe him a big apology for doubting his value earlier. He was the only one on the backline that seemed to realize that you can only give up so much ground before you have to win the ball. And then he would win it. Not an easy task against a dribbler like Rolfe either.