I think it was more likely the other way around. Grabavoy scored the first, but did Ruiz score the second. I thought that the Galaxy player that was behind the wall deflected it.
The website credited Grabavoy for the first but I thought Marshall might have touched it before the ball crossed the line. Whatever, good for Grabavoy as he continues to show promise. Memo exists! That was a surprise.
Moreno? Couldn't tell. I thought a Colorado dude in the wall lifted his leg and flicked it in. useless thoughts... grabavoy is a king. kirovski reminds me of the met's galvan rey. gets the ball in dangerous areas all the time, but it never seems to result in a good shot on goal. ngwenya has blue shoes. fish dove again, and it paid off again. memo's alive! pretty nondescript outing. ditto for sasha. aliosi will start every game from here on out. wish we could capitalize when we have numbers on the break. dribbling into the box and passing it to the other team doesn't seem to be working. first place is fun. hartman's still a good soccer player.
Disagree about Sasha - he was in the Saragossa defensive midfielder role, and was breaking up plays all night long. Thought he fit in there more effectively than when Sigi tries to turn him into an attacker.
Once more Sigi trusts rookies: Aloisi and Grabavoy get 90 minutes each (and Memo gets about 60 minutes too.) Hats off to the Fatman for playing the kids.
Bah, why did the Fire have to wonder about his ability to play at this level? The ref was in perfect position to see the dive that lead to the second goal. I can't believe he missed it. It fooled one announcer too. He said something about Borchers holding his hands up while hacking Ruiz with his legs. He pulled up like that because Ruiz was halfway to the ground before he could have even hacked him. I'm confused as to how a person who has a reputation for diving, can get away with such a blatant dive 8 yards in front of the ref.
After looking at the highlights, Fish did flop for that free kick. Great that it led to a goal, but bad because it's more venom for the opposing fans. What a save by Hartman. Well, actually just pure luck that it hit his feet, but a great save nonetheless. I remember that match where Victorine played the DM and I thought he did well there and that he looked comfortable playing there. Perhaps it's because of Vagenas, but I wonder why Victorine didn't play that spot more after that match.
Yeah it looks like the G's got a real steal with picking grabavoy in the 2nd round. He's had enough practice, he's good at it.
I'm pretty certain that just before Ruiz hit the deck, Borchers said something particularly hurtful to Carlos and knocked him down from the sheer force of the words. Should have been a straight red for Borchers.
I did a lot of swearing at Marshall last year (actually, I did a lot of swearing at most of the guys on the team), so I want to give T-Marsh a lot of credit for turning around our defense the last two games. We've looked much better with him back in the lineup. And Aloisi, despite some mistakes, played a tremendous game when you consider that he started the last game at left back, switched to defensive-mid at the half, then moved over to right back for this game. His versatility may not make him a starter, but it is definitely going to make him a valuable addition to this team. With his play the last two games, is it safe to say that the fight for the starting spot at left back will now be between Broome and Aloisi and that Lewis has joined Bo on the bench? Three wins in a row, one goal allowed in those three games. That's a promising stat. Now if we can just get some points on this long road trip. Memo is no Herzog, that's for sure. But is there anybody in the league who is? This yellow card suspension may turn out to be a good thing. Herzog gets a week and a half of rest at home before we begin a long road trip - that's a good thing. Let's hope that when it really matters (i.e. we're not sitting on a lead and trying to kill the clock) that Joe Ngwenya can finish a 2-on-1 fast-break... If Victorine has to play on the pitch, then leave him at defensive-mid and let Saragosa heal and then ride the pine. Whatever has to be done to keep Grabavoy out there... If only Cobi could finish a play as well as he starts it...he needs a break-out game soon... We win, Smurfs lose. A good Nat showing tomorrow and my soccer weekend will be complete...
If Aloisi works into MLS developmental assembly line, we could see a nice progression. Summer of 2004- Aloisi is breaking into the Los Angeles Galaxy starting lineup. Summer of 2005- Aloisi is one of the best defenders in MLS. Summer of 2006- Aloisi goes to Germany.
I was at the game, realized how much better it is seeing it live then on the TV screen...at first felt wierd cuz there was no announcers talking lol Food sucked.. The match was pretty good, the first half was soo slow. Until we scored the first goal we started to play a faster pace i thought. It was Korean Heritage Night i thought that Bo would play, being a korean i wanted to watch him on the field, pretty dissapointing and what a waste of talent but i understand that fatass wants a fast paced team with the exception of Herzog. Cobi is still very fast, got some nice juking skills still but can't finish or aim his shot. Defense looked good, Marshall lookin good, Suarez is very tough and physical and gets the job done. Victorine can't do a decent long pass consistently
Sorry, but I disagree with your asessment of Victorine's play. Victorine to me showed that the terms Victorine and Defense are contradictory in nature and should never be used simultaneously. Victorine simply plays space... he NEVER marks nor CHALLNEGES opposing players. All night long he would be pretending to run with Spence than stop forcing Marshall or Aloisi to leave their mark and pick him up. On at least 2 occasions this was very close to resulting in Rapid goals.... such as Spencer's shot off the post. For me if it wasn't for Marshall constantly cleaing up behind Victorine it could have been a very long night.
One more Sigi thought: Who expected Bo to either start or at least get an appearance on Korean Heritage night? Sigi did neither. I am not saying he was right or wrong, but he showed me he put on the field the team he thought had the best chance of performing rather than cater to the marketing people by showcasing our Bronze Boot traffic cone.
Man...is Sigi (and Doug H and the front office) going to hear from those 5,000 Korean season ticketholders or what?
I got two words for them: Tough Kimchee Obviously, the defensive lineup was the right one for the game last night. I've been defending Bo from strange, off-color attacks all season but last night Sigi had the right people, with no Bo. Which makes sense. Crapids play the fast counter attack and that's when you want your fastest back line in. Bo wouldn't have been able to man-mark some of those cutting runs into space. Which reminds me, I don't think Sasha has the speed to mark that either, which is probably why he was letting them go. Last, re: Memo. This was my first sighting. I had a glimpse of him warming up at the game before but...no action. Now, Memo had a few good touches. The play was definitely not going through him, but that was okay. Then, he sent a ball out wide-left about 5 yards in front of him. It developed into a semi-fast break. And he stood there and watched! To me, the only good thing about being young was that I could run all day long (and beer, that was good too). So, Memo, run! Follow the fast break down and maybe pounce on a rebound or something! I don't think you broke a sweat! You're only 18 once, don't act like you're 35! Okay, so that's my Memo gripe. Of course, maybe he's nervous, blahblahblah. Whatever, you can always hustle. That's why I'm not ragging on Ngwenya.
We should be fortunate that the score was not 2-2 because a) one of Colorado's shot hit the post and b) the PK save. Actually, it could've been 2-1 to the Colorado if the ref did not award the free kick that led to our 2nd goal. The soccer gods did did a favor for us tonight. Anyone notice how Whoopi didn't shoot the ball as he dribbled in the box trying to get that perfect setup? But at least he only had a few minutes to do that. Same ol', same ol'. Kiro seem to have an off-night as well. Was watching the Colorado feed on Yahoo! sports and at one point they showed this shot of Sigi for like 30 seconds while making comments and then the camera finally turns to see a missed free kick play. Great camera work, fignuts. I see enough of that guy already.
Reported attendance: 24,895. Sure didn't look like it with a lot empty spaces, even behind the north end goal.
I think the attendance figures get to include the couple of thousand food services employees who stand behind the counters and mill around without seeming to actually do anything (you know, like serve customers or prepare food so it's ready when ordered, that sort of stuff...)