I wouldn't call it poorly taken, as much as it was a case of channelling Julian Dicks at the wrong time.
Surely bob told Clint to play in the midfield today. I These announcers are really really dumb. I heard one of them say Edgar Bartolomeu was 17. oh yeah, "Clint Mathis, In the twilight of his career" Somehow I doubt he was commenting on Clints lackluster form lately. He just figured he was 30. idiots.
"this metro stars team could be mistaken for a boy band" Yeah Sucky announcers. And I would just like to say with regards to the match in general: BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
"A cause for optimism for the Dallas Burn" Yeah a scoreless draw when you're out of the playoffs against a team resting up for a cup final will do wonders for morale.
how the hell does guevara become "wehara"? in what language does a "g" sounds like a "w"? not to mention mispronoucing almost every other name he said. i love how after it was clear to any1 w/a brain that Gaven and Mathis had switched at the half these announcers couldnt grasp the idea of 2 players switching positions. in like the 70th minute 1 of em goes, "i dont know. Its almost as if Mathis is playing in some kind of...mid-field position." yea...its called a Midfielder. -Guevara had some problems most of the night. - im jumping on the bandwagon now..i hate r. williams. - im surprised Countess got to either of those pk's. on the 2nd 1 i was thinking "go right up the middle", because on the 1st he just pounced out to the side w/o thinking. just totally committed to going 1 way. but then he was the exact opposite on the 2nd. thats just really unlucky. - 4 all the trash talking against him Mathis was pretty good at mid. created a lot of dangerous situations w/his passes. moreso than any1 else. -where was clark?
My initial reaction to Countess's playing was to check the obits in England, make sure Timmy hadn't died and Countess hadn't stolen his soul. At some point, I started laughing, though. It was just too funny. Plus, it didn't help that I kept imagining Countess with a steak strapped to one side of his head.
Countess had two black eyes, and for a while was giving me Don Mattingly flashbacks (he of the trademark double eye black). On the game, the metro had a bunch of chances but just sucked in the final third of the field. How we missed them all, I can't tell you, and I was singing "are we dutchmen in disguise" after the second missed PK. The Walker save was a good one, and the first one by DJ was decent, but you need to hit corners on a PK, having a keeper stand still and parry the shot by sticking his hands out in front of him is an embarssement for the shooter. If the guy pulls a ridculous save out (a la Friedel vs. Korea), so be it, but you have to make him do the work. Guevara and Mathis did very poorly on that, and the whole team looked a bit distracted. Obviously, we were missing a guy or two, but still, we should have taken 3 points tonight. Saving it for Wednesay, you know we're saving it for Wednesday.... So, tonight's major highlight was drinking beer out of the open cup in 101. We don't care about the trophy, but we did have fun passing it around. Well, for about 10 minutes anyway. 3 points would have been nice, but being metro fans we know better than to expect to beat the last place team in the end of the season. Last year, anyone? At least no one got red carded.
If this is how it's going to be Wednesday forget the pregame party and have a pregame prayer vigil instead. Use the candles you have left over from the black out.
Watching it on MSG, I had paid special attention to Mathis’ play in this game. While he played better toward the end of the game, he did not create a lot dangerous chances. He TRIED to create a lot dangerous chances, but most of his passes were at least a bit off –- too high, too low, too far or just behind. In fact, most of those passes ended up loss of possession. Like I said, I paid special attention to his passes, and the quality in general was significantly below what he could do in the past.
What a slooooow match. The fight between Don Zimmer and Pedro Martinez was more exciting. This was what MLS was like in 1996. Just a lot of passes banged around with no rhyme or reason. Don't know if the Elias Sports Bureau keeps stats on this, but I'm almost sure the Metros have the worst penalty kick conversion rate in the history of MLS. Watching the Metros take a PK has become as comedic as the NY Giants attempting to kick a field goal.
I know this game was "meaningless" to some since we have our biggest game in club history coming up, but I really felt that the Metros should've walked away with 3 points tonight. Hopefully they won't come out like this on Wednesday or we'll be in trouble. Very odd game though. 3 PK's all saved. Never seen that one before.
Re: Re: 10/11/03 Metrostars vs. Dallas pre-game, PBP, post game [R] i've been one of the guys from early in the season that's been frustrated with mathis but i thought with his mini-layoff that this would be as good a time as any to be objective in critiquing him...i was pleased he stayed under control...he did actually get into it pretty good with a fan for a minute or 2 after the missed PK but thats nothing...anyways, as was pointed out, he did do some good things, but it was in the midfield...this meant that the only beneficiary of this effort would be wolyniec, but this is where clint really isnt to blame...he simply isnt suited to play with the personnel we have...our midfield is a strength now, so it hurts us to have one forward come into the midfield for the ball...it brings another defender into space, therefore leaving guevara/gaven with less space to work with and of course one less forward...for all i've criticized him, his talent is undeniable, but its not suited for this team, we need forwards ...as for the pk, i had no problem with him getting a chance, guevara had missed pretty badly...he basically tried to crush it, the exact opposite of what amado tried to do (go for accuracy and sacrifice power)...i agree with whoever suggested magee, if he's the only person that consistently hit a corner kick accurately, he might be able to bring some of that precision to our next PK and he certainly doesnt lack the confidence
Re: Re: Re: 10/11/03 Metrostars vs. Dallas pre-game, PBP, post game [R] Thing is though, we shouldn't even be having this discussion. We have a max salary player, a WC goal scoring national team regular who has one of the most lethal right foots (not entirely a word) this country has ever produced. There is no reason why he shouldn't take every PK this team gets. He might not score on them all, but we can't put them on the shoulders of an 18 year old rookie over Clint, we just can't. Clint needs to be THE MAN, like he used to be. He just isn't right now. THAT'S the problem we have, and it goes beyond PKs. You don't have Jordan on your team to let Horace Grant take the last shot. If Jordan misses, he misses, but you give him the ball. Jordan, of course, never missed (when it counted). Mathis, while he can't be Jordan, needs to be that "go to", "money" player for our team, he just isn't having that kind of season. I liked that after the second PK, Mathis started arguing with the ref to get the ball from Countess and Addo (wearing the arm band) walked over and told him to cut it out, and just sink the kick. I really like Addo, sad we didn't have him when he was in his prime.
Re: Re: Re: 10/11/03 Metrostars vs. Dallas pre-game, PBP, post game [R] I think Mathis’ problem in midfield is that he appears to lose a step compared to two years ago. While Guevara and Gaven have the speed and dribbling skills to shake a defender and thus start a dangerous build-up, Clint simply could not (or would not) do that anymore and kept trying one-time quick passes again and again. Most of those quick passes just didn’t work –- too ambitious in some cases, too deep in the midfield in some cases or simply off the mark in other cases.
I also see why Mathis has been frustrated as a forward. When the defense like Burn tonight put 8 – 9 men behind the ball, he does not have speed/skill anymore to maneuver himself into an open and dangerous position, with or without the ball. Moreover, he usually cannot out-jump opposing defenders if there’s a dangerous high ball. In other words, nowadays Clint as a forward can be marked out without too much difficulty. I don’t believe he even attempted a shot tonight.
Should have been two nil Metro but the worst club in the league are the ones that are playing for pride and are looking to be spoilers. So I'm glad that we got a point at least. Don't get me wrong. I would have loved three, but you could see that Bob wanted this one to be over quick so he can be ready for Wednesday night. And by golly so are we. LET'S GO METRO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I just checked the stats at MLSnet. The Metro FC are hitting 50% of their PKs. That is one out of two. The next worst teams are hitting 67%. That is two out of three. We are the worst.