Reading up 1-0 in the second half. http://soccernet.espn.go.com/soccernet/match?matchID=49651&leagueCup=ENG.2
82nd minute still 1-0 Reading. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport/hi/english/static/football/statistics/teams/r/reading/live_hi.stm Couple of Marcus save mentions in the games.
full time 2-0 to the Royals! Hey guys, a fellow Reading fan based in the US pointed me to this board. You are very welcome to post on our message board, I'm sure everyone would love to hear some comments from Marcus/Reading FC fans from your side of the pond. UUURRRRRZZZ!
Reading get an injury time goal - 2-0. Reading climb to a tie for 6th place on points. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_div_1/default.stm
oh shoot! sorry i didnt let you lot know what the address was......doh! well the website is www.royals.org and the message board is http://www.royals.org/forum/ you have to register just like on this board. enjoy!
and who is your favourite team? MLS and/or European team? Please don't say Man Utd as may have to ignore you if you do!!!! Only joking
I've followed Marcus from his days with the Seattle Sounders... always liked him and glad he is getting his shot with Reading. He's had some detractors because he wasn't a "star" in MLS with Colorado, but in his defense, that team was pretty bad. Reading needs to make the Premier League next year so we can have 3 American keepers there (and none of them Ian Feuer - whom i also like as a "capable" keeper)
hey wahoo.... Have you seen the Sounders in the Seahawks stadium yet? A friend of mine lives in Everett, so I have been in beautiful Washington a few times in the past few years. I had a look around the stadium site in January, it looks awesome. The friend I was talking about went to the opening ceremony game against Vancouver. Were you there?
from royals.org messageboard in reply to the claim that marcus drives a mercedes benz... When I saw Marcus last he was driving a crappy old G Reg Golf GTI, was about 2 months ago when I was down for the day and was at the stadium midweek. priceless. they must be paying that man a pretty penny.
Good game for Marcus today. Some important catches and came off his line well to claim the ball from a forward's feet on a few occasions. One or two good saves as well, but he'd have needed to be a 30ft tall freak of nature to have caught most of Millwall's erratic shots today. Another clean sheet, which is nice - almost as fine as the crowd 'welcoming' back ex-manager Mark McGhee with a few loud renditions of our own personal variation of Daydream Believer... F*** off Mark McGhee Oh what can it mean, to a fat Scottish B*****d and a s*** football team. We're all so polite & reserved in England.
Richard...with all the clean sheets, is Marcus becoming a "folk hero" like Brad is with the Blackburn faithful?
Unfortunately no, I was out of town during that game. Come on back in 2 years... maybe we can get a friendly match between Reading (as a Premier League team) and the Sounders (as an MLS team)... hey I can hope.
Great stuff. I can see us singing that in Naperville. F*** off Bob Bradley Oh what can it mean, to a bald Jersey B*****d and a s*** football team Of course, we're not allowed to cuss in Naperville, strictly enforced by the Naperville Profanity Gestapo. The 2004 season when we return to Soldier Field cannot come soon enough.
i was wondering the same thing. is marcus having a great year and/or is reading's defense that good? I like marcus and have always seem some talent but i didn't expect this. i honestly thought it would take him until christmas to gain a permanet staring job.
I wouldn't go as far as saying folk hero or anything like that, but he's a popular player. Good saves etc often get a few "USA! USA!" chants, mainly in tribute, but also a good-natured piss-take of the "one song" nature of the US team's fans. (you may well sing more than one song, but that's the only one that comes across on TV).
When he came in many thought it a bit harsh on the previous keeper who hadn't been fault for any of the goals we'd conceded. What might have swung it was that our previous keeper's kicking was poor while marcus can whack the ball 70 yards with ease. Couple that with a very quick forward line and suddenly playing on the break becomes a lot easier. He's doing a good job. Having Matthew Upson on loan from Arsenal in front of him helps, as does the fact that apart from Norwich we haven't played that many teams who have looked really good in a while. On yesterday's showing Millwall's forwards couldn't hit a cow's arse with a banjo.
I've seen Chicago play at Soldier Field once and I can't imagine the singers in the corner would react too well to someone requesting that they tone down their language. To explain the feeling towards Mark McGhee, he was a very successful manager for us, but he walked out in the middle of our best season because we couldn't afford to strengthen the side or give him a pay rise, so he left to go to Leicester who offered more money for team building, and also for him. He then quit Leicester a year leter for the same reasons and went to Wolves. After failing at Wolves he ended up at Millwall. Before & after every match with Reading since, he has managed to make derogatory remarks about Reading FC and it's supporters, thus fanning the flames every time. Once, while managing 'big' Wolves, he commented that he didn't care what "the 300 guys under the shed" thought of him. There's a lovely picture of him at Elm Park with 12,000 Reading fans joyfully singing away in delight at a 2-1 victory (Reading's goals in the 92rd and 95th minutes) which all but ended Wolves promotion challenge, that tells a rather different story.
That's lovely. Reminds me a lot of my team, where the owner turned his back on us and ran the team into the ground with his debts. A few weeks ago he had a heart attack and at the stadium the fans (all 28.000 of them) chanted Cecchi Gori! Vaffanculo! Sounds like your team has some passionate fans and are positioned well thusfar to make a run a promotion playoff spot.
Where I sat at the World Cup, it was 90% "USA! USA!" interpersed with the occasional "USA, USA, USA" to the tune of "Here we go, here we go, here we go", and "Ole, ole, ole, ole, USA, USA", and the very rare (but welcome relief (and somehow seemingly less unpc in this context)) of "You..Ess..Aayy" to the tune of the Tomahawk Chop.
Some other Reading supporters I've heard from suggest Marcus has that something "extra" that has calmed down the rest of the defense so they are playing better as a unit. Maybe this is because he had a couple of good games when he got his first chance and now is just reaping the rewards it matters not. It's true that the previous keeper might not have been the problem, but may also not have been the solution. I liken this to Brad Friedel at Rovers (no I'm not comparing Marcus and Brad talentwise... just the situation). When Brad came to Blackburn, the 2 talented keepers on the books weren't doing anything "wrong" however, they weren't exactly leading the team to the next level. Brad did. Is Marcus capable of settling down the defense and making the supporters feel comfortable with him between the pipes? Maybe, but I think it's too early to tell. However you can't argue the results. Whether by luck, talent, or a combination of both, Reading has been winning with Marcus in the net and in the end, that's what the game is about at the professional level. Good luck to Marcus and Reading, now one of my favorite teams to root for because I hear so little about them. (I love a team that comes from nowhere and does it without bragging and self-promotion).