Watched from a distance. Blessing is such a terrier defensively. how many times this season has he run actual circles around a player and ended up jetting off with the ball at his feet? Gotta love him, the skill, the commitment, the results. He was giving up 9 inches to the defenders he beat to that amazing Zusi cross. There were, at least, three fouls on him that could and should have been yellows. The ref was taking let them play to a bizarre level when he was involved. Gerso separated his shoulder? That's what Twellman said last night. I do hope he's better soon. He wasn't fully on last night, but his speed disrupts a back line. With Gerso and Blessing on the sides, we look fast. Rubio. Okay, I know we all whined about Blessing's dives eariler this year, but are they anything compared to Rubio's? I agree with Bendover, Rubio wasn't much help last night. His hold up play missed open men on the wings all night. When he was passing, his accuracy was poor. He was playing to get free kicks on occassions when he should have seen we had the advantage. He killed too much of the danger we were creating. That said, he's been good this year and I hope his thigh heals quickly. Besler was amazing. And finally, why were we sending balls to the corners almost as soon as we went up 2-0. We had opportunities for possession, which kills a lot more time that booting the ball long, and we were bypassing them. I know, it worked, and that's all that matters in a final. But a little bit of time without being under attack can be a good thing. Once again, Vermes silverwarewolves got it done. And the other side of all of this is credit to NYRB, they made for a lot of nerve wracking moments.
Looks like Blessing is the kind of player that shows up for big games, especially at home. He seems to really feed off the crowd and big occasions. I expect to see a lot of him in the playoffs.
This fits into a question I had. It looked like we had guys who did not know how to play in this situation. Which is not entirely unexpected as they are all young. Which raises the question: Why Kevin Olivera (sp) instead of EPB? We were up two goals at the time. We need to hold the lead, not press forward. It seemed like an odd choice given the situation and players available. For that matter, it seemed out of character for Vermes who skews toward a defensive nature.
Maybe because we have a manager who can't help himself in situations like this. The vermes way would seem to be that EPB is gone, so f him. I agree with you, but we all know PV has a way of doing things, and at times it looks like this.
At the same time, PV for the most part doesn't like to change formation, he likes to stick with his 4-3-3/4-5-1 for the most part (I know on occasion he's done it). Inserting Oliveira pushed Salloi central and kept the formation.
Was almost anti climactic when the final whistle blew and there wasnt another hour of agonizing extra time and PKs to work through. Would have been even more so without a tense last 6 minutes after NY scored. Blessing looked so good, it sucks he got beat to hell and had to leave so early. Fun to see the smallest guy in the stadium score on a header (great cross from Zusi btw). Also, the whole series that he got hurt on was incredible: The first touch to keep the ball close, the turn in to space with NY players all around him, then finding (and hitting) a wide open Gerso half a field away...man that was so good. Then he got hit by a train for his trouble. Still on the topic of Blessing: anyone who was in the NW corner of the stadium, what was with Latif getting 3 or 4 calls against him in footraces down the flank? I was about as far away as you could be in the SE corner, but ill be damned if all of them didn't look like 50/50 balls. Plus, the defender was twice as big as him, no way in hell Blessing was muscling him over... Benny was invisible most of the game, right up until he wasn't. What a ball to Salloi. Salloi made a great move around the keeper, but it was pretty bold that he didn't follow the slow roller into the net. If the defender (Zizzo?) had been trying at all I feel like he would have had a decent chance to clear that off the line. Rubio was the weakest link all night as has been mentioned. He just didn't seem to have anything to offer except a lot of obvious dives and a perhaps fortunate not red card. Great defensive effort. NY looked dangerous, but we kept them from too many good chances. And as he has so many times this year Melia came up big when it mattered. I never like when we sit back with the lead, but when all 3 starting forwards have been subbed out already, I'ts a bit more understandable, and they stayed strong almost to the end. Bummer to lose the clean sheet in stoppage, but I can't say NY wasn't totally undeserving of a goal. Good to see PV using his subs before stoppage time...too bad they were all on injuries. Hopefully no one misses much time. But if that's the same shoulder issue for Gerso, I have to imagine they will be more careful this time around. Anyway, good win. I know some people here are anti CCL, but I really enjoy that competition, especially while the chance for first MLS team to win it is still available. So I'm glad we punched that ticket. And painted the wall and whatnot.
As one of the anti-CCL guys, I will say that I'm ready to give the new format a chance. I think it has a lot of advantages over the group-in-the-fall-knockout-in-the-spring format.
No. Not when he plays right forward, which is very much how it looked. I don't know much at all about Oliveira, but he appeared to take Salloi's spot at forward with Salloi replacing Rubio. It looked very much like offense for offense. The decision by Vermes might have been questioned, but it all worked out well, so who cares.
I have a feeling Vermes wouldn't sub in Oliveira if he could do it again. He was just out of sync with the flow of the game and couldn't adjust. I think Vermes saw him getting a bit of possession and opening up some counters with his passing. maybe Lobato would have been a better choice.
Well, where he was told to play is not the same as what kind of player he is. Let's just be generous and say he's a central midfield who was tasked with playing wide mid
Was he? He was just kind of wandering around looking lost. the play on which Ike had to pull him into position was kind of telling.
I was coming back to mention exactly this. I've not watched a replay, so this is from memory; it was on a corner and Oliveira didn't seem to have any idea that a corner was about to be had. Ike took over and pulled him back into position from the top of the box and they all were in place just a split second before the ball was played. Headsy stuff from Ike. Headless stuff from Oliveira.
Honestly this was driving me crazy the other way around though.. Oliveira covered the player who'd eventually come short towards the corner flag, Opara dragged him back inside and I think Feilhaber then started to get out to cover the player Oliveira covered, but by then it was too late, they already started play and the player Oliveira initally covered had a chance for an unblocked cross. Sure maybe in training Feilhaber was supposed to be the one covering the outside player and Oliveira be inside, but I don't think Ike running outside and dragging Oliveira inside was a good decision. I don't know how many short corners we allowed against NYCFC, but this was almost deliberate by Opara to allow the short corner.
Maybe it's just watching us fail at short corner after short corner over the last few years, but defensively speaking, I'm always going to be more cautious about the possibility of just whipping the ball into the box with pace at the 6-yard line and making it a free for all. If they play it short, it's not hard for the closest defender to cheat out and put on pressure, and other than mis-timing a few offensive runs, it really doesn't change much of the defensive/offensive dynamic you already have set up in the box. I'm kind of waxing philosophical, but all this to state, I tend to side with Ike's decision here. And IIRC, KO looked like he was wandering up field (like he was oblivious a corner was even taking place) rather than cheating out to the sideline to cover a short corner. Can't find a replay, though.
Yeah, that was right in front of me. Cracked me up. Never seen Ike mad like that. And generally speaking, Oliveira was in the right place, but if the team plan had him somewhere else, Ike was right to get him to where he needed to be.
This is what my mind's eye saw in the moment. I thought KO looked like he didn't know a corner was about to happen.
Was this his first appearance for Sporting Kansas City? As a late sub in a championship game? Talk about being thrown in the deep end.
Second. His debut was 10 minutes in the drubbing of NER last Saturday. Not that those ten minutes make it better.
Awesome photography. Andy, I am in the Blue Hell picture. Is it possible for me to get a copy? Thanks
Brian StrausVerified account @BrianStraus 4h4 hours ago CONCACAF says NYC FC qualified for 2019 CCL thanks to regular season record. Will be joined by Sporting KC (17 USOC) and next year's MLS Cup and USOC winners.