Yeah, I don't understand why they looked like this after looking much better most of the last several games. Bobby Wood doesn't make that kind of impact, but there were a few other changes this week. Pablo wasn't training with the team for about 2 weeks, Aaron coming back. Rubio and Cordova need to develop chemistry as do Aaron and Sava. There's still no excuse for not beating this Columbus team though..
Off topic observation: After the game the PA announcer said that the fans in the East deck and north goal can go onto the field to watch fireworks; and the fans in the lower East, the West and the South goal please stay in your seats. Yet. the South and West stands have nearly completely emptied onto the field.
I disagree about Wood, without him tonight the Columbus defenders did not have to work as hard on the runs Wood normally make going forward or challenging the 50/50 balls that Wood is always capable of making a play on. We lacked pressure on their goal and we really lacked a Javi type player who could orchestrate a attacking offense. Overall a very disappointing performance.
Happens every time. I'm in the North section so my only choice is to go on the field and it's nearly full by the time I get to the grass.
We made the mistake of respecting the PA request and stayed in our seats. Then, the show began. It was immediately obvious that we could see about 1/3 of the show. So we moved down to near Row 1 (East). From there about 80% was visible. Apparently the F. O. has no idea that the show is apparently designed to give the people in the west side boxes the maximum view. On the July 4 and 24 shows we aren’t going to respect their request. We’ll be moving as soon as the games end. Probably to the West stands, although that will place us further from the car.
Same. Bobby was missed tonight and Rubin is no Bobby Wood. And Bobby Wood has a long way to go to be the answer.
For a good twenty minutes to end the game, we were functionally playing a flat three across the front. No runs coming from midfield (which makes some sense when it's Jasper and Caldwell). The balls over the top that came were from Sava stepping back and then taking off, but that was never going to really open the defense. But aside from Chang, there was no one available to do anything else, or to deliver the ball. Pablo said one problem when he took over was a hesitancy to play forward, which he set about changing. The tendency was back last night most of the time. Cordova had nothing in the tank for at least the last fifteen minutes and was rarely in position, walking and laboring.
On the positive side, it's really fun to watch Justen Glad in person, to get an even better sense of his movement and positioning. He's really good at it, and the partnership with Silva is the best development of 2022. Glad also came out before the firework show and signed shirts/took photos until the show started.
Teams wax and wane. We could easily have lost, but at least we didn't lose.I don't want to say that many times this season. But, all fans of all teams say it at least once or twice each season. Forward!
Agree with the out coached remark - porter had his team in a shape that pretty much neutered any chances for RSL it also didn’t help that our front 2 couldn’t keep the ball with any pressure applied. The only way rsl found a way through was a literal through ball. Hope Pablo watches and finds a solution, otherwise a blueprint was just put out by porter on how to beat this team
I haven't done this in a bit, so I might be a bit rusty It doesn't matter what time the club posts as start time and what they do to delay the kick to x number of minutes after that, fans in this area refuse to show up early, let alone on time. It's irritating as hell. Firework game only amplified that That said, the rainbow smoke bomb thing in the supporter's end was cool as hell. I saw it from a not great angle (directly west) but the colors and the lack of a strong breeze made it look really really cool. Well done. Rubin getting the nod up top wasn't a surprise but also a surprise. With Menedez back in training and the talk of chemistry he's shown with Savarino and Cordova, you'd think maybe he'd get the start instead. I wish he would have. From the literal first play Columbus showed their tactical approach: go at Brody/Meram. It was funny to watch the two sides swing the ball to their attacking right side for real dangerous chances - especially early on. Our best chance of the first half was actually a warning sign of things to come: in the 8th min Rubio gets in behind off a poor play from the Columbus defender on a ball over the top by Glad (a well-played ball, I will say). Rubio gets a decent shot off from about 15 or so yards out, but he did so on a tighter angle and didn't go at the 1v1 situation in front of him. It was saved off the post, so it looked a good chance, but in watching it back it's really weird that Rubio slowed down and took the shot at that angle. I say this was a warning sign because this was the only way we were going to build chances the rest of the game: through ball from the backline/deep midfield. Columbus had a really well organized 4-1-4-1 in defense that clogged most any passing lanes. The few times a lane would open to a forward, they'd immediately close on that player from behind. Both Corodova and Rubin were awful when this pressure was applied to them. We have the dumbest fans in the league. The constant booing of any call against us is beyond dumb. The "ref you suck" chant is juvenile. I really don't know what Pablo saw from the front 2 to not make a sub at half. I really don't know what Pablo saw from them to wait until the 66th minute to finally yank Rubio. The Caldwell for Ruiz sub, given the information on his lack of training, made sense. But man, it took our midfield play from bad to terrible. Not sure if it was the heat or what, but this game never felt like it shifted to a higher gear after the 65th minute. Columbus was perfectly fine with the pace of the game and, honestly, RSL was too until late when Columbus cramped up. The fans booing should have been on RSL earlier to actually up the tempo. It's weird to watch this team week to week because they live on the edge of being good and mediocre. The last two games had some (including myself) wondering if they were actually maybe a great team. I mean, you don't get to second in the West/League for nothing... but it's all so fragile it feels like. This game marked the halfway point of the season. If ever there was a time to evaluate where you had enough evidence of what was happening but also enough time left to potentially change, now is that. So I went to whoscored and scrolled to this teams characteristics. It's an interesting read. What especially stood out to me there was that this team statistically strong at creating chances but also weak at finishing chances. The amount of money the club has put into the forward position, and we still have this problem. Though, I've gotta say, the creation of chances feels a newer wrinkle. This was the first game since Nashville (one of the worst performances of the season) where RSL didn't score. So maybe there isn't as much to that as it feels. However, this was certainly a warning sign for me. Too much of this game was systemic/tactical inefficiencies as opposed to players just not having a good day. The 2-1-1 record for June is certainly respectable. I didn't expect a win in Vancouver, but thought we could maybe get a point. The draw here stings for any top of the league aspirations. July's forthcoming schedule is a tough one. Six games in total, split evenly on the road and home. The road trips are some long ones: Minnesota, Atlanta, and San Jose. I'm not liking our chances in any of those 3 for a win, but you gotta say that the two Wester Conference games should be opportunities for a draw. At home its the cRapids, SKC, and FCD. Of the 6 games, only one is against a current playoff level team. This should be a month of double digit points, possibly even 2 ppg type stuff.
I was rather surprised that RSL could not find a way to be more dangerous on offense in this game. Especially up top. I don't know if it was just that CBus was ready and had a plan or not having Bobby Wood up top really hurt RSL's scoring opportunities? Probably a bit of both. Rubio did have a nice shot early that was dangerous that was deflected out for corner but other than that I don't think CBus was ever really worried that he was going to be of any bother to them. I do think that if Glad puts his header on goal and in goal then this game turns out different. Or if MacMath doesn't make the diving save on the chip attempt in the first half then people would be so much more frustrated with the team. CBus obviously reads this board because it looked like they came out with a plan to hit RSL right behind the outside backs as they press forward. They had Brody correctly scouted as the weakest link in the back. For the first 10 minutes plus or so they constantly went right at him and earned what seemed like 50 free kicks over there. Fortunately for RSL their service was atrocious. I will have to watch the game again but the more it ferments in my mind the more it seems that this game is on the coach. Or at least credit should go to Porter because his plan was much, much, better than RSL's even if it was just parking the bus which it wasn't. CBus looked to be the better side for most of the match. I didn't really get the subs either. When Caldwell and Menedez came in the game I thought for sure Pablo was going to take off Brody and go 3 in the back or something creative to get more players in the attack but that wasn't the case. I had to roll my eyes because the jig is up on Menendez. He gets "wiped out" the second he touches the ball like they knew the dude is soft. They let him know they know how to play him and I don't think he was any kind of factor at all. Disappointing for sure. Not putting Julio in seems beyond crazy. Yea they were compact but come on. The dude knows how to terrorize back lines whether there is acres of space behind them or not. Seriously, what the ever living f*%k is Chang going to do for you if you think the defense is too stout for Julio? SERIOUSLY? WTF?\ Hind sight is 20/20 but damn, this seemed like the perfect game for Everton to get in there and create some chaos. Not Caldwell. Just not a great game or game plan. As for the Ref, I thought for his first time in the middle he didn't do that bad. I think the hate for the Ref is directly in proportion to the poor play of RSL in this game. The first half was a bit choppy but from what I could see he was getting the calls right. He also, unlike RSL, got better in the 2nd half. In the first half he stopped a decent CBus attack by calling the foul and not playing advantage and in the second half he let RSL play advantage, after I believe Meram was wiped out. Nothing came of it because I think the play died with Menendez, like they do, and after the game came to a stop he went back and gave the yellow. So far the reffing in RSL games has not been bad. For all the hate they get so far I think the only call that you could really argue over is the Kreilach call in the Toronto game. And that is iffy. If Damir didn't have a reputation for being almost as soft as Menendez he gets that call. As it stands it didn't go their way and RSL ended with a point instead of 3. Other than that there hasn't been much to complain about. Knock on wood.
I agree about the reffing this year, it's honestly been pretty good in our games. In prior years I'd argue the refs were worse, but not this year.