Watched the highlights as I was away, not quite as strong as the 2nd half against DC (especially on defense), but were still able to overall keep the home momentum going and get a home winning streak with tremendous performances by Luquinhas (an excellent signing all around) and Coronel. I doubt the stadium was more than 40% full from the angles that I saw. The last two home matches have produced 3 of the best goals there will be this season, so hopefully they can get a little bit of a boost.
It looks like this problem is at all the soccer specific stadiums I've been to in the past year. I went to Columbus and Orlando for US qualifiers and the halftime lines for the bathrooms were insane. Also caught an ATX game last summer and wasn't much better. Making my first trip to RBA tonight in years after moving to the Catskills. Looking forward to it.
Just able to watch last night’s USOC match vs NYCFC. We looked the better side for nearly the entire game. NYC were mental midgets, picking up a bunch of early cards, then the ultimate stupidity of Andrade Trying to head butt Tolkin while the HR was watching from 1 foot away. Very nice goals from our boys showing clinicality like a CF. Too bad the DP CF that we pay really good money for doesn’t seem to have that knack. Silly handbags after the final whistle. On to the Semis!
At the game Wednesday. I wouldn’t say we looked better most of the game. I thought both teams had stretches where they looked better. NYC does seem to be a team that can pass and create better than anyone else I’ve seen but if you know how to deal with that then you’re OK. Our style of play seems to always be a problem for them even though individually they’re the more talented side. Having said that, it’s a good thing with all the talent and skill NYC has that they’re the dumbest team in the league lol. Imagine if they were disciplined. On a side note: I much would’ve preferred if we wore our red shirts and they wore their light blue ones.
Just finished watching our game vs ATL, and I was just going to write how outplayed we've been in both this game and the last one at LAFC. And how our 2 CF's are so anemic that we moved Aaron Long up to that position. When... Up pops a late 16YO sub named Serge Ngoma who gave us a vital, if not fully deserved, 2-1 win. He stole the ball, went one-on-one with their GK and slotted it home like a veteran with 10 years more experience. Wow! Get that boy into our squad now! Let Klimala sit and stew. p.s. Edwards came off late in the game with a serious looking injury. We may miss him.
Another 3pts earned at KC. Which wasn't exactly pretty and arguably we didn't completely deserve. Fine by me! You know what they say about teams that manage to do that! Three key plays that made it happen: Aaron Long with a simple, wide-open but perfect headed goal off an inch-perfect cross by Morgan, Dylan Nealis with a ballsy, risky and yes somewhat lucky tackle on the 6yard line on Russell who was certain to score, AND... John Tolkin with a goal line clearance at 95' And we're in sole possession of 1st place, at least for a week or so. The only cold water on the night is the loss of Sean Nealis for the next game. So, assuming Edwards is out for a while, we'll be missing 2 of our starting back line. p.s. I hate Klimala more and more, every minute he's on the pitch. I don't think I've disliked one of our players so much since the end of Rafa Marquez's tenure. And actually I think Klimala may take the cake. Edit: Somehow I originally wrote Marquez's given name as Gabriel rather than Rafa. Fixed now. Maybe I hated him so much I erased his first name from my brain? Or maybe "Gabriel" was just on my brain and fingers since Arsenal now have 3 Gabriels in their XI.
Yeah, I didn't see the SKC match, but even checking in on match-tracker it never looked like one that would get 3 pts. Still on balance that's 4 wins in 5 matches.
Salvaged a result at Cinci, in another ugly game. Their plan was out to kick us out of the match, especially Luquinhas who took a beating. It backfired a bit since the ref awarded them many yellows and a few reds. We should’ve taken advantage of being a man up for 30+ mins and won all 3 points. But on the balance of play 1 point is probably fair.
This. X100! Maybe Schneider the new Sporting Director can pull rabbit out of the hat before the window closes.
We desperately need a real striker NOW!!!! Klimala is simply not up to the job. Get rid of Barlow and bring a starting quality DP striker. Accomplishes 3 goals. 1 creates a roster spot for our new player 2 lights a fire under Klimala to play better 3 I won’t have to hear Shep Messing say about Barlow “ he creates” ever again
Tom Bogert @tombogert 22h NYRB defender and No. 7 pick at the SuperDraft Matthew Nocita has been cleared by the Navy to join up with the MLS club soon, RBNY traded up to select Nocita, a towering 6'8" CB, knowing he wouldn't be able to join immediately. Adds to CB competition
A guy that tall doesn't scream extremely mobile but I'm going to trust our scouts here that considering the system rbny plays that they wouldn't pick a guy who wouldn't sit that kind of high line up tempo high pressure system
There has to be a guy in the Premier League or Germany that didn't fit his team that will fit us. That is how we got BDP.
Just left RBA. Good crowd which I would estimate at close to 15K. Tough loss to NYC but I don’t think I can fault our effort. One nice moment came just now after full-time and after ESPN was long shut down, they honored Luis Robles as the first “Legends“ inductee. For many years he was my top most favorite player and got my usual vote for MVP. I was kind of crushed when we sold him, but we’ve done fantastically well replacing him with Coronel. Onward. In all ways.
15k? I hope you’re not an analyst or an accountant. 15k would essentially be 65% filled. It was more than that and the best crowd since 2018. But anyway. Tells you all you need to know that Klimala and Barlow didn’t start………in a rivalry game. Writings on the wall for these two. What annoys me more than the loss is that not only are we handicapped by not having any real strikers, it’s that teams like Columbus can go out and get a guy that has already outscored our two clowns. WTF is our front office doing????
Yup it was a good crowd as I'd hoped it would be. And the best I've seen in a LONG time. And yup 65% would be a generous estimate. I could easily see 1/3 of the blue seats showing through in all areas of the stadium, with some like the upper north end, showing way more empty blue seats than that. Don't be fooled when the club says it was the first sell-out of the season. Those pronouncements by NYRB, or any club in the world, don't really mean much of anything. Alas, gone are the days when they would announce the actual number of people in the stadium. I guess those numbers are quite toxic for marketing types. Anyway, I've been to RBA when it was essentially 100% full, e.g. NYRB vs Arsenal, and I can very clearly say that yesterday was far, far from full capacity. The good thing is that the acoustics in there are such that even as much as 65% full makes that place sound and feel like it's more full than that. On this I am in complete agreement with you. Klimala & Barlow are a complete waste of whatever we pay them. And Klimala is/was a well paid DP if I'm not mistaken. Omir is not the answer. Ngoma has shown glimmers but you can't base your future on a 16YO! If we're not actively looking to replace one or both of our marquee CF's rather quickly, I will then agree with final sentence too... and very sadly.
Anyone know or can find out if the Barcelona match is going to be viewable somewhere? It doesn’t show on the club’s website and the minimal searching I did came up dry.
Any news on us getting a real, actual productive striker or scorer? Are we supposed to watch other teams add players and improve their rosters and us be stuck in the mud?
Wow. Quite the game… went to mighty Austin and beat them 4-3. Squeaky Bum time at the end, as Sir Alex used to say. Great bounce back after the home loss to our arch rival last time. My favorite goal was our third, when young Harper schooled at least 2 other players. First by sitting down the defender in the box. Second by showing the nearly useless Klimala how it’s done.
Woof!! That was ugly. The ref didn't help but I am also not surprised by the scoreline because I kind of knew that US Open Cup game or not when you hit the post a couple of times and don't score either you're going to have a massive game which as we got close to the halftime dancing possible or we were going to lose cuz it was just not going to be our night.
It was one of those games where we hit the post like three times and had two near misses and a couple of other ones where we missed the pass even though the guy was wide open. And conversely of course Orlando, hit the back of the net with all of their opportunities. The Angels just weren't on our side and it seemed everything we hit didnt go in and what they hit did.
OK, so I guess you weren't unhappy with how we played then? Especially defensively on their goals? (I didn't really watch carefully and it was on my phone) There was one incredible save they made on a point blank rebound shot by Luquinhas.