Yes, that narrow pitch, and the weird configuration of the pitch vs. the seats is so odd. You literally have to sit sideways in your seat to watch the match. Same thing at Citi Field, and Yankee Stadium, the two baseball stadiums that NYCFC calls home.
SKC did not register a shot in their home match tonight. Full time: Sporting Kansas City 1 LA Galaxy 0
How bad is it going for the defending champion LA Galaxy? They just lost 1-0 to SKC. Kansas City didn't attempt a shot on goal.
By the way, that's the first time in MLS history that a team has failed to register a shot and still won the match.
To make matters worse their two healthy DPs, Pec and Paintsil, both went off injured in the second half. Pec wasn't looking too good. There's a very real possibility that they will be without all three DPs this coming Saturday against NYRB.
LA is tied with Montreal, 2007 RSL, and the 2023 Rapids for the longest winless streak to start a season in MLS history. But we can't talk about Vanney's job being in jeopardy. What is he supposed to do with a roster of Pec, Paintsil, Reus, Fagundez, and Christian Ramirez?
They essentially lost the spine of their team from last season. Puig was their engine that made everything work - he's out. Jovelic was quality up top and better than anything Ramirez and Berry can muster up. He scored 21 goals, 6 of which were in the playoffs, and added 7 assists. He's now with SKC because MLS is MLS. Brugman provided cover for them in the midfield and was huge for them in MLS Cup. He's now with Nashville. Delgado paired well with Brugman in the midfield and was also huge in MLS Cup. He's now with LAFC. So you lost your main playmaker, your main goal scorer, and your hard workers in the midfield and stabilize and provide cover for the playmakers. That's tough to come back from when you aren't able to replace those players. Puig would cover a lot of those issues, but there were still going to be issues. You can have all the quality you want on the wings (Pec and Paintsil), but if you don't shore up the spine of your team you are going to have serious issues. Also, Reus has hardly been a factor this year. Today was only the third league game he's started this year. He's really nothing more than a depth piece at this point.
Not even a shot ATTEMPT. I guess you can get away with that if you play most of the match with the lead, but even still. I am surprised to know this was the first win in MLS history with zero shots attempted. First, in a sport with own goals where one goal can be enough to win, I would have figured it had happened at some point. (Especially in MLS, where weird stuff is kind of a calling card.) And Second, there was something in the back of my mind telling me it had happened once. Maybe someone did it without registering shot ON GOAL? Maybe?
I am aware they lost a lot. Many teams lost important players. This is not La Liga though. MLS is a parity-driven league, there is higher variance and randomness. We are talking about the worst start for any team in 30 seasons of MLS. Worse than any of those godawful FCC teams. Worse than all the bad Chicago Fire, Toronto FC, and DC United teams of the past decade plus. Worse than Chivas USA. The Galaxy has plenty enough talent even with their personnel losses to not be winless this far into the season. They're playing in a Western conference that has only one truly great team. The Revs are winning with a lot less talent than LA has. Montreal is competing better with one of the most deficient rosters ever assembled and an owner who actively sabotages the team. 11 games is past the point of only blaming the roster.
Teams have won playoff games without registering a shot attempt. But those were won via a penalty shootout. Seattle famously won MLS Cup in this manner.
Reus is following in the footsteps of a lot of other European stars by coming to MLS and coasting while getting paid. We just watched Zaha bitch and complain through 90 minutes of crap play. I don't want any high priced, former Euro stars on my team.
I'd not say Reus is "coasting". He's not that kind of player. I think he's just past his "sell by" date. Too many injuries thru the years. Now, I *am* biased, as Reus was one of my favorite players of his era. But he's a very hard working player.
So was Lampard, one of my favorite players. Yet I would say his cup of coffee in MLS was coasting because he was past his sell by date. It can be both.
Around the East: ATL @ Chicago 13v11 Miami @ Minnesota DC @ Toronto 12v14 Austin @ FCC MTL @ NYCFC 15v7 LAG@ RBNY NE @ Orlando 9v8 Char @ Nash 5v6 just a ton of even match ups , none bigger than our game. Separation will start amd Wednesday midweek games become a reality for just about everyone.
The F*re just beat Atlanta 2-1 for their first home win of the season. Kwame put a. beauty past Shrek, who needs to retire. Atlanta just continuing to suck. The last two times they've "scored" have been own goals, and todays might have been the most inept piece of crap play I've seen in a while.
I seem to have missed everyone being pissed off that LAFC is getting the play-in game for the Club World Cup... Cause I hadn't even heard about it until the pre-game today.