April 5th Match in Baton Rouge Announced Pointed out in the other thread, but there are some interested Southern Fire fans. Ticket info below, from the Fire press release.
??? Not "so" bad. Never heard of cajun soccer club before. I can tell you this isn't getting much attention in Baton Rouge. Then again, I think the LSU soccer complex only holds about 1500. Hopefully, I'll be there. Oh wait. Just got the email from BRSA. Word has been passed out the locals- (for a pdf order form) http://www.brsa.org/
Holy Crap I'm in New Orleans because of funeral and will be in Lafayette on Saturday afternoon to see my old U14's play (Panic FC) - so on the way back from Lafayette... I might have to swing by and see the game. I have to call Mooney!
The rapid fans don't seem to care (or maybe there aren't just many of them), so I'll post this here: Is Beasley 21 years old yet? I've already emailed him about Josh Wolff. We aren't all clueless down here. THIS IS A MASS EMAIL FROM BATON ROUGE SOCCER ASSOCIATION. Reply-to: kmahoney@brsa.org There is a social and autograph signing with players from both teams tonight 7:30-8:30 at the Fox and the Hound restaurant and Bar. It is located on College and Corporate. Players expected are Damarcus Beasely, Pablo Mastroeni, Zach Thorton, Josh Wolff among others. Come and meet the stars. Kutay ***As an aside, do you think it would be rude of me to ask Pablo what's up with Grimmandi?
They are both still at work. He will be 21 the 24th of May. Not aat all. I would think that it would be a very appropriate question. People want to know what's going on. If he can shed any light on the situation, all the better.
They're getting a lot tougher about that since some Frat boy drank himself to death a few years ago. Baton Rouge is not New Orleans or Lafayette. Any BURNING questions you Fire fans want me to ask if I can get over there?
As I remember it in my few visits, it's much worse. And while they amy have gotten tougher, it's still legal in LA to drink at 18 in a private residence.
Why is Josh Wolff going to be there? Is he a guest player? I wish I knew Baton Rouge better or I'd drive up for this.
Well... which is it? A) This is the longest preseason match in history. B) We lost horribly, and everyone is too embarrassed to post the results. C) The match was canceled. D) The Ultras who went were all arrested by the police in Niles, Louisiana. E) Every single Fire fan (except me, my wife, and my son) actually went to the match, and they're just not back yet. F) Something boring like, "The only people who know aren't near a computer."
Fire win 1-0 off a goal by Bocanegra. 2,023 in attendance. He tucked it into the far post after a nice run. Couldn't tell who got him the ball. Came from the right side, though. Lineups: Thornton Whitfield Brown Curtin Boca ??? Marsch Armas Beasley Andy Williams Nate Jacqua Garlick Hart Fraser Crawford Herdsmann Chung Mastroeni Beckerman Henderson Carrieri Schmidt Armas played almost the full 90. Schimdt was injured late in the game off a hard challenge by Jim Curtin posting up right outside the box. Limped off the field with the help of the trainers. Curtin owned him all night. Beasley broke loose a couple times, but by and large Henderson was able to hold him in check. As ineffective as Schmidt was vs. Curtin, Jacqua had about as much success against Fraser. Fire seemed to be standing around a lot. Not a lot of off the ball movement. Waiting for the opponent to make a mistake and then counter? Rapids a more possession team. Mapp came on, and played in the center of the park. As did Capano. Mapp seemed to have a lot of family members present. Razov came on in the last 15 minutes or so. Much more dangerous than Jacqua. Much faster than he looks on TV. Dangerous. Ralph is a handfull. Excellent close control. Big. Fast. Dribbles too much? Had a chance to set Razov up for an open shot on a 1-2 within the 18 but kept the ball and dribbled into a couple defenders. Ante gave him an earful. Gray is too slow to play outside defener. Chung ran past him when he came on at about the 70th minute. No Faria. 3 yellow cards for shirt tugging called on Colorado. Grimandi listed in the program. Status listed as "S-I/DISC". Was not able to ask the players what was going on with him. Zizi did not play. Spencer did not play. Carrieri couldn't do much. First touch was off. Combined well with Chung a couple times, but was mostly contained by the physical play of Boca and Brown. Was fouled hard the couple times he did break through. Vallow made a couple great saves coming in after Garlick. I'm up for questions if any one has any, but, I've got to get to bed. Drill weekend and damn daylight savings time.
Local press Here's the article on the game from the local paper: Chicago tops Colorado in MLS' Baton Rouge debut Most of the article is about bringing an MLS exhibition to Baton Rouge, but here's the bit on the game:
Very interesting from a lineup perspective. We started in a 3-6-1 G Thornton D Brown Curtin Bocanegra M Whitfield Marsch Armas Williams Beasley Perez F Jacqua Then went to what looks more like a 3-5-2 G Thornton D Brown Curtin Gray M Whitfield Marsch Armas Mapp Perez F Razov Ralph Or maybe a 4-4-2 with Gray in the middle with Curtin and Perez dropping back, but then Perez went out for Futagaki, who's more of a midfielder, and probably switched out to the right side, anyway. Also, we haven't seen Gray at left back before, if that's where he lined up. And, with Armas available, no Logan Pause. Finally, with only one projected starter missing, and two out of the starting lineup, we got the win. And didn't give up a goal. Later, COZ