Prediction: Battery 1 Timbers 0 Match Highlight: Zidane makes his first appearance in a Battery jersey. Seconds later he headbutts the Timbers keeper. Only receives a scolding from the USL ref -- no card.
again,. deserves some rep! As far as predictions, I'm going with 1-0 Battery as well, with Glinton getting one of his breakaway goals, then the Battery hanging on for dear life and Wiggans making some key saves.
Portland is battleing some key injuries, the lowcountry's humidity hopefully keeping them down. Ill going with 2-0 to the Battery. Anyword on the injuries to Ugo or Chris over the weekend. I heard Andrew say Chris was taken to the hospital but the x-rays showed a sprain not a break. Also would love to see Armstrong and Crawford back out there. CMON BATTERY!!!
The doldrums of summer have settled in. I felt we looked like a clear playoff contender 2 months ago, now we seem adrift. We started out attacking teams in numbers and playing exciting ball. Now, we seem boring, methodical and predictable. If we do counter, we have the guy with the ball and if he's very lucky, he MAY have a wingman on the break with him. Otherwise, he's going it alone. And worst of all, we're playing in S L O W M O T I O N. And the last couple of home games, I don't think I've ever seen so many backpasses. Even when there's no pressure on the ball. Inexcusable. I know we've had some roster shuffles but everyone in the league has. Our entire setup & tactics seem to have changed and not for the better. I'll always be eternally optimistic but when it comes to a prediction, it will be with my homer glasses fitted firmly on my face. Batts - 2, Logs - 1
The Timbers' injuries are finally starting to heal. 4 of the 6 players who missed the Vancouver and Miami games with injuries played Saturday, and they were definitely a different team when they didn't have to shuffle their lineup like they did when they had the injuries, and played well against Coventry City, getting a win in PK's. The Timbers have not played particularly well on grass this year (they are 0-4-1) so it's going to be a tough trip. But the 2006 Timbers are a team primarily based on speed, so it will be interesting to see how the Charleston defenders keep up with people like Mamba Chisoni, Luke Kreamalmeyer, Oral Bullen and even Mike Randolph overlapping from defense (all new players for 2006), who have so far this year caused havoc with defenses trying to stay with them. I know he won't get serious consideration for rookie of the year because of the goal scoring by Cam Weaver, but Mike Randolph is the best rookie I have seen in this league in a long time. He was shutting down every Coventry City player who tried to beat him on Saturday, as he has all year, and nearly scored a game-winner in stoppage time he simply outran his defender from 30 yards out down the left side. He's one of the best defenders in the league, period, and he's 20 years old. I am guessing the Timbers and Battery are going to split these two games. Which way it goes is anyone's guess, but when the Timbers have been healthy since they got this lineup together, they have been almost unbeatable. So it should make for an interesting two game set.
Anyone know what the rules are for OT? Here's what US Soccer says: Since there's no mention of Golden Goal (that's been done away with everywhere, correct?), I assume both OT periods go full term. Although my heart predicted 2-1, my head says we'll see OT.
Charleston is quite fast too. Omar Daley, Gavin Glinton, Ben Hollingsworth and Luke Vercollone all are fast. Daley was causing quite a bit of trouble with both Miami and Rochester this past week. Of course like Bribey mentioned, we seem to be able to defend and knock it around the midfield pretty comfortably but the transition to the fowards seem slow I was pretty optimistic when the season started too. Hopefully htey will get it together and start linking up. Mikey
Match day here is a little preview from the local newspaper, The Post and Courier http://www.charleston.net/stories/?newsID=97215§ion=sports You can watch the match live via the Battery TV PPV online, kick off at 7:30 PM EST http://www.charlestonbattery.com/webcast.asp also weather is hot and humid nearly 90F, heat index is 97F Humidity around 80%. Chance of thunderstorms throughout the night. very little wind. mikey
USOC --> Battery 1 Timbers 0 Next game --> Battery 9 Timbers 0 Game Hghlights: Battery play match without a goalkeeper and only 2 defenders (Cafu and Roberto Carlos). Zidane, Ronaldo, and Hollywood register hattricks. 9 assists from Ronaldinho. Materazzi still upset with Zidane decides to play for the Timbers. Rooney and Cristian Ronaldo are benched due to pre-match fight. Beckham gets red carded for puking on linesman. Hollywood signs multi-year contract with adidas and is transferred to Real Madrid. The Battery ends up being stuck with Beckham. As a result, front office staff geneously find him work in the ticket booth just to keep him off of the pitch; Posh Spice is hired to work behind the bar in the Three Lions much to the disdain of regular Three Lions patrons. Battery goes unbeaten the rest of the season and wins the Championship.
Battery win it 3-1 Several other great chance for the Battery and Saunders made some good saves. Battery played a great match the second half. they looked pretty good. Kudos to all the players. Mikey
Also local resident Bobby Convey was at the match watching from the common seats. He got annimated a few times as the Battery pushed forward (ruting the home team I hope!). Gave him a shout and a wave but really didnt bother him as he seemed TO have a bunch of other people coming up to him all through the match.
Friday's match should be a great one. I wish I was in town to see it. There'll probably be some on-field fireworks to rival the 4th of July.
(Posted this on the "other" Battery forum.) 1,000% improvement over the past several games. Although things started roughly and stayed that way for about 20-30' or so, the Battery found their rhythm and enthusiasm and took control of the match. Hollywood was on fire. Gavin was fighting for balls and making runs, Luke ran miles on the left wing, hell, even Omar was running. And when Hollywood scored our first goal, the Timbers fell apart. It was all downhill for them after that. At times, our strikers sometimes try to do too much by taking on 2-3 players at once. But last night, I think our play in the final 1/3 was the best I've seen all year. We had numerous players joining the attack from all angles. Play was quick and players were finding each other with some nifty passes. AND WE WERE ACTUALLY SHOOTING THE BALL!! I know, it sounds crazy. We got off 19 shots and a good % were on target (2 hit posts that I remember). Hollywood's bike would have been GOTY had it gone in. And Fuller's cheeky little midfield chip was sweet. After I got home, I remembered reading he scored a similar goal from 40 yards out against the Rhinos in the preseason Cary game. So, obviously, Ian is the long range chipping expert on the team. And I rarely comment on the crowd, but for only 1,800 or so, there was a lot of noise and the fans really got into it. I must say, behind the goal was pretty lively. Last night was probably the most entertaining game of the year for me. If we can maintain that level of performance, we'll definitely be in the playoffs. My faith has been restored. Wellington, I agree that the players were getting chippy with each other. As for Friday, Portland's running short on players and they looked absolutely tanked at the end of the game, physically and mentally. Not sure what they'll bring to the party on Friday. It could get ugly. On the other hand, sometimes what looks lopsided on paper turns out to be a great game. So, who knows. That's the great thing about our league.....inconsistency.
That was a good overall performance (other than the first 30 minutes). Ben has been back to his old self lately (always working, always getting in good positions), great work out of the midfield (beautiful assist by Fuller on Gavin's goal, and what a run by Romero to set up Teba off the post), and some good creative play in the offensive third. How did I not know Bobby Convey was at the game??? Maybe he'll be there on Friday..... Bribey, nice effort on getting the ball back over the fence. Let me guess, you didn't play much basketball as a child? Don't worry, I didn't either.
Time wasting.....I was time wasting...... Where's Simmonds when you need him? He could always knock it over the backstop.
Someone named it a "pond shot." Ugo had a couple of pond shots early in the season before he settled down.
Also, I failed to take into account the strong headwind. And I swear I heard a Timbers player mutter "poonta" when I duffed my throwin.....
It's amazing how some players react to being benched. Hollingworth bounced back with some spirit and pride, Matteo bounced to Miami.