JE & KS I got the impression that Jack Edwards doesn't like the fact that the away goals aren't a deciding factor. I mean, I agree, but I didn't really need to hear about it every five minutes. The league must tell officials to honor Stoichkov and put up with his antics. Granted this isn't "the rest of the world" but the obvious attempts at showing up the ref by DC players would have warranted many more yellows in other leagues. The Fire need to come out on Sunday avoid the same antics from DC, don't get drawn into the BS and avoid injuries. I"m sure DC will be do anything to win on Sunday.
Re: JE & KS Yeah. And didnt he say in the first half that away goals counted?? Plus he also commented on DC's "lobbying" to the 4th official once every 2 minutes. "Do you want to see Damarcus Beasley or do you want to see Ryan Nelson?" "You know, Ted Williams said the hardest thing to do in sports is hit a round ball with a round bat. But what Andy Williams just did, has to be considered up there amongst the hardest thing to do in professional sports" Classic Jack
Re: Re: JE & KS Yes. I remember that. I thought it was a little odd. Oh god, he's becoming another Bill Walton. "Did you see that free throw? That had to be one of the greatest free throws in the history of the game."
Valenzuela put himself in a tough position, but I actually don't think he did that bad of a job. He tried to shut down DC's hacking and whining early with a spate of yellow cards, but then didn't have the balls to follow through and kick somebody out before halftime when it had zero effect on their playing "style." To try even harder to appear neutral, he even threw a couple of cards at us to make it look even. Sometimes you have to realize as a ref that you're calling it one way for a reason. So I guess he meant well. Or something. He just made himself into more of a factor by trying too hard to not be a factor. And all it takes is one NBA game with Walton to realize that we don't have it that bad with the likes of Edwards, Keogh, et al. It's "so very special" that LeBron James got to debut in Sacremento? Huh? Later, COZ <-- eternal referee sympathizer
what happened to the little one armed guy? If nothing else, his lateral impairment at least served to make him a figure of sympathy. if he´s still with MLS, he should make a come-back... and I´m talking Down-Town!
My wife asks about him every game....if I recall, he called a pretty decent game. Definitely better than Kevin Stott and Gus St. Silva.
quote: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Originally posted by lethargytartare ...somewhere over Indiana... -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- If they manage to get a little off course I know a good spot in Columbus.
Good Luck from a Crew Fan I'm rooting for you guys to all the way. The Revs beat the metroscum so you probably won have the pleasure of pounding the scum's face into the turf. Your style of soccer has improved dramatically since you got rid of Bradley and the hacks he likes to employ--kovalenko & stoichkov.
Re: Re: Good Luck from a Crew Fan No, no, no, no, NO. You've only got three posts, so we'll let it go as a rookie mistake, but you've got this all wrong. The proper response is something like "we wouldn't care what you think even if you weren't a Crew fan, you pathetic excuse for a human being. Enjoy Andrulis for another year while you watch all the playoff action on TV, mwahahahahahaha!" Ask Segroves. He'll tell you. Later, COZ
I stayed to watch SJ v LA ( and drink) ...well a couple hours after the Fire match ended the woman I was with said " too bad all those Fire fans left, look at all the pukes in here now" HA HA HA I loved it.
I cannot believe there are so many negative comments here about this match. This was the most enjoyable match by the Fire this season. It lacked the intensity of the open cup semifinal or the match vs. Colorado at Soldier Field but it had fantastic quality. I kept repeating, "The Fire are good" throughout the entire game. The first 15 minutes were super intense. This is when we got 6 shots and all of them were dangerous (even the one by Beasley). Then the posession game allowed for total domination. I enjoyed the pressing the Fire exerted on DC United. Razov did an enormous job in doing this and Ralph and Williams were not that very far behind. My MOTM goes to Williams (and this was the favorite of many at Ginger's) but not for the goal but for all the work he did on the field. He started dying in the middle of the second half and was rightfully removed by Sacharan. Razov was the hardest working player there but all of them gave as good effort as they could. I hate that people complained about refereeing when it was actually far more accurate than the American or world standard. I think the number of cards was a little low though but any red cards would have spoiled the spectacle and quite honestly I did not see any red card fauls. Early Kovalenko's challenge on Razov was certainly a yellow though. This match was a great spectacle with a great level of play by the Fire, excellent, organized crowd (we must be really trying now to beat it), excellent and just referee decisions (maybe with the exception of the penalty kick non-call), mind games and cheap shots by DC United that Fire did not fall into. Overall, the first 15 minutes of the game by the Fire was the most intense I have seen in MLS so far. The pounding on the DC Goal was enormous and the shots were going mostly on goal. The game was an absolute joy to watch on TV. I loved the matchup of two number 8s midway through the second half when Ralph stole the ball from Stoitchkow who chased him through the entre field and fauled him in the penalty area. So Ralph won the duel although we know that the ref judged otherwise. I also loved when Kovalenko got so destroyed by Beasley(!), Razov and Armas. There were minor glitches from Curtin or Bocanegra but fortunately they did not result in anything dangerous by DC United. I liked Williams on the right but he played a lot like a playmaker/central midfielder especially later in the game. I am proud of the team that they ignored constant whining by United and kept playing their game. We proved much better than DC in all aspects so their complaining makes the win even sweeter. It also would not be so sweet if any DC players were shown red cards. Overall, a terrific match (one of the best in Fire history) and great forecast for Sunday. Marcin
I'm a bit late to the party, but... First, it was nice to see such a good crowd at Ginger's. That place rawks. Second, it was great to see the Fire play DC off the field but we need to improve our finishing. I mean ,we outshot them 17-6 with 7 corners to their 1. That game really should have been 4-0 at least. OK, maybe 4-1 as DC had a couple chances they probably could have put away. Valenzuela sucked, no two ways about it. Maybe he was afraid of seeming biased, maybe he didn't want to see DC missing half their players in game 2, or maybe he's just a clueless ass, but he obviously did not want to card DC anywhere near what they deserved and gave our boys some weak ass cards. The ref should just call the game regardless of circumstances. If that means you send a guy off in the 2nd minute or send off a team's star player, so be it (assuing it's the correct call). In the end, if the ref calls the game without worrying about who already has a card or what effect it will have on game 2, he lets the players decide the games themselves. When he starts trying to "manage" the game, he ends up helping determine the outcome and that's bad reffing. The great thing about the game was it was a true team effort. There were a few guys who could have been MOTM. Either Razov or Williams are acepteble choices but some of our defenders came up with big plays to keep them off the scoreboard too which, given our wasting of many excellent scoring chances, proved critical. Basically, all we now is more of the same at home. Don't bunker, go out to score gaols, dominate the midfield. Our biggest danger is complacency, which the Fire have been prone to a bit this year (see, "Rapids, Oct 18, 2003"). Hudson, however, is in deep trouble. His "Route 1" tactics didn't work and now he has to at least try to establish some midfield attacking play. If Dave plays both Jesse and Chris in midfield again, that's going to be very difficult to do. Hopefully, he won't have learned his lesson about starting both Etch and Hristo.
Marcin, I echo your comments. The domination by the Fire was a joy to behold, excepting for that one off-side DC goal. But they got their act together after that. I only have one disagreement with you and that was that you didn't see any red card fouls. There was one and it was when Etcheverry popped Williams in the mouth with his elbow. I think he was already carrying a yellow at that point. Great win. Incredible goals by both Williams and Razov.
Two items from Harksie that I agree with: 1) DC has to SHUT THE FCUKUP (well, I'm paraphrasing here) and PLAY. They took themselves out of the match mentally by their whinging and never recovered. The Fire did not fall into that trap and took care of business on the field. 2) There is just something wrong with the DC team. He couldn't put his finger on it, and it is obvious from watching them play. They just don't seem to have any cohesion at all on both sides of the ball. And it can't just be the absence of the whinydivingbitchhack Olsen.
I disagree. They need to continue whinging and whining and taking themselves out of the match mentally.
DC is actually pretty close to being a really good team. If they lost Hristo and Marco, they have the tools to be at least the second best team in the east right now. I really think its the old guys bogging them down, and not Hudson, as is somewhat popular opinion. Regardless, we still need to keep our focus on Sunday, as we are in the drivers' seat but we're not out of the woods.
That is exactly what I think every time I watch them play, wether against the Fir eor anybody else. They've got some wierd dynamic ( or lack of) going on.