I'm shocked that Segura didn't get anything from the VAR or the ref. He started it with two punches and deserved to see red. For Hinestroza, I'm okay with him seeing red. The arm swing looked worse that it was, I know he didn't make contact, but the reason Murillo shoved him is that after Segura knocked over Hinestroza he kicked up when he went to ground. If Hinestroza doesn't kick up, Murillo never gets involved, etc. and maybe Segura gets reviewed by VAR and tossed. All in all a big mess but I'm okay with Hinestroza's red for the kick up and the arm. I just think Segura and Murillo both deserved them too.
As they noted on the broadcast, Segura was the "instigator." And, yeah, Hinestroza did appear to kick up unnecessarily when he hit the ground. I get it. It's hard not to retaliate. But you're up 5-1 with a minute of stoppage time left.
The Extra Time guys are absolutely drooling over us after this win. They're anointing us the favorites to win the Shield, and calling this one of the all-time MLS regular season moments.
Was it that group who said that whenever Nancy is interviewed on-screen when they're in studio, everyone slides forward to the edge of their seats and listens intently? So he doesn't only have that effect on us.
You want to see drooling? Check this out; the guy is practically having an orgasm A small taste: This is not about expectation. I don't believe in expectation. I believe in standards,” Nancy said in the aftermath of his club’s best win of the year. “We have a standard performance, and this is what they did." That quote goes so damn hard. As do the Crew themselves, who are clearly set on doing something most had felt was not possible in this era of MLS: going on a deep Concacaf Champions Cup run in the spring, and following it up with a Supporters’ Shield campaign through the summer and fall. They are now up to sixth in the Shield standings, but are actually third in PPG (fractionally behind Cincy and Miami) with two games in hand, and are first by a mile in goal differential at +26. That’s not how any of this is supposed to work. Teams that empty the tank going after continental glory usually die in the aftermath. Columbus have, instead, merely started playing the best ball in their club’s history – and this while figuring out a new partner for Darlington Nagbe deep in that midfield after Aidan Morris was sold. I picked Miami to win the Shield ahead of the year. I’m sticking with that pick because they have Lionel Messi, and the next time they take the field he will likely be on it wearing their colors. And look, the only MLS team to have beaten Columbus in the past two months was a Messi-less Inter side (though I would argue that was an extremely high variance outcome given the way that game played out). So it’s not like the Crew are invincible. But man, it’s hard to watch this performance on Saturday and come away with any other opinion than Columbus are the favorites, and maybe even heavy favorites at that. Ones that, right now, seem to be going places no MLS team has been before, second star to the right. “I am limitless,” Nancy said in the postgame. “I want to be limitless.” Trust me everybody, just read it https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/colu...tte-come-into-their-own-more-from-matchday-26
This was and is where I was with all of it. 3 players should have been shown cards. I actually start the sequence with Hinestroza playing for the foul. This weird quick stop, stick your butt out. Segura then fouls him, hard. Starting with a bump from behind. Then a punch/grab. Next, a kick to the back of the leg. And another punch. He was never playing for the ball, just working over Hinestroza. This should have been a card. Then you have this awkward step over where they get tangled. Segura then offers him a hand??? Hinestroza slaps it away. Murillo comes charging in with a 2 handed shove to Hinestroza. Hinestroza pops up. Murillo grabs his jersey. Hinestroz swipes toward Murillo's face. This exchange is worthy of both players getting a card. While that is going on Segura runs back into the scrum shoving both Camacho and Amundsen. It takes three Crew players to back him down. The whole sequence Segura is just a thug and should have been carded.
The league has been known to issue cards after the fact when the disciplinary commitee (or whetever the hell it's called) meet and reviews the previous week's games. This would seem to a perfect instance where that could happen.
And by the way, the Crew have only lost three matches all season long, NONE of which had to do with CCC-related stuff. We lost in Charlotte, and that was the Jones red card game. We lost in Miami and well, that'll happen. And we got beat by Cincy, who aren't scrubs and had motivation out the yin-yang. When we were rotating starters out of the lineup, we were still getting draws. That's not going to be a problem down the stretch. We're not going to have an MLS match where Cucho, Rossi, Nagbe, Camacho, Moreira and Schulte are going to all be out of the lineup at once. And Nancy has shown that he's able to juggle lineups and still have quality on the field. We might have the most well-equipped MLS team to ever manage the CCC/MLS "problem."