1-1 Our goal came from Loco off an Elliot shot that came off the bar. I was resigned to the radio, so it's tough to get a gauge on how we played.
Frankly, I thought we played pretty well. Had a few stretches where we were back on our heels, but generally we looked (*gasp*) good. Less aimless passing, better close control. Buddle was playing his best game in a loooooong time before he got pulled. Schulte played pretty well, but Klein did get the better of him a few times. Kelly didn't play half-bad either. Armstrong looked good - at least, as good as you can when your team is soaking heavy pressure in the last ten minutes. He had a nice first touch, and did relatively well to corral some long clearances and hold up the ball. Maybe it's just my optimism, but I felt we should have won.
At least the Crew got a point. Which means Andrulis gets more opportunities to screw up the team. It's sad when your team earns a tie on the road, a point you need badly because you are in last place, and you have mixed emotions about it.
I thought we looked decent for 70 minutes, and lousy drop-back uninspiringly andrulish for 20. Now I have the answer to: What if they played a soccer game in Kansas City and no one showed up? Good to see we got that vital 1 point. If new england loses all their remaining games and we draw our next 17 games we'll be tied with them. Good on us.
I thought that was an improvement. We looked more organized and had some decent movement. Yeah, there were some huge gaffs (herdsman), but the subs were improvements. Unfortunately, KMart and Buddle still can't run a full 90 minutes - PITIFUL for regular starters in midseason. Both had good games and were dropping out of play mid 2nd. If you only want to play 2/3 of the game, how about 2/3 of the PAY. Girlymons - Both. IMO, Woly and Armstrong looked like good additions. Get ready to be supersubs, Edson and Kyle. Time somebody calls your bluffs.
Crew had a good first half. Edson actually did some running. Schulte looked better on a few offensive crosses than he did on defense. Whenever I see him running hard to try to catch up to a player I have to avert my eyes, because its just too ugly to watch. I think one of the funny lines on the broadcast was: "Henderson has to hold up the attack, because help is slow to develop", and then a few second later we see Schulte finally lumbering into the attacking third. Nice to see El Loco open his account. I'm glad he stayed with the Crew during the Gold Cup. Gaudette didn't look half bad tonight. He made a few decent saves, and there wasn't anything any GK could have done about that goal from the free kick. Our defense is going to look pitiful Saturday night, missing both Hejduk and Herdsman. Was Wingert hurt? Is that why we waited until the 60th to bring him on?
The last 30 minutes were without 2 of the Crew's better attack options. Maybe Buddle was tiring. However, the Crew didn't have a good attack option off the bench, with no Glen to turn to.
By the way, when Greg took Buddle out in the 60th, my first thought was that Buddle was playing his best game in a long time, so it was stupid to take him out. But then I figured that Greg wants Buddle to play like that for the full 90 on Saturday, so he didn't want to wear him out tonight.
Hey, cut Buddle a little slack here. He looked a lot more interested tonight than he has in weeks past.
I thought he was the most talented player on the field, but great players play with effort and heart the WHOLE game - See McBride Ch. 1, pg.1, ver. 1.
I would agree with comments made about Buddle's efforts but results were still missing. There were a couple that he should have buried. Generally the Crew did look better but to use an Andrulism, KC had numerous chances to bury goals but put shots high or had Fraser clear them at the last moment and it's a different game if they do. Still, it's points on the road. I'll take that any day and lets go forward from there.
You know I was going to get you boys the hotel discount for Chicago, but after that slap to the face, I think I shall refrain from preceeding forth with the goodwill.
I didn't see the game, but I have one question. Did we work the ball through the midfield or just boot it up? IMO, that's the key to us playing better, more effiective football.
A few of points... That a few of you were not disappointed with another display of crap is scary... we should expect more... From the Box Score: Weather: Sunny -and- 94 degrees This is just about the time when we went on our "Kiss Our Sister" streak last summer... this is not about being in "better" shape... this is about how the summer heat destroys games and plays them right into our hands... better teams are slowed by the heat and are unable to push the game to us... so, not only do we look "better" because the game is played at a Sunday morning Over-30 pace, but because the opponent (and their ability to play soccer) is lessened putting them at our level... Enough of this "Win at Home - looks for points on the road" mentality... this is one of the worse things in this league... just play the freagin' games and let the best team win... there were 5K people in the stands tonight... how freagin' imposing is that???... and none of this "not sleeping in your own bed" or "cross-country flight" crap either... there is no excuse for any MLS team to not go out and play their game in any stadium... the sooner we start to reject the "point on the road" mentality, the sooner we will drive the improvement of MLS...
LOL... more like 500. Seriously, I almost laughed out loud in the press box when they announced the attendance number. I probably could have counted every person in the stands individually. There was no (Read: ZERO) advertising for this match. The HSG firesale of the Kansas City Wizards franchise continues... thank God we're getting a real owner soon. Interesting to note: Johnny Walker was in the house tonight in a Crew polo. Walked through the press box at one point, and watched the match from an empty TV/Radio booth. Obviously he couldn't suit up until the deal is finalized with Meola signing in NY and so on. It was quite funny though to hear the Wizards fans chanting "Johnny Walker" at Gaudette with Johnny in the building (they had no clue he was there).
Well, that didn't go as planned for us KC fans. Quite depressing actually, but the Crew played better than I expected. Or, KC played worse than I expected. I'm not sure which it is. Either way, you got the point you deserved.