When Ronald Cerritos is getting wide-open whacks on goal from your six-yard box, you are doing something horribly wrong. I thought Donovan had said the reason the Quakes were more successful on the road this season was that Yallop had eased up on the "full-court press". If so, where were our defenders the first fifteen minutes? On the other hand, Frank said after the game that the team played well, so what do I know.
On Onstad-All the brilliant saves in the world don't mean a thing when you let in a weak goal like the second one. Not only should he have stopped it, but to let one in a minute after getting the equlaizer is unforgiveable. As for yelling at his back line, they deserved it after the way they started. He did really well to keep us in the game, but this is professional soccer, not AYSO. While up and down the roster people did not show up ready to play, the goalkeeper only has one job. He didn't do his and it clearly cost us the game. Also, I am getting tired of Landon's disappearing act. It seems all teams have to do is give him a little shove and get a little chippy and he's gone for the rest of the game. I love his skills and he's a force when he's on his game, but it seems so easy to put him off. Since we don't have Ching (and at this point I'm not sure I even want Faria), Landon is going to have to play through the fouls and stop letting no talent hacks get the better of him. They are always going to get their shots in, it's up to Landon to make them pay.
You people amaze me at your criticism. Did you even watch the game. There was no hacking, no cheap shots, and they didn't get Donovan off his game. They played their defense very well, forcing him to come back farther and farther for the ball. I'm really getting tired of the "disappearing act" comment. Watch the game. Even Ray Hudson in an interview in Cybersoccer news pointed out how they clamped down on him from behind and then subdued him from the front, that you can't let down for one second on him. and they didn't. You try playing when the entire team is keyed on stopping you. That's where the rest of the team has to present some kind of threat. He was forced further and further away from the goal to get possession. Then when he'd run on goal with the ball, you've got about 8 defensive players blocking your path and no teammate with the ability or willingness to do give and go or present some kind of a threat - and you blame him? So then he tries shooting from distance and of course it's blocked by the 5 guys between him and goal. Even Yallop said he was pleased with Landon's performance.
Oh, and sorry if I sounded kind of harsh with the "you people" comment. It's early in the morning and I'm tired and have a headache.
Yes, I DID watch the game. And, for my money, the Landon we are seeing is not the Landon that we've had in the past (or on the Nats, for that matter.) Are you honestly saying that no other member of the team has the ability or desire to work with him? Hmmm, maybe you are the one not watching close enough. This is not the Landon Donovan show. The system that Yallop has put in place depends on every player giving their all. This is the same team that stayed at the top of the table despite missing Landon (and others) to National Team duty. That being said, I am a big fan of Landon's. I'm just saying that he is not producing at the level that he has. And, it seems that he loses focus and interest in physical games. The league is watching how he reacts to getting pushed around and is giving him even less space. If he's going to take his game to the next level, he's going to have to find a way to play through the knocks-even when the other team is keying on him. Right now he isn't. Part of it is no Brian Ching to take the knocks, the other is he tends to shy away from physical play.
No, forget what I said about the unwillingness - that was just dumb on my part. But I still say he wasn't getting knocked around Saturday, just finding it hard to get into a dangerous position with the ball. And I can't single him out and say he wasn't trying as hard as the others. I think he was trying to figure out a way to get it going. That being said, I hope he gets it figured out by the time we hit the final 2 games against LA and the playoffs. I think he's the key. He's got to be the one to raise his level and bring it on home. As Yallop said, when LD plays well, the whole team does and when he doesn't play well, the team suffers. I think that's a lot of pressure to put on a player at that age, but I hope he rises to the challenge. If he does, it's good news for the Quakes.
Yeah, I'm trying not to start worrying yet. I hope we use these last few games to get things figured out, since Ching is gone and I don't think Faria is going to show up, Frank's gotta come up with something. Then I hope we start to put it all together against LA and go flying into the playoffs. On a radio station program a few weeks ago the guy predicted the Earthquakes would be the first to bow out of the playoffs. We better prove him wrong. Course, they all predicted we'd crash and burn a lot sooner than this and we've proved them wrong so far. The team's got a lot to play for; think they'll rise to the occasion.
Probably from the same camp that is pissed off that we won it all despite having low attendance numbers. Seems like a good number of soccer fans and supposed media types keep beating the "move San Jose" drum. (They knock most anything having to do with San Jose, but would be thrilled to pick up most any player off our roster...) Anyway, last season's playoff failure against Columbus still leaves a bitter taste. And, maybe there is something to not peaking too early. All I know is the team I saw the other night looked more like the first round losers than a championship team.
I wish Donovan would knock off the "bulletin board" material. Early in the season, he did a silly segment on Soccer Saturday where he "challenged" DeMarcus Beasley and the Chicago Fire. Result, Fire whipped our butts in Spartan (while Landon was completely shut down). Now, Donovan challenges Hudson to play him without hacking and what happens? Donovan shut down AGAIN and the Quakes lose yet again. Just shut up and get yourself motivated.
First of all, I give credit to DC for being the better team on Saturday. Tactically, emotionally, and physically, they were the better team and deserved the win. If we had ended up tieing the game, I would have expected them to be very disappointed by the results. I give credit to the Quakes to continue to fight and almost pulled off a tie. We have had a lot of close games this year. The law of averages just wasn't in our favor... Some random observations: - Onstad had a great game, except for the second goal. However, I give credit for Olsen in getting a nice shot off, and I blame Roner for allowing Olsen to run inside and make the run. - Cerritos appeared offside on the first goal. Walker appeared offside on the second (hard to tell from the replay though). - Walker had a nice chance to score a second goal, but he tried to kick the ball too hard. Lack of experience... - I agree with Yallop changing the pressure game on the road, but Donovan work rate doesn't seem to be enough. - Corrales and Agoos are playing sub-par at the moment. Agoos looked slower than usuall and made more than his "two mistakes" a game. He took the wrong angle on Convey attack and was lucky to be saved by Onstad. Agoos left Stewart on the first goal to cover air at the far post. Corrales doesn't appear to be mentally into the game. - We are struggling to score goals. DeRo is still inconsistant which is not unexpected for being out most of the season. Opposing teams can sit back and let the Quakes cross the ball. - Too slow play. We need to be able to change the pace of the game. We waited until too late in the game to increase the pressure on DC. - Our shooting from outside of the penalty area is pathetic. I'm tired of watching Richard and Ramario sky balls over the goal. With a struggling KC, we have a good opportunity to start another win streak on the road. Go Quakes!
Oh, I find it all kind of amusing. Players in all the leagues do it all the time. The Soccer Saturday thing was so obviously set up by ESPN since DMB and LD are friends. LD's just trying to generate press. After all, he was re-signed by MLS to do what, "sell the league." I'm not saying this as an excuse for his play, though. But if he'd have lit up Chicago then and DC last week, I doubt you'd have had a problem with what he said. And I don't think what he said had anything to do with how he played. Just my .02.
I think we have to keep in mind that this is the month when other teams start putting their act together and taking it to the next level. Do we have the squad for that? Is there another gear for the Quakes? We have a team that can keep the game close, but who's going to make two goals happen for us when we need them? IMO we only have a couple transcendent players: *Landon is human but still wears a big S on his cape and a team effort can remove him from the game.*Arturo looks like a gamebreaker in the making, but he doesn't sniff the field. Mulrooney is brilliant, but usually not a gamebreaker. DeRo was a potential gamebreaker, but I can't say he's back to that status yet. Corrales is a big X factor: when he steps it up, good things happen for us. Goose is great, but we all know what can happen to him when the big games roll around. Onstad? Nice catch, buddy.
Just a couple of observations from someone who was at the match. I'm a DC fan, so take what I say with a grain of salt as all fans are biased towards their team even when they're not trying to be: Both of these were right in front of me. Cerritos was clearly onside. In fact, it was one of the best timed runs I've seen in a long time. As for Walker's goal, I was trying to figure out what happened with the linesman because it seemed such a blatant offside. I think there was either a defender back in the corner away from the play that no one noticed, or he thought the header to Walker came off a DC player. The restart happened so quick that many of us in the stands were taken by surprise. It was a very smart move on the Quakes part, because everyone on the field was pretty wiped out at that point and when the card was shown to Quintanillia, United players thought they had a few moments to catch their breath and set up for the free kick. So even if it was offside, the goal was made possible by a fantastic quick restart by SJ. Don't be too hard on Agoos on that goal. Stewart's run was fantastic and just before the ball was crossed he made a quick move to the far post and when Agoos went in that direction, Stewart split the two defenders and the ball was placed perfectly on his head. Onstad had no chance. I do think this was the difference in the match. DC was trying to prevent quick moves into the box (such as the spectacular three-time give-and-go that Marco saved with a slide tackle at the last moment) and this left just outside the 18 yard box open for long shots. Rimando is weak on those and if more had been on target it may have been a different story. Anyway, I know this wasn't the result you all wanted, but this was one of the more enjoyable matches I've witnessed in MLS. Fantastic action up and down the field.
I thought the "you people" phrase was very good. Got my attention. That's what the sergeants in basic training used to call us. Your comments were also very apropos and I agree. Ray has stated before that he must shut Donovan down completely in order to beat the Quakes.