Well one of the weakest goals off all time and the other was right out of the Wimbledon playbook. Josh Wolff finally scored and Jack Jewsbury trickled one under a diving Garlic. Who by the way after I told him he was S#it after the game threw his gloves at me. Crappy crowd and stupid parents sitting in our section to take pictures of there little girls dressed like Wizards girls.
A few quick notes from me before I must head out to my own match. Somewhat boring game overall. I'll excuse the Gomez over the crossbar shot for this week as he friggin nailed that and there was no way anyone was going to stop it. That shot was only off by roughly 8 inches or so. The defensive hustle of Arnaud up top forced the Dallas defenders to play several hospital balls out of the back which we won. Wolff should take some notes. Nice hustle play by Jewsbury on his goal. It's a slopper but it counts none the less. Dallas wasn't playing alertly and he capitalized. Good for him. Stable game. Thomas is much better than Vuk. Vuk was beaten with speed several times (understandably) but also didn't go in after a couple 60/40 balls his way presented themselves. Like I said with Walsh I'll give him a few more games before either accepting what he can add or if he's crap. Burciaga's cross to Wolff nailed him in the face. I don't think Wolff expected him to get such an accurate cross off and it surprised him with a last minute reaction. Klein whiffed bad on that run-on ball to his feet on the six. Mind you that one was worth a pizza. Guitierrez had more than one throw-in slide off his cast. Spray some stick-um on that thing man. I felt all the subs were the appropriate move and at the right time for Bobby G. Refs actually did pretty good. Good non call on all three of Johnsons dives in the box although the one was more a 50/50 thing. A couple of hacks each way that weren't called but that happens every game. O'brien for Dallas was a joy to watch play. Almost 95% of the attacks came down his (right) side. They just let Quill hang out by the sideline on the other side by himself and never "switched" to him. 2-0 is a fair result and we need the wins as we don't really play at home at all come June.
Sorry I had to miss the match, family crap intervened. MLSNet had this classic quote: DALLAS BURN GOALKEEPER SCOTT GARLICK On what happened on the first goal: "Well, the guy hit it with his foot and it went in."
Wonder if our smack talking Burn friend will make an appearance. Jose Burciaga as attacking midfielder! Wow. If he can keep sending in crosses like that, why not. Goodbye to Diego Walsh.
I missed the match as well, same as Mark, family reasons got in the way. Jewsbury goal, while it might have been crap, still counted. Funny thing is, you know when he tells his kids or grandkids someday about that goal, it'll be a rocket from 20 yards out or something like that. Seems like we were totally dominated in the first half, and are defense was a mess, but second half with Thomas in for Vuk we seemed to become a little more solid. The article I from the star, seemed to make it a point to state that Vuk was the reason why the defense was confused. http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascitystar/sports/8736763.htm
If you're going to start Vuk, it should be as a right or left back with Gutierrez moving back into the midfield. Conrad and Thomas have been pretty good in the middle and there's no need to introduce him like shock therapy. Let him get settled first as a fullback. Anyone else think Diego Walsh is being held out because his compensation is conditional? If you don't have to play him, don't! Gomez isn't lighting it up either (of course). I have a feeling Burciaga or Taylor will get a chance to start.
Well, I gotta defend Gansler on this one. Not all backs can play both inside and outside back. Apparently Vuk is a center back. It was just bad timing for him that Shavar and Jimmy have been playing well. At some point, Gansler had to at least get him on the field. At least it didn't cost us, and they have a better idea of what they need to work on before he hits the field again. He did make a nice tackle of EJ in the box.
I'm not sure Vuk brings any more to the table than Thomas. Given it was the first time we've seen him, it's hard to judge. Thomas appears to be the faster. It will be interesting to see how the defense shakes out during the course of the season. It would seem Conrad has cemented his spot in the middle. It seems unlikely we'd keep to SI spots filled for one center back position. Does anyone think Klein played a dummy to Arnaud on that play to end the Magic Minutes? It seemed like a total whiff, but when I watched the replay it looked like it might have been intentional. I'm sure that's what he'd tell you anyway. Glad to see Garcia back. Wolff looked quite good last night. He's not always running about, but he does put himself into dangerous positions. It paid off with another assist and another goal.
Vuk -- hard to judge. But Taylor Graham has looked better as a sub than Rasovic as a starter so far. It may be a while before we see him again. I will disagree with anyone who thinks thus far there is no difference between Vuk and Thomas. Obviously Thomas has gotten all the playing time, so we really don't know what Vuk's got. But Thomas is tight and tidy. The only mistake I have seen him make was that nutmeg in Dallas. Which was also Conrad's mistake for falling down, Garcia's mistake for also being nutmegged, and Tony's fault for being the third nutmeg. Thomas seems a lot more organized. Vuk was doing a lot of talking, but it didn't seem like anyone was listening. And too many times he was throwing up his arm for the offsides when it wasn't. Rhine almost burned us early on and then Johnson almost burned us at least a couple of more times -- simply because Rasovic "thought" they were offsides. Then he didn't hustle back to try his best. If he's a center back, then I'm a monkey's uncle. If he gets better, I will admit my mistake. The Klein muff was a dummy. He obviously thought Davy was closer.
I'm not doubting that his preferred position is a center back, but Gansler did say he could play anywhere on the back line. If that's true, I wouldn't have broken the Conrad/Thomas combo. To be fair, it may have to be done since Shavar surely will be brought in to the Jamaican squad. I hope Vuk works out, especially since it would make another defender, probably Garcia, expendable. Don't get me wrong, I like Garcia as a player, and I just don't want to dump him. However, there's no need to stockpile at one position, especially in MLS. A solid Vuk Rasovic would mean the Wizards should at least listen to offers for Garcia in order to snag a quality forward/midfielder (Metros, that means you!!!).
I have to add one more thing. Are MLS refs afraid to issue a red card for a professional foul by the last defender? Behncke merely got yellow for fouling Arnaud who would have been one-on-one with Garlick early in the game, and in Chicago, Jim Curtin gets no card for pulling Jeff Cunningham's shirt when Curtin was the last man back.
disagree. it was unfair in our favor. we should have been down a goal at least. KC's first half was terrible. little posession and little cohesion at the back. great save by big-tony on rhine, but johnson looked more interested in diving than scoring. he's got to be kicking himself after the game. 2nd half was a different game, and it was a joy to watch. I should have come at halftime and been blissfully ignorant.
I wouldn't say it was unfair since I thought both teams looked like poo in the first half (I sound like Jim Mora).
Got to watch parts of the game over Yahoo before the bachelor party really got going. Saw both goals. Just happy to see we won. Man is the West looking tough again this year or what? So far it's looking like in our conference each game means a little more. But we all know that can change quickly.
I was all set to go, but the price of gas has made a trip to KC and back from Columbia a luxery I can't really afford. Perhaps that will change if and when I get my motorcycle running
UPDATE on Bobby Rhine Injury - Bobby Rhine got the results of his MRI. His knee has between a Grade 2 and Grade 3 strain on the MCL. Grade 3 is complete tear, Bobby says it's about 90% to 95% torn. All of which means he will be out five to six weeks before he will be cleared to train.
http://www.soccertimes.com/mls/2004/games/may22.htm I know this is old at this point, but I didn't see it referenced anywhere. Postgame report from soccertimes. Gansler's choice of "harvesting fruit" was a little funny to my simpleton sense of humor.