I watched Duke squeak by Radford 3-2 tonight. Here's what I'd like to know. How in the world did Duke beat Clemson? Radford took a 1-0 lead early in the match off a corner. Terrible defense by Duke, leaving guys unmarked in the box. One thing about Radford, they never quit attacking. Up 1-0, they refused to sit back and they kept the game somewhat entertaining. Duke is overrated. Maybe they were just flat tonight, but here's my assessment of Duke. Small, quick, and soft. A big physical team will shred them. Duke came out in a 3-4-3, with Trevor Perea playing up top. I think he's the best playmaker in the country, but they had him playing up front. Not his best position. Duke is vulnerable on set plays. Radford should have scored at least a couple goals off set plays but luckily for Duke, their guys had a hard time finishing. And, Radford is not a good defensive team. I wish I would have seen the Clemson match because from what I saw tonight, Clemson should have beaten Duke 5-0.
Duke's next game Duke plays Maryland on Sunday in College Park. That should tell us more about both teams. I just watched Maryland beat William & Mary 4-1 tonight. Goals for Maryland came from Erwin Diaz who scored twice, Abe Thompson got the game winner on a PK, and Dominic Mediate got the late insurance goal. OK so W&M is not having a great year, but they are a pretty good team; Cirovski said they are better than their record indicates and I tend to agree since they are not afraid to attack, at least not like back in the day when they used to pack the box in front of Adin Brown and rope-a-dope their opponents. Anyway, should be an interesting game on Sunday; a double header with the Maryland women playing George Washington afterward. Men's game is a 2pm.
Based on what I saw tonight, I would say Duke goes down to the Terps. I haven't seen Maryland this year, but they have to be better than Duke. Duke's back line is just not tenacious. A freshman by the name of Kerlew started for them at center back tonight, and he looked soft. With Maryland's quality attackers, they might be able to light Duke up.
Easy...Hard to get up for playing Radford, especially compared to playing the country's #2 team and bitter ACC rival. ACC teams have a tendency to play up or down to their competition and it sounds like this is what Duke did. I agree that UMD hammers Duke...
Duke got their best at CU Agreed with FIXXXER is hard to get up to play Radford.... but its no excuse for the Tigers to hand their game to Duke like they did. Not to make any more excuse the help of an extra man wearing black (referee) was helpful to the Dukies..... however.... I hope that the Tigers play these guys again in the ACC tourney to see what happens? it will be a great match I guarantee....
unbiased assessment I'm not quite sure how Duke had help from the officials against Clemson. Quite frankly, Clemson's goal was created off of a free kick from a phantom foul that occured seconds before McIntosh was fouled with no call. I'm not sure which of the two teams you were referring to was playing with 12 men, but the way Perea was cutting through their midfield, you would have thought it looked like Duke was up a couple of men against them at times!
Re: unbiased assessment Duke got plenty of help from the officials on their first goal. Without that goal they lose in regulation. I've seen Duke four times this year. They aren't that good. I'll go so far as to say that even lowly NC State has a chance to pick up their first ACC win in three years against them.
Re: Re: unbiased assessment Wow!!! Did someone just predict a NCSU win this season...monumental and would probably get George a new contract and hair product endorsements for the rest of his life!! Whether they got help or not, going on the road and facing adversity is part of the game at any level. Clemson has got to overcome that and get the result. As I said earlier, the Clemson coaching staff is great at taking a loss, breaking it down, addressing the problems and teaching the kids to learn from it. Even with the ACC loss, Clemson emerges from Durham a better team...