Watched the first half. Seattle went and found another total douche in Pineda. Don't they have enough on their team already?
Chara had two very nice goals. The thing I didn't understand is why the ref let them both use dark uniforms. The dark green and black was two close to each other, in my opinion.
Anybody watch the Colorado highlights? José Mari had an absolute bomb of a goal. Hit it off the bounce and bent it far post. Thing was a beauty. That's the goal of the week for me.
They've been doing a lot of that lately. I wonder if the person in charge of what uniforms to wear is color blind or if I am.
Watching the Por vs Sea game left me with a few impressions, mainly that neither of those teams right now is a top-5 team in this league. There were soooooo many bad giveaways in that game it was comical and the defending on every goal was straight up clown college crap. Exciting and fun to watch for sure, but I was not impressed with either team.
The announcer basically said the same thing on Chara's second goal. Something to the effect of, "they're going to give him that much space again? Didn't they learn on the first goal?"
I'm not surprised at all. MLS really wants to establish itself in the Southeast. Atlanta is key to the Southeast. Its the largest city. Its draw is regional. People from all over the South travel to Atlanta to attend sporting events. The MLS team in Atlanta will draw soccer enthusiasts and viewership from Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, South Carolina and North Carolina.
Agreed, the southeast has had a huge gaping hole in terms of MLS through the league's entire existence. The Florida teams have always been seen as kind of separate from the actual meat of the southeast US, mainly the Carolina's and Georgia both of which are hotbeds for soccer believe it or not (especially the Carolina's). I think sticking a team in Atlanta is smart, even in a place like Charlotte would have been good as well. Atlanta is a huge market, as well, with the busiest airport in the US (for what it's worth). They've had success with the Silverbacks there, hopefully they are successful with MLS.
I'm skeptical of Atlanta being a strong market for an MLS team. The owners may turn out to be like the Krafts. I hope it works out though.
I don't believe it. The rumor is Arthur Blank, owner of the Atlanta Falcons, is getting the franchise and will locate them in the new NFL stadium being build. That is contrary to several successful trends in MLS expansion: 1) elevate a lower division team with established foundation of fan support and 2) soccer specific stadiums. If one of those was not part of this rumor, then it would have a chance (see Portland and Seattle's elevation). But, not if both are contrary.
If the ownership emulates the Krafts, then its not going to be a giant step backwards for the league. I have to think that the Don and company did their due diligence in that regard. Atlanta presents all sorts of opportunities for the league...I hope they don't botch it.
Has Colorado scored from "normal" conditions yet (normal = non pk with opponent at full strength)? 4 from pks + 1 from a pk rebound (?), now two more only after a red card. Relying quite a bit on MLS refs for their points.
That's harsh on the two (ridiculous) goals they scored in Vancouver. Until that game I was critical of the non-pk thing. But the 2 goals that Jose Mari put in were absolutely fantastic. I was really happy to see the ref dish out the red, too. That bullshit of grabbing the ball to get a call needs to go. It shouldn't always be a yellow. But to do it in your own half is dangerous.
No, but if you're arguing that at least 3 of those PK goals (2 direct and the 1 rebound) weren't stone-cold PK's earned by good attacking play then I'm not sure what to tell you. Its not our fault that they weren't allowed to play through to conclusion and were interrupted by a foul.
Oh, I know what it was for, hand ball. Though I think the ref was screened from the KC player kicking his shin into Watts' boot and the fact that he was going down in pain. Probably shouldn't have been called. The one in NY on Olave was somewhat weak as well, but more legitimate than the one against KC. Plus it was Olave so I have a hard time caring that it was weak, its not hard to find him committing a PK offense against Colorado that wasn't called in the past.
Watch out. Jasonma has a nearly photographic and encyclopaedic memory of all things RMC. It would be fun for Ismitje and he to get into a "recollection of mls events" fight. They bring up minor things from over a decade ago that happened. Amazing, really.
The question becomes would he have had as much space as he did if they would have had another player on the field? Maybe. You just don't know. It may have also had a psychological affect on them. Those were good shots, but you can't say they would have happened if the red card hadn't happened. Fortunately for the Crapids, it did and the guy made two fantastic shots. They certainly have benefited from reffing decisions this year, that's for sure. Karma is a bitch though.