Business takes me to Chicago at the end of the week, so I am bringing my good wife and we head to Naperville on Saturday. My son (the evil Chicago Fire fan) will come in from Michigan to join us and gloat at our misery. Obviously the lads need all the help that we can give them (and then some) in order to make this almost respectable. Somebody come up with SOME glimmer of hope for me - this is about as bad as I have ever felt trying to support this squad.
Can't think of anything, but Sigi may provide you with some inspiration for the future with his quote: "If we do well in the playoffs, all the frustration in the regular season is forgotten"
Aren't we playing in Chicago this weekend, at the new Soldier Field? Looking forward to seeing how the renovations went. Did anyone catch MNF last night?
Soldier Field The first Fire game at Soldier is 10/10. The worst team in the NFL (I dont mean Oakland) plays there Sunday. there is a clause in the Bears contract allowing for no events in SF for 5 days prior to a NFL game. the exception is soccer playoff games. Once again in Naperville, a place with many happy Galaxy memories.
Thanks for the explanation as to why Fire cannot use Soldier this weekend. This kind of second class status is exactly why Fire needs its own crib ASAP. Actually, I do have happy memories of Naperville. It is a town I visited often and liked a great deal before I moved from Chicago to LA. I saw the first LAG game there, an LA win in the rain and cold. I met Bill Quigley and a bunch of the Barn Burners, who were classy and a lot of fun. And I had great fried chicken at White Fence Farm. Maybe with a rested Fish and a chastised Bo LAG can play a better standard of soccer than they have been able to lately.... Maybe all the Fire fans will be off watching the Cubs and my wife and I will BE the crowd .... Maybe Sigi will have a tummy tuck, suit up, and lead the team to an historic upset....
Re: Soldier Field Thanks for the invitation to live in the past: *Mmmm... 2002 in Naperville wasn't so bad after all...* [announcer]We now return you to your regularly scheduled sucky 2003.[/announcer] Groan.... Topper
I for one have a different persective on this game and the next 2 for that matter. We cannot finish in 1st, very unlikely finish in second. Time to rest some players such as Cienfuegos, Lalas, Cobi and Bo for the playoffs. Most importantly, time to get some players such as Torre, Gonzales Martinez and Broome some VALUABLE playing time. This is the perfect opportunity to see if the Galaxy have someone who can replace UNDERACHIEVING players such as Elliott and maybe be in a position to make that short 3 game run to the finals. This week, I would like to see a lineup like this: Hartman Saurez - Califf - Marshall Vagenas - Broome Albright - Gonzales - Martinez Ruiz - Torres
i'm down with that. i say accept 4th place, experiment with new players for the next three games to get a feel who's staying and who's going in the off season. rest the rest, come out and play like there is no tomorrow in the playoffs.
I'm also down with tinkering with the lineup since we've secured a playoff spot. Put in the new players and see what they got. What more can we lose but another match? I liked Naperville. I stayed with my friends who were only 10 minutes away from Cardinal Stadium and they told me what to check out. It's a nice little town with some cool bars and nice-looking women too.
Hah Galaxy 7 - 0 thats what I think. ( in yellow cards ) cool story about Damani Ralph being counseled by Marshall not to play for the JAMAICAN national team... rather get his U.S citizenship and play for the NATS. I think ge decided to go for the Reggae boyz, he's called up to play their friendly with Brazil next week. the Funny part of the story is that Marshall was initially called into the squad and was mysteriously dropped ... maybe after said conversation leaked out. I smell a republican conspiracy here !!
Re: Hah Smells like the sweet smell of victory on October 7th. (Cue Dan Loney for Liberal hate-speech) Topper
Yeah, I'd rather the Galaxy finish fourth and have to play San Jose than finish third and have to play Colorado. I'd be more afraid of finishing off the Rapids in their current form than the usually late season chokers in San Jose...
Agreed. If LAG have ANY chance to beat Quacks, it is in the 2-game total goals format, rather than round two one road game in the Spartan bandbox.
3-0 at the HDC followed by a 2-0 loss up in SJ. I can deal with that. As for tomorrows game, why am I certain it's not going to be fun. Remember, this is the last MLS match in Nappyville.
I agree completely. The whole soldier field process and everything has been a huge mess. Real grass = good, the bears = bad. 2007!
Playing San Jose 4 times may help us to train for next season, although they lost to Metro today. Also, how about a 442 formation from now on? Maybe Sigi is listening to too much random advice. One thing for sure, we don't have flow in our game, no forethought, little communication and knowledge of one another between players. At least that's the way it seems to me. In the games I've seen, some of the G's stunned to have the ball passed to them and don't know what to do next. Possession, combination plays, through balls, and finishing, I think, is a result of unity of mind and knowledge of one another. A smart tactical plan & execution of that plan (through team discipline) can make up for lack of speed and skill. Anyway who cares? It's just sports right?
Trip to Naperville - High point: I met Peter Wilt, Fire GM. He had "heard" that Dan Loney was going to be at the game, and came up and asked me if I were he. Since I know the penalty for impersonating a CNS columnist is severe, I did the honorable thing and admitted I was not. Wilt was very friendly, spent a couple of minutes with me, Lori and Donald, and it was from him I learned that Carlos was sick and not likely to play. Similarly, Ralph was banged up from last game and not playing for Fire. Low point: a starting lineup featuring Albright anb Torres as strikers. Knew right then that this team couldn't score in a house of ill repute and the very best we could hope for was a nil-nil draw. Ricky Lewis at right back - does anyone know how badly hurt Califf and Suarez are? Can't believe this was a tactical move.
Anyone that plays in a team featuring Simon Elliott is bound to suffer a lot of frustration. Frustration from watching the guy deliver awful passes every time and then getting mad at them for not bailing him out. Simon Elliott has pattented the S.O.S. shot. S.O.S. = Shoot-down Orbiting Satellite After the game, using my TiVo, I was going to gather statistics for the good and bad passes Simon was involved in. Then I said, I got to get a life.
The key is to just ride out the rest of the Galaxy season trying to get a chuckle now and again, and then pray that we get a couple of Real Madrid players on loan for next season and a coach that likes to incorporate positive soccer into the gameplan.