Just got back from the HDC, regardless of the way the game may have looked on tv, what an exciting game. Awesome to see all the Blanco/Fire fans at the stadium, really made it seem like a home game. Would have settled for a tie but I'm so glad they won. Just hope Logan Pause is ok, he got hit pretty hard at the end and limped off the field after the game ended...didn't look like he was feeling too good. Let's beat Dallas on Sunday!
Already been answered, but Nyarko was onside when Mapp made the initial pass. Shavar Thomas got the next touch, not Rolfe, so it was a good non-call.
Blanco missed a penalty kick against Kansas City in Arrowhead Stadium shortly after his arrival in 2007. The ESPN announcer was incorrect.
Don't get me wrong, Blanco did have a bad game, but I think you pay a little too much attention to John Harkes. He made a lot of bad passes, but he also made a few excellent ones that resulted in good scoring opportunities. You can't blame Blanco for Busch reacting late to a long range shot or Soumare temporarily losing track of his brain, so I'd argue that those 2 goals were the primary reason we were down 2-1.
With the exception of the comment about Mapp, I'll agree with this post. Mapp had the ball in our end, had toooons of space, and made an awful long ball pass to the opposite end for a turnover. With his speed, and the space given him, he should have moved it up the wing more before passing it. One of the commentators noted that a bit later, we were lacking on our wings, and I immediately thought of that play.
Their $ was in an envelope on the room's dresser, the FakeSheGoats pulled their panties back up, cleaned themsleves up, took it, and left. Time to move on to the next set of bitches to slap around and call Blanco "Daddy" whilst the Fire fill their holes.. SixKick, we need a thread for Dallas!!! Victory and the Brimstone will be ours!
I agree. Remember earlier in the game he was fouled on a corner kick (the AR called it, I believe) and Vaughn had the Fire re-take the corner when it probably should have been a PK.
I think McBride went down a little easily. But that kind of thing is what a veteran player does. Just like what Marsch did earlier. Fire won a free kick near midfield and Marsch encroached enough to allow his teammates to fall back and get ready for it. Just like when every keeper in the league slows the game by delaying a re-start.
Mapp looked utterly confused out there. He appears to have no understanding of when to trap the ball and go 100% upfield and when to slow it down. When you have open space, go, when you have 3-4-5 defenders in front of you, slow it down! His tendency of taking on 3-4-5 defenders only to fall down from the minimalist of contact is agonizing to STILL be watching years later.
Speaking of paying attention to John Harkes. Around the 70th minute, I was listening to him... anyone ever notice how much he often sounds like Christopher Walken? If you tivoed the game, listen around that time... you'll hear it.
Speaking of falling down, what was up with Thor last night. I thought he was terrible. I can remember at least 3 occasions when he tripped over his own feet while dribbling. I seem to remember some seriously shanked shots (as well as the post-skimmer, which didn't need to be that close. Thorrington was free on goal and took too long to make a decision) In fact, there was a lot of slow decision making from John last night. The entire team look like they were struggling with the field after 2 games on turf. Thor was just struggling.
I agree. We were lucky. We were lucky that Vaughn and his crew did a reasonably good job of catching most fouls. Except for the aforementioned retaken corner kick when McBride was fouled. I would've given out all of those cards and one more to Sasha for his unsportsmanlike F-bombing of Hamlet and time wasting by the bleeder. And kudos for them catching and having the balls to call that final PK. The replay clearly shows a two-handed push, that McBride even mentioned in the post-game comments. He almost had it and it skipped off his hands. I was disappointed he didn't get it, but as pointed out by Harkes, nobody moved up to stop the shot being taken. This is not the first time our defenders have done this. He seems to have regressed. And then there was that long pass he blasted past the end line that Harkes blamed on Thorington. I think he should be benched to clear his head. I have no problem with Prideaux going back in for one game against FCD. I didn't feel bad. I was counting the minutes before he pulled his trademark stupid foul. He did that throughout his Fire career and then would shake his head at the ref as he walked away. That stupid play cost his team the game, which they were clearly going to win at that point. As mentioned by someone else, he did make a few bad crosses. However, I think it was a good move by Hamlet (and I am one of his harshest critics) in getting someone with fresh legs and can half-way decently control the ball. His work did set up our second goal. Totally agree. His substitution for a defender was another good move by Hamlet. His first attempt at goal should be required viewing for youth players on how not to head to ball: don't look at the ball and let it hit off your shoulder. But his goal showed the kind of composure (big goalie running straight at you and you're losing) one expects from veterans. Perhaps there's hope for the kid after all. The rest of the players did well. Though I was disappointed we didn't score at least another goal during the run of play. Blanco's first PK was an incredible strike. He bent it so that there was no way for Thornton to get it, who guessed right. He did have his share of really bad passes. But he did make some critical ones and I, too, thought he should've been subbed. I think this will be one of those games that will be looked back at as a turning point in the season if (when) we win the championship.
I posted this in the Chivas thread also. To start off, I'm from St. Louis so you can't say I'm biased toward the Fire in any way But I don't understand why people are complaining about this last PK. McBride went down because he had two hands in his back. I have know idea how hard of a push it was. Did he go down easily - probably. But if a defender places two hands in the back of an attacker in the PA, he can hardly be shocked when a PK is called. How does the ref ignore a blatant shove from behind regardless of the strength of that shove? The game was a good game - even better if Harkes would quit talking - it could have gone either way. As I said, it was a great game, and it was a shame it ended as it did - but I really think the ref had no choice. While it may not have been strong, it was very blatant.
At least one person in this thread mentioned it, but I will re-iterate... if you have the match recorded, go back and watch the first half....look for the corner kick we re-took. On the initial corner kick while the ball was in play, Mcbride gets an arm locked around his ^%#$^%ing neck and thrown bodily to the ground. No "oh, he went down to easy", it was a ^%$#ing WWF move. The linesman made the call and when the ref came over to see what the call was all we got was a re-taken corner kick. We were absolutely robbed of an incredibly legitimate PK. Whine about PKs all you want, Chivas were dangerously sloppy in their box all night and they deserved to get the spot kicks taken against them.
How many more stupid rough fouls in the box does Bakary need to make before Denis benches his dumb ass? How many more pks given up? How many more goals from opks given up by stupid worthless dumb tackles in the box? Mali and some team in France want him? That says a lot about those teams.. and it isn't good.
It's still on ESPN 360, and I'm watching it again. Yeah, that was a definite pk and card call, but that doesn't mean the final one called was legit. Didn't look to me like BMB had a play on the cross. Look, I'm mad as hell watching those hacky FakeSheGoats, and happy as hell we took 3 from them at their home, but if we dominate the run of play and bury our chances, we don't need to depend on the ref at all, and that is the type of play I want to see from the Fire, because that type of play is attractive to watch as well as exciting, and tends to win Championships more then reliance on MLS refs to make-up for missed calls. I hope Sega snaps Sacha's leg like a twig in the WCQ. Break that thing. Pulverize it.
Can anyone who's rewatched it comment on the back pass a few minutes before the final PK. I thought the final PK call was a bit of a makeup for missing what seemed like a clear back pass during an attacking opportunity for the fire.
I was really happy how the game ended. Even though Chivas played really well, they had one constant throughout the match, hack and foul...and they got away with alot...but the outcome was merely justice for thier piss-poor style of defending. The most interesting thing about Chivas' first goal, was the foul on Rolfe right before the goal...you can see Rolfe go flying, and Terry V holding his arms out to call for advantage...that was wierd, it's like he recognized the foul on Rolfe and called the advantage for Chivas... Oh well, WE WON...and justice was served...and was even allowed to supersize it. Go Fire!!!
Also, I just remembered, at the end of the game, before the PK, there was a backpass to Thornton that he picked up that went uncalled. That would've been an indirect kick in the box.