Fun match. The two break-aways in the first half, one of which was successful, were bad, but the defense seemed to settle a bit after that. Wore my new Nagbe kit and he scores. I'm expecting his thank you note at any moment! Loved seeing Parkhurst honored. Even before the match, folks in the Delta Club were yelling out for him on his way out to warmups for selfies, etc, and he was obliging many. Seemed to be really enjoying the moment.
For those that didn't see a guy from the Revs who played with Parky brought out a framed print from his playing days at the club. Classy touch.
Danke! Now incase the newness is a factor please proceed to buy kits for Hyndman, Meram, and anyone else you don't own for our remaining matches. Thank you in advance! Can you blame him?! I mean how cool is that to have 40k fans chanting your name?! But the dude deserves it and handled it very well. Love how Martinez also took his goal scoring bow in front of Parky, too. Shows how much the players respect the man. What a great first captain for this team. Cheers to you, Parkhurst. Thank you for your efforts and I hope we oblige with your wish to go out a 2-time champ!
Random post-match thoughts: - I emailed Roberson about Pity not playing and his response was a simple "Barco needs minutes." I don't disagree but Pity could've played in lieu of Hyndman or Meram, too. FdB's response during his presser was also poorly worded, enough to imply there remains lingering issues between the coach and player. *sigh* - So glad they made adjustments at half time to handle defensive assignments. As Yoss said those breakaways in the first half were killing Atlanta, so you could see Jeff sitting deeper and LGP and Franco playing narrower in response. Result was less space for through balls, and when Revs players did get the ball in advanced potions they had less room to turn. Also, defense moved the ball more quickly out of the back third, so that helped keep NER midfield further back. A war of field position. - I thought Emo did pretty well. Yes, he left a couple long passes lacking but he was hardly alone by that standard. He also was making more vertical runs than Barco. Neither was poor but they weren't garnering an 8 or 9 rating, either. - Gressel took a beating yesterday. I'm sure he's got 2-3 big bruises to show for it this morning.
Had drill this weekend and missed the game. Luckily, we get a replay in two weeks! I hope some New Englanders show up with Parky jerseys. My seats are near the away section, so I'll be on the lookout. Glad the boys won; now they need to teach the Braves how to win in the postseason.
I saw 5 different Revs fans on hand, including the one gent who sat two rows behind me in the supporters end. He was fervent but realistic, said most of their fans are simply happy to be talking about hope and potential. Not sure if there will be more for a playoff game but we'll see.
It's hump day on playoff game week! I feel like it's been months since I've been to a game. I'm ready for this weekend to be here already.
You're not alone. Since we're pretty sure Miles ain't playing Saturday, let's go ahead and get this going. We win, we advance. We lose, we try to get ready for next season and figure out what went wrong this time around.
Darren Eales was on "Dukes and Bell" yesterday and expressed a lot of frustration with Greg Berhalter's handling of Miles Robinson. He noted that Miles had played nearly every minute of the season, so was at peak fitness there was no reason for him to be running sprints at 11:30 at night. Also, the team hasn't ruled Miles out for Saturday, so it could be that the injury isn't that bad and the team has been holding its cards close to the vest and he'll be ready. Apparently, the team has been working with 4 at the back in practice, so if Miles isn't ready expect to see Parkhurst inserted back into the lineup and things will be fine. WE READY!
Well it is official now, Miles is out. I say we play Parkhurst in the middle with Larentowicz playing as the defensive midfield position in front of him.
And Frank de Boer was pretty blunt in his criticism for the Federation and Greg Berhalter, as he should be. Not quite as diplomatic as Darren Eales on the radio yesterday. Berhalter is an idiot.
Someone at the USSF needs to answer the questions AU is asking. Darlington Nagbe is smart to turn down national call ups when the Federation runs things like a freaking Sunday league. Berhalter is a stupidface.
Not sure if you caught this because I accidently posted it the P&CE forum, so I'll copy and paste it here: I hear ya, it pains me to see Josh Wolff sitting next to Berhalter as I think Josh can be a good coach and he is my 2nd favorite soccer playing son of Georgia. I wore his national team jersey to an Atlanta United game and everyone kept asking me why I was called 'The Wolf'. Sadly when I explain I wasn't the wolf they had no idea of who Josh Wolff was.
Oh those Parkview boys. Too bad Jason Moore's knees wore out so quickly. He had potential to be really good.