I missed most of the first half... I really have nothing to report except that the fieldturf appears to play pretty well. I don't think the veterans were taking the game too seriously. Grafer was way off his line when he saved the pk. We had a lot of goal mouth scrambles in their box that we couldn't finish off. But it was fun to hang out and see a match from the center line instead of behind the goal.
OK. Lineup, 4-4-2: Howard, Ziadie, Pope, Jolley, DiGiamarino, LeBlanc, Williams, Mathis, Clark, Magee, Moreno. Subs: Glowienka for Digi, Leitch for Ziadie, Wolyniec for Mathis. Goals: Leitch from Wolyniec. 83. Great off the ball run by Leitch. Good feed from Wolyniec. Rochester almost broke the play up, but the ball fell back to Leitch's foot for a 12 yard shot. He hit it low. Clark from Magee. 87. Nice layoff from Magee in the box to a streaking Clark, who comes in from the right, at a tough angle and hits a right-footed toe poke into the roof. Classy goal. Overall Report. First half, Rochester didn't touch the ball. Moreno had three great chances, including two one-on-ones with the keeper. Couldn't finish. I think one was cleared off the line. Second half, Metro have a bad first 10 minutes. Rochester created a couple of chances and actually hit the post once. Mathis was dog tired and playing like crap (in the first half, his passing was also poor). Mathis is subbed out and Jaime moves to central midfield and Metro start moving the ball better again. Jolley and Pope both have shots cleared off the line by Rhinos. MOTM: Ricardo Clark. He's the goods. Covers a ton of ground, has pretty nice feet, too. Andracki made one really nice save on Ricardo before he finally scored. Mathis is not even close to ready. His attempts at through-balls were all off the mark. He also looks tentative to run at defenders. Gotta be patient with him. Magee showed some nice stuff with the ball, but also had his bad moments. Jaime needs to score a few. He was dangerous, but his last touch was off. Possession was good, but the pass to set up the striker was always off. Field plays heavy.
4-4-2 I guess it seems that Bob is going with a 4-4-2 right now. I am interested to see how it works when in fact we do get Guevera (just jinxed us). I think that Bradley wants Magee on the field which indicates that both Guevera and Mathis would be paired in the Central Midfield together which could be interesting. I also wanted to know what was up with Tim Regan. All this talk about him in the pre-season and I think he is sitting on the bench if we are playing a 4-4-2. Any thoughts? My ideal lineup would have both Magee and Clark starting... so here it goes. Timmy Jolley - Pope - Regan - Williams Clark - Digi Guevera Mathis Magee Moreno Probably way too much offense but with the triumvirate of defensive oriented players in the midfield (ie Clark, Williams, and Digi) that could do a lot of cover for the front 4.
I thought Mathis played well in the first half. Lotta touches, very composed on the ball, made a few good thru balls, and some great long passes to the wings. Of note to all you Mathis work ethic criticizers, he ran ALOT, on both sides of the ball. As Vistula said, he did seem to run out of gas early in the 2nd. Ricardo looked pretty good. I thought he dribbled a little too much in the 1st half, but he settled down nicely in the 2nd, and his goal was a beauty. Richie Williams had a pretty good game, I thought. He never stops running. Pope was a rock in the back. Team-wise, our crosses were less than stellar all game. I noticed our front men relly didnt display any break away speed when they got behind the defense with the ball as well. Worrisome?
3 thoughts from todays match: 1) don't expect much from Moreno unless the ball can be played onto his feet on a consistant basis. 2) Magee would be more useful as a sub off the bench than a starter at this point in time. 3) the backline looked much more solid than last year which would be welcome news for Howard.
http://www.metrostars.com/metronews/submissions/2003/april/04062003v1.htm Scoring Summary: MET: Leitch (Wolyniec) 76; MET: Clark (Magee, Leitch) 86. METROSTARS: Tim Howard (Paul Grafer 46); Craig Ziadie (Chris Leitch 61), Joey DiGiamarino (Tim Glowienka 46), Steve Jolley, Eddie Pope; Richie Williams, Ricardo Clark, Jacob LeBlanc (Tim Regan 70), Clint Mathis (John Wolyniec 61); Jaime Moreno, Mike Magee. SHOTS: 15; SOG: 6; SAVES 3. CAUTIONS: Williams 79. ROCHESTER: Billy Andracki; Scott Schweitzer (Craig Demmin 74), Ryan DiNunzio, Jonathan Cole (Scott Dumbrose 57), Lenin Steenkamp; Stoian Mladenov (Ian Fuller 46), Kirk Wilson (Jamel Mitchell 55), Temoc Suarez (Carlos Mendez 46), David Hayes (Mac Cozier 55); Fred Commodore (Maurizio Rocha 46), Viktor Paco (Doug Miller 46). SHOTS: 5; SOG: 3; SAVES: 5; CAUTIONS: Commodore 25; Suarez 44; Rocha 79.
Talked to Mathis after the game. He said that he has been practicing less than a week, and knew he couldn't go 90, yet. Thought for someone who had is gut cut open not that long ago, he did fine. Moreno hustled, but did have problem finishing. I saw one play where Richie ran from one end of the field to the other and tracked down a Rhino player, great hustle for a warm up. Many of the crosses were not up to standards, but I'm giving them awhile to blend together. Remember, this team is still being defined.
He was listed as a guest player. He was a Metro 1st round pick a while back, but he was cut before opening day IIRC. Bradley likes him, and showed him some time in Chicago.
I think Wolyniec played for the Metros for the whole 1999 season. IIRC, he came off the bench once and scored a minute later. I think it may have been versus the Clash.
Wolyniec was drafted with a first round pick before the 1999 season and was cut before the season started. He played for Long Island and was loaned back to the Metros, playing in four games, scoring in his first. Next season he ended up in Chicago and was later traded to New England for Eric Wynalda. Last year he was A-League Final MVP for the Milwaukee Rampage.
Made some poor passes/crosses from the left. Opposite side of the field for me, so I couldnt tell much else.
Actually, Dan, Wolyniec wasn't cut before the season started. He was cut two games into the season along with Jim Rooney and Jim Manganello. He just didn't see any action before that time.
Why don't you guys ask to sit in the center, would be realy cool on TV, and could rally the people behind you as well. You guys should try it.