We're holding our own at halftime. Tied up at 1-1. Nice goal by Mathis. We're still giving up too many chances to Cerritos, we need to shut him down better.
Good game by the Metros overall. Why can't we consistenly get this kind of an effort out of this team? Good confidence booster for Faria with 2 goals. Glad to see Diallo and Ramos on the field, maybe we can make a playoff run afterall.
Dallas threw everything they had in the first half and was out of energy in the second. Reminds me of the Miami game at the Orange Bowl last year -- Howard keeps the team in it until the midfield takes over and generates the goals. That Diallo cross on the third goal was textbook-perfect, by the way. Don't matter how you get it done. Three points is three points. Doesn't this make three the playoff magic number? A win vs. DC on Thursday gets the playoff spot, right?
I thought Howard was man of the match. If he deosen't come off the line like he did late first half/ early second, the Metros fall behind, which I dont think they wouldve come back from. Just think if the Metros actually play defense, we'd never know what a goalie we have. This team always seems to win unexpectedly and lose the same way. Easier schedule the rest of the way. On to the playoffs.
In my best Larry King hand a la his now cancelled USA Today column... -Dallas was a tired team, but they went at Metro hammer and tongs. -We looked a totally different team than Saturday. Totally. -Akwari looked very good at right back -Pareja is the new Leonel Alvarez -Our not playing this weekend and still having a game in hand puts all the pressure on the other Eastern teams, and it will be a great layoff for Metro and their banged up players. -How huge are those last three matches? -Would Metro please give up on the long ball in making goals? -I love Williams wide right and Davis out left. Could we see Paule holding for Ramos on Thursday? -Derby weekend will be sick. -Jack Edwards was dead right when he said, "I haven't seen every Metro match, but Petke may be having his best game this season..." I think Edwards is a prat, but he had his best performance I have ever heard. For once he didn't crap himself when someone scored. Still, I wish they would give up on their obsessions with violence, hard men and bad blood. If I hear the phrase "no love lost between these two teams..." one more time, I'll vomit. -If you haven't signed up for the roadtrip, you haven't got a pulse. -Can we quit this formulaic pretense of smart young female sideline reporters? It should ring a bell when Veronica Paysse's hottest lead is an interview with an Elvis look alike contest winner...
Very lucky to get three points tonight, but the Metros have had some bad luck lately so I say it's earned. Some observations: - Faria had a good match, and as always played hard, but missed two golden opportunies. Howard was the reason they won. MOTM. - Why in hell was Mathis playing midfield when he was supposed be forward? He wasn't up front making runs and consequently the midfield was clogged up. He goes up front, draws a couple of defenders and the field opens up. Which is exactly what happened when Diallo came on. - What game was Jack Edwards watching? Metros did not dominate the match. First ten minutes, yes, and for fifteen minutes after Diallo came on but excluding the game of keepaway at the end it was either Dallas or up for grabs. - Gotta blame Jolley for the Cerritos goal. From the time the ball gets thrown in until the goal he does not move an inch. Not the way to guarantee the MLS Cup. - I like Zaidie but at least Akwari's an actual defender, as opposed to a transplanted midfielder. Let's keep him in there. - Davis looks more and more confident on the ball. One more reason for Mathis to get up front and stay there. - That Steve Morrow's a right bastard, eh? He'd make a good Metro.
i don't know if we were watching the same game...out team played like crap...except for a few moments of normalcy.....we kept giving up the ball at midlfield...our defence kept clearing it out to nobody.... yes, its an important win...but no way do we look that much better than we did saturday night....we still played like crap...this time, lucky crap.... the assist by diallo with the outside of his right foot was a thing of beauty....the assist by davis was precision.....
I'm too lazy to go the Metros site...could someone list the goals and assists if at all possible ? Also did Tab show anything out there and for how long was he on the pitch ?
This is the best point made so far. Yeah, Chrono has his weaknesses, but I hope that this is the same starting defense in the playoffs. You get the feeling either he or Akwari are gonna sit the bench vs DC. It's hard to get too giddy about this game since the Metros were well rested and playing a tired Dallas team. It seemed like Faria was left open the entire match. What was the purpose of putting in fragile Tab late in the match with the result pretty much a given?
You're in a harsh mood today, man Well, I think there's two ways to look at this. We somehow managed to ply an early goal and some clutch keeping, along with a couple timely finishes past MLS's Most Overrated Goalkeeper, into a much-needed win. Oh, did I mention the opposition was dog-tired after 3 games in 5 days? Doesn't make it sound so impressive, does it? On the other hand, we can take the side of glass-half-fullers: once we got the third goal, we were more or less effective in barring the door on Dallas (I KNOW they were probably beat at this point. Never mind that, for a moment). We held a frickin' lead. Team defense! A midfield that played hard but not stupid, and tracked back! Chronopolous making a clutch block in front of goal! Where did this team come from? For the better part of one half, at least, we not only didn't ship goals, we also held our shape halfway decently and played the ball somewhat efficiently through midfield. There's a lot that could be a lot better, but what a game like this might do is stop the bleeding, in terms of this team losing all confidence that it can close out a match without dying of agida. As opposed to the DC game, where we were crap for 91 minutes and got the right goal at the right time, tonight we stayed with one of the league's better teams (thanks, Timmy) and managed to put it away. This is good. Watching the highlights of the Dallas-LA match from a couple nights ago at halftime, I remembered how good LA had been that night against this same team and how, on the basis of the first half display, we weren't even close. And while we're still not, at least we're hitting the homestretch with a deserved win under our belts, and all the chance in the world to belt DC and New England out of the playoffs. Come into the playoffs winning 10 of 12 or 12 of 12 possible points, and all of a sudden life looks a whole lot cheerier. Or else they go could piss it all away. There's really no way of telling with this team.
I think the most important aspect of this match on espn2 was that it was entertaining and exciting because it was going up against espn with the start of the nfl season. By comparison, pointy-ball was boring. I just hope a lot of people switched channels over to espn2 during the multitude of nfl commercials. The Metros just cannot handle those small speedsters like Cerritos, Chivas Martinez, Cienfuegos, Ruiz, DMB. (Actually nobody can handle Ruiz and I just hope Arena can find a way to do that.) Without small speedsters in there, the Metros look like a strong team. But when they face those speedsters, that's when the trouble starts.
See what happens when we have good play in mid field. We score goals and give the defense some help. It is really important for williams to have help in mid field. Davis and williams make a good team. Pauli played well tonight also. Now that tab is back our mid field will be solid. The back four did very well tonight. This is the combo of players that should start the game. Mathis and faria or diallo up front. davis, williams, pauli and moore or tab (if healthy) in mid field, chronopolis, jolly, petke, akwari on d. That is the best line up. If diallo is starting then faria should come in for who ever looks more tired. If diallo is on the bench then he should come in for mathis. I just think that mathis and diallo can't play together. But faria can play with both. I can't believe that a second year player is turning out to be the leader of this team. Faria is leading this team.
Perhaps Diallo would like to explain to Tab his healing prowess. On Saturday night, the announcers indicated Diallo "probably" had a broken ankle. Two days ago, it was reported that it's a high ankle sprain and he was likely to miss the remainder of the regular season. Yesterday, the Metros announced that Diallo was "questionable" against Dallas. Tonight, he played about 30 minutes and gets an assist, as if nothing happened. Either the man pulled a great con job in the L.A. match or he must be drinking some serious doses of milk.
This victory was well needed like I have posted in a previous thread. Yes you would love to see an attractive, discipline match from our boys. Sometimes an ugly win is what you need when you can steal 3 Pts. We earned it tonight and I think we also got away with a few things. But the better club won tonight. Faria two big goals and Clint's Mohawk header to get the very early goal in the match. The plan is starting to take shape. Petke dropped the dye job. Wow. Maybe something new for him and the boys. Superstition always works.
With respect to being poor sports, I hope that's tongue-in-cheek. After the match tonight, I gave Tabare the Alpha Iteration of my Roller's 93 Flag. What is that? It was deployed in the Burn - Goon game a few weeks back, on ye olde Deuce, and then again tonight. Those are the only two appearances ever for the (IMHO) penultimate Jeffersonian Expression of Vexillology ever exhibited in praise of the combatants on Flight 93. 23 Stripes, representing the 23 chormosomes of the Human DNA. 40 Stars, but four-pointed stars, arrayed in a Fibonacci Spiral pattern based on the Golden Section. Of course, surrounding the number "93", with "93" in the same Font as the Bennigton "76" flag. If you are slightly enlightened, you know, at this point, that I Rule. But that's not the point of this missive. The vast majority of readers have no clue about that which I speak. That's o.k. You're bridge and tunnel folk. I'm from Dallas Frickin Texas. We were our own Country, at one point, you know. You guys consider yourselves (with a minor degree of justification) the center of the civilized world. I've spent a lot more time in Manhattan than any of you have ever spent in Tejas. But one thing we share in common, is our USian heritage and Passport. The Penultimate expression of Patriotism in the last 100 Frickin Years was displayed almost a year ago around 11:02am eastern by the Combatants on Flight 93 somewhere over Western Pennsylvania. Those Combatants, Memorialized in my Penulitmate Expression of Patriotic Vexillology, last touched terra firma, USian Soil, about 6 miles from the Swamp. Tabare scored the Penultimate Goal for the Nats in the '90s in Portland in '97. And his career in the States was played out at the Swamp. Thus, in Memoriam of the '93 Combatants, although many of them likely never knew it, their nation was set on the path of International Respect by a Professional Footballer who plyed his trade less than 6 miles from their Final Jump. Therefore, presenting Tabare with the Alpha Unit was fitting, poignant, and just. I'm quite far left socially, and far right economically. In fact, could I vote for such a platform, I'd support a Fascist Libertarian slate of candidates, advocating Nationalization of all Saudi assets in Manhattan, as well as mandatory Solar investment by every lien-holder in this Nation. Not to mention a Cancellation of the War on Some Drugs. When I lamented our Black-Ops record in the 3rd world dating back to Bretton Woods in '43, Tab said "right on brother". But he also was touched by my gift, and that made me feel good. Tab's career is winding down, but we will always remember Portland. It may not have been the shot heard round the world, but it was the shot that rang our bell. And one day, the World will know, that was the moment where we came of Age as a Footballing Nation, setting our Citizenry on the course towards acceptance in the Global Community of Nations. Tab was the Man. He deserves the Honor of holding the Crucible of USian Patriotic Expression. Big Oil and Dubya excepted. Good luck to you Metro Bastages for the rest of this season. Apologies for this late-night Drunken Discoordinated rambling rant. Long live Tab. Long live the Rollers. Long live Strategery. Yeehah! Kill the Goons! -bs ps- Praise Bob
A much needed 3 points. Timmy saves their a$$es again and again after numerous sloppy defensive plays. Good recovery from Faria after the whack on his ankle. He could of gotten 2 more goals but we'll take the 2 he got. Nice cross from Diallo. Tabare looks to be out of it but it was nice to see him on the field. Clint is slowly coming around. What are the chances we'll ever see Bolboa on the field? Look at the bright side, we play DC 2 out of the last 3 games.
Even when Faria gets praised on these boards, it's pretty faint. IMHO, anytime a forward scores 2 2nd half goals to win the game 3-1, I'd say that's a great game. If he also got himself in position for two other "golden opportunities" in the game, then all the better.
I thought Faria and Howard played well......maybe its just me but, I thought Chrono had the game of his short Metro career....he seemed to be wherever they needed him last night..... I don't know if this has to do with past poor performances, but I thought he was as important as Howard out there in cutting down some of those 'sure' goals. He's my MOTM.
Faria seems to be influenced by the return of Mathis. Faria is showing less hesitation and more ruthlessness in wanting to score. Or maybe I am just imagining that. This is really the first time Mathis and Faria are playing alongside each other for an extended period. Faria got his chance to play last year because of Mathis' knee. Now this year, Mathis was out a lot due to the WC and injuries. Finally they are together and Mathis is just beginning to influence Faria. I hope that the accidental injury to Cerritos is not serious and I'm sure all Metro fans including myself wish him a speedy recovery. Although he has always been a big thorn in our side, first at SJ and now at Dallas, he certainly is an exciting player to watch. Get well soon!