MetroStars Vs Burn - postgame [R]

Watched the second half. Kind of a weird game. All three goals were flukes. Not a pretty one among them. Metros played OK, not great.

 

From the MLS-stat-padding dept:

Lisi and Guevara are both credited with assists for tapping the ball on Mathis' free kick goal.

Howard: Fantastic. That's about as good a game as you can possibly have without recording the shutout. Only one mistake -- flubbing the ball in the box about 80 minutes in. Recovered well though.

Guevara: Decent, but not as all over as he has been previously.

Galvan: Played well, but I was surprised to see him drifting middle and eventually left as the night went on. Seemed like he started out as a right winger, then moved in next to Guevara, then went all over the field. Lacks polish.

Clark: Maybe the best game from him all season. Seemed to disappear a bit in the second halves of earlier matches, but not tonight. Great defensive and offensive work. Still the prohibitive ROY favorite.

Lisi: Very solid game. DC fans must cry watching this guy play, because it shows the difference a coach can make.

Pope: Another solid effort in the back. No mistakes I saw.

Jolley: Ditto Pope, plus a good hard low shot on the goal.

Mathis: Playing at a very high level, and starting to link up better with Magee.

Magee: Didn't get a goal tonight, but is looking stronger and less afraid.

Ziadie: Average game from him.

Regan: Looks good on defense, but is a bit of a liability pushing forward.

Overall: Very good game from what is probably the best team in MLS right now. Took the loss of Williams in stride. Unlucky to give up the PK goal, especially after Howard saved the initial shot. Man, I love watching this team right now.

 

From what I hear on the radio, wasnt a great game by the Metros. Oh yea, Columbus lost. Give me a hell yea!

 

I didn't think we played amazingly well, but overall solid.

The thing is, when a team can win these sort of disorganized games to keep a winning streak going, especially with late goals, its a sign of a winner. Remember, in soccer the ability to win is more important than the ability to play well. I know that sounds stupid, but its what separates champions from great teams. One example is the difference between, say, AC Milan and Juventus (at least in Serie A, not CL). Juventus just wins even if they don't deserve it, whereas Milan will attack and dominate but not get the win in the end.

Its that something special, the intangible winner's attitude. I think the MetroStars have that right now.

 

It is too bad Mathis had that hernia. He would be the scoring leader.

It isn't always the pretty games that define a team.


Friggin' Clarke. Wow.

5-1-1

Yippee Kye aaaa

 

from what i've seen across professional teams and from my own experience playing i think Dallas played that indirect kick in the box correctly.

That's a tough situation for any defense, but what you gotta do as a defense is get tight and eliminate gaps between players first of all.

then you get on one post, leaving the other half for the keeper. no matter what anyone says, its hard as ************ to get the ball into the upper 90 from that close, and its a tough angle, because you don't have a lot of time ot get the ball with some air under it, so theres a good chance that a defender will hit it...

splitting the defense onto either side would be dumb and i've never seen anyone do it. more holes would just open up for a player to pick a hole and shoot for..

dallas played it correctly, and if you can ge ta crafty play together like the metros did its a tough ball to defend..

other stuff:
magee plays like a high school kid, and runs like a girl... he should not be in the starting lineup, even with moreno out..

galvan looked like he was trying to do too much and trying to impress a little too much with the ball.. he needed to release a second earlier on most of his touches... but theres some potential there.

mathis is a gamer. great player and getting into form...

metros are playing possession ball as good as any team in the mls right now..

 

also, tim regan played a decent game, so i can't complain, but he's the only pro that i've ever seen head a ball with both hands down at his sides

he did that like 5 times, and again, he didn't mishit any of them, so i'll not complain yet, but that form is just horrible

not to mention he looks like the Shermanator from american pie

 

Why the hell was Vaca on the bench until the bitter end?

 

werdguy said "splitting the defense onto either side would be dumb and i've never seen anyone do it. more holes would just open up for a player to pick a hole and shoot for.."

How many years have you been around the game?

I have about 2000 games under my belt over 40 yrs does not include my total yrs alive. That is how it should be played. At least that is how the Germans do it, and where I learned it.

The wall has got to be disciplined like any wall should be discliplined. Also one player inside the wall closest to the keeper should crash the ball after the first touch.

When you take those indirects close to goal it is usually off the back pass to get more height on the ball or if you have a genious that likes to jump in the wall you can score under the wall. But you have to know their wall players first, on what they do on previous walls.

Like if the guy in the wall was Ante Razov who always jumps fairly high and early. You can score under him on FK's.

Now tell me you can score under the wall.

 

Based on comments from the Dallas forum, Vaca's stock has fallen. He was beat in the middle first by O'Brien and now by Davis. I'm guessing that if Bradley still wants Vaca, the asking price would be a bit more realistic than it was 3 months ago.

 

WHAT DOES IT MATTER????? if dallas coach wants to be stupid and not put in the well-respected, talent, bolivian international= then so be it!!!!!!!! METRO METRO METRO METRO METRO!!

 

From everything their own fans have been saying, Vaca has loads of talent, but he gets pushed off the ball way too easy, and he can't seem to compensate for the small stature ala Beasley.

 

Re: Re: MetroStars Vs Burn - postgame [R]

Ithink he is a player, and we have one foreign allocation open right?

How do we get around the salary cap?

I know give him league minium, and make him an assitant coach and pay him the difference in that way.

 

How did Chris Gbandi play?

 

by the way, NETS baby right across the street; i wanted to point this out, there was originally 18K ppl at the Metros game, but when the announcer said "If you're here for the Nets game, it is at Continental Airlines arena" half of them left; so that is why there was 9K ppl there

 

check this out at the nets game; the Metros need ideas like this:

http://www.cbs.com/latenight/lateshow/slide_shows/ls_slideshow_nba_002.shtml

(copy and paste- the answer is "c" and the Metros should really come up with this)

 

He had an ok game could have been red carded in the first half when he literally tackled a Metro. Was a really bad play. Otherwise fairly good for the UConn grad.

 

This is a game of crazy bounces for all three goals. That PK is a perfect example of sometimes playing too well actually hurts your own cause. If Tim had managed only to put half a palm on the ball (rather than a full hand), it would probably be deflected out for a corner kick, and most likely he would keep his clean sheet. Of course he could have put both hands on the ball and not given up the rebound, but that would be asking too much.

 

Re: Re: Re: MetroStars Vs Burn - postgame [R]

Well, Man U is about to take a league max salary off our hands...

 

Let's be honest. That handball call on the so-called illegal back-pass was absolutely horrible.

The ball was actually in front of Magee as the defender tried to kick it away from him. The only thing on his mind was to get it away from Magee, not pass it back to the keeper. The key word is intent and there was certainly none based on that play. Countess picked it up like any other goalie would have under the circumstances.

Galvan spent so much time on the ground, I thought Tab came out of retirement. And can someone explain to him that you ARE allowed to pass the ball in America?

I cringe everytime I see Regan bring the ball up. Wouldn't be suprised if the Metros defense gets burned because of one of his runs down the wing.

 

Advantage is always with the taker. Especially if the taker is the specialist, and always takes them.

Howard stopped the first attempt can't complain to much.

 

Re: Re: Re: Re: MetroStars Vs Burn - postgame [R]

Please I am trying to forget that, but if you care about players it is a great thing for this player.

 

Did anyone think that Guvera's game suffered because Richie Williams was not on the pitch? I have thought that the 2 of the played well together, and in fact complimented each other's styles. Last night without Williams in the game Guevera played one of his less than steller games.

I also thought that there was a lot of standing around by Mathis and Magee (especially in the 1st half) and as a result very few chances were created.