Great win by Metros. Without Mathis and with Amado back after a rest, it seems they all went back to their typical game long hard hustle. The difference this time is that they scored first and didn't have to come from behind to get points. A few points: ESPN is a joke. You want to delay showing the game for basefkball, ok I'll give you that (maybe), but gddammit, switch the frigging thing when you say you will and don't show it on 2 ESPN stations. No frigging respect for soccer as usual. Eddie Gaven has a bright future. This kid has enormous potential and amazing speed and hustle. I've never seen Donovan get out of control like that and he's usually more or less a gentleman on the pitch. WTF was that all about? The ref is a total idiot. Missed several blatant fouls and an obvious red card on Donovan. Also fell for a few dives by the Quacks. Then again, that's par for MLS. I rarely see a decently called game. GO METROS!!!
Thanks. He didn't see red because he is Mr. Clean, the MLS's fair-haired boy and idol to pre-pubescent teen girls. Mathis at least fights for himself and the team, at times more than he should. What kills me is how Mathis fights back for the team and Metro fans rip him. Donovan takes out our Keeper on a cheap play and only Mejido is on Donovan's case. The rest of the fans should be screaming for pretty boy's head on a freakin platter. Instead "Metrofans" find a way to bash Mathis. F Donovan. Decapitate the little prick next time. Francino is owed some payback too, and the fans should be giving them tons of *#*#*#*# in the Swamp.
As it should be. If you can manage it, you get in as much postseason of any sport as possible. Deal with it.
You missed the point that game means squat now that we are in the playoffs and with a CHAMPIONSHIP game 4 days later you dont wanna risk anyone or have anyone the leaast bit tired.
Geez, give it a rest. Johnny Damon was being interviewed on ESPN while the Yankees were on ESPN2. Then they got the game on ESPN while it was still on ESPN2. Why? Who knows. Maybe they didn't want to interrupt the action for anyone who were already watching it on ESPN2. Either way, we got to watch the game and missed a whole 15 mins. Well, anyone remember the US/Argentina friendly? I think he got into a shoving match with one of the Argie players. I could be wrong. Plus I've seen him mouth off to refs before too. Not saying he's a classless hack or anything, but after watching him today, I lost some respect for him. I wouldnt go as far as calling the ref an idiot. He seemed to have control early on. Gave a card to Waibel and Roner and also to Woly. As for the dives, well I think you see that in just about any league so I don't think it's fair to say that the ref "missed" the calls.
A good win. Anybody noticed without Mathis the Metro offense actually seemed more energetic. Gavin is fast and skilled and running hard, something Clint doesn’t do that much anymore.
But with the lineup you suggested, it seemed like the Metros should roll over and die against the Burn. I know that the Metros have their biggest game in their history, but we're still fighting in the East and only 3 points ahead of DC. I don't think we can sacrafice one game for another.
He's talking about Donovan's elbow into Walker's chest after our keeper had already secured the goal. It was not unlike Clint's elbow into Convey, if anything Donovan displayed a greater intent to inflict injury. It should have been his second yellow, and his pasport off the pitch and out of the next match. Of course, it was neither. There was plenty of howling at Nathan Hale's -- especially when the re-play showed the extent of the foul. It was pretty nasty; I wouldn't call it accidental contact. But I'm a MetroFan, and bound to be biased in spite of the fact that I'm right. I might add that Clint's banter with the refs is no worse than the earful several SJ players shoveled out today, especially in the first half. Today's outcome, and the performance of certain players, casts an ironic shadow over Wynalda's recent piece on Landon and Clint for MLSnet. The fact is, the Quakes haven't faced a team as tough as Metro in over a month. They lost their Open Cup bid to the Sounders. Their record flatters to deceive; they can be beaten.
Good game. Wynalda made it seem the Quakes were having a bad game. Did not agree and saw the Metro FC playing very good defense. He said the Quakes should have been going wide. I thought they did eventually but you can only go so wide on that field. When they did we defended that well too. We tired some at the end. Great game from some. Gaven, Guevara, Jolley and Pope stood out. I thought Magee stood out at times too. Gaven and Magee get no respect from the ref. They get absolutely hacked with no call. Regan at D-Mid. That was a surprise. I was looking forward to seeing Clark there. Guevara has to stop with the flopping around on the ground. Everyone does it some but he needs to hear the story of the boy who cried wolf. The ref did lose control. The last 20 minutes someone could have been hurt.
You are being kind. He raised his elbow and drove right into the midsection of Walker -- it cannot be incidental. In fact, both Keough and Wynalda were in agreement that it should be at least a second yellow.
i think we all pretty much agree on the donovan play...did anyone else catch wynalda take back his comment that donovan should've been sent off though?
Solid performance 1) As I've stated elsewhere, this offense is far smoother without Clint. We've done plenty of Mathis bashing on this board for his lack of class recently, and we don't need to go there again. But the plain truth is that he is one of those quasi-superstars who's team is sometimes better without him. I think he's got a little Patrick Ewing syndrome in him (see the ESPN article some time ago on the Ewing Theory) 2) Eddie Gaven- when is this guy going to get some respect from the referees? I'm all for forcing a guy to earn his stripes- but it's getting absurd. This kid is absolutely tireless, gets hacked routinely, doesn't complain about it, and he's got some pretty darn good pace/skills as well. 3) Class finish by Guevera- i get annoyed with his prima donna attitude at times but this guy definitely has skillz.
Who cares about the East? Do you care about the fact that we won the East in 2000? We are in the playoffs and thats all that matters. Besides we still have 2 more games after the USOC final to catch up and the Fire need to lose 2/3 games for us just to tie them. That aint gunna happen. We really arent sacraficing anything unless you count a shred of hope in winning a crytal piece of crap that no one cares about "something". Id much rather not have that than go into the USOC final not well rested and possibly having someone out injured.
I'll forgive the broken and flawed analogy. If Guevara gets away with it, fine. But he gets hammered by the defense more often than others do.
i agree with Roehl, and i also think it's worth mentioning that amado has really toned it down big time since he first started playing for us, i think at the height of that, i read bob really talked to him about it...as for the "prima donna" attitude, i really dont see it, he seems like he's really all about the team, maybe im misunderstanding what you mean
metrocorazon, while it's true I haven't looked too in depth as to where we are at in the total league standings, aren't we still fighting to have the easiest possible opening round opponent? While the Open Cup is extremely important, should we lose to Dallas (god forbid) because we "threw" the game by putting out the "B" team, we could potentially lose good playoff position to another playoff team.
the thing with a 5 team conference is that the standings are not usually reliable for determining who is the "easiest" opponent...not only that, but to get to MLS Cup you have to play 2 of the 3 teams anyways, and with 2 legs, there's no real home-field...initially i thought it might not be the best thing to rest some guys, but hte more i think about it, the more i agree with it
I agree we should rest some guys, but momentum and being in match form is important for many players/teams. Its not always wise to rest too long before a game. I say Gaven/Mathis/Clark/Lietch/Magee/Woly all play. Woly, Lietch and Mathis because they havent played THAT much this season/recently, Clark/Magee because as rookies they learn from every single game they play, and Gaven, for both reasons. edit: Sub 3 of them out at half.