KC's first subs are in stoppage time this week. Sigh. We're going to ********ing lose to Minnesota because Vermes won't rotate the squad by choice.
If healthy, this team will be really good come October. Vermes will lose half the team to heat stroke in the next month
Stifling defense, why even bother with such a thing... In my book, SKC is the best team in MLS at the moment. They are playing some excellent soccer.
Roster consistency helps. But MLS Cup isn't held in the middle of May. We've got 10-15 players with zero match fitness and 11 that are already carrying knocks and getting worn down - with about half of those probably headed to the Gold Cup. If your team is playing Sporting in August or September, I'd put money on them winning now.
For sure, the river is wide and the currents are unpredictable, but damn if your team isn't in whitewater heaven right now. Just enjoy the ride, at least till the raft springs a leak.
This is year 22. I've seen this movie a dozen times or so. It never ends well. Sporting KC has won exactly one Supporters Shield (on the 2nd tiebreaker, they lost a second on the 3rd). I'm guessing they've been in first place at the end of July at least 5 times. The "August Suck" is an annual tradition. It's also not inevitable. I've never seen an MLS team win a trophy for being on a hot streak in April. I've also been watching Peter Vermes coach this team for pretty much this entire decade. And it's been the same pretty much every year. He burns the teams out. Fortunately, we do tend to have better players than most teams, and that has led to a few trophies (though we've never won a championship game with Peter at the helm), but Vermes has shown a complete inability or unwillingness to roll through his squad, keeping players fresh, and having subs match fit and ready when starters are called up, suspended, or need a rest.
It's the same Yeah, it's in our nature. But Andy does bring up an important aspect about MLS that seems to be an ever present concern.., namely depth strength. Liga MX kills us in large part because their B teams are loaded with good talent. In MLS, losing a key player to injury can decide a season.
Wait, rapids... rapids... why does the word rapids ring a bell in regards to soccer? I'm having this weird deja vu.
I went whitewater rafting on the Yellowstone a few years ago. The first thing the guide told us was not to raise our paddles like the people are in that first picture. We hit the first set of rapids, and sure enough, this couple at the end of the raft raises their paddles. They got crushed by the rapids and went flying into the river. Point is, SKC is going to fail to heed warnings and end up getting blasted into a river or something. I don't know, I'm not good at metaphors.
10 years ago I did some whitewater rafting in Northern Colorado on the Cache la Poudre River... Before we started, the guides told us two things: 1) The water we would be rafting on that day was snow the day before, so it was really really REALLY cold... 2) If anyone fell into the water, we needed to hold on to our paddle. No further explanation was offered. Naturally, Bluecat being Bluecat, first Class 3 of the day, the raft entered a little off line, got "tacoed" and I went flying. Then I went swimming. I very quickly discovered why I was supposed to hold on to my paddle. Not to fend off the rocks. Not to paddle towards shore. All I had to do was turn towards the raft, hold out my paddle, have the guide grab it and pull me over and she got me back in the raft like a boated tuna. Or a diving Aribe Unido midfielder. You hold onto the paddle...to increase your reach. There's a Life Lesson in there somewhere.
MLS will be testing video replay during Colorado-Vancouver. It will be separated from the game and will not change anything in play. http://www.denverpost.com/2017/05/04/rapids-mls-var-video-assistant-referee/
I've been watching the A-League on ESPN3 (stop laughing), and their use of VAR has been really good since it's been implemented. I think if MLS uses it the same way they do, it could be a very good thing. The referee is also very quick in his decision making, so there's not a long delay.
https://www.mlssoccer.com/stats/season?year=2017&group=g How does Dom Dwyer have 811 minutes played in 9 games without extra time? What the hell? Even curiouser - he was subbed out at the end of yesterday's game, and I believe one other time this year.
The game log has him at 92 minutes for the NY game. Maybe a glitch that happens when players get subbed off during stoppage time?
How are they using it? I was under the impression a separate "video review ref" was going to rule on the play from the sidelines and then inform the center ref via headset, but it seems the couple times I saw it used by MLS in the preseason the actual center ref had to jog over to the sidelines and review it, which made it appear longer/more drawn out than it should have been.
If the play was controversial, the CR will speak to the AR to confirm. If he doesn't think it's the correct call, he'll make a box with his hands signaling the VAR ref in the booth. The VAR ref in the booth has already been reviewing the video while the CR and AR speak, and a decision is sent down seconds later. As a matter of fact, when the first replay was being shown by TV, the announcers said the CR announced the correct call. Whole thing took about 45 seconds, which might seem long, but most of that was the players on the field complaining to the ref.
I don't think that is exactly correct. This is how FIFA describes it: 1. The center referee informs the VAR that review should be made OR the VAR informs the center referee that a review should be made. 2. The VAR reviews the video and informs the referee of what the video shows. 3. The center referee can then review the video at the side of the field OR the center referee takes the recommendation of the VAR and takes the appropriate action.
The game is still on ESPN3 if you want to see it for yourself. There were two reviews in the game between Sydney and Perth, both in the final 15 minutes of the first half. I don't know exactly how FIFA intends for it to be used, but that's what I saw.