It's an early start to the week with NE/KC on Wednesday; here's your home for a non-partisan discussion of the week's action. No flames, no trolls, all of that good stuff. Enjoy!
We'll be lucky if tonight's game gets through without any wet weather. It's dry right now, but there's a big storm moving up I-35 from Oklahoma. Let the race begin....
http://web.mlsnet.com/scoreboard/game.jsp?match=04092008_NEKC Looks like Igwe will finally get his debut.
Barebones lineup for the Revs. Didn't catch how exactly KC is lining up. NE: Reis Heaps, Parkhurst, Igwe Nyassi, Flood, Joseph, Smith Castro Mansally, Cristman
I like hearing the conversations when they think the mics are off. Guys were getting on each other one of them talking too loud.
Is Matt Reis wearing a bib? Didn't realize after all these years that KC wears blue? Bruce saying "He got a piece of Nyassi" sounds vaguely dirty.
Own goal credited to Tyson Wahl, though Jewsbury kicked the ball off Wahl and so my negative fantasy points ARE UNFAIR!
The KC goal (a penalty taken by Jewsbury) featured terrific buildup between Scott Sealy and Curt Morvsink. Their interchange was terrific, worth the time to look up on MLSNet tomorrow. There was an earlier cross from Lopez to Sealy (good shot saved by Reis) that was much more skillful than most - Lopez hit it while running full tilt down the left while covered well, and lifted it deftly over a defender to Sealy, who was also covered. There's some good skill on display in this game.
On the Nyassi goal, Khano Smith had the ball on the left for the Revs. He went to initiate a give-and-go with Mansally, and made a terrible pass - I thought the play was over. But Mansally is too young to know there was no way to get to the ball, so he got to the ball anyway (you know what I mean?) and redirected it to a wide open Khano. Smith moved to the end line and crossed the ball back past all the defenders to a trailing Nyassi. Pretty. Oh, wow, dead ball into the box headed down by Shalrie and hammered home by Mansally. Gambians On Fire! 3-1 after 40 minutes.
It's not like seeing the Gambians play well is a shock, they were a excellent team in the 2007 U20 WC and the 2005 U17 WC.
I really like Bruce Arena as an analyst. His delivery is a tad monotonous at times, but his points are clear and concise and both observant and relevant. He also isn't afraid to admit a mistake, like after NE's second goal when he originally thought Conrad had misplayed it but the replay showed it was a NE player. He saw his mistake on video and said he was mistaken. Oh, and for anyone who was curious, Bruce said he tried to get Joseph on the Nats when he was US coach but Shalrie was already cap-tied. He's been very complimentary of Shalrie and you got the feeling he'd have been a lock to start for the US under Arena.
I'm not sure him and wheelock are a great combo, because they're both very monotonous and somewhat formal in how they speak. Arena is also about the only color guy who talks more than the play by play guy (unless you count Ray Hudson on one of his rolls)