He looked like he was huffing and puffing hard chasing down the balls. Hard first touch though. But I won't blame him a lot, he seemed to fight for a few balls in the corners and tangled with the guys on the final corner kicks. Now, Pibe gave up after the goal. He didn't run for any balls. Got frustrated with passes and appeared not to cooperate afterwards.
LA sat back playing for the tie and the Rapids couldn't capitalize on this situation. The two short attackers weren't going to beat the taller back line of LA at all. They had to do it on the ground and with speed and footwork, but that didn't happen either. I thought Trembley would have come in.
Is that the first PT he's gotten all year? I was telling my brother how I've never once seen him play and he was more for bench decoration, 2 minutes later, he in? Maybe it was my fault. Anyways, I didn't think he was too bad for not playing but Trembly would have been a better sub. (I can't belive I said that)
Bringing in Musa was and oddity, I mean the guy hasn't played in months. Leaving Pibe in for the last 20 minutes was ridiculous. I know we play "through" him, but when you are down by a goal, about to get eliminated itis time to get very direct. Push up, high pressure, knockdowns in their box, and see what happens. Who cares if you don't possess the ball and maybe lose 3-0. In this case it is the same as losing 1-0.
Musa played the last twenty minutes or so on 7/27 vs. Dallas. Anyway, who else was available as an option? Beckerman hasn't seen the pitch in who knows when (like Musa), the jury's still out on Seth. The remaining subs are more defensive oriented, so I dunno. If Tim H. was going for the element of surprise with Musa, then I don't have anything close to an answer.
Musa's also been training with the team every day in practice, it's not like they picked some guy out of the stands.
He was the only guy that LA couldn't competely seal off and he did fight hard down there at the end. The corner kick and set piece weakness of the Rapids absolutely has to be addressed in the off season. Against LA, our weakness in the air was even more pronounced as they controlled almost every ball in the air. We don't have anyone, from the forwards back, who can come up and even hope to score on a set piece and no one with a wicked free kick to compensate.
Pibe... [/B] Thank You for saying it, too! And what did we expect at the end of a long season? I get *************** for complaining about Tim handing the keys to the franchise to a 40 year old, now 41 (9-2-61,or is it 60? next year 42?) instead of keeping the old captain , Balboa, who is (8-8-67) only 35. Sorry, I love CV's game, but as great as CV is and all his wonderful qualities for the franchise, he's well past his 'full 90 minute' prime, hasn't been a great playoff player ever in MLS. He would have been a super idea at 35 (when he started with Tampa). RLH p.s. see thread on expansion..... The one year game plan is OK with me, but no, we didn't win. Do we try it again? Very tough question. Depends on CV's desire, and if we ID to take his place who is worthy.
If it's any consolation to the Rapids, they seemed to do better when swinging the ball away from the keeper. They at least had a chance to get a foot on it and put some fear in LA. Just not tall enough to swing it in and go for the header. If we didn't jam the box and spread it out, maybe the inswinger would work well for the Rapids.
As more or less said before, the Galaxy had started to bunker a little bit in the last 15/20 minutes, and the Rapids needed a "target forward" (ha!) to at least send some balls toward in a vain hope...
> it's not like they picked some guy out of the stands. I keep hoping. I bring my cleats to every game.
Re: Pibe... I'm thinking "RUN!" as much as the next guy when it comes to CV, but you might get less **** if Balboa had so much as put on a pair of cleats this year. Arguing that keeping Balboa instead of trading for CV sounds pretty silly given the way their individual seasons panned out. One saw every game from the sideline... the other saw every game from the pitch and, regardless of his performance over a full 90, the Rapids found themselves in the semi-finals.
Given his contribution to the game, they might as well have picked someone out of the stands. I'm sorry, but taking Carrieri off in favor of Shannon was the most puzzling move we've witnessed all season. It's right up there with playing Herdsman as a forward. It certainly didn't look like Carrieri was hurt -- and we haven't been told otherwise -- so why our leading scorer of game-winning goals is taken off is beyond me. Not to mention, Musa's looked like crap in training, too.
Re: Re: Pibe... True, but the complaint isn't with the 2002 CV season. He had a good year with some great games (OK..and some forgettables too), but it's the long-term plan. If we'd taken that salary (no CV, no Balboa) and parlayed that into a LONG-TERM player, we would not need to ponder the franchise future, would we? Each MLS team has a few "big salaries" to use for core players. Hey, if CV retires, let's go for another 40 year old!? Give me a break. It's not CV and his season, it's not Balboa and his bum knee, it's building toward a winning franchise that has good year (championships) and down years (.500 seasons). With the year-at-a-time method our good years are playoff years, and our bad years are, well, like last year. I lke the DC or Chicago or LA plans to build a franchise...long term stars, with revolving role players. What do you want? RLH p.s. Yes, CV is the best passer the MLS has seen, and I'd love to have him in 1996-2002, not 2001-2-? p.p.s. Musa? I don't know. Kingley OK, Palacios OK..but Musa??? I am unclear on thet having seen little of him all year (I was at most games). Maybe he did good in practice?