UCLA beat Stanford 1-0 in the Men's Championship yesterday, off an 88th minute free kick. I wonder how Steve Sampson feels about things, seeing as he was the best man for the job, he said so himself. Congrats to the Fitz, even if he was a below average MLS coach.
All you got to say about Steve Sampson is this: He thought it was a keen idea to put Mike Burns in midfield on the wing against Germany in WC98, and then proceeded to watch Germany repeatedly attack his side and exploit his complete lack of speed. And let's not forget the 3-6-1 formation that was completely ************ing worthless.
And also having Jeff Cunningham (you know, that guy who closely resembles a TARGET forward necessarily for such a role) playing as the lone forward in that situation .... Methinks Andrulis was merely channeling Steve Sampson for a moment. I can forgive him for that.
Of all the things I can think of to say, good AND bad, about Jeff Cunningham, "target forward" is not really high on the list.
it was awful. dozens of poor giveaways, possession play was almost non-existent, balls into space over-struck, we could go on. can someone who watches a decent amount of college soccer describe that game for me. was it typical? particularly boring and ugly? good? just OK? in any case congrats to fitz.
scott: It's just my opinion of course, but for what it's worth I have seen a lot of college soccer over the years and sadly that match was not untypical. To me, it is an extension of the High School game, which also tends to be a kick-and-chase affair where three completed passes in a row is a miracle. You can get a hell of a rip-roaring argument about this just about anywhere on BS, but to me (and frankly to the people who run MLS) college is a lousy preparation for playing at a serious professional level. It's specifically why they came up with stuff like P-40 and the U-17 residency: to identify the elite players and get them out, if possible, of the college thing and into a situation where they can actually grow as players. College players get older, not better.