Bottom line: After losing on Wednesday night and falling to third in the division behind the Gals, the Burn really need to win this game at home. Period. If they do, they'll be back in second place in the West and within striking distance of the Quakes. They'll also go from #4 seed in the playoffs to #3. This is really good, because it would mean the earliest that the Burn would face the Quakes (assuming that the Quakes win the West) would be in the MLS Cup final. And I'd rather face them on the wide open spaces of Gillette Stadium in the MLS Cup final than on the matchbox field of Spartan Stadium in an earlier round. But I'm not giving up hope on catching the Quakes. After Saturday night, the Burn finish off their league schedule playing four teams in the bottom half of the table. The last two games are against the two worst teams in the league. Meanwhile, the Quakes and Galaxy have to face each other the last two games of the season. So with a good run of results, San Jose's continued bad form on the road, and a little help from the Gals, Dallas could still finish on top. But first, they gotta win on Saturday. Absolutely, positively, no doubt about it.
Couldn't have put it better myself, EVERYONE COME TO THIS GAME. I got a good feeling about this one. Come out and cheer YOUR team, I'll be there.
I'm very, very worried about this one. The Galaxy has been the hottest team in the league over the last month. Ruiz is finding the back of the net again. Cobi has been exceptional since coming back from the World Cup. Even Lalas is scoring goals. I don't feel good about this at all.
NONSENSE! The Burn are going to make their March to the Sea, Scorched Earth Policy! I WANT BLOOD. I want them to rip the Galaxy to shreds just because it's the Galaxyl, but more to stay in the course of the Supporters Shield. The Quakes have a hard schedule and a lot of road games to play. The Burn can still come out atop MLS this season, and Saturday is DAY 1 SCORCHED EARTH POLICY! TAKE NO PRISONERS! GO BURN! GRAB THE TORCHES THERE'S GONNA BE A FIGHT!
Cobi fighting a toe injury which forced Sigi to pull him out of the Wizards game early. May or may not be able to go, and won't be at full strength. They are also short at forward, without Glinton due to injury and Mullan due to red card. Albright is also still injured. Keep Lalas from scoring on a header and Ruiz down to one goal, and you should win this game. Win a free kick close enough for Jason to knock it in (Lalas is still a hack around the box) and hopefully Vaca and Martinez aren't too tired from the recent road trip to run the slow footed Galaxy flanks into the ground. Hopefully Bonseau won't do anything too silly. Bring O'Brien in sooner if you need a spark. Good luck! I'm rooting for the Burn!
Im with you Viking, break out the flame thrower! With Chivas getting better every game (playing on small kiddy fields don't count) and strength from the bench, we can bounce back. We're playing on home ground and won't be denied(sure hope Suarez play's)...
Who is really a threat on the Galaxy other than Ruiz? Lets just put T-Bone (in top form this time) on his ass and we'll be fine, don't let that little ****** breathe. We should out run them on the flanks. I'm with Viking, day one of kicking ass, Galaxy will be the first victims, and by the end of the season, the Quakes will be wondering what they did wrong.
In this morning's DaMN, Jeffries is quoted as saying that there might be two starters that are last minute scratches due to injury tonight. And yes, this is in addition to Suarez. Uh-oh.
Spot on. Dallas needs to take 3 from its home games. As long as they don't need to play any games in Spartan, they have a very good chance to win it all. The Galaxy and Fire always peak at this time, but usually the Fire are upended by someone before they reach the finals ... this year that may be the Burn. -Tron
[R] Congrats on a tough win. LA was fighting for a tie with San Jose for the best record in the league ... DENIED. I can't wait to hear the post game reports. -Tron
thanx tron. wow what a great game. im sooooo happy/relieved right now.we just have to stay focused from here on out. GO BURN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thank god for that one. The hard part is over folks, or is it? Remaining schedule..... @ Colorado Sep. 1 L.A. - Open cup in California Sep. 3 Metrostars- Sep. 5 New England- Sep. 14 @ DC- Sep. 19 As you can see we have a confident Colorado team to play next Sunday then go to L.A. for the Semi-Finals of the Open Cup 2 days later, then on top of all that host a team we usually don't have problems with, NY/NJ 2 days later. If we can pull a majority of good results out of that week of hell, then we should be able to coast into the playoff's, a good chance in the #1 spot But step 1 is complete, mission accomplished, good job boys. In other news....The goons lost at home to NE (hahahahah) and San Jose got smacked around by Colorado, good for them.
{R} Jordan, Morrow My MOTM is Jordan, without the two spectactular saves in O.T., Bobby et al wouldn't have been on the field to score Morrow gets an honorable mention. Only once did 'little fish' have the ball at his feet with his hips turned on goal. The trumpets were great!!!!!!!!!! Good night to watch a wonderful game. What is the deal with the short corners? A corner isn't dangourous (sp) without the ball coming close to the 6yrd box. This is the second game where 1/2 the corners were short. I'd have to watch the tapes, but my impression is that less than 50% of the short corners reach the 6yrd box. I really dislike short corners, they seem such a waste. Certitos' work rate is very good, but Bobby puts the ball in the net. He's the 2nd leading scorer on the team. Why isn't he on the field until the 90th minute? Chivas had a good game, but Danny striped him once, Danny of all people. I counted passes for a few minutes early in the second. There seemed to be a lot of lofting long balls, without a lot of control at midfield. Late in the second the passing returned. We were playing pinball in their box, but didn't put the ball in the net. Chad and Oscer (sp) both had good games. L.A. didn't have much build up and the only times they looked scary were on counters. Vaca didn't match up well with Victorine, all the headers and most of the 50/50s, Victorine just out massed Vaca. The ref was OK, no glaring errors either way, but the reserved side linesman was lousy. He was continually behind the play. He missed at least two offsides the first half (thats OK it was the Burn) and three the second half (unexcusable it was L.A.). Hopefully Joe Mac will review the tapes. He missed a call in the 2nd where ROB was leveled off the ball. The ref was watching the play on the ball, so he didn't see it. But it happed less the 10 yards away from the linesman.
Re: {R} Jordan, Morrow Indeed. I suspect that he was one of the two starters that was dinged and MJ decided not to start him. I disagree. I thought he had a horrible game. He made few runs up the wing to make himself available for passes to run onto, and he kept drifting toward the middle. It was almost like he was trying to get away from Ezra. And when he did dribble or pass, it usually ended up on an opponent's foot. I'm sure that MJ will point it out to him and he'll be back to the Chivas we know and love next Sunday. In all, I think that it was a crap goal to end a crap game, but you know what? Given that it got us three points to move back into second, it's all good. I'll take it and smile.
Re: Re: {R} Jordan, Morrow It was a pretty well played game, but calling that a crap goal...no. Ronaldo's first goal in the World Cup final was off a rebound. You coach kids from U-6 on up to follow their shots, and shots of other players. It's fundamental soccer. So yea, not pretty. As we say in golf, they don't put pictures on scorecards. But in Fantasy soccer, Kreis gets an assist and Rhine gets a game winner. Yea for me. Colorado Rapids 3, San Jose Earthquakes 0. San Jose--the Rochester of MLS
I don't think it was a crap game at all. I thought it was a highly entertaining game, with plenty of scoring chances, good defensive plays, fine saves by the keepers, etc. It wasn't the greatest goal in the world, but it was a nice play that led up to the shot. All in all, a good win I thought. And a GREAT crowd.
Well, OK, maybe I'm being a bit tough. Maybe it wasn't a crap game after all. I guess my standards are too high. I'm too quick to categorize the game as "crap" if the Burn don't beat their opponents 5-0 and rip their opponents' still-beating hearts out of their chests at midfield. That said, Rhine's goal isn't exactly going to be amongst the finalists for Goal of the Year. Maybe for Goalkeeper Flubs of the Year. HOWEVER, they all count the same on the score sheet.
I agree that Jordan was MOTM. His 2 saves in overtime were fantastic. However, ROB continues to impress at both ends of the field. He made some outstanding defensive plays late in the game. He also was very dangerous going forward. He truly is a gem of a player. Jason seems to be looking for calls in the box. It does get tiresome to see him go down relatively easily in the box. It was so nice to see all these fans on the GA side rooting for LA and their star player Ruiz go home as losers. Ruiz has gone to the Ariel Graziani school of acting. He just loves to flop around and then whine to the referee.
Grats Burn fans. I think you are a better team with O'Brien on the field. BTW, that assist by Kreis was world class. Especially considering the time and conditions. Put Kreis, Mark Chung and Steve Ralston on the same team and that team would finish in the top three each year.
Re: Re: Re: {R} Jordan, Morrow Great win for the BURN! Now, after watching the Rapids beat San Jose on ESPN 2, San Jose is very beatable on a real field, a Cotton Bowl size field. Take away their postage size field and one touch passes and their toast. We've played so well at home this year, it would be a BIG plus to have home field advantage for the playoff's ...
FYI, the BURN made the front page of the sports section. Maybe, just maybe, the sports editors in Dallas realize the BURN are a pretty good team and worthy of additional publicity. BTW, great crowd last night. Hope the BURN can have a good crowd for the Thursday night game against the metrobras. I know I will be there.