Well, in fairness to the sports editors down at the DaMN, they've generally treated the Burn well, especially in the last few years as the attendance has been increasing. In fact, for most of the season, the game stories from their Saturday night games have usually been on the front of the second sports section in the Sunday paper. But now that college football season has started, I think that they're reserving the second sports section for college football coverage and putting everything else in the main sports section.
Re: {R} Jordan, Morrow When Dallas takes short corners, they usually are crossed into the box. It just is coming from a different angle. It is a way to create a little more motion in the box before the ball is served. They have to create motion because their attacking players are much much shorter than every defense that they play. An illustration of how it is intended to work is both of Morrow's goals against Colorado earlier in the year. They both were taken as short corners. Cerritos did put one in. It did not hit the back of the net, but it sure looked like it crossed the line to me. That is the second goal that he has scored that has not counted (remember vs. SJ on opening night). Bobby needed the rest anyway. His workrate in the past two games had diminished considerably. If you want to talk about stats to measure productivity. In the past 9 MLS games. Cerritos has 3 goals, Martinez 2, O'Brien 2, Kreis 1 and Rhine 1. Statistically speaking who has been putting it in the back of the net? The good news is that it is good to have a 3rd option at forward whether it be Cerritos or Rhine. And maybe someday the 4th option will live up to his potential. La locura rojinegra
Big props to... Jordan: Great game. Great saves early in the game, and late as well. Suarez: Great game. He took another elbow to the face without even drawing a card from the ref. His battles with Cobi are highlight reel stuff. Morrow: Great game as well. Too bad he got a yellow on Pescadito's dive. O'Brien: The most impressive part of his game was his defensive work in the Dallas box. Outstanding! LA did not know what to do with him as he ran from end line to end line. Zarco: He seems to be regaining his old form. One v One nobody got by him. I love the way he keeps defenses honest by taking the midrange shot. Deering: The ironman of the Red and Black had another stellar outing. Pareja: The engine of the team was everywhere. I can't believe his shot rang off the post. It was there, Guapito. Rhine: He got it to go in. 3 points enough said. Kreis: The freekicks are not going in, but he gave Rhine the ball for the game winner and that was awesome. La locura rojinegra
Concern Dallas created many chances but they did not put one away until it was almost too late. They need to concentrate on finishing their chances. They must have crossed a dozen balls in the second half that went right to a defender from LA. Barring a freakish own goal, there is not much of chance of scoring a goal when your crossing the ball like that. La locura rojinegra
Re: Concern You're right this is becoming a problem. I noticed that Burn players seem to gang up making far post runs and the crosses are often at the near post and no one is there. This might be something easily fixed or maybe it is just their lack of height showing through.
From a died in the wool LAG fan: Congratulations on a hard fought and well earned win. For what its worth, I think conditioning and bench depth were the keys. After about the 75-80 minute mark, Burn were running circles around LAG and had energy in the OT. LAG were gassed. Conditions were the same for both, so, Burn was better conditioned team and more acclimated to the heat/humidity. Bench: Every move Jeffries made brought in a quality player. Two of Sigi's moves (Bengard and Frye) were made out of necessity because of heat and exhaustion, and neither Bengard nor Frye belong on an MLS roster. Sigi did not have ANYONE the quality of Rhine sitting on the bench, so I don't fault him. The goal was a soft one, but Kreis's set up was quality. I do not fault the keeper too much, as Burn was peppering him all night long, and I am sure his tank was empty too. Hartman set a career high for saves in a game, which tells you how much of the play Burn had. Quite frankly, I think this is the best edition of the Burn I have seen. It was a tough loss, and LA will have to regroup. See you at Titan Stadium, for the USOC game. LA may get some measure of revenge then.
Re: Big props to... Actually, I was watching O'Brien a lot even off the ball. Truth was he was gassed after 10 minutes. He was leaning over with both hands on his knees and had his head down quite a bit. All signs of being tired or out of breath. He really wasn't 'always' running end to end. The good news was that he was using the sound fundamental of " Rest on Defense " . This is what coaches tell their players to do. If you're tired, then stay in a good defensive position until your enery comes back. O'Brien was hanging back a lot and staying in front of the defenders, sometimes even in the middle of the field. When the ball came back downfield he would intercept it a lot. He also covered for defenders when they attacked. When he got his breath back he would then adventure down field. Good fundamental sound approach to the situation.