Re: Official DC United vs Kansas City Wizards PRE Match Thread :: MLS Cup 2004 The only possible argument you have here is on TT's goal, though I'm not sure Nellie doesn't get beat the same exact way. That took an incredible one time mid-volley strike. Put that play against any defense and I think it's a goal. Obviously EZ had nothing to do with the PK and when it comes to the corner kick goal that Nickie flubbed, I would rather have EZ in that spot than Namoff, and maybe even Nellie. NE may have been "looking to exploit" EZ but the fact is they were unsuccessful. And I think you need to give EZ credit for that. Watch the tape again - he played an extremely solid game in central D and his height was an advantage that we won't have if he's not on the field. Not to mention that he's probably pretty familiar with playing at the Tool Box. True, it's better to have EZ on the inside than out, but with a three man back line, it's all inside work more or less. I'll stand by my earlier point. If Namoff isn't 100%, I'd start EZ.
Re: Official DC United vs Kansas City Wizards PRE Match Thread :: MLS Cup 2004 After the August 14th espn2 embarrasment where Landon Donovan sliced through our defence, Gansler benched Shavar Thomas and moved Nick Garcia back into the middle. Nick - who has been consistently underrated during his career - is the best man marker in MLS with Boca gone. Nick's job is to neutralize the key component of the other team's attack. KC almost plays a 3+1 defense with Burciaga and Zotinca on the flanks around Conrad, and Garcia covering everyone's ass. It seems to be working. With all the devastating injuries to KC's midfield this season, both Zotinca and Burciaga can get pushed into the midfield and get replaced by Taylor "Big Tiny" Graham or Shavar Thomas if one of the midfielders is subbed out. In 36 games (MLS+USOC) against MLS opposition, the Wizards have given up only 32 goals - including 17 shutouts.
Re: Official DC United vs Kansas City Wizards PRE Match Thread :: MLS Cup 2004 Jewsbury has been a demon in the the post-season.
Re: Official DC United vs Kansas City Wizards PRE Match Thread :: MLS Cup 2004 EZ's performance seems to be an issue here, with detractors and defenders. I thought he played poorly as a sub for Earnie against NY and was nervous about his replacing Nellie in the middle against the Revolution. I thought he had a poor first half against NE, but perhaps a better second half. Petke bailed us out time after time, and I've never seen Prideaux play better after he was subbed in. If Namoff is good to go, we have to go with Namoff, Nellie, and Petke. If we go up and Nowak switches to a four-man backline, I would bring on Prideaux, rather than EZ. If Peter thinks he must have EZ on the field, right mid is perhaps a better place for him, but I don't think Stewart has really needed replacing late in the game. He seemed to have more left than, say, Ben, who can run himself into the ground on occasion.
Re: Official DC United vs Kansas City Wizards PRE Match Thread :: MLS Cup 2004 While most people underrate him, I also believe he the most effective man-marker in the league. He indeed is more effective in the middle.
Re: Official DC United vs Kansas City Wizards PRE Match Thread :: MLS Cup 2004 If Moreno is healthy, I don't see him being taken out of the match by one player and if they try and double him, that will give Gomez and Esky that much more room to operate. As for Nowak's plan, it is pretty constant: clog up the midfield and starve the forwards of service. I think we could see Namoff playing deeper, as he has the speed to cuase Wolff and Arnaud so problems.
Re: Official DC United vs Kansas City Wizards PRE Match Thread :: MLS Cup 2004 I think this will be a relatively wide-open game, each team trying to stretch the other's defense on the wide pitch at HDC. Piotr has stuck by his preseason directives for the team. He is not going to change our style of play for KC. Nowak will likely learn a thing or two from Gansler in this game, like how to use three midfielders and four defenders to shut down the Triangle III plus two (Olsen and Kovalenko). But on to keys... Gutierrez is a key as is the quality of our passing. If we can keep Gutierrez in his defensive third we can probably control any KC outlet attempt to get their runners behind our defense. If we keep him busy in his half of the field we can expect a couple of scary counters on the left side of our defense (to exploit Petke's and Nelsen's lack of pace). We need yet another monster game from both Carroll and Olsen. That leaves Zavagnin who may not be at full strenth. Dema and Olsen will probably be responsible for shutting down Z (Olsen will be making constant decisions about whom to mark). If our guys are forward (KC will attempt to bottle us up in our half and against the touchlines) there will be less defensive worries for the good guys to worry about. Another important key (probably the most important one) is passing accuracy. When either of these two teams get the ball, it's hell trying to get it back. The team that wins the ball back easier will have more finishing chances created. If we collect balls on turnovers, I think we have better guys than KC does at dribbling toward a defender. Both teams have been finishing really well (DC has a slight advantage here in that the Quakes completely shut down KC) so creating more chances will probably be the winning margin. Quakes showed us that quick passing and constantly maintaining triangles, meaning there is always a quick, safe pass, is the way to keep possession. Especially along the flanks it is critical that we move the ball decisively (no hospital balls) and quickly. KC traps exceedingly well along the touch lines. DC has shown a weakness to the long, direct ball, so I think Gansler will have a game plan requiring many Route 1 attempts. Petke has really picked his game up to the standard expected of him. I don't know that he lost a single header in the NE game -- if he did, he certainly won the lion's share of them. Together with Nellie I think our aerial defense is ok. Each time we can defend the long ball we'll have a possession that should end in a shot attempt or a set piece within 25 yards of the opponent's goal (an early yellow on Gutierrez and/or Garcia would be huge). Getting these set pieces is critical for both sides. Both keepers have flaws controlling the six. Also, it is important to make the other team spend at least as much energy chasing as you are required to do. The long ball means a couple of attackers might get winded, but it means several defenders will get their exercise. When we win possession, we must make the cost to KC very dear in terms of energy necessary to win the ball back. KC may have really spent their playoff wad of luck in 2000 when they put eleven guys behind the ball and "In Tony They Trusted". Meola was unconscious but KC was very, very, very fortunate to escape the Chicago blitz for the remaining 70 or so minutes. I think we have an intangible here. I think we also have the intangible of having played consistently in front of noisy crowds. KC only got 12,000 to their final where the seats were $5 each! I'm thinking that playing in crowd noise is another intangible in favor of DC. GM
Re: Official DC United vs Kansas City Wizards PRE Match Thread :: MLS Cup 2004 Great analysis Grillmaster!
Re: Official DC United vs Kansas City Wizards PRE Match Thread :: MLS Cup 2004 Can we change the title of this thread to: Official DC United vs. Kansas PRE Match Thread :: MLS Cup 2004? Thank You.
Re: Official DC United vs Kansas City Wizards PRE Match Thread :: MLS Cup 2004 No! That was a tradition during the "Dark Times." Do NOT tempt the fates by invoking a Hudsonism. If anything, change the thread title to "Official DC United vs. Kansas City Wiz PRE Match Thread :: MLS Cup 2004. Cherno
Re: Official DC United vs Kansas City Wizards PRE Match Thread :: MLS Cup 2004 Columbia crew vs Kansas City Wizards?
Re: Official DC United vs Kansas City Wizards PRE Match Thread :: MLS Cup 2004 Which board did you think this thread was on?
Re: Official DC United vs Kansas City Wizards PRE Match Thread :: MLS Cup 2004 I think I've come up with a suitable compromise.
Re: Official DC United vs Kansas City Wizards PRE Match Thread :: MLS Cup 2004 I think the main thing to look at in this game is Gomez's influence.. Kansas City hasn't seen him or played against him this season and he might be the wildcard if Bunker Bob decides to try and lock down both Moreno and Eskandarian.. The season series was tied 1-1 with both teams getting 1-0 victories but the game that stood out to me was the matchup at RFK early in the season when KC played extremely defensive, despite Bunker Bob's insistence that they "played to win" and United won on a moment of brilliance by Moreno by turning Conrad into the ground before beating a helpless Meola.. Both teams are similar in that they can absorb the oppostions attacks and counter with deadly accuracy.. I think the one main advantage that KC has over United is speed up top with Wolff and Arnaud.. Outside of those two players I think United can use their speed of play thru the midfield to create problems.. Defensively the nod goes to KC, but United, especially with Nelsen, has been superb during this late season surge to the Cup.. Obviously giving up 3 goals in a wild end-to-end shootout gives KC some hope, but I think missing Kovalenko and Nelsen had a lot to do with NE's sudden burst of confidence.. This should be a great game and whoever scores first will win, no doubt.. As mentioned earlier, this is going to be a very good tactical matchup.. It all depends on who wants to take the bigger chance (and thus deviate from their tactics) to win.. I think most people would tell you that United seems the more likely choice to do this.. It will be a slobberknocker, that's for sure.......
GM, good analysis. I'd spread some rep your way if only I knew how! Here's my reaction to your comments. 1. Yes, Nowak will have DCU attacking and playing aggressively. But against Metro at home, we played aggressively but it was primarily to frustrate, to be patient, and wait for opportunities. We didn't bunker and we defended aggressively. But we didn't attack all-out. 2. Both of these coaches are very sharp and very tactical. It's inconceivable to me that Gansler won't make adjustments to throw some new wrinkles at DCU. For instance, I wouldn't be surprised if Garcia or someone else picks up Moreno much closer upfield to try and deny him the ball and make it a 10v10 match. And as Jeff Bradley pointed out, Nowak is a big believer in taking away the other team's best weapons and saying "beat me with your #3 and #4 players." For instance, against the Metros, Nowak pushed Guevara and Gaven back into the defensive third and dared Bob Bradley to beat us with Vaca/Lisi/Galvan Rey/Wolyniec. We didn't lay everyone evenly--we cheat towards particular players. It's possible this might be a real back and forth match but I tend to think not. Unless we get an early lead and force KC to come out with a gusto. I think it's more likely to be a chess match. Substitutions and where Kovalenko and Carroll play (in terms of their roles, how deep they play, how many runs forward they make) will be very telling I think. I think in KC's case, we'll be able to tell alot by how Garcia is used. Sure he'll be man marking but whom and how far over the field does he mark?
Hmmm. My first guess is that Garcia will mark Moreno. But that would mean that Garcia would be out of position to help on other players and gansler won't do that. That gets me to a point: that both teams are hard for the other team to defend because of how they attack. In other words, both teams attack from multiple players and multiple places on the field. (Contrast to metro which overly relies on Guevara and Gaven as Joe points out or LA where you know Ruiz will be front and center at the top of the box.) I guess then it will come down to the midfield. Whoever wins the midfield battle and thus gets more opportunities to either dribble at and/or make short passes at the opposing team's defense will win. United is so god damn fortunate to have Nelsen and Kovalenko back. KC must have a healthy Zavagnin to reinforce pressure on DC's central mids (Olsen, Carroll, Gomez) or they will be in trouble having to defend too much. If the central mid is a stalemate then the wingers will have quite a battle.
I think this game will come down to Zavagnin vs. Carroll. Whichever player shuts down passing lanes better in the middle of the field will set his team up for victory. It won't be a direct confrontation - They won't be marking each other - but I think those two players will be key. If they both do their jobs well, I think the match will turn on an individual moment of brilliance. So I'd give KC a slight nod in category A, but United in Category B if Carroll can put in another great effort. I think this one will go down as a classic.
I'm sure Rimando, at least, is very happy that Preki won't be playing. I've always been a little down on Dema because of his horrid passing and infamous mental blackouts, but the team sure needed his energy and toughness at the end of the game Saturday. Ezra played much better individually on Saturday but he sure didn't organize the defense very well, if that was his job. Is there any reason Stewart keeps getting taken out of games?
Just my feeling, but I think he looses a bit of his game when he gets past the 60th min. As soon as he gets caught upfield, Nowak subs him. Damn, I'm slobbering just thinking about the match! What a bountiful table this is for a starving DC fan!