This was in the middle of the extra period during the break when the game was tied. Just talking about how the coaches used that time.
The way I saw it, Cincy was bunkering by the 34th min. I think they had 5 in the back for the rest of the game. I felt like they deserved to lose. I thought the same of LAFC in the following game, but Houston was just too sloppy to score. I hope the Crew can be as relentless In MLS Cup. The CIN game also made me curious about coach Wilfried Nancy. I was shocked to realize he had very little of a pro player career and had only coached in Quebec before this. Really makes me wonder where his coaching “genius” is coming from.
Well, he also coached FC Montreal for almost 2 years. And he was amazingly successful there, for a club that's kind of Quakes-like in talent level and roster spending - 37-25-17 - finished 2nd in the east last year. By comparison they finished 10th this year. Apparently he had some kind of falling out with the owner there, which is why he wound up in Columbus. Columbus was smart enough to pursue him, and paid Montreal for the transfer because he was still under contract there. Note to CL, hey, we could have done that. But yeah, looks like he barely played as as professional, but got into coaching really early in his career, even coaching high school level (?) while playing in college. Anyway, I haven't followed him closely but from what I've seen he's impressive in every way. They asked him last night before the game, "would you rather have style or substance" in this game or something like that. He looked at the guy like he was from Mars. Like, um, yes? Basically, it was we're going to play like we play, and we hope we get positive "substance" from it. As for the game, I think Columbus throws numbers forward and they're good at holding the ball, so you really don't have much choice but to defend and counter. They're inviting you to play that game, knowing that they're susceptible to counters but they don't care. They are dictating the way the game's going to go. (Remember Jesse, and "we're gonna come into your town and impose our will on you!"? - Columbus actually does it). LAFC likes to play the fast counter game and they're pretty good at it, so I think they'll be comfortable in that role. Heck LAFC had 29.7% possession against Houston, so I expect the Col-LAFC game to be in the 70-30 range in terms of possession and I think both teams will be happy enough with that. The difference between Houston and Columbus is that Columbus actually has talented attacking players. Houston has Baird and Bassi and Carrasquilla - not so great.
ohhhhh i thought you meant post conference. Noonan was defeated. Human emotion got him. Happens to all of us. I remember playing in ODP games and Olympic Trial games in the 2000's and theres games you just know your gonna lose and you can feel the door swing back into your face.
Yeah Noonan did a great job as a coach this year. But yeah I think he knew he was in a losing battle by extra time. You don’t see that very often in soccer, where one team basically has the other in an arm bar. Those F-C-C chants got quieter and quieter until I think it was like one guy at the end.
Yes, I felt bad for FCC they're a good team that ran out of gas and ideas against a team that was going 100mph. I agree with you and said it many times this year, the Crew play some of the best if not the very best soccer in the league. I wish we had the offensive players they have. I'd be curious to see what Nancy would do with our team, he'd change our formation for sure like he did the Crew, add 2-3 game changers like Rossi and I think we'd be playing like them! Luchi is going to disappoint me again probably.
We need a couple more impactful attacking players to play that style. CL is on the clock for that. If it happens we’ll see what Luchi does. I don’t think he’ll ever be as uncompromising as Nancy. He’s more of a situational manager who tries to build a lot of tactical flexibility into his system. Nancy is dogmatic - in a good way IMO. When Leitch coached he was more Nancy school, so it’s a bit ironic that he’d hire a “game manager” type of manager.
So because Cincy was eliminated, that means Matt Miazga will miss the first 3 games of next season. He is currently earning a base salary of $1,500,000 with the FC Cincinnati, with a guaranteed salary of $1,500,000. Over a 34-game season, that is $44k a game. Does this mean he will need to sacrifice $132k of his game salary, a fine or will it be both?
It was a great game to watch, but, what was the miracle? City not putting the game away in the first half??
i felt the miracle was (a) Tottenham coming back to tie against ManCity (b) Tottenham coming back to tie against ManCity in the umpteenth minute (c) Tottenham coming back after Son scored a goal and then an OG. So hard to get over something like that, mentally.
The 5th place team coming back from a goal down to to tie the 2nd place team is a miracle? And City had drawn their two previous games. They tied the game in the 90th minute, it wasn't even extra time yet. That all happened in the first ten minutes. And the OG only tied the game up. Most of the game was left to play and they were still on level terms at City. I doubt they (or he) was that mentally crushed. And Son somehow was able to set aside his mental anguish to assist on the second Tottenham goal. Don't be so shocked at what professionals are capable of who play at the highest level. Did you see the goals Liverpool scored in their comeback victory against Fulham??
You’re right, it’s hard to remember that after watching the Quakes and MLS for so long. > Did you see the goals Liverpool scored in their comeback victory against Fulham??[/QUOTE] Yes, those were crazy goals too, although obviously Fulham lost their nerve at the end. Look, everyone has their own definition of miracles, right? Tottenham, who have a huge number of injuries, came from behind to tie the best team i the world. You asked why I thought the game was a miracle, and I told you. You don’t have to argue about it.
I noticed that USSoccer is selling bobbleheads for $80 each. !!! Is that the going rate now for bobbleheads? https://store.ussoccer.com/
2024 Copa América - CONMEBOL COPA AMERICA 2024 VENUES Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina Children's Mercy Park in Kansas City, Kansas Exploria Stadium in Orlando, Florida GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, Florida Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas Q2 Stadium in Austin, Texas SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona
Wow, I have no memory of that game, so i don’t think we went to it. Funny that Gareth Bale looks like Roy Kent!
I remember the game. Not because it was a 0-0 draw, but for the older Croat men running down to the railing at Buckshaw calling out to get the attention of Modric and Kranjcar, "Niko, Niko!', and "Luka, Luka!"
The last 5 games against City Tottenham has 3 wins, 1 loss, 1 draw. so, I guess last weekend was like their 4th miracle in 5 games.
I want to know how they are going to play at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood? From what I read on wiki: FIFA said the stadium lacks a regulation-sized soccer pitch due to its narrow width, which has been criticized by FIFA officials. To satisfy FIFA requirements, several field level seats would be removed and the turf surface replaced by a grass pitch. In September 2023, Stan Kroenke threatened to pull hosting from the stadium until a dispute regarding revenue sharing between him and FIFA could be resolved. This doesn't sound to good for a Copa America or a World Cup so i don't see how they will make it work. It would have been better just to play at the Rose Bowl or the LA Coliseum.