That's why I mean by discretion. Don't stop play if there's a counter. It's like an advantage call. Oh ffs. (The free kick goal.)
RMC is all but FSL's now. We either have to win in SLC in game 2 or get a draw and win the home game by 4 to get it this year. Neither is likely.
6 points dropped this season with goals allowed in the 82nd minute or later. Admittedly the scenario for this point was a little different than the other 5, but the mental toughness on this team is significantly lacking.
Updating the stats. Going down a man in the 20th minute ensured the stats were going to be ugly for this one: 45.7% possession; 11 to 13 shots; road vs Revs 38.4% possession; 8 to 20 shots; home vs SporKS 44.6% possession; 12 to 15 shots; home vs Philly 36.9% possession; 9 to 17 shots; road vs FCDallas 42.6% possession; 17 to 16 shots; home vs TFC 29.1% possession; 12 to 29 shots; road vs RSL
Maybe not, but the reason it was different was mental errors from Howard and Smith, so it still calls into question the mental toughness of the team.
Thoughts on this one: + Badji has come a long way. When the Rapids were at full strength, he was dangerous. + Castillo has heart and skill. I wish we could clone him for the other side. + Price is a beast. He was a solid acquisition. + There isn't any real falloff from Howard to MacMath. + The Rapids have some weak spots that need to be addressed. Wynne is really lost at times. Nana's first touch isn't pretty. He needs to spend some time working on that. He brings some pace to the game, though. I can't for the life of me figure out why McBean is on this team. + I know many people really like Smith, but I'm not there with him, At least not yet. He has lapses in games (like the handball) and sometimes goes on odd walkabouts during the run of play. + Gashi has his moments. I wish he was in better shape and somewhere closer to season form than preseason form. + I hate VAR. That said, both VAR calls were spot on. It isn't the calls I hate. It's the whole concept of video review in soccer. Yep, I'm old school. But dang it, video review is a large part of what makes the NFL stink. Why be like them????? + I see some improvement on aspects of the game. Clearances are better. Players are creating more space. Upfield vision is better. There is still a lot of work to be done. All in all, the result stinks, but I'm not in full-emo-mode despair like last year.
Hudson gambled with the the subs tonight. They were all zeroes and there was a chance to steal the points.... so I kind of get it. One can decide their own preferences about taking the risk. For me, Gashi and Boli came up zeroes. The team needed a lift after putting in the work since the red card, neither Gashi or Boli provided it in possession, work, or shots.
Wow, that was painful. Hard to watch another mental blunder throw away a point, not to mention making the RMC a long shot at best. Plus the game was dull as dishwater. Hard to listen to the announcers keep saying,"It's just a couple little things." That's what soccer typically is--who makes fewer mistakes. It's not basketball where you can play ole defense a number of times and still outscore the other team. In many soccer games, the result depends on which team loses its concentration. Too many times this year the Rapids make the blunder.
Lost the end of a game to family watching a movie but DVR'd it and just finished it. Oh well, played OK. It was hard to come back after the red. I respect Tim Howard a ton, but he just hasn't been the same for the US or the Rapids since Watts scored that own goal on him last year (was that against FSL?). Not saying he doesn't have moments of greatness still. Having said that, maybe the red incident would have happened to others goalies too; it wasn't a bad call, but it was a little unlucky the ball hit his hand. I think the Rapids are better than that team (RSL) but that's the way it goes. They are not a bad team in a poor western conference. I think we can make the play-offs and that'd would be fun. It's enough to keep me tuned next week. : Good night all.
Yea, I think it’s fair to question how mentally tough the Rapids are at this point, considering the amount of points lost by conceding goals late (granted that this 10-man adventure was quite different). I’m not a big hockey fan, but it’s interesting to juxtapose the Rapids game against the Avalanche playoff game the night before. On the road. Tied or losing toward the end. Crunchtime.... with very different outcomes — whether it be scorIng clutch goals at the end or busting ass on defense to hold the narrow lead in crunchtime and win. Watching the Rapids so much has caused me to develop a jaded outlook on my sports teams holding leads in crunchtime. I now just expect a collapse and loss at the end... mental or otherwise. That’s why I was so surprised to see the gritty Avs score key late goals and hold on with defense to win on Friday. Maybe the hometown hockey play will provide some inspiration for the footballers.
Also of note... a few weeks ago, Hudson said it wouldn’t be until game 5 or 6 when we see the true new Rapids. Well, we’re there now. Certainly, playing a man down for 75 minutes makes it tough to judge performance. And injuries aren’t helping either. But overall, this club still has a long way to go with mental toughness, consistency, and playing tight, organized football for a full 90... not to mention coming anywhere near 50% possession. Equally concerning is the line-up selections each match. Hudson STILL can’t seem to push for more than 20 minutes from any key DP/TAM attacker and for some unknown reason, he has a love affair with USL-caliber McBean and Wynne who seem to offer very little and are really more liability than asset. As for Howard v. MacMath. Starting to lean toward the latter. “Get your head in the game” is a feeling that comes up with Howard too much as of late. But hey, at least SLC isn’t known for its strip clubs, so we don’t have to endure another vid of Timmy make it rain money with strippers after another mental lapse loss.
This match was frustrating. Every decision went against us. The CR and VAR were correct. I have no bones about their decisions but luck just wasn't having anything to do with the Rapids. It just wasn't in the cards. The defense held the fort donw for as long as they could. It was inevitable RSL were going to break through. What's frustrating and maddening is the Rapids inability to prevent a self implosion late in a match. The Smith handball, MacMath not properly setting the wall, the needeless fouls, and the unwarranted turnovers. It's like everything that could go wrong, goes wrong. Is that on Hudson? Is that on the players? Is it a combo? It could go either way for me. It's becoming a plague and spreading throughout the club. It must top but how how can it if that plague has ineffected everyone?
Isn't some of the "everything goes wrong" aspect a result of not being able to hold possession and being outshot in every game where the other team brings its starters? The Rapids have done some good things playing off the counter, but the flipside is it must be tiring to press and be on D for the majority of the match. Even before yesterday's match, they had been outshot something like 57 to 81 in 5 matches.
The real issue was our inability to convert anything when we dominated for the first 20 minutes. It's been a long time since I've seen the Rapids control a game that much at the start. In that time we had 0 shots on goal.
So, I had to take some time off before re-capping my thoughts on the FSL debacle. Some random thoughts: Nothing can really be decided based on this game. The first 20 minutes were strong, but who knows if they could have kept it up. Howard messed everything up with his Ceus impression. Defense seemed solid once the Howard screw-up happened. MacMath is the man. I have said it before, but he showed it again. The final goal was a bit of a mess in organization, but really it is hard to imagine the effort the team went through and NOT have had some silly mistakes. The handball in the box was stupid. We just need to be smarter on things like that. Clearly Hudson was trying to go for the win with his subs. I thought a Serna sighting would have been very appropriate last night. His energy would have probably been better than Gashi's technical ability. Beyond that, just a horrible game and I blame Howard for it. And for everything that happened after that. rod.
Report on Burgundy Wave is that Serna had an injury which is why he didn't start. Might have factored into Hudson's sub decisions.