Come on Mike. Just how in the hell is MLS trying to engineer a USSF-organized trophy for us? Whatever 'help' MLS tried to give us, 1996-1999, did more to hurt us than anything else. It's not hard to see that. And there's no case to be made that we're being 'helped' now, at least outside the conspiracy-addled minds of provincial folk.
Back from the game and now watching the replay on MSG. A glutton for punishment am I. A few points: 1. thank you ESC, sitting in 110 you guys sounded great, it's just a shame that so few non-ESC fans showed any life/spirit, 2. although this was a bitter loss we were not crushed, that is some small solace going into the playoffs, 3. I hate to say this about a great Metro but Clint's time has passed (I realize that I am a late convert on this point), 4. would it have been so bloody hard to get rid of the football lines for one night? Since I am a "glass half full" guy there is one essential point I want to make - if anyone had said to me in April that we would come in second in the Open and, at this point be second in the East I would have ben shocked and said sounds wonderful. This team has played above its talent level for most of the season. Now on to the playoffs!
Oh who are you running off you piece of cow shite. I've been to Oklahoma and I'd rather have 50 years of no championship than to live in that waste land. Guess what I'm old enough to remember the real game..try this one http://huskerpedia.com/games/1971/oklahoma71.html beside you cow sucking sister *#*#*#*#ing piece of shite...do you think you are going to scare off someone from ny with words...
I will have pictures and comments in the morning, but I will say this: until I get a better cell phone or some portable device designed for email, that was the last webcast I will do for awhile. One last time, the archived webcast is at http://www.infinitedeferral.com/webcast/. Mathis. Done. End of story.
How does Guevara avoid the abuse? Seems at least as "worthless" as Clint to me. Actually just about everyone except Eddie Pope and maybe Jonny Walker seemed pretty worthless to me. You know it's bad when the most exciting moments are Richie Williams making runs up the right wing only to pass the ball out of bounds. Crowd may have been small, but just about everyone was primed to cheer on at least a half decent effort even if it was in a losing effort. What a lame performance. Remember when Metro were the most exciting team to watch in the league?
On the game, honestly, I haven't felt this let down in a while. I was willing to sit through the lame ass 0-0 tie on Saturday with the worst team in the league missing it's best player. I was willing to sit through a 0-0 tie against KC in the sahara heat wave so that 872 kids at summer camp could show up to watch 90 minutes of organized boredom. I was willing to sit through this entire year of us being crap at home, if they would have made good on their apology for eight years of futility to their fans by winning tonight. Instead, we whimper out of the Open cup. I feel like the kid who has gotten socks and a sweater for christmas 8 years in a row waking up Christmas morning to find standing in the place where the shiny red bike I'd been dreaming about all year was supposed to be, a box of socks and sweaters. Disappointing isn't the word. You know what it's like to hate your own parents? I feel like that. As for Segroves, guys, honestly, don't waste your time on him. Like the lady in the supermarket with the 4 screaming kids- they are a momentary disturbance to you, but that sorry b!tch has to go home with them. He gets to live in Oklahoma and amuse himself and his two acolytes on the rivalries board while toasting his remarkable skills to call someone gay or lame, as if that was what mattered in life. Don't let him make you feel bad about anything. When you turn off your computer, you're not in Oklahoma. Case closed.
So you are not a chicago fan then. Why weren't you their? Have to deliever your papers in the morning right.
I disagree here Mike. The ONLY time I think we were that one player away from being a dominant side was 2001. There has usually been at LEAST 3 or 4 missing pieces (take this year for example: In order to hang with SJ/Chi game in game out, the Metros would need another solid defender, another scoring threat and at least one, but more likely two wingmids. That's 4 missing pieces). I also disagree about the "poor keeping Pre-T Ho" bit. Aside from those awful few minutes with Russell Payne, the Metros best position throughout the history of the team has been GK. Meola in his prime. Ammann when he was a top keeper. Howard and now Walker. In between, we've had one of the more reliable backups in Grafer. As for Mathis, I won't jump on him in the annual Brian Kelly/Andy Williams/Rodrigo Faria/Tab Ramos gang beating. I will say this though. He seems to have lost his teammates. They don't seem to want to pass to him. He's yelling at them more. I don't think Mathis has lost all of his skill; I think he's lost the support of his teammates. It reminds me a bit of Valencia near the end of his run here.
1. I have done some rough calculations. Since Mathis scored twice on September 6, he has played roughly 500 minutes. In that time, the Metros have 0 goals. (The Metros scored in 3 matches where Mathis played: New England at home, Columbus at home, DC on road. However, I beleive tht Mathis had either been subbed for or carded in all 3 games before the goals were scored.) However, in the 240 minutes that Mathis did not play, Metrostars have scored 8 goals! It would certainly be simplistic to conclude that Mathis needs to sit for the Metrostars to score, but nevertheless the difference with him on and off the field over the last month and a half is significant (and not for the better). Realistically, I don't think Bradley can sit Mathis, but I do think Mathis' Metro career is over (and not just by his choice). 2. How do you evaluate Bradley after all this? On the one hand, I think we are still in second place and we finished second in the Open Cup, reaching our first final- that sounds pretty good. On the other hand, Bradley has been congratulated all year for having a team that plays with a great deal of heart, motivating his team to give maxium effort. Well, the last three games at Giants Stadium the team has not shown up. They have been flat and uninspired. At the most important time of the year, they are once again falling flat at home. In addition, Bradley was hailed as a keen evaluator of talent but I have seen little this year to suggest that this is true. The two Argentinians are a bust. Jusko has been horrible. Yes, as far as the draft, Gaven and Clarke have shown something. Magee and perhaps Regan remain borderline. Otherwise, there were some players on the roster who clearly weren't ready for MLS. Look, overall Bradley has done a good job. I guess I am disappointed because I don't think he has lived up to the genius reputation he had when he came here. And yes I have asked aloud would we have been better off had we hired Sarchan and left Bradley in Chicago. Admittedly, this is an unfair question in light of the core players that Sarchan had to start with. Bradley had no such nucleus here. However, the thought has crossed my mind.
Well.... the worm turns many times during a season and over campaigns and, while I'm disappointed about last night, I'm waiting to see if things change during the run-up to and during the playoffs. Look, could ANYONE have foreseen, after how Mathis performed in his first season with the Metros, the last year? Mathis hasn't looked like that first-Metro-year player since even BEFORE the WC. How could things have changed so drastically? Who knows, but maybe it will change back. So in that spirit, and assuming that Bradley was INDEED the one who picked the talent in Chicago, I'm willing to wait and see how things develop over the remainder of the season and in the first part of the playoffs. It DOES take time to mold a team and, frankly, the defense hasn't looked half bad this year. Pope alone was worth what we gave up in the trade (as was pointed out above). It's the midfield->offense that has been pitiful. Perhaps inserting Gaven and giving Jusko a bit more time and letting some attitudes adjust will turn things around. Face it: if we end up winning the Cup (I know, a big IF), we all will rationalize this loss and Bradley will return to his status as a coach of unquestioned brilliance. But he'll HAVE to get more out of the offense to make that even a remote possibility. =NLK= BTW: I just read Michael Lewis' story in the News: did NS REALLY say about Chicago dominating the Metros over the years: "I thought I fixed that problem when I hired Bradley?" With all due respect, does that sound like a guy who should be GM of a club? Sheeeeeesh!
What I learned from reading this thread: 1. Mathis Sucks (I have been waiting for the new whipping boy since Arena stopped playing) 2. gaysmack is lame yet, midwestern smack seems to be funny and new. I'm confused... Re: the game The metros just didn't have it last night....Damani finished his chance.... I don't even think we had a chance all night, so I don't feel like we let it 'slip away'. Chicago came out and wanted the game.....Metros didn't.
Some Metro Thoughts: Magee or Brad Davis??? I feel we lost on this one as a left sided attacking mid who can shoot like Razov would have helped us more though I do like Magee's potential. JuskSlow and Jaime: Bad moves and both need to be dropped. Too slow! Andy Williams; mistake letting him go as he killed us this year and probably will for years to come. Ziadie: How does this guy play on any National team?? Disappointing as Leitch is better. Edgar and Digi: Both should stay as to me are solid enough as defenders for us. Rico and Gaven are solid right now and will get even better. Need to put Rico at defensive Mid and dump richie for speed sake if nothing else. Walker is real deal. Clint: has outilved his usefulness and can no longer attack/score. Not much else he does good anymore except yap. Woly: Great season and surprise. Pope/Jolley: Both great players Regan/Leitch: Solid with good future. Amado: Give him an attacking fast forward who can finish like Pavon and he will look even better. Argentinians; Let them go back as both too slow for me. Mark Chung: Should have kept this guy as well as could score and attack out of the midfield. See Brad Davis mistake. Bob: Needs to adjust style to make it a little more of a threat offensively at times. Has developed attitude and younger players however and overachieved with this group. Nick S: Looks like no consistent game plan to build this team as always has one or two useless SIs gobbling up Salary Cap.
Here we go with Andy Williams again. He's a sub in Chicago and he was due to make as much money as Amado is making before he was released. For anyone who cares. The Argentineans are cheap, young bench-filler. They were deemed to be better than Glowienka and Velez. They weren't expected to excel. We don't get Pope without taking Moreno's $$. We've got the third-best record in MLS right now with a team that was overhauled top to bottom. We trail only San Jose (2001 Cup winners) and Chicago (perennial contenders)...teams that only had to fine-tune coming into the season. We're ahead of: LA, Columbus and New England, three teams that thought they were Cup-bound. So, in summation, screw all of you who think this season has been a bust. Time for another knockout tournament. We may not win it all, but we're going to be a tough out. And we're set up to be a lot better next year, once we shed Clint and Jaime's salaries.
Richie- you have to take a 'quoting' class......my eyes are going to bleed trying to decifer that mess.
Which ever one of us is perfect may he throw the first stone. Get out of the way or get hit by a stone Whatever that means.
I just wanted to see this in print again. When I read his posts and his call and responses with his dork minions from the hinterlands on some other boards, it makes me thank god again I live in this place. Anyway, my complaint with Clint is not that he didn't hustle, or that even his bad passes, my complaint is why was he out of position so often. To me, lack of running or fitness is not the problem here, quite the contrary. Why as a forward is he back in his own half so often? How is he going to score from there, and who is the midfield supposed to pass to. Williams is getting a lot of flack here but I thought he played pretty well. But still,why Lisi didn't start is a good question. Lisi is a very good player. Pope I thought made a couple of mistakes, and his wave at the ball in the midfield almost cost us a goal. All in all, Juskowiak I thought was our only really poor player. But at the same time, I'd be hard pressed to come up with a man of the match for either side. Passing was pretty tight and crisp in the midfield, but ultimately of no value. Our midfield on paper should be better at delivering balls into the box than it showed last night.
Re: Re: Post-game, Post-mortem. (R) And I thought I was desparate for name-calling when I coined the term "EarthGays"
Williams played his best game since May or June. He's still a liability, though. Lisi didn't start because he's been nursing a severely sprained ankle. I'd expect to see him again as a late sub this weekend. And, IMHO, he's a great player. Too bad things didn't work out for the Metro. I'm truly gutted, but once I saw the starting forwards and that Williams was starting in place of Regan, I didn't expect a victory.
And based on who he was with after the game, apparently he took all your p***y in the Tri-State Area too.