Quakes/DeeCee (7/15/05) inmatch/postmatch [R]

Agree on the turnovers, pretty much everyone gave the ball away in the middle to give DC a break. I remember specifically cases where DeRo, Clark, Gray, Califf and Robinson all did.

Probably Gray's worst game as a Quake; Mullan hasn't been himself since he's been back from his injury. Good point on Barrett, he is the one who did seem to do some things and didn't seem to make mistakes on D (although I'm not sure if he should have been on Moreno on that cross).

On Dwayne, I agree he was tired but I guess I still thought he did more than our other midfielders. I agree on that shot that if he had dropped off a pass he had someone wide open.

 

Rather bizarre the lack of runs on either side of that 5-man ensemble in the middle, tired or not. White shirts clunking into each other with little apparent idea of where to go with the ball is not Earthquakes football. Surely there can or should be options on the bench for more determined, explosive play up front. Kind of looked like DeRo and Team Canada out there tonight.

 

Hmmm, agree on some of these points but I thought Wade actually played fairly well tonight, or as well as he could with nobody else on the left side to combine with offensively. Chung decided to play everywhere but the left side.

Also didn't really think the officiating was that bad; the one call on the foul on Cerritos should have been a yellow, or Eddie's foul shouldn't have been a yellow. But other than that it seemed like he called a good game. What did you think was so bad with the officiating?

Hudson was one of the few things that kept me interested in the game......

As for Califf, that was definitely boneheaded. But I couldn't believe Shrader didn't know the suspension rule - how long has he been calling San Jose games? As far as I remember, there has never been any rule that had someone sit out 3 games for a suspension....but Shrader said that was what they were told before the game so he believed it.

 

I think they were trying to say that if Califf got a yellow in any of the next three games he would be suspened one game.

 

That's what I thought at first, but then Shrader specifically said something like "Oh, I'd like to clarify that Califf will only have to sit out one game. But we were told before the game that if he got a yellow he would have to sit out 3 games....." I'm sure what was said is what you describe, but somehow Shrader got confused on the rule. Oh well, maybe that's poetic justice - the rest of the team stunk it up, why shouldn't the announcers.....

 

arg.. i havent watched it yet.. its recorded

but do I really wanna see it?

 

sweet mother of pearl, Califf carded again!?

 

Yeah, good suggestion.

I think the travel and hot, humid, slippery conditions got the best of the boys tonight. It took awhile to adjust to the slippery field, and once they got used to it, the humidity took the steam out of them.

I agree, our worst game this season.

But we must put it behind us and move on towards Colorado.

 

Califf has gotten some sort of a card in every match he's played except 3!

 

or maybe i'll just chuck it in the trash lol

 

1) exteneded air travel causes dehydration (fact)
2) California-based teams will always be at a disadvantage playing in heat and humidity (opinion).

On to Colorado!

 

The season's half over and Wade's had all of about 3 decent games all year. It's not good enough if you're the captain and draw the highest salary. I thought he was ball watching on defense again, such as the 2nd goal. And he reverted to giving the ball away again nearly every time on attack. I agree Chung was non-existant and so was the right wing. But the captain needs to step up not down. And why isn't trying to get some modicum of protection for Cerritos?

I'm angry that Boswell didn't get a red card for the foul on Cerritos. He threw his leg backwards on purpose to trip Cerritos and bring him down hard. The ball was long gone. It wasn't a soccer move in any way shape for form so it doesn't qualify as a "late tackle." It's one thing and one thing only, an planned attempt to foul someone to hurt them, give them a knock, and take them off their game. Vaughn saw it all the way. And he didn't deal with what it was.
I'm also sort of pissed about the Prideaux tackle on Cerritos which was studs up and very high. That's a red card really too, and it didn't even draw a yellow. It annoys me the league lets DC play a "Dema butcher" brand of soccer and Terry Vaughn's only job was protection of Freddy
while throwing Cerritos to the wolves.

And I'm a little pissed Romando didn't get a card for going for Moreno's face. Too bad if Romando doesn't want to have to go around him to throw the ball out. It's not license to go at the face of someone who's just standing there.

Well usually. But I got sick of him saying over and over and over and over and over again how fabulous and earth-shatteringly wonderous and top-quality DC's goals were. They were nice. Nothing more.

Kind of like Hudson going on and on about how all Dom should do is take the team home to rest. Hmmm....I guess we just skip Colorado on Wednesday? Neither of them seemed on "their game" any more than the Quakes.

 

what? we play CRad AGAIN already?

arg

 

It won't if you eat your peanuts.

 

Thanks for the clarification KMJ, great points. On Wade, I was thinking you were just saying it based on tonight, which I thought was one of his better games. But it's all relative, he really has not played well all season, and so I've gotten used to thinking that an "average" game by him is pretty good. A side note on Wade - when I was at the Quakes practice a week or so ago, there was a guy from Europe (Norway I think) with his family who was out here on vacation. He coaches youth soccer, and he really seemed to know the game. Anyway, they just were in the Bay Area and wanted to see the Quakes. He asked where Ekelund was, and also said he had seen Wade play in Europe. He said that the team Wade played on was "ok" but not great, and he was not that impressed with Wade.

On the fouls, I wasn't watching that closely, so I can't comment on the fouls you talk about. It does definitely seem that Cerritos and Moreno get the crap beat out of them in every game, and very few yellows are given to the defensive players doing it. I know Moreno goes down too easily at times, but that doesn't mean he's not being fouled most of the time.

And Hudson did seem to think that all of the DC United goals were some of the best he's ever seen....that's one of the things that is enjoyable about him when he's talking about the Quakes but he does go over the top on nice plays.

 

Some of my frustration with Vaughn does reflect a season long issue the severity and frequency of fouls on Cerritos...so he's catching the brunt of my being near the end of my rope with the issue. But Vaughn has as much experience as any ref in this league and he's just got to do better with this sort of thing....he's a veteren.

 

Yep.

And hold on to your hats, we play them yet again 3 and a half weeks later!

 

I could be wrong but it looked to me like Gray originally had the ball on the right corner and made an errant pass that started the whole attack for DC. It looked like Rico then got caught a few steps behind Gomez trying to defend it. Probably doesn't matter there were more than enough mistakes all night for everyone to have had a few, but also DC just downright played an awesome game, we were lucky to come out of it only three down, it was an act of mercy by Nowak to take out Gomez and Moreno.

We had a great 7 game run that got a lot of people here very excited about this team, lets hope this is just a blip, but i just hope that we don't have to face DC in the MLS Cup if and when we get there. Nowak just seems to know how to shut us down in the mid, and tonight he went one better and showed how to expoit our defense. I'm hoping it was just the humidity and all the travel but it could be that DC are just a hell of a lot better than we are, based on two games thats how it looks.

Please, can we sign another forward? Not sure if it should be Iordache but we really need some more options at the front. Cerritos and Moreno are just so easy to read and neither one seems to see the open spaces (not that there was many provided tonight by DC).

Let's hope that a few more days of rest gets Dero back to his best, but I'm still a little worried that he won't be 100% on Wednesday, 5 games in 2 weeks is a lot to ask of any player.

 

Well, that was depressing. Who put this team together, dammit. (Oh, sorry, that's another thread.)

Every team has a few of these per year. Outplayed and + no breaks = lopsided score. I didn't think they really played all that much worse than the last time they played DC. Maybe even slighter better. But not good.

My amateur analysis is that DC's style is to attack the ball very aggressively and then go for the quick counter. You can see a Quake player with the ball at midfield and 4 guys coming at him, cutting off passing lanes. Quakes style is more about holding shape, which results in them not attacking as aggressively, and holding possession, going for the slower buildup instead of the quick counter. If the Quakes can break the attacks in midfield they might be able to get something going offensively, and I saw that happen a few times. They could use some more speed and urgency to make that work better. They just weren't nearly as dangerous as DC, and DC nailed their chances.

Anyway, I just hope they can learn something from this one and get better as a result.

 

Hudson is fun to listen to but I think the key word is 'hyperbole.'

The goals were well taken. As they should be when no one is playing defense.

 

Ya, It's a good thing someone invented beer!

 

Exactly, on all three goals there were sleeping Quakes, but props to Dc on the finishing, they punished us every time.