... at Spartan. KC was a defeated team. They managed ONE shot on goal, we were turning their backs and getting chances at will. They had given up. Folded. So why, when we got our second goal early in the 52nd minute, did we stop trying to penetrate? Why didn't we go for the throat when everyone in the stadium could smell a third or fourth goal was easily attainable. Landon, DeRo and MULLEN were having a great day. When Mullen is having a great day making defenders look foolish, you don't get cute and play the ball around in the back to sit on the lead. You let the Quakes romp. If anyone should have known a two goal advantage can be overturned, it's this group of veterans - including Mr. Kinnear.
Well Ching choking from point balnk didn't help either. But really, it got to the point where we were beating their defenders by accident, not from some push to bury them. Bo was broken and scared after goal #2. They were on the brink of collapse. We took our foot off the pedal and let them survive to game two. Now, we'll always regret it.
Not really. Our 2-0 victory at home last year against you was much less convincing then your 2-0 victory at home against KC this year IMHO.
Perhaps your irrational animosity towards Ching is affecting your memory but I believe it was DeRo who hit the post when he had an open net to shoot at it game one. Honestly -- Ching isn't a perfect player by any means but he's got some very useful talents. Just ask Bruce Arena.
Nope. It was your buddy DeRo who was one on one with the keeper, but he couldn't put it away. This was shortly after scoring. KC would have been finished. So, you can take your Ching choker and go somewhere else. Like a Pat Onstad thread...
I think this title thread would have shown far more insight by the poster if it had come before Saturday's loss... it's just hindsight at this point. Hannah
Well I couldn't post during the game at Spartan, because I was at the game -screaming "Go To GOAALL !! GO TO GOAL GODDAMMIT! (My spelling is poor when I yell.) After the whistle, every post is Monday morning quarterbacking.
Actually, Jay Hipps and Quaker... DeRo did NOT hit the post, he drilled the ball on net and Oshoniyi pulled a kick-save out of his ass to deflect the ball onto the post. Watch the game again, observant ones, and you'll also notice DeRosario gets the winning goal.
The main point is well taken. We should have won 5-0. End of story. There's a world of difference between a two-goal lead and a three-goal lead.
Ching (Tiffany): " I think we're alone now..." And I thought it was ridiculous when players tried to get away with peeing on the field.
Does anyone think KC outplayed the Quakes on Saturday to a greater extent than the Quakes outplayed KC the Sunday before? I don't, but I only saw part of last Saturday's match. So I'm leaning toward agreement with the premise of this thread. I don't buy the "oh well, as it should be, we lost to a better team" theories. KC won "fair and square" (are you out there, uclacarlos? ), congratulations to them, but I think the matches with KC all year long have shown that the teams are very evenly matched.
Quakes just were missing a little something.. an element of desperation KC had maybe. I dunno. Thinking on it Sunday really was a fitting end to the season. A playoff series where somehow when you added things up we came up short when we should have been better. Just a flawed season from beginning to end.
Yup, a wet field. Seriously. As I said after our home win, the wet field impeded first-place KC's ability to shut us down with bumps and jostles, and our passing game was preeminent. At KC, no wet field, our passing was broken up, and the results showed.
Screw that: New England's one game away from the Final! They sucked! Which MLS team did not have a flawed season? We're going to have to adjust our settings. We're spoiled from watching dream teams and Cinderella seasons. We rose to the top like cream. But sports aren't usually like that. The Boston Red Sox were a wild card team, right? Nobody outside Boston is going to remember that. We did what it took to get to the playoffs, then we squandered our dominance. It was a golden opportunity missed. We blew it. And besides - nobody was creamier than us this year. Nobody!
In the first game san jose had them by the balls all game long. If kinnear had any coaching knowledge he would have kept the pressure on by subbing out Ching and putting in Walker. Walker would have added more pace to a san jose team that was running on all cylinders. All he had do was tell Jamil and Dero to spread KC defence even more than they had. That would have gave oppurtunity for Donavon to make attacks forward with either of the two strikers. Everyone knows thier was another goal waiting to happen, BBBBUUUTTTTT, Kinnear ruined it. That series should have been ours. Thier is no holding back or resting players in the playoffs. Thats what the regular season is for. Thanks Dom
not to mention Spartan stadium is smaller than my apt deck..... I would call that a slight advantage to your Quakes, it must suck to play on a field that is a correct size once in a while. If you want smaller fields, why don't you watch the MISL. KC has a pretty good team in that league too...
And if you look close you'll see that the pitch at Arrowhead really isn't all that much wider than Spartan. If the seats didn't curve in so much the pitch could be a few yards wider.
I'm glad you said that. I was thinking the same thing. Seems I read somewhere that Arrowhead is only about 69 yards wide - very similar to Spartan.
Very true. Even the fields at RFK and the Meadowlands are very similar in size to Spartan's. The only difference is that unlike the others, Spartan's walls are literally several inches away from the sidelines, whereas the others have a few feet between the sidelines and the adboards, which in turn are several feet away from the walls. GO SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES!!! -G