Nice save by Onstad in the 89th minute-- that should preserve the clean sheet. Agoos named MOTM... And we have four minutes of added time.
Has SJ looked this good ever without Mulrooney in the lineup? Everyone should get mad props for stepping up during his absence....
I just had a strange thought. Amanpour bought a bunch of tickets for his "friends", right? What if most of them are potential investors? Could he have told Kinnear "I don't care if the Quakes advance or not, just make sure you attack all game and make it exciting for these guys". SJ just played like thier franchise depended on this game. Could it have?
Very much so. Corrales and Russell played quite well, as did everyone else. And on that note, we have a full time score... Quakes win, 2-0-- goals to DeRosario and Waibel. Second leg at Arrowhead next weekend; we have a nice lead to defend and build upon.
Wouldn't surprise me one bit. And the team did lift its collective game, and did so when it matters. Looks like the Quakes are getting hot at just the right time, which is proper and good for playoff time.
cause Conrad was down and the ball wasn't in play most of the first stoppage minute? Stone almost had a fit
Really very good game. Speed in the midfield was huge, biggest difference between this game and much of the season. KC players didnt have time to breathe, forcing bad passes and in turn letting us actually play the ball on the ground. Donovan was MotM. Corrales really played very very well. Huge step up from him. Russel played pretty well. Mullan didnt have a lot of touches, but I thought put some nice balls in to the box. Ching just didnt have it. Ill credit KCs D. DeRo on the otherhand really took addvantage of some good midfield service to get into dangerous spots. Waibel at times was a bit thuggish, but isnt that why we like him? Cochrane was very good. Agoos was very solid game. Dunivant had a great game. Onstad... not the best from him. Really the back 4 seemed to have an interesting scheme. Waibel and Cochrane were almost marking backs when KC went for the long ball, both from the right, while Agoos had more of free role. Dunivant played as an attacking left back. Midfield as I said was great. Just suffocating, some very sweet combination play mostly center/left, and LD was fricking MONSTER. Forwards werent too shabby. All in all, would have liked to get a 3rd, but if the Quakes just keep playing as well in the midfield as they did in this one, we have a very good shot at that 3rd star.
We should wet the field down before every home game with KC. They weren't able to play their semi-reckless bump & jostle game they've perfected against us until the field started drying in the last twenty minutes. And without as much contact our superior passing game was able to come to the fore. Plus you saw what the conditions did to Oshonyi's play. No wait, I seem to recall him sending balls out the sideline earlier in the season The boys in blue really put out and it was great to see Mullan getting back to his previous level of performance. Ian raced around to good effect, don't recall him slipping at all. Do tell your 'mates where you get your cleats. A shame that a lot of the fans that were with us the last few home matches didn't come out for this one. Of course the time was bad and maybe they were expecting to get wet. I think I got a little sunburn.
Congrats you guys. for me, probably the most entertaining playoff game so far. KC had almost no offense going. Your backline was pretty damn solid with Agoos pulling off an almost superman performance. Midfield was probably strongest for you guys. Corrales was great in Dmid role and Donovan was inspired. DeRosario deserves more starts than he gets IMHO. However, that goal was definitely a cross. But anyway good game and goosd luck in the return leg.
Yeah Quakes! I'm guessing it looked pretty good on TV, and I'm convinced everyone else is right about the ref--i yelled at Terry that we weren't gonna' let him decide the outcome of this one!! Dero's goal was all the way down the sideline from me so i couldn't see how deep in the corner he was... was it a shot or lucky bad cross? 'White Shoes' Corrales did have a great game, but man he sent a lot of headers straight up in the air. individually, russell and Dero played well but those guys and ching went long stretches without stringing together anything well at all. landon killed 'em and had a great shot on goal. he should've taken the free kicks-- looked good before the game over dead balls and Goose just sucked with his. if we get mulrooney back for the return leg, KC is in it deep and once again watching the final on TV! GO QUAKES!!!
one question: where was this team all season? Cochrane was solid, winning almost every head ball... where KC would hoof it away, the Quakes would short touch it around.... still too much over the top play from the back 4, but overall a complete 90 minutes for a change... first hal, up 2. what are you going to do, dom?
This was an awesome game. Quick, creative, effective short passes even when Donovan was not involved, and when he was, wow! He just took control of the team and looked relaxed doing so. From his first season I was complaining that he is wasted at forward - now it is clear that you just cannot give him too much responsibility. He has the shoulders of Atlas. Russell was just fantastic and combined perfectly with Dunivant in a way that no midfielder and defender has all season. In fact, all the players showed lots of skill and energy outside of first-half Corrales who had massive trouble passing. I hope this puts to rest the crying that comes from refs that seem to call games against the Quakes. A ref can't turn a game against a team that is really playing well. I don't care who recovers next week - do not change this formation.