I watched the match last night on CSTV. I thought it was a hard fought match. Clearly Notre Dame was the better side. U-CONN didn't seem to be able to match ND's intensity. Both teams have great players. Notre Dame scored on a weakly crossed ball that snuck past the U-CONN defense right on to the foot of the hard charging Michael Thomas who buried it from 6 yards out directly in front of goal. The CSTV color announcer spent most of the match blabbering and yammering about how strong U-CONN was how well they possess the ball out of the back and their past dominance of Notre Dame and how U-CONN are the king's of the Big East and how U-CONN loves to possess the ball out of the back and what a great player Julius James is and what a great forward O'Brian White is and what a great coach Roy did I say Roy? I meant Ray Reid. I only said Roy because that dumb fug kept calling him Roy!! Memo to 1968 Graduate of Princeton Mr. Color Announcer for CSTV: SHUT UP!! Thats right. STFU. Thanks I feel better now. I mean for Pete's sake Notre Dame is the better team this year. Has the guy been paying any attention? He was acting that ND had NO CHANCE to defeat U-CONN. Thank goodness the ND team felt otherwise. Some quick player observations. Notre Dame. Keeper Chris Cahill. Never challenged all game long from what I recall. Tall. Gangly. A little weak on GK distance. I'm sure he is a fine keeper. Defender Jack Traynor. Very quick and agile. Great distribution. Nice free kicks. Traynor has a future in MLS if he wants. Midfielder Greg Dalby. Smart. Quiet. Effective. Moves the ball quick. Forward Justin McGeeney. Quick. Nice runs. Forward Joe LaPira. Tenacious. Relentless. Fearless. Hungry. Midfielder Nate Norman. Nice runs. Very skillful. Midfielder/Defender Cory and Dale Rellas. Smart good players. U-CONN. Defender Julius James. Real good player. First Team All American? Huh? Me thinks not by a long shot. First Team All Conference? I guess if you say so but I truly don't see what all the fuss is about. Defender Karl Schilling. As good if not better than James. Midfielder Akeem Priestly. Great skill. Probably the most skill of any player on the field. Something is missing. O'Brian White. Good forward. Nice speed and skill. Dangerous. Midfielder Toni Stahl. Good player. Midfielder Kevin Burns. Should start. Very good field vision and distribution. Forward Ryan Cordeiro. Quiet game. In this game Notre Dame was by far the more dangerous, better looking team in almost every area. I may be wrong but I think Notre Dame is an NCAA contender and U-CONN will have to greatly improve if they want to make any noise in the NCAA's.
Thanks for the recap Tom. 2 Questions. 1. It sounded live like UConn had some chances in the first half but that ND clamped down in the 2nd. Thoughs? 2. Chuckwudi Chijindu got hurt in the game. How bad did it look? I know they yanked him after 5 minutes in the 2nd half.
1) U-CONN's O'Brian White has a couple real good looks at net. He skied both shots though. 2) Chuckwudi Chijindu first injured himself late in the first half after making a strong run. Chijindu started the second half and was involved in some early play and after a strong defensive run he pulled up lame. Hamstring. I would guess he will be out for a couple of weeks at least based on his movements after the injury. Please note I'm not a Doctor. I just play one on BigSoccer.
I would think someone would mistakenly call Ray Reid "Andy Reid" one day, since they share a body shape.
Notre Dame was very impressive on the ball, very skilled players. In fact of all the games I'v seen on TV so far this year, by far the two best teams I've seen are the University of Washington and Notre Dame. In terms of their style of play, skill players, tactical awareness. I wonder why most of these guys don't get the hype over some of the others. Both teams were fun to watch. Some other teams that are on a lot, Maryland for one, doesn't impress with their style and skill. They're good don't get me wrong, just not interesting.