Note to all those who doubted the Revs (DCU fans, Mutts fans, Tino Palace, Jon Meterparel, etc.): You were wrong. Again. Ha ha ha ha ha. Note to all those who believed in the Revs: OK, guys... one big collective sigh of relief, on three. Ready? One... two... three!!! Note to Amado Guevara and his cronies: You're next.
While I hesitate to say a well deserved victory, good job by Bagley (who the hell is this guy?) to draw the PK and by Ralston who blasted home.. Taking advantage of United sucking in OT (4th OT loss this year) is the way to go.. Congrats and lay the smack down on the Mutts...
We're in the playoffs!!!! Just got home from the game. The Revs dominated possession, had lots of opportunities, but couldn't finish until the PK. Marshall Leonard looked good filling in for Joey. It's nice to have some speed on the back line for a change. Rusty made a few great plays. I thought Ralston had a great game, even before the PK. Not sure why Cancela came out for Cullen at the end, I hope he's not hurt. Not sure why Bagley was the first sub in (for Noonan) but he drew the PK, so SN knew what he was doing! Adin wasn't tested often, but came up with a few huge saves. Big win. Bring on the Mutts!
hahaha, verybdog, thats a cute attempt at rodney dangerfield...none of us got around to 'doubting' NE bc we don't care about your team so get over yourself... ...to the rest of you guys, congratulations on clinching, it's a good feeling...your team despite the injuries, always puts up a fight...i'd respect your team more if you gave the armband to one of the class guys on your team (ralston, adin, tnt, etc) but there's still hope franchino acts like an animal and costs himself the playoffs, see ya next week...
Bagley, good pick up. I know he won't win a starting job or anything, but you're going to get your money's worth out of him. I'll be watching you guys in the playoffs. Good luck.
MLSNET reports an attendance of 12,006 tonight. Um, yeeeah. Suuuuuuurrrrre. It certainly didn't look like that. Revs played a solid first-half with some excellent attacking play. Biggest gripe is that our players held onto the ball for a touch too many, taking away opportunities for a shot. Kamler was wide open on the header that went off the post, in fact, he was working his ass off the entire first-half. Some key saves from Brown. Dario Fabbro... he just doesn't seem to work hard off the ball. The only time he wasn't invisible in the match was when a number of us in The Fort wondered why Nicol didn't sub him out rather than Noonan.
stoichkov's followup to the crowd last game, he taunted the fans of sect 111/112 after DC's winning goal. this game, to taunts about his age (among other things) from the crowd, he put his finger to his lips, hushing the crowd, and he said 5 more years ... *L* what was the deal in the first half ?... we dominated yet couldn't capitalize on credible opportunites ... too often the extra touch, the extra cut, that lost the chance.
Gotta be pretty satisfied with the win. The NE reserves beat DC's first team. Ralston and Pierce (immense) put on clinics. What was really impressive to me was the ease with which the Revs maintained possesion and absorbed any DC pressure (aside from the ball cleared off the line - nothing). Cancela. The Revs forward line for the final ~30 minutes had a combined 7 games and 0 goals for the season. Yet DC never really had a sniff at the 3 points. The Revs earn 3 points, third place, and a playoff spot. And Pat Noonan proves to me finally and conclusively that he is a big time player. A steal in the draft. And it spared me the burden of having to watch the other local team's tragedy unfurl... Priceless.
Well played by a mix of starters and scrubs. How many would we have had with Twellman, JM Moore or even Chris Brown in there? I'm not sure any Revs player performed better through out than Pierce, although Ralston did well too. I thought Noonan played very well in the 1st half but seemed to fade after the break. Cancela looked better than he did in the C-bus game, at least until Ernie wacked him. I hope that's just a bruise. He's very nearly irreplaceble. For DC, Warren played very well, which was good for them, because Prideaux and Namoff were just getting abused. Ralston, Noonan and Kamler pretty much went by both of them at will. I suppose that's why Stewart start drifting deeper and deeper.
Revs start the game with four first-line players out (Twellman, Moore, Llamosa and Franchino). They finish the game minus another two (Kamler and Cancela), plus their #1 "sub," Noonan. So they won the game without seven of their first twelve players. Pretty damn good, I'd say. After the initial five minutes which were both rough and rough to look at, they played perhaps the most flowing and artistic football of the season for the next forty minutes. They should have had four goals. I'd say there was enough great stuff in those forty minutes to make up for the second, dreary 45 but what can you expect when the car has between four and seven sparkplugs missing? This really was a tribute to depth, which we seem to finally possess. Not pretty in total but very effective and a tribute to all concerned. And the DC fans are absolutely roasting their team across the way. Finally, let us hope that Cancela is OK. There is no question that he is the best SI pickup since Ruiz. JIM DOW
Stewart wound up and kicked Cancela straight into his knee... and NO card. I think Stewart is the biggest tragedy on DC this season. He was expected to add some class and legitimacy to a 'rough' side, but it turns out he's just as much of a hack as Olsen has proven to be. On a lighter note, it sure is nice to win when it looks like there's no way you can even threaten the net with all the injuries. Sweet.
My 2 cents A solid if unspectacular game by the Revs. With so many new players in the mix, I wasn't surprised that they had trouble making the final pass or shot, nor that the winning goal came on a dead ball play. The defence was the story. Thiago Martins: owned and operated, used and abused by Rusty Pierce. Pierce was simply outstanding. If he brought a little more offensive game.... Marshall reminds a little of the young Pierce in that he is a tenacious man-marker - better than Franchino - but the passing needs a lot of work. Both he and Noonan seemed to feel the pressure, often squeezing their passes too hard. But this has got to be great experience for both players. It looks like both guys are going to see a lot of PT in the next month. With Howard gone, is there a keeper in MLS you'd exchange for AB? Didn't think so. Talk about dominating the area. How about any other d-mid for Joseph? Nope. He's just getting sharper. Some around me were grumbling when Pepe came off for Cullen. I'm actually fine with that, and think Cullen is perfectly suited to play the late game defensive sub. Cancela on the other hand was flagging. I used to be an anti-Babite. I am rapidly becoming an anti-Fabbrite. The guy has the vertical leap and mobility of a cinderblock. The DCU fans' grace in defeat is appreciated. The fans in 111 got a hand from Hudson. He was trying to yell to Stewart. The 111 fans drowned him out yelling "Earnie! Earnie!" RH gave up and applauded the fans. Nice touch.
As for Cancela's injury - we switched ends to watch the Revs attack in the second half, it is so much colder down the end opposite the Fort - anyways it was right in front of us. He got whacked pretty good, looked like the side of his knee. Of course right after Etch went after the Ref yelling that it was a dive. It clearly wasn't the case. I doubt anyone will agree with me, but I felt that Etch deserved a second yellow for his b*tching after the game. He basically ran after the Ref after Ralston burried it. Jawed at him (along with Earnie) for a good five min. after the game. Definately deserving of a second yellow. I know that it doesn't happen very often that cards are given out after a game, but it was disgraceful to see Etch go after the Ref like that. The level of dissent that is tolerated in the league (truthfully everywhere) is getting to the point that it is rediculous.... but then again maybe I should be happy that it isn't stricter considering that Heaps and Rusty scream at the Ref almost every game. Still, good win - into the playoffs - too bad the Sox game was such a mess - but I was happy I went to the Revs game and didn't have to watch the farce that took place at Fenway. I'm sure that if I was watching the game when Garcia slid into Walker that something would have been broken! GO REVS!!
Dario Fabbro- you are the weakest link! Very nice to win this one. I thought Shalrie had his best game of the season. Was Noonan hurt?- that is the only excuse I can see why Nicol left Dario out there.
If you bother to pay attention to any other DC games this season (and I wouldn't expect you to) you will see that what he did to Cancela was a completely isolated incident.. I haven't even seen a hard tackle from Earnie this season much less a hack like that.. Should he have gotten a card? Absolutely.. But your assertion that he is a hack is laughable..
Hardly... I'll concede that NE was definitely fielding an understrength team but that was far from DC's first team.. No Rimando No Olsen No Nelsen No Reyes (been gone all year) While you definitely had the edge in key players missing, don't sleep on the fact that United had just as many key players gone as well..
Remember Magpie, it's tickets sold not butts in the seats. I "attended" the game even though I'm in GA this weekend. Still, kudos to the Revs -- and the Fort -- you guys looked and sounded great.
Pepe was fascinating to watch in this game. I think he is the best midfielder in the league right now. Certainly he is the best we have ever had in New England. I even rank him as good as Valderama was. He is such a pleasure to watch. Wasn't that Leonard that made that long beautiful pass to Bagley at the end? I see improvement in him even during the course of the game. Maybe his confidence increases as the game progresses. Also, Joseph was one of the keys to the Revs dominating this game. I see him as possibly the best defensive midfielder we have ever had. This team is a real pleasure to watch right now. They can finally work the ball up through the midfield rather than have to depend on the long ball from the goalie. A vast difference from early in the season when it was painful to watch their games. They should do very well in the playoffs.
NO REV CARDS--with so many players facing card suspension in the past few games the Revs have just played two matches WITHOUT getting a card. Anyone have an idea what Etch was bitching about at the end of the game. The PK call looks like a no brainer. Going after the Ref after the match was over is going to cost him a significant fine. NICE WIN. Hope Noonan and Pepe aren't hurt. Noonan hurt his neck and Pepe was limping rather badly after Stewart kicked him.
Remember Magpie, it's tickets sold not butts in the seats. I "attended" the game even though I'm in GA this weekend. Well, that may be true, but the unescapable fact is this: the Revolution are all but set to finish the 2003 season with their worst overall average home attendance in team history. Factoring in the numbers from yesterday evening's match, the Revolution now can claim an avg. "paid" home attendance of 14,794 through 14 matches, the only remaining regular season home contest coming in two weeks against Metro. 2003: 14,794 through 14 total home matches.** 2002: 16,927 through 16 total home matches. 2001: 15,654 through 13 total home matches.* 2000: 15,463 through 16 total home matches. 1999: 16,735 through 16 total home matches. 1998: 19,188 through 16 total home matches. 1997: 21,423 through 16 total home matches. 1996: 19,025 through 16 total home matches. ** Total avg. attendance with one home match to go. * Reduced number of games due to 9/11 terrorist attacks. It's all well and good that The Fort looked and sounded good yesterday evening, but most section die-hards would tell you that any enhanced sense of atmopshere probably owes more to the sound reflecting off empty seats other than any greater than average vocal effort. If anything, the effort last night (due to reduced numbers in the section) wasn't nearly what it has been in the past. I'm thrilled that the Revs have made the playoffs - that we have one of the best young players in the league in Taylor Twellman and at present the most productive offense. We have seen the emergence of some otherslike Pat Noonan, Shalrie Joseph, while Jose Cancela has quitely become the best midfielder in Major League Soccer. But I have to say this: a lot of fans and friends whom I used to see regularly some six, five, our four years ago... just don't show up anymore. Hell, in chatting with a nice English gentleman having stopped by the Riders tailgate yesterday, it almost pained me to explain that group numbers are almost less-than half what they were at their peak. Jesus, when you factore in the need for adjusted totals with Chicago and Dallas not having their own regular-sized stadia, the Revolution are likely to finish 2nd worst in the league overall this year, only ahead of San Jose. That's why I have to comment on the crowd yesterday eveing. 12,000-plus may have paid for the game, but to the lay-eye it hardly looked like there were 7,000 or so there. Once again, heppy that we won but quite concerned about the dwindling numbers. The Magpie