From today's MLS Confidential "Still, the second seed is just as vital as the first when the playoffs commence, for both spots guarantee homefield advantage until the final, which is being played on a neutral site, unless the Revs get there. Ha." Ha?! Thanks Ridge. Wolde's right. We need a '97 Colorado-style revival . Another interesting bit from SA, this one from the SoccerAmericaDaily: "The short-handed MetroStars equalized through a Diallo diving header..." And we got was the diving!
Well, it isn't that likely that the Revs will make it to the finals, ya know...statisticly speaking. Though we can't give up all hope. The team just needs to work harder and get a few more players that will make a difference. Though it would be nice if the Revs got to the finals, that would be a great home field advantage.
Big Mama missed a PK against Columbus Wednesday night, but when Faria put in the rebound, Diallo was given an assist!! The Crew radio announcers were aghast.
The stats situation in the MLS has really gotten to the point of absurdity. Secondary assists are almost always a joke, and half of the primary assist awarded this year are questionable. Ignore the stats. However, according to almost anyone who's seen Andy Williams play since the trade, he's playing like one of the best players in the league. Many of us knew/hoped he was capable of this - it's just too bad he finally got around to doing it somewhere else. I fear that Andy Williams is going to join with Oscar Pareja and Ariel Graziani as the three best players to never (really) play for the Revs. BTW, if hadn't been following the Revs for seven seasons, I wouldn't think it were so far fetched that they make the playoffs. They're 6 points behind the Crew with a game in hand, one game to play against the Crew, and an easier schedule over the last 8 games (the Revs will only be playing one +.500 team [LA]: the Crew play three +.500 teams down the stretch [LA, KC, and SJ]). But as I mentioned, I have been following the Revs for the last 7 seasons, so...
I don't get the dis'. The Revs are the only team that COULD have a home field advantage in the final. Theoretically. AW isn't just getting around to playing like one of the best in the league - he did it the 2nd half of last season, when he finally got the playing time. He set up all of Sunsing's goals, he set up Cate, he sprayed brilliant passes all over the place. Some people were too blind to see it - waiting for him to "hustle"!
Actually I just went through last year's games summaries and they pretty much completely back this up. Did you know that AW had three goals and five assists in the last 8 Revs regular season games (not including Open Cup games)? For those who are into stats, this is a pretty remarkable 1.0 GAA (goals-assists-average). Which has to make you ask - why have their always been so many players that the Revs coaches felt they "couldn't get to play" here?. In just the last few years McKinley, Beasley, Wynalda, Harkes, Diallo, Williams, and Chrono (who's apparently playing well offensively, but like utter crap defensively in NY) have joined these ranks. Why not here? Could it be that Revs coaches seem universally more determined to shoe-horn players into their "system" than to alter the "system" to make the most of the player's talents?
Re: Re: Revs dissed by SA Not to mention that if Ridge were a Revs fan, no one would blink at that comment. It's exactly the sort of aside that any pessimistic Rev fan (aka your average Rev fan) would make.
I didn't think that there was anything wrong with the way AW played this year. Every time he came on for APC we got more dangerous opportunities. Also, when he came into the game, all of the people beehind him (defenders or midfielders) tried to get the ball to him, and that clearly wasn't the case when APC was in. Throw in the fact that AW, who makes les than half of what APC makes, is about 8 years younger, and you can easily see why we went with APC over AW...
MLS stats people are idiots. The same thing happened to Wolde Harris when he missed a PK in DC, and when Okoh put it in they gave him an assist. Tom
I've never followed the stats that closely, but isn't it an assist in the run of play if you miss a shot and someone puts in the rebound? Stop picking on Wolde for getting an assist on a pk. What did you expect him to do, score?
I'm in New York this year so I've been able to see almost every MetroStars game on TV. Some thoughts on the trade: Worst trade ever. Andy Williams has been in inspired form for the MetroStars. At present I would say he has to be one of if not the best attacking midfielder in the league. His dribbling has been dazzling, his shots are usually hard and on target, and he works as hard as anyone on the team. Did anyone else see Diallo's diving header against Columbus? It was set up by a piece of brilliance by Andy Williams. Williams is in the box with two defenders in front of two, makes a few feints, looks up, sees the goalkeeper a few feet off his line, and tries an audacious chip. The ball hit the crossbar, bounces back down, and is headed in by a diving Mamadou. And by the way, Mamadou was the hardest working player on the field last night. In the second half he was tracking back all the way into his own box in order to tackle and win the ball back. Diallo is a player who needs the ball played into space so he can run onto it. When he was here we didn't have anyone giving him the service he needs because Andy Williams was sitting on the bench. If we had kept Williams and Diallo we could have had the two most lethal combinations in the league... OK, so some might say that Williams and Diallo weren't showing the same stuff in New England, but they were never given enough time on the field together. Williams and Diallo have been the MetroStars' two best players since the trade. Serna and Hernandez were certainly not their two best players before the trade. Frankly, I would rather have an unproductive Diallo and Williams in New England than see the two of them tearing up the league for our divison rivals...
About the stats, I guess being from a mostly hockey background, secondary assists, and assists from goals on shots make sense, as that's what hockey does.