Agree on both points. Twellman was noticably slower in the last 20-25 minutes; he just didn't really seem a threat to score down the stretch. There was one play where there was a long ball played up to Edozien, who glanced it off his head for Twellman to run on to, and Twellman never came close to making a run for it. His conditioning has a ways to go and hopefully he'll stay healthy enough to get back in shape. I thought he was significantly better in holding the ball and playing it back (something that the coaches obviously require him to do). To do that and then get back up front to be a scoring/setup threat is a challenge. I think he's making progress, but the coaches are asking a lot of him - not just to hang up front and score. Also, let's not forget this is a pretty young kid. I think the coaches liked him more for his potential than what he can do right now. I'm disappointed that people are so quick to write him off. How many MLS rookie, backup forwards come off the bench mid-season and start banging them in? The Revs are releasing these guys for the player's benefit - not the USNT's benefit. They could say no (assuming MLS lets them), but Dempsey, Ralston and Noonan would have a right to be quite peeved if that happened. They have a legitimate chance to make a WC roster; there's no way the team is going to stand in their way. Now, with Joseph suspended, I don't think it would be a bad idea for the Revs to inquire about whether they could get Dempsey back for Saturday.
Soccer is a funny game. Because of the way the match ended, my wife and I enjoyed watching the game, even though much was unwatchable. The enduring image I'll have is an incredible six Revs in on goal on that Franchino free kick, all onside, facing off against one Galaxy defender. Who wanted the goal? More than half the team was there on the doorstep. It sure is fun seeing Dorman pop up so often late in games. I always wonder when I watch Cancela: what is an "acceptable" percentage of the time to play well in his position to be happy with the player? A striker, it seems, can play poorly much of the time and be forgiven if he pops in enough goals (Mamadou Diallo comes to mind, and Wynalda at some points in his career). But Cancela has to be infuriating to watch, unless the % of good things he does outweighs what I see as the overwhelming % of poor things he does. Just wondering. A well won point, regardless.
And how about the presence of Joseph to make the oh-so-subtle, perfect play instead of just trying to blast the ball through the pack? That was a VERY special play! You can bet that Cancela's agent won't be forwarding copies of that game around to anyone! It's hard to imagine what could make Cancela SO erratic sometimes (for someone who has such polished skills). One possibility is that a big missing piece from his game (other than shooting) is dribbling. He really has never shown much ability to go past guys with the ball - he's almost always moving away from the pressure. The other possibility is that all the hacking that he endures DOES throw him off his game.
His first season with the Rev, Cancela was getting fouled and the Rev were awarded numerous free kicks. The league referees certainly aren't whistling for fouls on him at the same rate. If a player is hacked so that he can't dribble or so he loses the ball, then when the foul isn't called this player may look poor under casual observation. This may or may not be the issue with Cancela (or, it may have been the issue but he's changed his game to cope and is subsequently less effective). I'm interested to see the game against Chicago. The Rev will need a good game from Cancela unless they prefer to wait for more "Dorman at the death" heroics.
Neither of them made hard, penetrating runs to the posts when there was a run to the endline. One of them needs to do so so the threat is spread out, hence the "crap runs" from earlier. This doesn't mean I think they have the same skill/effort level. I was waiting all match, hoping for TnT to shake off the rust, but, I didn't really expect him to. Hopefully they will dip him in Naval Jelly before the Fire match. SJ just needs to stop the offense from advancing and he did that well. The counters, passes to our OWN team, were lacking from both SJ and Cancela. I would point to the amount of time we spent in the middle third as an indicator. When I got back home from the match and skipped through the TiVo'd version, I think I caught SN being fairly adamant about the same point.
My problem with the Gold Cup is not with the Revs organization. It is with whether the event is worth the cost for the USA. The MLS is still in a fairly fragile state and having your top teams gutted for almost a month in the middle of the season for a touranment such as the Gold Cup doesn't seem to make sense. How many people will pay money to attend an MLS game this month, see something like Monday night's match, and decide to invest their future dollars elsewhere? While I question something like the Gold Cup, I freely admit one of the things most special about soccer is the international competition. This just seems to be too much.
For the Gold Cup to become a more meaningful competition, countries need to take it seriously and send something resembling their "A" or at least "B+" teams. If SUM/MLS can send our best players in season form, and promote it like it's a meaningful event, it will benefit the sport and the league, as well as keep the interest of soccer fans while the league takes some time off for it. Okay, I'm dreaming but it would be nice... oh, and make it every 4 years, too...
They used to have the Gold Cup in the winter months which made a lot more sense from our perspective, but probably didn't thrill the other nations. However, they can play year round, so shifting their domestic league schedule will not cause the problems we would have trying to play in Feb or December. What they ought to do is make the Gold Cup every 4 years. Also make Copa America evey 4 years, starting just before/after the Euro championships in even numbered years. Play the Gold Cup the year before Copa America, and use it as a qualifyer for a new, 16-team Copa America. Oh yeah, how about letting someone other than the US and Mexico host the Gold Cup every so often? Even if they did a co-host deal with, say, El Salvador and Honduras, there would be enough stadiums and facilities to run a decent tournament. Not World Cup standards, but decent enough. At the end of the day, it gets a little stale, especially when the groups are the same as the last time. Didn't we just see Canada-Costa Rica-Cuba last time? At least if they mixed it up a bit and brought in some teams with more of a local following, they'd do better at the gate. So why didn't they have Cuba play in Miami? Tom
I went to watch the goal again on mlsnet.com "07/04: Doorman's equalizer" Who is Doorman? And who does he open the door for?
Political reasons. That's a very hot tamale - still. The game and team would be a target for all kinds of protests.