It's over. Good match, especially for Noooooooonan. Give to the officiating crew, too, because they sucked.
The announcers just called it a "season changing victory." C'm'on. This is the Revs we're talking about. Pope should have gotten a red for his take down of Cancela. Should be a great final two weeks to the season. 2-1. First win in the SwampLands since '99.
Noonan is a stud! Great win you guys! From what I saw, you outplayed them just about the whole way through. Well done lads!
Nice win - one I didn't expect! Nice to see Noonan step up and score a couple of goals. Defense looked shakey in the second half - Kante in particular had some poor clearances. The officiating was up to the usual low MLS standards. The league needs to address this if it before it loses credibility.
What an unbelievable save that Adin made!!! Lucky that wasnt blown for a penalty as it came off of Llamosa's (I believe) arm. Also I lost a lot of respect for Eddie Pope for that takedown on Cancela. He was surrounded by four guys and Pope just chopped him down from behind. Wish the league would do something about fouls like that, but that usually isnt the case. Either way, a great win on the road - hope they can keep it up on Thursday.
You're saying that it has credibility? The overall level of officiating is unacceptable. It's not even on par with the talent level of the league - and, that's saying something. How about at the end where there should have been a thrown in and the linesman awards the Mutts a goal kick? No wonder so many players and coaches walk off the pitch like they were mugged and physically violated up the backside after a match is over.
Wish I could say that the Revs did outplay the Mutts all the way through, but that just wasn't the case. There were a couple of long, scary stretches in the second half where the Revs just kept giving away the ball over and over again. That save by Adin was pure class. I'm glad that I wasn't the only one who immediately thought of David Seaman's save last season against Blades. Good to see him making the difference once again. Cancela is just awesome, and just like Brad Feldman, I can't wait until he bends one of those free kicks into the back corner of the net. Great match for Noonan, too-- that second goal was out of nowhere. The Revs won away, and I'm still kind of annoyed, because of the absolutely dreadful officiating in the last five minutes. First there was the four minutes of stoppage time, which MAKES NO SENSE. Second was Pope viciously chopping down Cancela, which should have been an instant red card. (IMO the Revs bench was upset because Pope did NOT get a red. I would be, too!) Third was the blown call from the linesman IDing a thrown in as a goal kick. Like Brad said in the broadcast, that crap has GOT to stop. I'm really getting fed up with MLS, and it has nothing to do with the quality of play and everything to do with the frighteningly bad officiating. The league really, really, REALLY needs refs who are hardasses-- guys who will hand out yellow cards for dissent (I'm sick of player tantrums, including ones pitched by the Revs), and send players off for making career-threatening tackles. If they'd get better refs and get rid of that bass-ackwards extra time rule, the matches would be SO much more pleasant to watch.
I saw the second goal and I thought it was out of bounds or something. The fact that Walker did nothing made it that much sweeter.
Noonans second goal shoudl be goal of the week and Noonan should be player of the week (second place should go to Buddle). There was no reason for 4 minuted of OT. Those refs embarassed themselves. 3 CONFERENCE POINTS, YEHHHHHHHHHHH!!
Nice goals by Noonan. He did seem to lose his mark on the Metros goal, though. Brown was my MoM. He came off his line 4 times in the first half to beat the Metros to balls that could have been very dangerous. Pope got no red because of who he is... he's got a lot of good will built up. If that had been any other player on the field, it probably would have been red. That type of thing isn't just an MLS problem... it happens in all leagues and is sadly part of the game. Lee
I thought that the reffing was pretty respectable, until the 89th minute or so. Was anyone else thinking of the game in Dallas a few years back when they announced the 4 minutes? And, in addition to the goal kick and the Eddie Pope hack, the referee made the Metros back up to about 5 feet away on the corner. It's a corner kick. There's a mark on the field showing where they have to be.
Nicol almost blew it! I had to call Nicol stupid, because there were kids in the room. He could have made 2 substitutions. Don't you think that if it was the other way around, there would have been some serious time wasting? They do, if it is a MLS poster-boy like Donovan. Cancela will draw a red only on his own blood.
Doc Gooden Terry Glenn Jose Canseco Lamar Odom Darryl Strawberry and, sadly, Clint Mathis He - Clint Mathis - is right there, albeit to a much lesser extent, with some of the greatest wastes of sports talent ever. Granted many or most of them earned this dubious honor because of drugs or other illicit activities, Mathis is a monumental shame because he truly could have been one of the special ones. He could have been a difference maker had he stayed focused and in-shape. Instead, he turned into a colossal party boy, oft-injured and a headcase. And now he's degenerated into a thug and a perpetual whiner. Mathis has the skills to be playing in Europe, and could have been raking in the big money and bringing honor to the sport. Instead, he's languishing in MLS and is now officially pudgy nobody with a childish Mohawk hairstyle. Yeah, I said it...
Well think of it this way: how many games have there been when the Revs have predominantly outplayed their opponents, and have come away with one or zero points? Maybe the braintrust of MLS officials (one seemingly as clueless as the next) is waiting for someone to cripple perhaps their best player (since Milton Reyes won't be back this year) before they do something. On second thought, they're not waiting for anything - they're just completely out to lunch. Wonder if Tina Palace will make a sidelong reference to Cancella's rough treatment in her next column. Probably not (Jeff/Tina, look this up: it's called "persistant infringement", or in Eddie Pope's case "assault and battery"). Also, is it any coincidence the "The Bob's" teams seem to bitch at the refs - and seemingly get rewarded for it - more than other team, year-after-year? Negative thoughts aside, all is good with the world for a day after this well-earned road win. Kante held up - but barely - for a whole game. Nice job of relief by Leo Cullen too - although he had me worried for a while. Pat Noonan pulled a Kamler on the second goal. Attaway Patty! And, when TNT comes back, it's got to be TNT and Noonan all the way. And my first forward off the bench (yes even when JMM is healthy)? Fabbro. Last thought: I wish I could lock in to renew my season tickets as long as Cancela's on the team. Man, what a player.
Yes, it sure did look like Jolley was Noonan's mark, but if he scores 2 for every one he allows, I won't mind too much. I was really impressed with the way that surface played. Can you imagine anyone playing that one touch style on the disaster area of a surface they had last year? Get the feeling that there would have been cards handed out if (for example) Rusty and Joe F had been bitching and whining all night like Guevara and Mathis did?
Great win, guys. I'm just now getting to watch it since my Shootout package sucks, but I followed it earlier on MLSnet.com. Glad to see the Metros go down. Wish you would of beat them worse than you beat us, but...... (what can I say?) Anyway!! Way to go!
Excellent, excellent win. I was finally fully satisfied with Noonan this time. Well done with both goals, especially with the cracker of a shot on the second. But once again, our luck kicks in, and the rest of the eastern conference teams each got 3 points tonight. We're still in the hole, but we gained ground on the Sluts at least. Here's hoping for another solid victory thursday against Colorado (who clinched a playoff spot tonight...who woulda thunkit back in april/may?).
Very impressive first half of play. Joseph in particular seemed immense. Fabbro also brought good attacking possession. Cancela seems more effective making quality mid range entry passes for a target player to touch on, than threading through balls of the Valderrama style, and both Noonan and Fabbro compliment him nicely. The substitution of Cullen, successful result not withstanding, didn't seem to work well (although a tiring Joseph did need help). It allowed the Metro's to bring both outside defenders forward into attack pinch in their midfielders and changed the dynamic of the game entirely. Sure the last 30 minutes played out as a 1-1 tie, but the Metro's dominated play once we pulled a forward off and we needed luck to hold on. Nevertheless, 3 points is 3 points and the team deserved them.
with the way the Revs, Crew, and DC are playing, i strongly believe that the Mutts wont make the playoffs. How sad is this, the Rapids clinched a playoff spot. So much for the dominating Western Conference.
Over on the Metros board their fans are pillorying their team on every count in the book. To listen to them the Mutts played their U-13 side and the Revs suited up the first eleven people who were sober from the Foxboro Dunkin Donuts. What the hell do people expect with two pretty desperate teams, at the end of the season in the rain? What we got was an absolutely fascinating match where some pure skill (Cancela, Noonan. Brown), blind luck (Mathis's miss, tho' offsides, Brown's brilliant save hitting the outside of the pole), sheer thuggery (Pope's hatcheting of Pepe), great hustle (Ralston's defensive play and Joseph's continual digging) and waves of drama (from Guevara's gesturing to the continual near misses of Cletus and Joey, the bustup at the end and the terrible calls that kept adding time and possession for the Mutts). I watched the Arsenal/Portsmouith match earlier in the day and it was a thrilling 1-1 draw. All the same elements were at play, save the rain. Fact is, the MLS match was just as exciting, at least from a supporters point of view. The casual fan would, I'm sure, prefer the Arse. But for me, Jose Cancela is our own, New England version of Robert Pires. Great fun, great for the spirits, tough on the heart. JIM DOW
Man! go figure. Only thing i can say is to throw in a few old tired phrases. Thats why they play the games, because on paper this team was beat. Now that they've got their backs against the wall they really turned it on! Go Revs!?
The way we played against them in the first half was no different from the way we played against them before our meltdown when we were blowing them out. Maybe they need to reconsider their analysis. "our own, New England version of Robert Pires"... Didn't Danizinho make a comment last winter, something along the lines of "Robert Pires has a better chance of suiting up for the Revs than Peter Nowak"? Next year, maybe he'll say something like "Edgar Davids has a better chance of suiting up for the Revs than Dario Fabbro"...