We sucked. And worse then the way we play is the way Alan Hopkins and Max Bretos call a soccer match. They must be the biggest homers I have ever heard broadcasting professional sports. About the game... Ruiz was a little below his standard and as a result we lost because Ruiz is the only impact player on our roster. We can go on and on about the so-called depth at every position in this squad but all Sigi has succeeded in doing is making us have many mediocre players vying for playing time instead of just several mediocre players vying for playing time. Our depth is mediocre. We have not raised our standard from last year and the worst thing that could possibly happen to this team occured this season...we got off to an unbeaten start after 4 matches. That virtually ensures an entire season of bore-me-to-death Sigi ball. Best thing that could have occured would have been a bad start and a new coach. Players: Ruiz -Missed chances he normally puts away...so we lose. Poor guy has the weight of the organization on his shoulders. Kiro - Small flashes of brilliance. His "Header off the crossbar" was not really by him but instead off the Rev defenders head. Lost for many stretches of the match. Herzog- so, so, so lazy. He has to touch the ball more if he is to be useful. Ngwenya- Great when he's just taking players on 1-1. Make some very poor decisions. He added a spark of creativity so of course it makes perfect sense for Sigi to yank him for the OH SO USELESS Tores Grabbaboy -I like him for a lot of the game. He played well at times. So of course he has to be subbed off by Sigi the hut. Sargosa - He was invisible alot but I guess as a holding mid that is to be expected. I'm not impressed with his defensive abilities or his ability to go forward. Still better then Pete. MArshall and Suarez- OK Broome -Last week went to his head a little bit. Albright -Worst performance of the year by Chris. Their goal was criminal defending. Hartman -Good game as always Team tactics -Same old boreing crap. (If we're not too lazy as usual, and we actually get forward to support the attack, we pass the ball around the perimiter and hope that somehow we get a goal.) If, as is the usual, we are too lazy and slow to get forward, we just punt the ball downfield in the genereal direction of Ruiz and hope that somehow we get a goal. GM Hammilton promised us an exciting, creative, offensive team this year and SIGI has not delivered. He has to go. FIRE SIGI! I know we are 2-2-1 but we have not really performed all that well in any games. Last week was sooo ugly and we played against a self-destructing Columbus team, we have to take our blinders off, that game meant nothing! FIRE SIGI!
I only saw the second half, and with lots of distractions, but that PK call looked like total crap to me. If some of you guys saw it more closely, and think it was legit, my bad, but to me it was a dishonorable flop. I swear, whenever I see match outcomes altered by a dive, which is essentially cheating, I find myself embarrassed for the sport. When is soccer gonna get with the F'ing 21st century and institute video replay?? Not for everything, but any goal allowed or disallowed, and the circumstances immediately preceding it should be reviewed. In a sport that averages maybe three goals per match, that's not asking a lot. What a fricken joke.
btw - Ruiz may be the only "impact player", but he doesn't just create opportunities in a vacuum. I didn't see the first half, but in the second half alone, his mates set him up with a couple sitters, and he choked. He didn't do his part, and I am not sure what is wrong with giving him a healthy dose of blame.
We need to keep Ngwenya on for the whole game...he adds creativity that we sorely need. I used to really like Torres, but compared to Ngwenya's recent play, he needs to stay on the bench. The only play where he split a couple of players but muffed the final pass was beautiful, and next time he will do better to end that run. Herzog i thought played a great game. Sure, he could of run more, but the passes he was playing out of the center were for the most part very dangerous. Anyways..one more road loss to extend our streak.. it HAS to end somewhere..this just isnt natural..last time we won on road was summer of 02, its summertime again in 04 and we havent won yet ont he road maybe next week we'll get out of it.... undergroundfc
Did I hear correctly that we have several weeks straight of road games ahead of us in the near future? Let's see how we emerge from that and then make some decisions. If we still are showing a DONUT in the away game win column, then some changes have to be made, whatever that might entail. I just don't get the sense that the G's believe that they can win on the road...there's no urgency at all. I had hoped that the new blood would infuse some life into the team, but I'm suspicious that last year's apathy away from home may poison the new crop if it is allowed to flourish. Biggest thing on the agenda for Sigi and this team is to shake the road game curse, bar none. I liked what I saw from Grabavoy. I liked some of what I saw from Ngwenya, but he needs major improvements on his passing and decision making. Good technical skills, poor tactical awareness in my opinion.
As a revs fan, I think we were just lucky to get way with a win. PK call was bad, and Brown's "face" save was just a pure luck. But also the last min goal by you guys was also luck I guess, beacause Brown missplayed it. But overall, I think you guys complete out played us even thoug we won. One last comment: I think if team can stop Ruiz from scoring, they can stop you guys from winning. Someone else also has be a danger man, not just Ruiz.
That PK call wasn't bad, it was actually a great call. You can't shove a player, which is essentially what happened to Ralston. I'm not suprised the Revs won and you guys shouldn't be either, the home team in this series hasn't lost a game in awhile. Check the books.
WTF? What game were you watching? That call was utter crap! Don't get me wrong-LA certainly deserved the loss.. And I know you were watching on TV because it looked like there about 500 people at that game...
I was there and I saw it, it was a blatant shove. And it should have been awarded just for the missed calls on Ruiz who was smaking ever defender that was on the field for the Revs, includin a cheap shot on Joseph who has a broken nose. But I don't want to get into an arguement over a PK call with LA fans because no one will win, no one ever does. I wouldn't has posted anything if I didnt have anything nice to say. First off I thought your team played alright for the team that was out there, certainly not the same team that I saw in week one that kicked our ass. The injuries to Califf and Victorine really hurt. So good luck in that respect. Maybe a shake up in regards to coaching would be helpful, after all your goin on a year and a half without an away win. Sept in 02 i believe is your last away win (SJ). The second thing I have to say is you guys have yourself a classy keeper. He must be a huge fan favorite in LA because he was nothing but a gracious guy to me when I asked him to autograph a card. Good luck rest of the season.
I knew the G's were in for a tough day when Ruiz whiffed on a shot that my 3-month old daughter would have finished. If I had any lingering doubt, it was erased when a strike by Ruiz' was saved by Adin Brown's face. The Revs were up for tonight's match, no question. Although LA didn't have much luck (the PK was bunk), tonight's performance shows that the G's still have a lot of work to do at every position, from 1 to 11.
I see that play every time I watch a soccer game. Guys shield the ball agressively near the end line all the time. Just because Ralston decides to flop from the contact that's a penalty? Bogus penalties happen all the time to every team at one point or another...you had yours today. Accept it and move on.
When Ruiz missed that first shot, my foreshadowing fears of coming up short throughout the match came true. I didn't expect to score in injury time though. I thought we controlled game okay and had a few chances that couldn't be converted. I still like how Ngwenya took on players but for the love of God, shoot the ball! He had his chance and dished it off instead. He needs to make decisions better & quicker. However subbing him for Torres was a mistake as he didn't do much. The marking on that first NE goal was horrid. Four guys converge on one player who just flicked the ball off & eventually got to Franchino. The PK was kind of dodgy, but the ref saw a shove, so NE gets away with it. Whatever, we should've done better on our chances. And can we kick a corner ball to the far post at least once? The short ones weren't accomplishing much.
Yeah...I felt the same thing. When Ruiz misses those we're in for a long game. I had really hoped that offseason acquisitions would take the heat off of Ruiz, but once again it appears that he is our only consistent, real threat.
I was directly behind the goal where Paul Broome and Steve Ralston got-together, no more than thirty feet away, and was watching the play the entire way. Broome made no attempt to make a play for the ball, and made deliberate contact with Ralston that was loud enough to hear it in stands. Quite frankly, it was just a dumb play on Broome's part. It was clearly an infraction (believe me, if Ralston had to embelish the play he didn't much help), and it just so happened that it took place in the penalty-area.
Well, the first point on my pre-game prediction came true, as all four defenders decided to mark the same man and leave Franchino wide open. Ahhhh. If we can just get the same four guys playing together for a couple weeks to develop some organization... The whole team frankly seemed out of sync- lots of individual talent but poor team chemistry. And despite that we still had the better run of play.... A couple other observations: 1. Apparently, even Ruiz is human. 2. Ngwenya's gotta take that shot. Hopefully with more playing time he'll get that confidence. 3. I like Saragosa. Sorry Pete. 4. Worst. PK. Call. Ever. Rev fans shut up, take the gift and stop trying to justify it. One more road game before they come home. Let's see if they can regroup and finally get that monkey off their back.
I agree he takes alot of the blame yesterday, I'm just saying it is a lot to ask one person to be THE determining factor of what results we get.
The first goal is on Albright. We took one for the Nats doing the Albright experiment (although given injuries I'm not sure who else COULD have been out there? Real questionable if Scot Thompson could do better, Ricky Lewis is on the other side. Our defense is depleted and disorganized, making the Revs look more dangerous than they are anyway. Kevin Terry is an idiot. Forget the PK - we knew he would blow a call like that when he was assigned to the game. But yellow cards 5-1???? Even the so called "neutral" announcers on FSW were commneting on the "inconsistancy" of his calls. And, BTW, Chrisitan Miles calling a game made me wish for Bretos, and I despise Bretos! So many blatant errors. How long was Marshall on his back while Miles called another player's name? How many yellow cards did he miss until well after the play. What a bozo. Reeks of amateurism.
Doesn't Miles remind you of the AV dorks in high school, who at some point get to 'DJ' on the high school radio station? PS-I'm over the PK...we sucked. Bring on Dallas.. PPS- Does Torres have pictures of Sigi and Doug Hamilton?
-------> Dare I say it? DARE I??? We've been scoring and creating chances. However, we've been scored on ALOT so far this year. So, what's the difference??? BO HAS BEEN ON THE SIDELINE!!!! -there, I said it. And the Revs game was a good example. No structure at back, two central defenders holding hands in the middle...Albright wanting to join in on the hand-holding... Bo knows position. Why do ya'all hate him so much? Embrace the kim-chee!! i understand that you're experiencing flashbacks to that Mexican ding-dong who "played" and sucked up money a couple years ago...but Bo is different. Play BO. The guy is quality. Did we really need a guy out there who can run 40 yards in 3 seconds? Or did we need a guy who would've been in the right place at the right time?
Miles kept identifying Marshall as 'Torres'. I found myself yelling at the tv "It's not Torres you idiot!" until my gal gave me one of those quizzical looks. Having said that...I feel even less generous toward Caligiuri. That guy mumbles and bumbles his way through every broadcast I've seen. If I didn't know better, I'd swear the guy never played the game in his life. He says things that amount to "Ruiz is always near the goal because he can score goals."
I didn’t see the game but I do know that Ngwenya's decision making ability is very good. He led the NCAA in goals but made as many (or more) assists than goals. He is a complete player. Passing is often used to make friends so maybe he wanted to ingrate himself with his teammate. That's just thinking out loud though. Maybe Sigi took him out to tell him not to do that any more.
Ngwenya did make some poor decisions this game. He's a rook so no real worries at this point. The poorest decision I saw him make was that sequence of action where he dribbled around two Rev defenders in the Rev box (like they were orange cones) and was 1 v. 1 with Brown. Ngwenya opted to pass the ball off to teammates when he would have been better served to take a crack at goal. Granted the angle was not in his favor, but neither was a pass to teammates with 3 or so Rev players between Ngwenya and them. Better to shoot...create a rebound or possibly a nutmeg goal, especially after all the wonderful display skill that got him there in the first place.