San Jose - Los Angeles W.C. Semi Game 2 (Sun., 11/9) pregame/during-game thread [R]

Roner had one of those games where he shanks a few passes, doesn't trap a few balls too well, a guy scores on his side, a few teammates give him the evil eye and his confidence all of a sudden is shot to hell. By the end of the game he was a basketcase. Not sure if he can recover by Sunday.

But is Ekelund healthy? It seems to be a big mystery at the moment. It is a MUST that he be there on Sunday.

As for right back, Roner is still the better offensive player than Waibel, so if he has a good week of practice, I stick with him.

Faria was a total waste of space on Saturday; he has no touch and is out of step with his teammates. Still, with the Galaxy psuedo-bunkering, he's the closest thing to a target man left on the Quakes, so you might have to start with him for at least a half. Probably not though. He basically sux. Start Walker, though it's a helluva time to give him his first pro start; he should have gotten one sooner.

Onstad

Roner Cowboy Goose Dunvnt

Mulrooney

Mullan Ekelund Russell (Alvarez sub)

Walker LD

 

I have Bo but I haven't done anything with it. What's more is that he doesn't have the MLS Cup so I can't put any voodoo on that colours aside. On the Y2K3 versions of Cobi and Fish, it's enough for a Quakes fan to do heaven knows what with them.

Cheers!

 

Frank.... listen up !

Wanna win Sunday? Of course you do.

Tell your boys to get the balll to Donovan.

No brainer.

 

I'm pissed.

We have to play Onstad in goal, even though he gave up a soft goal on that first one in smell-lay. (And it was soft. He could dived for the ball and gotten it, or knocked it off butt-wipes foot. Instead, Offstad froze.

We have to play Roner at right back because he's still our best right back.

But we can probably bench Agoos, and we should. Play Robinson in central defense if he's at all ready to go. Agoos was terrible in the second half on Saturday.

Ekelund is going to have to be the man this Sunday. There's just no two ways about it.

So this is my lineup, and I'm assuming that these are the healthy guys. I'm assuming that neither DeRo nor Corrales are going to be able to answer the opening bell.

- - - - - - Offstad
Roner - Dayak - Robinsion - Dunivant
Mullan - Mulrooney - Ekelund - Russell
- - - - - -Walker! - Donovan

Subs:
GK - Conway
D - Agoos/Waibel
M - Alvarez/Lagos
F - Alvarez/DeRo?

And I want to see Faria cut before the match. The guy is a waste of money.

GO QUAKES!!

- Mark

 

Re: San Jose - Los Angeles W.C. Semi Game 2 (Sunday, 11/9) pregame thread

Completely Agreee!! (Your name says it all!)

 

And tell Donovan that even if he's remotely close to having a chance at goal, take it. Even at the risk of being selfish-- the survival of the season depends upon it.

Otherwise, gotta agree with Jay's analysis on what the starting lineup should be... speed up front and on the flanks. And as long as this is the most important game of the season, Ekelund will have to play if he's anything close to healthy, or anywhere distant from a hospital bed.

 

As grumpy as I am, it's heartening to see 5 people with post counts under 30 rallying the troops. Maybe we'll get a massive crowd for saturday.

Lets not forget what happened the last time a Diega Serna team came to Spartan in the playoffs. We were down then too.

 

Mullan at right back?

What happened to the Mullan at right back experiment? Put Roner on the bench for this one. I still have hope for him, but not for this game.

Start Alvarez and Russell on the wings, and put Donovan and Walker up top. Quakes need some fresh blood.

If Roner starts, I won't be completely surprised, as Mullan is a pretty good winger. But if I see Lagos take the field for anything besides a possession, lead protecting sub, I will hurl. Oh yes, I will hurl.

I still can't believe how bad Manny looked for the last home game, because he was awful. I hope it was just a matter of recovering from a practice injury and that he really has something left in the tank, but somehow I doubt it.

 

Mullan is much more valuable in an offensive position. Given the recent offensive woes I don't want to put one of the remaining scoring threats on defense unless it is absolutely necessary. Mullan's right back appearances were because the defensive corps was severely depleted. If the Quakes get eliminated, I doubt it will be because the right back is less than average. It will because they can't score a stinkin' goal.

 

When I can't force the thoughts of game 1 out of my mind, this is exactly what I've been thinking. Agoos, we all love you, but you have to sit. If Robinson is healthy, he matches up much better with Ruiz. Notice that Ruiz burned Agoos, not Dayak on that second goal. ERob gives us an aerial presence for corner kicks also, and I'm thinking the Quakes will be earning quite a few of those in Game 2. They HAVE to make those productive!

Without Agoos, they give up the left-footed corners and set pieces, but Dunivant can take the corners, and Ekelund the free kicks.

One other thought. Mulrooney needs, absolutely NEEDS, to get his distance shots on target. Now's the time for him to step up and put a 40 yarder in the upper 90. Other than corners and free kicks, shots from distance may be all the Quakes get against a bunker D.

As to forwards, I'm leaning to starting Walker, but who knows if he can play 90? Let alone 120? Still, there aren't many viable options at this point.

And I agree, FY needs to tell Donovan to get selfish. In game 1, I would've loved to have seen him take on Bo 1 v1 rather than try the pass to Corrales. Which is more likely, a Corrales bomb hitting target or Donovan torching Bo or earning a PK? Ya gotta have confidence kid. You are the man.

Go Quakes.

 

San Jose - Los Angeles W.C. Semi Game 2 (Sunday, 11/9) pregame thread

I think we can all agree Donovan is the key. He's just simply got to shoot the ball! So here's the plan, somebody, anybody, get over to that Mervyn's on Saturday and corner Landon and tell him to shoot the freakin' ball! DO NOT PASS IT. Tell him to drive into the box. Even if they take it away from him 7 times out of 10, those other three times will result in 2 shots on goal (and 2 goals) plus an earned PK when they take him down, and there's our third goal! Come on, LD!.

Go Quakes

 

Our only hope is to start Donovan and Walker. Jamil has lot of energy and he gets into dangerous positions. In the last match of the season, LA fouled him repeatedly because they couldn't stop him otherwise. So he might get some good shots, or he might draw some free kicks. He will sure as hell take some pressure off of Donovan. And yeah, LD needs to be more selfish and shoot the ball.

GO QUAKES!!

- Mark

 

smart, smart, smart.

they should also tell faria that the game doesn't start until 8 p.m.

 

One of the areas in which Yallop/Kinnear have proven themselves is that they put their players in positions to succeed. I'm also a believer that you don't ask people to do something they don't usually do, especially in pressure situations (yes, World Series pitching may be an exception to that rule).

So, Walker hasn't started a game this year and he isn't a target forward. His best attributes are his speed and his ability to finish.

I think asking him to start up front could be an awfully heavy burden, particularly for a Quakes team already playing with a rookie (Dunivant) and a second year player (Roner). Walker has had some success coming off the bench against tired defenders.

Also, unless Donovan is playing a-mid, I would prefer him not to have to come back to the center circle to receive the ball.

OnStad
Roner Dayak Robinson Dunivant

Mulrooney
Mullan Russell
Ekelund(Walker sub late if necessary)

Donovan(moves to midfield) Faria

I think we all agree Donovan really needs to be the Man this time and that scoring early would certainly help.

Dred also makes a valid point about that Fusion match, facing possible elimination the Quakes really responded (and thanks Zak for getting Serna out of there).

I saw the Cosmos with Beckenbauer play the Aztecs with Cruyff, I've seen the national team, I've seen A's and Phillies playoff games, etc, but that was the best game I've ever attended in any sport.

Tony

 

Coach needs to play Ronnie Ekeland !!

In my humble opinion, Coach made a HUGE mistake by not playing Ronnie Ekeland in the first playoff game.

I know he's not the fastest player on the team. But ..

Look at Ronnie's playing history .. and tell me Chris Roner should have started instead of Ronnie.

Was the youngest player ever to appear in the Danish first division when he turned pro at age 15…Enjoys watching his daughter grow up…Played in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics with former Kansas City Wizards forward Miklos Molnar…Played in former teammate Matthew Le’Tissier’s Testimonial match in Southampton, England in May, 2002 alongside Paul Gascoigne, Alan Shearer, John Barnes, Ian Wright, etc., scoring a goal in the match…Favorite soccer player when growing up was Danish international star Michael Laudrup.

Pro Experience ..

Played for Brondby (DEN), Barcelona (Spain), Southampton (ENG), Manchester City (ENG), Coventry City (ENG), and Odense (DEN)…Scored 22 goals in 135 appearances

Does anyone know if Ronnie was injured? He's not on the current injured list.

 

Re: Coach needs to play Ronnie Ekeland !!

It's a bit of a mystery at the moment. I don't think Ronnie even made the trip to LA, and he was the only player on the team not to do so if I'm not mistaken. So no one really knows what's up.

All I know is he's desperately needed for this weekend.

 

San Jose - Los Angeles W.C. Semi Game 2 (Sunday, 11/9) pregame thread

OK...do with this what you will...but I had the most vivid dream last night that the Quakes leveled the aggregate score at 2-2 before halftime...

...then a major paranormal event occurred and the upper deck of the west side fell over and the match was abandoned.

 

Any Ideas On Getting A Better Home Field Advantage

We need to get a GREAT field advantage.

I think fans can help by bring their friends, being vocal at the games and contacting their local sportwriters for better press coverage.

To contact your local sportswriter ..

If you know the name of a staff member, in most cases you can send them e-mail by typing his or her first initial and last name followed by @mercurynews.com. You also can check our staff list.

Dylan Hernandez
Ann Killion
Daniel Brown
Skip Bayless
Jon Wilner

Boy, would I love to see the whining, crying, diving Carlos Ruiz walk off the field in silence ... after 3-0 defeat.

This could be San Jose's last game of the season.

So, let's support the home team and ..

BEAT LA .. BEAT LA .. BEAT LA !!!!

 

Re: San Jose - Los Angeles W.C. Semi Game 2 (Sunday, 11/9) pregame thread

And, pray tell, what happened to your announcer's booth? I know, it fell on top of the Fish.

 

San Jose - Los Angeles W.C. Semi Game 2 (Sunday, 11/9) pregame thread

On the contrary, I think the weight of the roof caused the failure of the structure...either that or the giant fireball in the Santa Cruz Mountains that caused the rockslide.

And the really scary thing about all this is that I wasn't drinking last night. Really.

 

San Jose - Los Angeles W.C. Semi Game 2 (Sunday, 11/9) pregame thread

No, the collapse went the other way...and all my personal electronic equipment (which I never use for Earthquakes games) was recovered for me by Jim Chapman, former stadium announcer for the San Jose Giants.

 

OMG, Spart, you must be under a lot stress!

 

Best Tailgate Party Contest

GOOD IDEA OR NOT ???

I'm wondering.

Its quite possibly the LAST GAME OF THE SEASON.

ITS THE PLAYOFFS .. AGAINST THE @X*$% MLS CHAMPION LA GALAXY !!

It will be a beautiful Sunday afternoon 6:00pm start.

I just want to SUPPORT the home team and bring out FANS & FRIENDS.

OK OK .. MAYBE its another excuse to drink.

Wouldn't it be cool to review one TAILGATE PARTY after another .. in search of the PERFECT TAILGATE PARTY?

 

San Jose - Los Angeles W.C. Semi Game 2 (Sunday, 11/9) pregame thread

Sounds like someone's auditioning for a job in the marketing department.

Hablo ud Espanol?