Teal practiced today but the padding on his arm and the fact that it doesn't appear to allow him to move it probably does really mean that while he has been cleared he probably won't make the lineup. Sapong is a guy I have few worries about, I think he and Ellis both have a ton of potential. Was fun watching Ellis throw Davy Arnaud to the ground to get the ball at one stage -- nothing but fight in that kid and he is technically good. Good time down there today, I'll blog on it later.
That is going to be a dangerous line-up this year, and once Smith is back, we should be scaring defenses. I bet Diop starts instead of Bunbury in this one though. 2-1 win for us with Bunbury getting a goal after being substituted in.
FYI Watch party @Johnny's Tavern. They are giving us priority over NCAA so lets show them some love. See you there
Maybe thats why Davy was getting so much joy out of sniping Kevin in paintball. That laugh was evil, man. Sapong is really growing on me. His strength is really intriguing me. I've never seen him play in person, but from watching clips it looks like he can hold off just about anyone. He may have been the right choice at 10 after all (only time will tell). I mean, I really do buy the fact that not that many of the people doing the draft previews really saw him play. If he was at Akron, theres no doubt he'd be higher on the list. Did you see Besler play? See anything concerning him? I'm anxious to see how he plays after bulking up.
I know it's not typically cool to cheer for a player on the opposing team, but I figure we could make an exception for this one (and it won't be flying during the match, just during the pre-game...and maybe afterwards for a moment...depending on the outcome). This is the new 2-pole banner Kory and I made, and it will make it's debut at the First Kick match on Saturday.
Nah, you have it right - it's totally cool to cheer for a player on the opposition before and after the game, just not during. That is assuming, of course, that the player has some reason to be recognized from a KC perspective, which this one obviously has.
People can take their fan notions and stick them up their asses ... I'll applaud Jimmy before and after and I have no problem with that banner or any other that honors a servant to this team who played as well as JC did for as long as he did.
2-2. Bravo scores in front of the "home"crowd. Chivas ties it on a header off a set piece. Sapong subs in to make it 2-1. Our soft central D takes a crap penalty late. Spot kick makes it 2-2. I will settle for a point on the road to start the season.
If you're wanting a .500 road trip, this game you're going to want 3 points out of. With the tail end of our road trip having games against New York, LA, Seattle, Colorado, and Toronto (haven't been good, but they are tough at home), points are going to be hard to come by.
I agree 100%. If this season is going to be a success at all getting points in the first five games is vital and it needs to start by winning this first game.
You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to NorthbankHighbury again. This... times 10. Conrad was a class act, and of massive importance to us, and I'd love to see that banner up any time.
rocastle has no business starting further up like that. replace him with zusi. then because bunbury won't play, move bravo into the middle. ...arrrgh, i just really hate the 4-3-3 system. i hate having to force center forwards to play out wide.
Agreed. I'd really like to see Bravo/Bunbury up top, with (when he's fit) Smith-Rocastle or Auvray-Arnaud-Kamara in the mid... We tried to run the ball up the center constantly last season in a 4-3-3, and it really didn't work well for us. For some reason though, the coaching staff seems to be in love with the idea of running up the center. Unfortunately, when that is basically all you do, they shut you down. If you can make a credible threat of going down the wings and crossing the ball in, you're going to keep the defenders stretched wider. Ah..heck, what do we know.
Of course part of that has to do with the fact that our field was on the small side, compacting the field and forcing us to attack in the middle more because there were no wings really to play with. Some of our best performances were on bigger fields were we could use the wings more. We can all agree though that the use of these tactics at CAB were completely and totally wrong. You work your formation for your home field where you play most of your games and that was one of our issues last season.
You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to kuhnscoot again under PV this team has always looked very capable on a large field.
that is a good point, as is Morry's.. We did look better on big fields. I guess it's a good thing We're starting off at Home Depot center - we seem to play well there. That said - Was it that there were no wings, or that we couldn't moderate our passing so that crosses didn't overshoot and go out the other side? Could that have been part of the problem with our corner kicks last year as well - a choice between floating it in, or driving it low and fast?
I can't remember the lsat time I saw the guys drilling corners ...... doesn't seem like a super common occurrence.
If your experience is typical of the norm, then I can see why we didn't score a goal off a corner last season (that I can recall, anyway). Our corners were absolutely unacceptable last year. I know we're not going to always score, but we had people who were decent in the air, and it was one of the few times that we actually got a wide ball to cross in, considering how narrow we played all year. We can't afford to waste those opportunities - we need to test the keeper off a corner at least a couple times a game, and by test, I don't mean head it or kick it right into his stomach.
Not that I disagree with what you said, but I think it's worth mentioning that: Shot On Goal >>> Shot Not On Goal We had a lot of instances last season where we shot it right at the keeper, but I still think that was better than the year before where we shot wide of the post by a couple of feet consistently. I mean, we should obviously strive to not shoot it straight at the keeper, but I'm perfectly fine with not trying to put every ball into a corner.
They generally don't do the PPV thing, but anything is possible. I would guess not, because their capacity and the cost.
They will not, its not really their thing and if anything NCAA would have priority. They committed to us over that so get down and show them some love.