In case anyone missed it last night there is a SMU game report on 3rd Degree. http://www.3rddegree.net/
Again, thanks for all your work. It's great for those of us who don't live in the Dallas area. Good to hear about Thompson actually playing and playing pretty well. Sorry to hear about Pareja, but then again he probably doesn't need the preseason as much as others do. If we rely on him for anything more than depth this year we're in trouble. Nunez doesn't play in the scrimmage? Should we read something into Duhaney starting over Wagenfuhr? I got the impression from the report that the Burn pretty much overwhelmed SMU with speed and power alone. That's great, they SHOULD be able do that to a college team, but that's not going to work as well versus MLS opponents.......... Have fun in Spain.
"1' - SMU almost scores off a long thrown in, Duhaney saves off the line." This brings back way too many bad memories from last season. Not to read too much into a scrimmage, but will this team ever learn to come out of the lockerroom ready to play?
A word of advice, if you plan to attend one of the scrimmages you would be wise to print up 3rd Degree's roster by numbers page and bring it with you. With all the new faces and number switches I had a hard time figuring out who was who. A few observations: *Like 3rd Degree reported, I thought Jason Thompson looked very solid. He's a finisher. On the other hand Rhine was awful. He's very good at getting himself into a favorable position but simply can't do anything with the opportunity. I think his atrocious first touch is a prime candidate for his limited success. He's so busy trying to control the ball that he usually ends up getting off a hurried shot. *Jolley looked solid on the backline, but Behncke looks nervous whenever on the ball. *Curtis didn't impress me at ML. He doesn't play well in traffic, usually choosing to dribble out of a double team which ends up in a turn-over. He's best when he runs into space, so more suited to a traditional winger role. I could see him effective coming on as an extra attacker late in matches this year. *Mixed results for O'Brien and Stone in the midfield. SMU midfield pressed hard, I suspect by request from Clarke, and at times the match was a very sloppy midfield battle. Stone had a lot of energy but didn't close down aggressively enough for the midfield destroyer/ball winner type that I want on my side. O'Brien still likes the long shot. The scrimmage didn't challenge my preference for him staying on the right-side. *I guess Nunez is battling an injury because he didn't even warm up and didn't appear to be even considered as a substitute. Was that EJ I saw him joking around with on the bench?
Nunez, Talley, Kreis, Pareja, Cassar, and Quill are all batteling injuries of one kind of another. Yes that was EJ in jeans on the bench. You should not read anything into Duhaney over Wagenfuhr. My take from talking to a couple people is Duhaney and Miranda both started at outside back to give them a last shot to make an impression. I would not be surprised if both do not go to Spain.
Bit off topic, but I'm wondering - does the fact that Davis played mean that EJ, DJ and Davis have all completed their physicals and are ready to jump into camp today? I didn't know with all the activity yesterday if it would get done. And continuing that thought - if they did get the physicals completed, why was EJ in jeans?
That has been the one sentence scouting report on Rhine for the last 3 seasons. I really don't see how he is still on this team.
Is anyone else having difficulty looking at 3D's slide show of the groundbreaking ceremony? I tried viewing it under both IE and Netscape and got no photos -- just X's in the top left corners.
quote: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Originally posted by SoftTackle He's very good at getting himself into a favorable position but simply can't do anything with the opportunity. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I third this emotion!
That he is still on the team and Suarez, Broome and a host of other guys with as much or more talent/potential are long gone is evidence that Dallas has overdrafted in the defense and underdrafted up top. He's still on the team because there have been few other options with Graziani leaving, Cerritos never panning out, Kreis getting hurt, EJ still playing like a precocious teen, Curtis... (oh, I can't go on, it hurts too much).
Our rivals for suckittude last year, the Crew, just lost to the U-17s, 2-1: http://www.ussoccer.com/news/fullstory.sps?inewsid=53744 Wonder how the team the Burn started last night would have done? Just how much have we improved ourselves vis-a-vis the rest of the league? Hopefully we'll being to get some answers at La Manga.
I think Ryan Latham scored SMU's goal. Anyway I heard a lady in front of me say his name right after the goal so I suspect she knew.