Ching dominant in the air!! I noticed a wonderful thing on Saturday night... Brian Ching dominates the airwaves!! Time and time again Pat would send big goal kicks up over mid-field and Ching would get a head on it and find a man in blue. This is something I cannot remember us having in a long time... Once Ronnie gets healthy I think we will see a lot of production out of the mid-field if Ching can find Richard/Ronnie/Ramiro off the long-ball re-starts..
Ching definitely provides a dimension the Quakes haven't had since...well...I'm not sure when. Whether this translates into significant goal production remains to be seen.
i just like the fact that he works his butt off at every moment. he's a battler, leaving landon free to make plays. the ching experiment is working so far.
...but where are the crosses? The crossing was terrible last game, except for corners. Mullan didn't get one across the entire first half... Dunivant needs to work on it, too. That's where the Quakes miss Wade the most right now.
Getting to the ball in the air is only 1/3 the battle, that shot of the post was almost as bad as Onstad's OG. He missed an open net while he was un contested. Waibel was more accurate on the headers.
Re: ...but where are the crosses? The good news is that we know both are fully capable of very good crossing. Personally, I don't remember Dunivant having a bad time, only Mullan. I've seen enough of Dunivant to know that between the two, Todd v Wade, Todd has the sweeter left peg. Obviously, FY thinks so too. How many corners did Wade take?
Ching dominant in the air!! I think Dunivant puts the ball too close to the keeper on his corners. I seem to recall Donovan took one corner against LA and we at least got a play on it... if my memory serves me correctly.
Re: Re: ...but where are the crosses? Maybe so, but I don't remember Wade EVER getting schooled by Cobi the way Todd did (several times) last Saturday!
Re: Re: ...but where are the crosses? Good point. It's only the third pro game in Dunivant's career, so we should see better.
ching How good did ching play? I thought he played pretty well personally. A lot of people were doubting him in the beginning of the year. But now he has shown up and proved that he can play well, and be a force up top with Donavon. Not as good as him obviously, but can help him without screwing up. imua
ching E komo mai i ka Big Soccer! We all had our doubts about Ching (and some still do) but he seems to be adjusting very well. He's showing himself to be a great presence in the air, something we really missed last year. He still needs to improve his finishing with the ball at his feet -- he missed a couple opportunities that he really must finish. But the chemistry between Ching, Donovan, and Mullan is improving game by game.
ching I sure like what I'm seeing from Brian Ching and from all accounts I've heard, Landon likes working with Ching, too. I think he's going to work out well for us over the long haul but I share your desire for him to be just a step quicker to some of those balls. The one Landon side-hoofed in front of the net to him today got me airborne off of my sofa when the keeper smothered it before Ching could get there. I thought he was going to slide that one under Brown.
ching Donovan is figuring Ching out but not the other way around. Ching got a goal because #1. Brian Mullan finally put a cross on the money and #2. Landon Donovan continues to draw attention away from Ching. The guy is not that good.
ching i personally think ching is an excellent player. he does have someone hard to play with attention wise. he is playing with one of the best players in the u.s. he has had goals and has been part of other goals. they were 1. in the first couple seconds of that first game. 2. was the one pushed down in the box to allow donovan to score on the p.k. 3. went diving for the ball at the front post w/ llamosa and went off llamosa's head 4. was in the right place at the right time and beat his man to knock a header in the goal in this game against ne. he has had to do with some of the goals this is year. he isn't to bad of a player after all.
Brian is playing better then I think most Quake fans expected. The bigger test will be how he does when Landon is gone for the National Team. Can he still be effective? Also, he seems to get "punished" rather easily. I've seen the trainer have to come out on the field in every game he plays. He has got to expect he'll see elbows in his ear and knees in his back. Teams are going to beat on him to see if he can take it. He might need to develop a little nastiness to take care of himself. Carlos Ruiz takes a lot of punishment, but believe me, he dishes out his share....
If Ching plays with Alvarez up top during the Gold Cup and Confeferations Cup then I think we can still be as productive as needed. On the other hand, if he's playing with Mullan up top, I doubt, at least initially, defenses will be ordered to take 'special care' to watch Mullan, thereby reducing the more obvious threat of Ching... that could end up working in our favour mind you as well... And think about this, maybe it is excellent that the quakes are off to this good a start, should we encounter problems when Donovan is away on NAT duty we'll have a sufficently decent record built up in the early part of the season so as to at least maintain a look at a decent playoff spot...e.g. the #2-3 spot in the west versus #4-5.
We need some kind of Ching chant in Hawaiian or Hawaiian pidgin. "Ching-a-locka, Ching-a-locka, boom, boom, boom" won't do it. Where is Spartacus, our Dictionary-of-the-Islands authority? Bra? I can supply swear words in Korean for LA's Bo, but good cheers for Ching in Hawaiian--I'm lost.
Official Brian Ching thread... I second LDB's opinion that Ching isn't all that good. He should have had 3 last night. I don't credit him for the Llamosa goal, and he had a left footed sitter in the first half and that pretty Donovan chip after his goal in the second half. The first one he shanked completely wide, and the second one Brown smothered. Sure the guy is alright in the air, but hes not doing much of anything on the ground. Holds the ball too long and doesn't have any kind of vision of the field.
I believe you've got it right. I think this is Ching's role. And there's no way anyone can deny that he's done this and done it well. Like everyone's said, he's great in the air. And that's wonderful to see. He's also great at getting himself in position to score or at least have some sort of effect on critical plays. However, I remain a bit umimpressed with him. He CAN NOT play with his feet! I prefer forwards who are able to be more creative than simply being in the right spot at the right time. I'd like to see him have some better footwork and make some more creative plays rather than simply making sure his head is in the right place. I'm enjoying watching him play for the role he seems to be given. But any time he has the ball at his feet, I don't hold much hope that he'll do much with it.
Official Brian Ching thread... Ching's home town of Haleiwa would make a decent chant. HA-LAY-EE-VAH clap-clap-clapclapclap HA-LAY-EE-VAH clap-clap-clapclapclap If you think of anything else you might like to have translated into a Casbah chant let me know and I'll bring my dictionary to a Club Quake pre-gamer. I'm still trying to talk the front office into doing a Hawaiian night if Ching continues this level of play.
Official Brian Ching thread... Think of it this way...he's been paired with Landon for what...about 6 weeks? He's just not used to the quality of service he's getting. Landon's chip was brilliant. Was he expecting it? Maybe not, and that's why he was a half-step behind it. It's a long season...and eventually he'll be expecting it and even anticipate. But granted, he's missed a few sitters that a quailty finisher should put away.
Re: Official Brian Ching thread... You can say ching isn't that good for any other reason but your argument is rubbish. There isn't any strikers in the universe who can convert all his chances. A lot of so called "world class" strikers don't even convert half of their good chances.
I throw my cards in with Fah Que and Spartacus. He's only been here a few weeks and Donovan says he likes working with him. He must be teachable. If Llamosa hadn't been there defending against Ching, Ching might have put it in rather than Llamosa. I've always liked Llamosa.