74th minute and 0-0 between Los Angeles and San Jose. I think it's safe to say that Twellman is gong to be the 2002 MLS Scoring Champion. Early congrats! The Magpie (who's happy and hoarse beyond belief)
Twellman will still be the champion by 3 points.. I find it very interesting that Twellman won by that margin considering he was awarded a goal this season without actually touching it (Matt Jordan punched it in his own net) and tonight Twellman received an assist off of a goalkeepers save.. That right there is the 3 points difference and you can thank the ignorant MLS scorekeepers for him winning the scoring title.. Before anyone lights me up, I have been a big Twellman fan since his freshman year at Maryland and I am happy to see him do so well.. What am not happy with are the idiots at MLS who continue to award own goals as legitimate goals and awarding assists for goalkeepers saves and shots off the woodwork..
Twellman still takes the crown. 1. Twellman: 23 goals, 6 assists. 52 points. 2. Ruiz: 24 goals, 1 assist. 49 points. But I suspect many people will be complaining that Ruiz should be the real Golden Boot winner on account of goals scored... I do admit I would've felt much better about it had it stayed 23/6 for Twellman and 23/1 for Ruiz, but Twellman still deserves it.
How about Ruiz's goal last week, in which he was clearly offside (not to mention coming in the 4th minute of what should have been 2-3 minutes of stoppage time)? You fail to mention the "ignorant MLS linesmen". In addition, Ruiz was gifted a PK goal tonite when Cobi was taken down. Twellman's PK came because Twellman himself got fouled. Cobi earned Ruiz his goal, whereas Twellman complete earned his. And I'm sure there are some other such examples from earlier in the season. So it all evens out, man.
Could we all be any more happy for this guy? Paging Joe-Max Moore, your crown has been usurped. There is a new god in Foxboro!
that was an obvious offside goal last week by ruiz. two undeserving points. that's hard to forget. taylor deserves every single points he has accumulated, as opposed to ruiz' points. anyway, i'm very happy for taylor. ciao!
There is a big difference between actually physically scoring the goal (no matter how putrid the non-call was) and being awarded a goal for "being the closest to the ball" as MLS stated earlier this season... It's funny, the rest of the planet calls those goals "own goals"... As for the PK diatribe, PK's are PK's.. I doesn't matter how they come about, it's about who scores them.. Now you want to give credit (assists if you will) to players who create them? I think your nitpicking a little there.. I wouldn't mention this any further for fear MLS might actually catch on to this notion and actually award Twellman an assist for his own PK goal...
Major League Congratualtions to TT, the poor man's Landon Donovan! He hustled his butt off all season long and is deserving of the award. Let's reward him with a long term contract at considerably more $$$ and an appearance with the US Nats!
I started it because I thought my original claim was legitimate.. Do you deny that Twellman was handed an undeserved goal? Do you deny that the MLS stats people are so hard up for statistics that they feel it's necessary to hand out secondary assists and assists for goalkeepers saves and rebounds off the woodwork? Let me state again that I am not picking on Twellmen per se, but the people at MLS HQ who count these things.. That is where my beef is.. Twellman deserves the scoring crown.. He is a much more class player than Ruiz (who dives and baits opponents into phantom calls at every opportunity) while Taylor runs his arse off all over the field...
Your original claim may have been legit. Following it up with your claim that Ruiz's offside goal was somehow more legitimate was stupid.
You know and I know that goal shouldn't have counted.. I'm merely pointing out that physically Ruiz scored his goal whereas Twellman did not.. I am in no way legitimizing Ruiz's goal but the fact stands that despite the piss poor non-call, the goal was in fact scored by Ruiz himself, not punched in by a goalkeeper..
Wrong. As per MLS rules, MLS keepers cannot score own goals. Who else would you like to give it to, Ralston who took the outswinging cornerkick? Hell, did you even see the play or are you going off of some fellow whiner's account on BigSoccer? Ralston hit an outswinging corner to the 6. Twellman ran in position and was going to head the ball in, Jordan saw it and tried to make a play to save a goal but it was too late... Twellman had already taken the space and Jordan made a late rush to slap it off course but deflected it in his net. Ok, so we agree Ruiz's offside goal was illegitimate. He should be at 23 goals, 1 assist.
First of all, the big problem here is the "per MLS rules" statement.. That in itself is a farce, you know it and I know it... Again, the rest of the planet calls it an own goal, but MLS uniquely gifts it to the closest player.. Secondly, I did see the play in question and thought it was a joke of a call then and still do to this day.. This doesn't take anything away from Taylor's accomplishments.. My problem is with MLS and how they interperate basic soccer rules...
If I remember correctly, at the last WC Ronaldo got credit for a goal that went in off the keeper that Ronaldo didn't touch. If I remember correctly, MLS isn't so crazy after all??? Oh who cares: Hooray TT!
This whole debate reminds me of the sanctimonious crap in the media and elsewhere over the Straham sack record last year. Sure the record breaking sack was lame (QB turned into Straham's path and avoided getting hit by falling to the ground), but he broke the record. Would his record have been any more valid had the lame sack been sack #3 instead of sack #22? Over the course of a season players catch breaks and get shafted. It tends to even out by the end and the cream will rise to the top. Both Twellman and Ruiz had good season and through skill, luck, and teammate support provided the MLS with a top-notch scoring race. Why do we need to analyze each goal and try to determine who had the most "legitimate" goals? Should we go back and determine how many goals each of them would have scored had the refs been better (bungled offsides calls or missed PK calls, etc...) or maybe we can rate each goal with "quality points" and see who had the most "quality" goals... Let's just be grateful that MLS has two really darn good goal scorers (and a bunch of really good ones beyond that) that provide for some exciting soccer. Rev supporters like their guy, and Galaxy supporters like theirs and everyone else can just hope their team picks up one like them for next season. Here's hoping the drama continues with a head-to-head matchup between the top goal scorers in the MLS CUP.