Vancouver thread

Discussion in 'Austin Aztex' started by dspence2311, Jun 14, 2010.

  1. dspence2311

    dspence2311 Member+

    Oct 14, 2007
    I didn't see a Vancouver game thread. Perhaps the last 30 min were too depressing and no one wants to relive it. I had been out of town and only arrived in time to see the last 30 min, so perhaps I'm the wrong person to start a thread.

    For the second game in a row, I was struck by the absence of a midfield game for us. All the attacks I saw were serves from the back line and Vancouver looked completely prepared for that. It was like we were playing a 5-0-5 formation at times, or 3-0-7 on those occasions when Vancouver got their breakaways.

    I'm not sure what sort of attack Adrian wants, but I'd sure like to see something other than the long ball once in a while, and a stronger midfield game.

    Just my two cents.
     
  2. Scooter Pete

    Scooter Pete Member

    Apr 3, 2008
    Austin
    Club:
    Austin Aztex
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Yeah I don't think this was one anybody really wants to remember. Tough loss.

    I noticed the midfield absence -- in particular our central midfield -- quite a few times on Saturday. And yes we absolutely resorted to ineffective long serves from the back as the game wore on.

    What you won't have seen if you only caught the last 30 minutes is that I thought the long ball was actually working pretty well in the first half. There were a number of times that we caught the Vancouver backline with balls over the top that led to attacking plays for us. We just didn't convert any of them. It seemed like there was just enough wind in the first half to give their back line problems with little chips over the top, but the wind picked up in the second half and we were going against it and that didn't work for us anymore. I really thought we were going to score 3 or 4 times in the first 15 minutes and it felt like the Whitecaps hadn't shown up.

    I wonder at what point does playing so many matches so close together start to take its toll? That second half we played was one to forget....

    It'll be a boost for the players to have Adrian back tomorrow. I'm sure it wasn't easy for him to manage effectively from inside the Sergeant Pepper costume for the last two games.
     
  3. dspence2311

    dspence2311 Member+

    Oct 14, 2007
    Lol, as they say. So the 2-game suspension was for failing to leave the stadium after his red card, as I understand it? Is that rule standard across leagues and associations, or is it unique to USL?
     
  4. Scooter Pete

    Scooter Pete Member

    Apr 3, 2008
    Austin
    Club:
    Austin Aztex
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    My understanding is that it was an automatic one-game for getting the red, then an additional game for not leaving the stadium immediately.
     
  5. methklok

    methklok New Member

    Apr 27, 2007
    Austin, TX
    Club:
    Stoke City FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    From where I was sitting (East stands), it looked like we were dominating the first 20 minutes. Nobody else had that impression? The Whitecaps took it to us in the second half, no doubt about that.
     
  6. Waterloo 11

    Waterloo 11 Member

    Aug 22, 2009
    Austin
    Club:
    Austin Aztex
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I thought we did well in the first half, part of that was because Vancouver did not put in Steele, Toure and Nash until the second half. After they warmed up they started dominating and pushing the ball relentlessly. It wore out our side. By about the 75th minute our boys were gasping for air and were not able to handle the push by the whitecaps.
    I can't really blame them, we only made one sub and the majority of the team have been starting and going the full 90 through the season and they just came off two games played in the previous seven days.

    The only person with a little pep at the end was Joey Worthen and that was because he was our sub. I would have liked to have seen a few of our normal starters come in at half for either the Portland or Vancouver game. Maybe both. We had Sam Brill and Wes Brown on the bench. Maybe they could have made a difference on the defense.

    Vancouver did the same thing to us last year in Vancouver, their coach made about 6 substitutions in the second half to wear us down by attacking and attacking. It worked then and it worked on Saturday.

    That said, I don't like that the league (and last year the USL) allows more then three substitutions in a game. It doesn't really reflect conventional strategy of most other leagues. If only three subs were allowed Saturday Vancouver may have been trying to waste time in the corners at the end instead of pushing the ball. It may have ended that they would have played for a tie. Or because our team was dragging at the end, it may have not made any difference at all.
     
  7. CplDaniel

    CplDaniel Member

    Jul 2, 2009
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Nobody thought to get the crowd singing a rendition of "Blame Canada!"
     

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