I had an unusual amount of actual human contact this weekend, so I didn't watch as much soccer as usual. The notes are a bit thin this week as a result. Fear not, all this human interaction can't possibly last, and I'll be back to my post full-time most likely by this weekend. -- Dave Week 16 Notes: D.J. Countess starts in place of Henry Ring for Chicago. Someone explain this to me. I’m just going to assume, to preserve my own sanity, that Ring has a knock or just needed the rest; maybe a family emergency of some sort. My already tenuous sense of order in the universe demands that it be one of those things. Clint Dempsey is going to force Bruce Arena to give him a call up if he keeps up this pace. He’s just doing everything right that a young player can do. Hustle, brains, attitude, finishing. He’s got it all. He’s this year’s Taylor Twellman. Hopefully minus the injuries. You can tell New England is emerging from the dark pit of injury despair. Steve Nicol had to leave Felix Brillant, one of this year’s nicest surprises, a creative finisher, on the bench against Chicago. It’s been a while since the Revs could afford to leave talent on the bench. Taylor Twellman gets two goals and a red card. Not good for Steve Nicol. Still, you heard it here first: A healthy New England not only makes the playoffs, but gets out of the first round. Really. No, I mean it. The only entertaining part of the Galaxy/Rapids match was seeing Ruiz get a yellow card for diving. Not that that’s not enough for me. I was plenty satisfied, despite the fact that the rest of the game not particularly compelling, and ended in a goal-less draw. As I have before, I congratulate Stone and Wynalda for not saying “Cha-Ching” when Brian Ching scored on Colorado. Rob Stone did refer to him as “The Big Kahuna”, however, so there is a slight deduction on style points. Clint Dempsey’s goal against Columbus on Saturday way harder than it looked. And it didn’t look easy to begin with. Running towards the goal, chests down the long service in, controls it and half-volleys it past Jon Busch. Wow. The Emmy nominations came out this week. Ruiz got three. Interesting look for the Fire this week with the yellow home jerseys. What’s up with the change in colors though?
D.J. Countess starts in place of Henry Ring for Chicago. Someone explain this to me. I’m just going to assume, to preserve my own sanity, that Ring has a knock or just needed the rest; maybe a family emergency of some sort. My already tenuous sense of order in the universe demands that it be one of those things. I just saw it as Chicago playing a lot of games in a short amount of days and Sarachan giving the young guy a run out. Why not? Interesting look for the Fire this week with the yellow home jerseys. What’s up with the change in colors though? [/QUOTE] Morelia was in town for a doubleheader. They have some sort of relationship with them and that is the 3rd jersey. I liked it.
The Fire have a partnership with Morelia. The jersey they wore is based on the Morelia jersey and had both the Fire and Morelia logos on it. It will be interesting to see if the Fire gets some any additional fans from this game. It seemed like a large number of the people that primarily came for the second game saw most of the first game. They also seemd to add some life to the crowd.
Morelia was in town for a doubleheader. They have some sort of relationship with them and that is the 3rd jersey. I liked it.[/QUOTE] I heard subsequently that Ring did indeed get a knock in training that during the week. I'm not opposed to DJ getting a chance, necessarily, but apart from an injury to Ring, now was not the time. He's just too red hot to sit. I kinda liked the yellow jerseys too. Didn't they also wear a Chicago Sting replica one time? They were yellow as well, I think. More of a bumblebee black and white, if I recall correctly.
I gather Argo said, that Sarachan wanted to give Ring a rest and test the very talented guy he had on the bench. That said, Ring would have stopped two of the three goals. The Fire and Morelia have a "Sister Club" relationship and they were in town to play Nexaca at Soldier Field. Some didn't like the third jersey, but I have to say that it was different and kinda fun. I wouldn't be against using it for other games if the Morelia logo on the right chest was not used unless Morelia returns.
Ring had done a quad muscle in training during the week, and Countess didn't find out until about 2:30 that afternoon that he was starting. Ring was fine on Saturday. I've heard the Fire may wear those yellows in the US Open Cup, but they may not. And in 2001 they did wear a yellow jersey with FIRE on the front as well as a little Sting logo. They honored the 1981 NASL Champion Sting on that night as well as the 1991 NPSL Champion Chicago Power. Now this fall is the 20th anniversary of the last NASL game ever played, the Sting's second title. I don't think they're at home on the actual weekend, so I'm not sure they'll do anything for that.
My wife and I moved last week, and I just re-hung my commemorative poster from that match. I seem to remember mention made of some sort of commemoration back in '01 for the '84 time in '04, but I'm in no position to know whether they wil actually do something. Be worth it to trot out the black and yellow again, though, whether Karl-Heinz Granitza can make it or not.
I don't see why this is a surprising statement. NE is only down because of their injuries. By the playoffs they will have a couple guys back and Nicol's teams have always been better in the second half of the season. I would be surprised if they didn't make it out of the first round. You must of been taking a piss when Stoner was doing the scoring summary. "Does that say ching, ching?" *schoolgirl giggle* I'm glad I'm not the only one annoyed with the continuous reminders that Ching is from Hawaii through overly generic characterisations. Then again, it just further reflects on the depth of insight that we get on an ESPN broadcast. Can't wait for the next Fire game so they can tell me seven different times throughout the game how underrated that albino in the back is.
That's pretty disappointing. Not surprising, but disappointing. I agree completely that the Revs should be a second round team, when healthy. I'm not sure why I keep hearing tales of woe and rumors of Nicol going out the door. It's all about injuries for this side. On the upside, though, if they hadn't been all banged up, they might never have seen how good Dempsey is.