And now Dames is rolling the dice by putting in offense. It may pay off as Chicago has Portland on its back foot. And Sitch comes through big time. This game ain't over yet.
Portland on their heals and Sitch ties it. I still think Portland will win this, but what a gutty effort by an undermanned, injury-ridden Chicago team after losing their captain early in the match. Wow.
Holy moly, this reminds me of the Kansas City game. It was killing me watching Chicago come back. But this is amazing, such heart. Mautz has really given Chicago a huge spark.
No, but heart is pretty much all we have left now. Everyone and everything else is out due to injury.
To be honest, Portland looked like they were just hanging on for dear life at the end there. Chicago was the much better team over roughly the last 15-20 minutes. I think if Leon wasn't so worn out, we might have seen her get one at the end, but looked to be exhausted. Outside of the Chalupny injury, a pretty competitive and interesting match to watch. I really like the way Chicago pressured and force turnovers in the 2nd half. Also loved Quon service from the wing, which led to at least one goal and a few other chances. Besides scoring all three goals, I thought Mautz and Sitch put forth a pretty gritty effort. Portland should be better than this, with the talent they have. Giving up late leads, especially in this case, is inexcusable. Let's hope Chalupny's injury wasn't as serious as it looked.
What a game. I apologize, I didn't really mean to advocate hurting anyone. But when Lori went down this was the last straw for me of this very frustrating season as a fan of the Red Stars. I'm tired of seeing our players go down over silly, dangerous fouls. Lori Chalupny is our Captain and best player. She often wins some games on her own. I was outraged to see her go down. I know many players and their families and would never wish for any of them to get hurt. I wouldn't spend so much money on season tickets, flying everywhere to watch these games, etc. if I was like that. The Red Stars showed heart and grit. And to play this hard after their Captain is taken out of the game on a cheap foul and tie the game, I'm impressed and happy with them and Rory Dames for getting their mindset prepared for this.
Chicago just doesn't match up well against Seattle. It seems like every team has problems with certain matchups- Portland against SkyBlue, SkyBlue against WNY, Seattle against KC are just a few that come to mind.
From the Red Stars on twitter... Chicago Red Stars @chicagoredstars1h INJURY UPDATE: Spoke w/CRS team trainer re:Chalupny & she believes the injury is muscular based & not the bone.
Not really sure except I assume it means no broken bones. Also no mention of torn cartilege or ligaments is generally a good thing. Hopefully, it's just a strain and not a torn muscle. Though I wouldn't count on her being back in a week, no matter how severe. Edit add: However, in Chicago's case, I almost expect the worst.
They play Seattle next Saturday in Chicago. When I saw that foul and Lori go down my heart sank. I just said oh no, not Lori.
That turned into a surprisingly good match between Portland and Chicago. Jenn Hoy really impressed me with her work rate and her pacey attack plus she was very hard to move off the ball, shouldered people off when they tried to tackle her. If she wasn't injured in the beginning of the season, she well could of been a much more impactful player for Chicago. At least people are going to stop questioning Chicago about that draft pick. I think some including me wondered why Hoy since we really didn't know much about her. To add to Foreeverlost comment about Adriana Leon. Every team should have a striker that can dribble through defenders and go direct to goal or get t0 the byline and get crosses in. I really think Boston made a mistake in trading Leon away, yes they have Heather O'Reilly that can do that but to have two wing forwards that they can use on either wing would be very dangerous. For Chicago adding Leon adds a lot more presence in the attacking third, very impressed with her attack ability. And Melissa Mautz probably now deserves to start. She really added that spark to the offense. Dangerous in the air and great shot attempts. She was even close to getting a third goal when she chipped Karina LeBlanc and it hit the crossbar. Very good comeback for Chicago and still leaves them 4 points behind and still in the play off hunt. Portland, I don't know about the rest of you, but Rachel Buehlar has not impressed me with her defensive side of the ball. Her dangerous take downs in the box which luckily have never been called and this game just illustrates her deficiencies on defense and she did get exposed. She is not mobile, she makes some bad decisions in the box, the pass to Leblanc that she flubbed and that Hoy almost got a goal out of. Not really a good game for her here. Kat Williamson though has continued to impress me, I watched her at Florida with Erika Tymrak and she has always been a stable presence back there, but her football IQ is even more impressive. She defended another ball off the line when Mautz missed the chip shot and I don't know who took the shot but Leblanc was out of position to stop it. And what can you say about Christine Sinclair. Could of scored 3 goals, probably should of had, but she made her second goal pretty high light reel worthy. She took a pass from Heath with one foot, then tipped it to her other foot and then chipped the ball in. Nice goal. Alex Morgan on the other hand, not a real good game on her part, she allowed her emotions to get the better of her and she looked frustrated. She needs to control that better because Portland needs her to be on the pitch focused. Tobin Heath was good in this game, played well and chipped in with 2 assists. Can't ask more from her, although she did have a 6 yard shot for a goal with only the keeper in front of her. She probably should of finished that but scuffed the shot wide. Heath in the line up is what Portland needs. Someone that can connect to the forwards and more importantly allow Sinclair to work in tandem with Morgan. Morgan needs another target forward to help feed off. Otherwise she gets isolated and can become invisible. This was a good match, Chicago showed a lot of grit and tenacity in fighting all game long even down two goals. They burn Kanas City and steal a point and they did it again to Portland. Well deserved.
In other news that doesn't seem to have been mentioned, FCKC beat SBFC 1-0 on a Courtney Jones goal via a Holiday corner.
It wasn't mentioned because except for a few late heart-stopping goal line saves, it was kind of a boring game.
OK Im caught up. SB vs KC Did the only goal happen when the feed was down or when I was out of the room? Cutshall looked like the player taken 4th in the draft. Not having De Vanna killed SB...they looked dangerous without her in the second. Gonna be tough for KC not to get a home game the way they r playing. Port vs Chi Is it a sign of good refereeing if ur equally bad to both teams? No PK tho. If ur Portland u have to shake ur head. Loved the shot of Morgan on the bench when Red Stars got the tying goal. Chicago has to feel good about their second amazing comeback accept they really needed the 3 pts. Hoy and Mautz played well for Chicago but the story is all the easy shots missed. Heath who was a catalyst again missed three close shots. Sinclair should have at least had a hat trick. Weimer missed an open net and Morgan skied one she should have at least put on frame. For Chicago, Grings hit the bar on a bunny and Mautz should have had a hat trick as well. The good news for both teams is it's much better to miss open looks than not make any good shots at which was the case earlier in the season. It's a tie for play of the day between the Heath to Sinclair trick play and Cutshall pulling a goal out of an empty net.
Other than no one wants to see their player get hurt I really dont see the abuse for Heath. It was a dangerous play and she got a yellow card. It wasnt malicious. Truth be told while her careless tackle caused the injury, Chalupny got hurt because the ball got caught under her not from the contact. U cant determine the punishment based on the player leaving the game. If Chalupny gets up and walks away no was is complaining about the yellow card.
Morgan is putting way too much pressure on herself to carry the team. If Im Morgan, I say to myself...this is Sinclair's team and Im going to help her win. Morgan is best when she looking to create shots for other people and just taking the ones that come her way. If it were baseball theyd say she is squeezing the ball.
Portland 3 Chicago 3 Did not expect this outcome! Game started slow and unimpressive. Always impressed by Sinclair( best North American soccer player) Chicago earned this surprising outcome.