Sweeeet. Probably most KC metro area fans are at the watch party. I followed it on MLSNET, opinions please from those who watched the match? Scoring Summary: KC -- Eric Quill 2 (Francisco Gomez 1) 12 KC -- Chris Brown 2 (Eric Quill 1) 15 DAL -- Jason Kreis 2 (Paul Broome 1, Chad Deering 1) 53 KC -- Chris Klein 2 (Chris Brown 1) 66 Kansas City Wizards -- Tony Meola, Jimmy Conrad, Nick Garcia, Diego Gutierrez (Carey Talley 45), Chris Klein, Francisco Gomez, Preki (Davy Arnaud 76), Kerry Zavagnin, Eric Quill, Chris Brown, Dario Fabbro (Stephen Armstrong 64). Substitutes Not Used: Chris Brunt, Bo Oshoniyi. So Zavagnin played 90 and we won, hmm hmm. Where's Igor? Didn't make the trip. Why? We have a Davy Arnaud sighting, in Texas which is fitting. Quill rocks. Brown's not that great, he just scores goals.
Very nice... It's always great to get a win in Dallas. I swear, how does Jason Kreis score against us every damn time (31 points in 22 starts vs. the wizards). Good thing San Jose didn't win today, we're comin for ya. Can't even imagine watching 100 minutes of scoreless soccer that they played today.
Bastard. I'm watching the tape delayed overtime right now. ************. I didn't expect [R]esults from other games at this point.
Yeah baby! Anytime you get 3 on the road you have to be happy. Reducing the catostophic errors to 1 is a step in the right direction also, especially sans Burciaga. 5 points up on LA, with Dallas and Colorado buried in the basement. WTG, Blue! Royals even get another Ken Harvey moment (former Husker) to beat the O's tonight also and end their 4 game skid. Anyway, I didn't get to witness the carage in person so I'll be intersted to hear reports from those that did. In reading the match report, Brown obviously dominated his marker, as did Klein and Quill. How does this team get 3 and yet Preki gets nada?!? More of that please! A rare road win. That makes two straight in "Big D". 3 goals and 4 different scorers tonight, none of them Preki - WOW. Plus he got rest tonight. KC is still scoring about 25% of all shots and almost 50% of shots on goal! That's phenominal through 5 games. It's like a totally different team from '02; less chances and 3 times as many goals. Tony faced 17 shots and only let in one on what appeared to be yet another blatantly missed assignment. Losing Kreis in the box with a shutout going is like asking people to take your cash - you don't have to ask many times to see it go. Still, it's an improvement over the first 4 games. KC is averaging 4.5 goals in their contests; far and away a league high. At least there is one watchable team every week. Another good thing in my opinion is that Gansler is going to his other guys and sticking with them if they do well. Quill, KZ, and Fabbro are good examples. Fabbro might be best off the bench late. How about Quill with his right foot?!! Function over form on the road is a good rule always, but there are a few things to nitpick: *17 shots for Dallas. Dallas has little on the wings and still earned 17 chances. That will become a problem against better teams. KC probably will not get 2.5 goals every week. Giving one to Kreis should be expected by now, but this game could have been worse easily. It gets harder next week with a rapidly improving NE side Wed. *Outfouled badly in this one and that makes 5 games of 5. This might be part of the design. Late season caution points cause suspensions (no yellows tonight - smart after the Kovalenko thing). Still, 3 fouls in a whole game? Pair that with 17 DAL shots and something is off. I only hope it's a design intended to stop the bleeding of set-piece goals witnessed last year. So far that cure (if indeed it is one) has led to the side effect of uncovered attackers. I for one would like to see a higher level of pressure, but again it's a small thing...for now. *Two CK's, 2? That's it? Was Dallas that weak on the wings that everything made it around them to center? Seemingly the only other explanation was Dallas played with the tactic of pushing the wings up so Kreis and Quill had to defend some thereby restricting their attacking. Obviously that didn't work. Am I missing something? *I'm not complaining by any stretch, but how many of his headers will be high of off crossbars this year? Head the ball down Brown Bear. With the way Ruiz is playing, maybe signing him for your mfls team would be a good idea. Bottom line: I'll watch 3-2 games all year long and be ecstatic, it beats the bejesus out of what we have seen the last 3 years. Something will need to happen defensively to entertain Cup thoughts.
He did you a favor, all the good stuff was in the first 45. ONe good Onstad moment in the second, that's it.
we were a different team last night. Fabbro had some amazing touches, and some amazingly bad touches. He wiffed on a ball in the 6 yd. box which he should have buried in the upper 90, but also made a few good through passes and one over the back back cross that stayed in my mind. He almost caught Countess of his line with a 60 yrd. chip shot. But he still lost 50-50 headers, and he's what? 7 foot tall? I think the man has some skills, I'd just like him to get some minutes, some confidence, and some frecking hustle. Quills goal was beautiful. Great over the top service, which he chested down, took one touch then unloaded on Countess. Nice. Browns was nice too, but Quill had much more finese After the half, we did what we've been doing all season, sitting on our lead and letting it bite us in the ass. I don't think any team can successfully bunker for 45 minutes (even the 2000 team) and keep the lead, and Kries proved that. For the first 15 minutes of the second half, we just stayed in our 1/3rd of the field and didn't pressure at all. We were extremely lucky not to give up a second goal. Subbing in Armstrong for Fabbro after the Dallas goal was the best subbing Gansler has done this year, and the game changed instantly. Brown had a great pass to Klien. who shamed DJ near post. We started pressuring, made some brilliant runs, nearly scored on a freekick (preki to an unmarked Gomez who was unlucky to be blocked by DJ) Overall I really liked what I saw. We are finally learing that we still need to pressure after the lead, the defence is picking it up, and people are making runs. HDNet sucked this time around. The production was a lot worse than the SJ/KC game. They didn't show the second goal as it happened because they were showing the bench or a replay, or something else innane. Last time they did split screens everytime they'd cut away from the action. Some of the development players who weren't with the traveling squad showed up to he watch party, and shed some light on why Igor wasn't there. He and Wolff were both injured. They weren't specific though, or at least I didn't hear, so I don't know if Igor will be playing wed. night.
Thanks for the update. Saw the goals on MLS Wrap last night and Quill's was a beauty. John Harkes questioned whether the third goal was offside but the camera angle made it difficult to tell. If anyone, their right back (nearest to the camera) was playing Klein on. When it got to 2-1, I though uh-oh, here we go again.
Thanks for the update on Igor, Jace. I remembered during the game why Wolff wouldn't be there with his artificial surface history and recent injury, but I wasn't sure about Igor's health. It might explain why he was subbed last week against Columbus. To be fair to Dario, that big whiffer was at the edge of the penalty area, and its something I've seen before (hitting the ball with your plant foot). He had a hand in both first half goals. Maybe he plays better as a starter.
And to be fair to Dario, we need to keep in mind how young he is. We all get swept up in the young bloomers like Owen, Rooney, Donovan, D. Beasley, but most strikers don't peak until their mid to late 20s.
Quills sweet? Lets not get too carried away. I hope he keeps up his recent good form and I'm pumped about the win but lets not act like he hasn't sucked for us.
When? He's been injury prone, but I don't exactly remember him ever "sucking" when he's been able to play. And what did he cost us? Not a damn thing. Since he sucks & all... who would you start in his place? A case can be made for Armstrong or Gutierrez, but neither is better in a huge way.
Really trying to refrain from my "Don't get on a soccer site if you don't want soccer scores" rant. I had no clue the game was on tape delay, so for that sorry. But yeah, I'll agree with WizardsCharter. While some 0-0 game can be exciting, while I didn't see this one I gotta think that 100 minutes of nothing between these two teams was pretty blah. About quill... Man, I remember how badly I wanted him in 2001. I thought we should have traded for him when those rumors were circulating. While yeah, he hasn't "sucked" and he was a great pick up because it cost us nothing, I gotta say I'm dissapointed that we haven't gotten more out of him.
Watching the MLS Wrap, I couldn't help but ask.... Why, after all these years, can Tony NOT realize that he's weak on near post shots? He's not nicknamed "Near Post Tony" for nothing. Even though the defense left him unmarked, Kreis STILL hit his shot near post. Dammit Tim, coach him. Fix the problem. I'd almost be willing to give up a few far-post goals to NOT give up any more near post goals. Now, to be fair, Tony did have an excellent save near post late in the match, and I didn't see the rest of the game, but there are too many other near posters that have been given up.
The woman drug me around to graduation parties all night, then I went to Matt's afterwards, so I had no way of getting to watch the game. Kinda cool that the developemental players showed up at the watch party. Since I didnt see the game, I cant comment. Only to say that I was shocked that we won 3-1 w/out Igor or Wolff. I'm still not convinced on Dario, but hey, if he proves successful I'll back him. I just can't stand a player that doesn't hustle. Wester conference already has a little separation. LA should come up after they get to play at home.
Tony is no weaker than any other goalie to the "near post." That dog don't hunt. Hell 2 of our goals were near post on Countess. It's a law of averages. Some goals are going in near post. If zero goals beat a keeper near post, then he's cheating too far to that side.
I'm not sold on Dario either, but he did show a much improved work rate compared to what we've seen so far this year. Tracked back on defense & covered the wing when Klein made runs into the box. He had some nice touches... and then proceeded to follow them up w/ horrible touches. An encouraging game for Dario... we'll see if he can keep it up.
I agree. I think people are just a little hypersensitive to Tony letting in near post goals. That being said, it seems to me that Tony may not be moving his feet as well as he has in past seasons. He is streaching out to make a lot of saves when in the past he could get more of his body in front of the ball. This is just my observation from the three games I have seen on the tube.
PezJunkie What do you mean he didn't cost us anything? We could have picked tons of different players in the dispersal draft other than him. I think he has potential but dude he has sucked for us. As for replacements I would say that Armstrong is way better than he is and I would start him over Quill. As for Meola he’s fine, I still believe he is the best keeper in the league. Near post complaints are valid but in the end he will be fine.