A Christmas miracle in July?
Wow, so for those of you who may have been sleeping since last Friday let me update you on what I am calling a “Christmas Miracle in July”. So with two top level international teams coming town, few if any thought that the matches would be entertaining let alone competitive. After heading up to Park City to watch Everton practice, I thought it would be a bloodbath with us getting a couple lucky goals but still getting beat 4-2, Everton looked sharp during their practice. Then a little over 24 hours later as the match started one team looked sharp, passes being completed, overall attacking style of play, and then there was Everton, who looked like they forgot how to play in just 24 hours. Sure you can point out that it was 3am Liverpool time or that it was still in the 90’s, or even that they were playing at elevation. I am sure all of those factored in, but I think what caused the most distress was that the team they were facing sure did not resemble the team that dropped a July 4th match to Toronto.
Joleon Lescott of Everton said it best “I thought they did well and were sharp, I’ve been told they are bottom of their league, which I find surprising because they fully deserved their victory.” Two goals in 2 minutes from RSL was all that was needed, the last time RSL had scored two was in our only MLS victory of the season a month ago against DC United. A beautiful goal by Talley on a corner kick from Esky, showed that Carey is finally getting his head back into the game. Then only seconds later, a super pass from Andy Williams (who played a great first half), and Robbie Findley, played beat the keeper for the second RSL goal of the match. The rest of the first half was a battle with RSL actually playing a very attacking style of football and if not for some incredible saves by “Timmy”, the score could have been 4-0. The second half saw wholesale roster changes by RSL with 6 at the half and another 5 about 15 minutes into the half, the changes did not result in any goals for Everton but the nature of the match changed as RSL no longer dominated in the midfield and played on their heels for a majority of the half. Things got a bit chippy in the latter stages of the match, but nothing too nasty. I think it will let EPL teams know that if you come to play in the Colonies you better bring your “A” game.
The biggest disappointments were the lack of preparation by the RSL front office, we looked like a pub team off the pitch. No real merchandise for sale at the match (one horrible t-shirt, meant for autographs-hint, you might want to have those at your autograph session), no real hype for the match (a late notice of the Everton practice, a autograph session with 80% people with nothing more than a black and white roster sheet to get signed), and poor ticket sales (package deals, inflated prices, confusion all around). All of that lead to the other disappointment, 10,000 fans, in a stadium that can hold 40.000, we could not even fill it to 25% of capacity. I understand that Everton is not Real Madrid, but it was sad that so few people were there to see what I think was the best half of football in RSL history.
Well it was only a couple days later that Boca Jr’s showed up in town and again few if any thought it would be entertaining or competitive. That Saturday match against Everton must have been a fluke. Once again a lineup that looked very strange, no Esky, Findley, Torres, or Seitz even in uniform, but RSL played with a lot of heart and energy in the first half, attacking when they had possession of the ball, and playing strong defense when they didn’t. Just before the end of the first half Freddy Adu was working some of his magic, and got tangled up with 3 Boca defenders on the edge of the box, he made is past them only to be fouled by two of them from behind. The whistle blew and everyone knew it was a penalty shot for RSL, Freddy took the shot and into the net it went. Surely it could not be happening again, RSL the laughing stock of MLS, not only playing with but beating an international powerhouse, what is going on? Could it be another miracle in July, were the soccer gods going to favor the downtrodden one more time? Once again wholesale changes to the RSL roster at the half 5 new players on the pitch (Watson, Harris, Cutler, Besagno, and Jimenez), and once again the style of play changed to a more defensive style. A couple great counter attacks from RSL but the second half was an exercise in great goalkeeping and desperate defense, in the end Boca put one goal on the scoreboard but should have scored at least 3 others. So while it was not a miracle, it showed that when our players show up, fight hard and do not quit, that they can play with anyone and hold their own.
I came away from the last couple days feeling good about our team, and excited for New Englands visit on Saturday. We almost always play well against the Revolution, in fact last season we had a 0-0 tie and 3-1 victory against them. I am going out on a limb and calling for a 3-1 win this Saturday, the only question is will more than 10,000 people show up to watch the match? I hope so, the new line-up and new attitude seem to be just what the fans wanted, a hard working team that does not know how to quit.
This entry was posted on July 25, 2007 at 6:41 pm and is filed under The soapbox. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.