The Day after the day after
September 21, 2007 by f4denz.
Well we are just one tie short of equaling last season’s 9 draws, it is a shame we have no chance to get close to the 10 wins of last season. We do still have a chance to either reach or beat our inaugural season total of wins (5), and we are ahead of that years 5 draws, and tied with our first year total of 20 points. Yes, I do expect that we will capture a few more points, but still progress as a team has not been up to what the organization or the fans expect.
On Wednesday, a large crowd saw the best and the worst of RSL, and MLS. RSL played a decent tempo match, but failed to convert as many scoring chances as they should have. RSL played a hard physical match, and they picked up a couple yellow cards (one of which will keep Esky on the sideline for the Saturday match against Colorado). RSL dominated the stat’s with more shots, shots on goal, corner kicks, fewer fouls, more possession, and yet they only were able to get a draw at home. For a casual sports fan who showed up to see Beckham (like the gals with multiple signs offering their bodies to David), most of them saw a fairly entertaining match.
The first half saw decent football, with very solid defense by both teams and saves by both keepers. As the match moved to the second half both teams stepped up their attacks and counters, the pace was much quicker for the last 30 minutes than it had been in the first 60. A clear foul by Joe Cannon (once the best keeper in the league, now the whipping boy of the MLS), led to Carey Talley’s third goal of the season, a blistering PK, I was left wondering where the yellow card for Joe was. He made a clear grab of Yura’s foot to prevent him from getting to the ball, but this was where the casual fan may have missed what has been a trademark of the MLS season. You cannot have a league of professional soccer players and teams, if you do not have professional and competent officials, it was clear last night that several calls critical to the outcome of the match were missed or called incorrectly. It is funny that even on a world stage; the officials have really seemed to lost the ability to get it right. Is it because fans now have access to much better quality video of the matches, replays on the scoreboards, I am not sure of the cause but I am sure that even on the grandest stage of world soccer, the World Cup, the officials were suspect at best and incompetent at worst.
I did enjoy that pockets of fans from all over the stadium, really seemed to enjoy the match, in between our RCB chants and the Samba Drumming (my god make them go away, they annoy far more people than the RCB does), you could hear chants being started in the north end of the stadium and I even heard a couple from the KFC corner.
But back to the match, after the Talley PK, the pace of the match became frantic. The Galaxy were very desperate in the attack which opened up more chances for RSL to counter, after a clear foul in the box, in which Esky attempted to go in between two LA players, but was fouled hard, a fact that did not escape the LA TV crew covering the match. On the other end of the pitch in the 80th minute a lite tackle of Randolph by Kipre, presented LA with a PK chance of their own. Would Landycakes, blow a third straight PK, come on no way, no matter how much he may annoy everyone including his own team, he is a great player. Yes, he buried the PK and we were even at 1-1, and just a few minutes later Landycakes would make a great pass to Glinton and the Galaxy were up 2-1 with the clock edging towards the 90 minute mark. I saw a large number of fans depart the stadium, but I knew something was going to happen, I could feel it in the air. As I urged the now downtrodden RCB and other fans to cheer louder, Javier Morales then got to play the role of hero for RSL, he buried a free kick into the back of the net (it looked so Beckhamesqe). With the score tied at 2-2, the RSL attack did not stop, every open chance RSL fired the ball at Joe Cannon, and in stoppage time a very close (so far I have seen photos and video that look like the ball was first played by more arm than chest by Gray, and also crossed the line prior to Cannon punching it out of goal), but in typical MLS fashion, neither the main official or linesman was in position to really see the play. So the final whistle blew with the scoreboard showing 2-2, on what proved to be a much more entertaining match than many expected.
On other topics:
New Real Boss Anaylitical a good introduction piece by the Deseret News on new RSL GM Garth Langerwey (who seems a nice fellow, had a couple brief conversations with him on Wednesday night)
From ussoccerplayers.com
SOCCER WORLD IN SHOCK AS NICOL FINED
New England Revolution coach Steve Nicol has been fined an extra $1000 by the MLS Disciplinary Committee after making “public comments of a critical nature towards the game officials.”
Nicol sounded off after the Revs’ 4-2 defeat at DC on September 9. He felt, somewhat strongly, that Ben Olsen had committed a foul on one of his players shortly before setting up DC’s go-ahead goal. Red-faced, he was red-carded for making his views known on the sideline, then automatically suspended for the next game and fined $500 before yesterday’s bonus top-up. He later apologized for setting a bad example. Again.
Who would be an MLS coach? Of all the tasks they face — ridiculous schedule, plastic fields, complex trading and roster rules, control-freakery from MLS HQ — the most difficult of all must be resisting the temptation to criticize our beloved game officials. Bets are off that he won’t be the last.
OFF MY SOAPBOX