Nights like last night's 0-2 Sounders defeat at Saprissa are so hard.
For the first 35 or so minutes of the match, I sat here in my living room with a confident smirk on my face. The Rave Green were having their way with the Costa Ricans and a goal felt imminent. Then, Leo kicked through a loose ball and his cleats ran into an opposing player. Intentional or not...warranted or not, that single moment all but effectively ended the Seattle Sounders run in the 2010-11 CONCACAF Champions League.
It was a harsh turn of events for all of those that bleed Raven Green. Lucky for all of us, we still have so much yet to play for this season. With the U.S. Open Cup FINAL at Qwest Field on October 5th and the MLS playoffs beckoning, the stretch run is just beginning. Some other thoughts:
- I am really looking forward to getting Blaise back on the pitch for our offense. After Leo's red card last night, his presence still wouldn't have mattered. However, we need the big Swiss striker to hold the ball up this weekend against a stout Columbus Crew.
- Another tactical change that Sigi seemed to allude to last night was his inclusion of El Flaco into central midfield. It was interesting especially considering that down a man, I thought a defensive minded Nate Sturgis was surely meant to stay in the match until the end. However, El Flaco was inserted for Sturgis to create an offensive spark. His influence and class certainly gave the Sounders a glimmer of hope last night despite being down a man for 50+ minutes. I would love to see a midfield that looks like this come Saturday: Zakuani, Alonso, Flaco, and Nyassi.
- I heart Ossie Alonso and his PK attempt last night was well taken. However, after Fredy Montero was fouled to cause the PK, I was shocked to see Ossie be the one to step up and take the shot. Fredy was given the armband last night as a sign of his maturing leadership on the team. Now, I wonder who emphatically a Montero PK conversion would have even furthered that leadership on the team.
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On a totally unrelated Sounders note- check this video out: Dying Bravely. It's going to tug at your heartstrings if you are any kind of a USMNT supporter. Until next time...
- DTRT
9.15.2010
9.10.2010
Thoughts from last night: SSFC v. RSL
Before I head to work on this cloudy Friday- a few thoughts on last nights' SSFC v. RSL match:
- Was it just me or did Ozzie Alonso and Kyle Beckerman completely dominate this match? Those two were absolutely all over their opposition and imposed their will on this match from the beginning. Sans Keller's beautiful save on Robbie Findley's horrid PK- Alonso and Beckerman were the main reason why this ended up being a scoreless draw.
- About that Findley PK: Definitely a deserved PK due to Parke's trip, but didn't the ball go out of bounds just before that? The play was on the opposite side of the field from where I was sitting, but I coulda swore...and as I tweeted yesterday- I really hope that Bob Bradley was watching last night. Here's to Robbie Findley never being called up for the USMNT ever again. Cheers!
- The Sounders attack seemed more than a bit disjointed last night. Is fatigue starting to set after a pretty congested schedule over the last month? Or is this just a bump in the road? I personally feel that it's not a coincidence that our attacking struggles the last couple matches mirror Blaise N'kufo being out with an injury. Many of my fellow supporters have been somewhat critical of the Swiss striker due to a lack of Swiss-based goals up to this point. However, it became more clear to me last night why he's so critical to our attack. Jaqua did a pretty decent job last night being that the target man. However, he wasn't able to hold the ball up nearly as effectively as Blaise has been doing the last month or so. Blaise's physical presence and ability to hold the ball at the top of the 18 has opened up so much for the team offensively. I wonder if the result would've been better against the stingy RSL defense if Blaise would've been available for the tie.
- Considering RSL is (in my opinion) the class of the MLS right now and we definitely were off from an offensive perspective last night...I'll take a draw. It was the right result and not an entirely terrible one.
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One more thing...many of you read that one of the Sounders Pac NW soccer neighbors, the Portland Timbers, put up a billboard promoting their 2011 inagural season just a few minutes south of Qwest. This has certainly stoked the rivalry to another level, but I'm certainly not upset about it. As a fan of the game, I welcome it. Next year's inclusion of the Whitecaps and Timbers will bring a TRUE soccer rivalry to MLS for the first time. It's a great thing for the sport in this country.
And as a Sounders supporter, I welcome it as well. Bring it on Portland. I have full confidence that we'll do our talking on the pitch next year.
- DTRT
- Was it just me or did Ozzie Alonso and Kyle Beckerman completely dominate this match? Those two were absolutely all over their opposition and imposed their will on this match from the beginning. Sans Keller's beautiful save on Robbie Findley's horrid PK- Alonso and Beckerman were the main reason why this ended up being a scoreless draw.
- About that Findley PK: Definitely a deserved PK due to Parke's trip, but didn't the ball go out of bounds just before that? The play was on the opposite side of the field from where I was sitting, but I coulda swore...and as I tweeted yesterday- I really hope that Bob Bradley was watching last night. Here's to Robbie Findley never being called up for the USMNT ever again. Cheers!
- The Sounders attack seemed more than a bit disjointed last night. Is fatigue starting to set after a pretty congested schedule over the last month? Or is this just a bump in the road? I personally feel that it's not a coincidence that our attacking struggles the last couple matches mirror Blaise N'kufo being out with an injury. Many of my fellow supporters have been somewhat critical of the Swiss striker due to a lack of Swiss-based goals up to this point. However, it became more clear to me last night why he's so critical to our attack. Jaqua did a pretty decent job last night being that the target man. However, he wasn't able to hold the ball up nearly as effectively as Blaise has been doing the last month or so. Blaise's physical presence and ability to hold the ball at the top of the 18 has opened up so much for the team offensively. I wonder if the result would've been better against the stingy RSL defense if Blaise would've been available for the tie.
- Considering RSL is (in my opinion) the class of the MLS right now and we definitely were off from an offensive perspective last night...I'll take a draw. It was the right result and not an entirely terrible one.
------------------------------
One more thing...many of you read that one of the Sounders Pac NW soccer neighbors, the Portland Timbers, put up a billboard promoting their 2011 inagural season just a few minutes south of Qwest. This has certainly stoked the rivalry to another level, but I'm certainly not upset about it. As a fan of the game, I welcome it. Next year's inclusion of the Whitecaps and Timbers will bring a TRUE soccer rivalry to MLS for the first time. It's a great thing for the sport in this country.
And as a Sounders supporter, I welcome it as well. Bring it on Portland. I have full confidence that we'll do our talking on the pitch next year.
- DTRT
9.08.2010
My favorite season.
I love the fall.
Cooler weather, the Pacific NW rain starts up again (which I actually enjoy) and plenty of sports to follow make it my favorite season of the year. Here are four reasons that reaffirm my feelings:
- European soccer leagues are in full swing.
- MLS playoff push on full force.
- MLB pennant races are starting to take shape.
- College and NFL football kicks off their respective seasons.
This weekend is the unofficial beginning for my favorite season. It is no coincidence that this sentiment is directly tied to the beginning of the 2010 NFL season. Tomorrow night the Saints and Vikings kick off yet another season of America's new pasttime. My Browns open the season away to the Tampa Bay Bucs. Both teams are in full rebuilding mode as they start 2010. The Bucs continue to bank on their second year QB, Josh Freeman, to lead them to something more than 4 wins this year. While the Browns new era is led by someone that is quite revered here in the Pac NW, Mike Holmgren. New QB, Jake Delhomme, had a pretty decent preseason, but the jury is definitely out on whether or not that can translate into regular season success. Either way, the Browns have more talent (rare) and I feel are the better team in this matchup. Plus, how can a true fan not open the season riding a wave that sort of resembles optimism.
PREDICTION: Browns 23, Bucs 13
The Premier League gets back to business after a break that allowed some Euro 2012 qualifiers to be played and some local English teams to get supported (click on this link- its a great read). Liverpool are away to transfer window dynamos Birmingham City (8 a.m. PST on FSC). My favorite Merseysiders scraped by against EPL new boys, West Brom two weekends ago and recently lost Dutch goal-scorer, Dirk Kuyt to a shoulder injury while he was away on national team duty. It definitely has not been a great start to the campaign for the Reds. I'd like to be encouraged by Roy Hodgson's transfer window signings, but only one thing truly has me encouraged about the Reds' chances on this particular weekend- the Spainard dubbed El Nino. Fernando Torres scored a brace for Spain last week and that could only mean good thing for Liverpool.
PREDICTION: Liverpool 2, Birmingham 1
My beloved Rave Green are set to entertain the reigning MLS champions, Real Salt Lake tomorrow night. RSL is probably the best club in the league right now (this FC Dallas hype is really getting out of hand). However, the Sounders definitely have a chip on their shoulders coming off a sobering and unexpected loss to New England over the weekend. All I know is that I cannot WAIT to be with 36,000 of my closest friends tomorrow night signing and chanting my heart out. I want to say that we'd be cheering our club to victory, but I'm not entirely sure with RSL's form at the moment.
PREDICTION: Sounders 2, RSL 2
And finally, the Ohio State Buckeyes host the Hurricanes of Miami University on Saturday. This is a "re-match" of the 2003 National Championship game in which most pundits feel a pass interference call decided the winner of that game. Let us not forget that those teams played a full overtime period to decide that game after that famous pass interference call (and Ohio State was victimized earlier in the fourth quarter by an incorrect out of bounds call on a 3rd and long pass play)...but let's focus on the here and now for a second. The quarterbacks in this game, Terrell Pryor and Jacory Harris, are tremendously talented and are coming off great starts to their 2010 campaigns last week (both around 250 yards and 3 TDs). While the media and most people are focused on that individual matchup- this game will be decided by which defense plays better. I feel that my Buckeyes definitely have the BETTER defense...and may actually have the FASTER defense in this game.
PREDICTION: Ohio State 31, Miam 24 (no OTs needed this time)
Enjoy the weekend everyone...and DTRT.
9.03.2010
In a row?
That's right Sounders fans...our beloved Rave Green Army has given us a second FINAL in as many MLS years of existence.
I was uber-excited about watching Wednesday night's match for a couple reasons: 1) it was the USOC semi-final and 2) I was hooking up my new laptop to my TV HDMI style for the first time to watch the match. Here are some quick hitting observations that stood out to me during the match:
- FINALLY! We scored a goal against Chivas USA as an MLS franchise. It only took us about 370+ minutes, but it finally happened off the boot of Nate "New Mr. Open Cup" Jaqua.
- More on Nate- dude added his fifth goal of this year's competition (3 matches) later on in stoppage time and it fast helping ease the pain of watching our U.S. Open Cup hero of yesteryear, Seba LeToux, score all those goals for the Union this year.
- Ozzie Alonso is the best defensive midfielder in MLS. I have had a serious man-crush on #6 for a while and Wednesday night only strenghtened...well, you get the point. His vision to get the ball to Zakuani on the second goal by Fredy Montero was a thing of beauty and something (I feel) that didn't get appreciated enough at the time. Ozzie (on the whole) still doesn't get as much appreciation as he deserves. Say what you will about the Ljungberg effect or Montero's hot streak, but Alonso's influence on this run of grand Sounder form cannot be underestimated.
- As for Fredy, dude was right up with Alonso as the best player on the pitch against the Goats. He was dangerous and continually one step ahead of the Chivas defenders (and sometimes his teammates).
The Sounders are at New England for this weekend's fixture. Sigi and the guys have already taken care of business against the Revs once this year...let's hope that we do it again. We sit on 32 points right now in the league table and probably will need at least 42 or 43 to get into the playoffs yet. There are definitely three points for the taking this weekend...I see the Sounders taking them all.
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| Thanks to SoundersFC.com for the pic. |
I was uber-excited about watching Wednesday night's match for a couple reasons: 1) it was the USOC semi-final and 2) I was hooking up my new laptop to my TV HDMI style for the first time to watch the match. Here are some quick hitting observations that stood out to me during the match:
- FINALLY! We scored a goal against Chivas USA as an MLS franchise. It only took us about 370+ minutes, but it finally happened off the boot of Nate "New Mr. Open Cup" Jaqua.
- More on Nate- dude added his fifth goal of this year's competition (3 matches) later on in stoppage time and it fast helping ease the pain of watching our U.S. Open Cup hero of yesteryear, Seba LeToux, score all those goals for the Union this year.
- Ozzie Alonso is the best defensive midfielder in MLS. I have had a serious man-crush on #6 for a while and Wednesday night only strenghtened...well, you get the point. His vision to get the ball to Zakuani on the second goal by Fredy Montero was a thing of beauty and something (I feel) that didn't get appreciated enough at the time. Ozzie (on the whole) still doesn't get as much appreciation as he deserves. Say what you will about the Ljungberg effect or Montero's hot streak, but Alonso's influence on this run of grand Sounder form cannot be underestimated.
- As for Fredy, dude was right up with Alonso as the best player on the pitch against the Goats. He was dangerous and continually one step ahead of the Chivas defenders (and sometimes his teammates).
The Sounders are at New England for this weekend's fixture. Sigi and the guys have already taken care of business against the Revs once this year...let's hope that we do it again. We sit on 32 points right now in the league table and probably will need at least 42 or 43 to get into the playoffs yet. There are definitely three points for the taking this weekend...I see the Sounders taking them all.
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