Strangely tepid match in Texas; Dallas and Chivas
scoreless. .
Perfect night for football in Frisco, Texas;
defensive consistency and the MLS Supporters Cup at stake.
Morrow sticks with his Brazilian,
including him on the right; Burse gets the nod in goal, the back four is Rhine,
Moor, Pitchkolan and Wagenfuhr; Alvarez, Serioux and Toja combine with Denilson
in the middle, Cooper; back after injury; and Thompson start up front.
Preki; without his two first
choice strikers goes for Merlin and Cunliffe in attack; a four man midfield is Mendoza,
Nagamura, Marsch and Kljestan; in front of Guzan are Zotinca, Thomas, Hernandez
and Bornstein.
Cooper shows hi slack of match
fitness by being unable to outpace Thomas to a good through ball; Marsch and
Kljestan combine in attack but Dallas clear; Kljestan attacks again but his shot
is weak an easy for Burse.
Neither side is able to gain the
upper hand in a tightly contested midfield, Chivas work the ball with good
passing and movement, Toja is at the heart of everything Dallas and Denilson seems mostly AWOL.
Toja combines in a forward
position with Denilson, the ball is fed out wide to Cooper who beats his man
and crosses well, no Dallas player makes a run and Guzan gratefully claims;
Moor clears a decent Cunliffe cross; Rhine combines with Alvarez on the left
and Bornstein gives up a free kick, the ball in is cleared and Denilson tries a
chip which goes a foot over.
Kljestan takes a shot and the resultnat
corner kick is beautifully lighted but read by no one.
Serioux gets forward and has a
long range shot parried behind by Guzan; Dallas have more of the ball as the
half ends; Thompson gets onto a good pass and Hernandez does well to track him
as he cuts inside, the shot is still fired off but Guzan stretches out a leg to
make the save. This was the only clear
chance of the half.
Morrow wants his team to move the
ball quicker; he’s happy with the defence but wants more actions up front. No changes are made at the half though.
Thompson cuts the ball back from
the touchline, Alvarez finds Toja but Chivas come away with the ball; Merlin
has a shot blocked, Zotinca puts one in for Mendoza, the hard work is done with
Rhine well beaten but he can’t get his head to the ball; Burse claims a
Cunliffe cross; the game is still played between the boxes with little goal
mouth action; as the hour goes by Chivas gets more of the ball.
Mendoza puts in a cross from the
left, the low ball is only parried by Burse but Kljestan can only hit the ball
over the bar on the rebound; Denilson beats two, cuts inside and finds Cooper
in the area, the big man turns and shoot but Guzan is on form tonight; Alvarez
fires one in from range which Guzan handles easily; Thompson goes deep on the
left, he cuts inside his defender and shoots, the blocked shot pops out to
Cooper who lashes it goal wards, Guzan parries but Thompson had stopped so
fails to get on the lose ball; Copper is allowed to play a Dallas advantage but
doesn’t quite have the legs to beat his man and take the shot; McCarthy
delivers a great ball in from a corner but Chivas eventually clear and break up
field; Alvarez goes in for a professional foul and gets a yellow and then in
the melee Rhine gets a straight red. The
game isn’t too one sided as Razov and Hernandez are slightly crocked.
Galyndo shoots wide; Alvarez work
the ball around the edge of the area and shoots when he see the goal, Guzan is
beaten but the post saved Chivas, Kljestan ####s in a poor free kick for the
last play of the game.
Morrow got a clean sheet, still
has issues with Denilson, got a red card on his Captain and saw his team lack penetration,
but overall a decent night.
Preki had two players crocked who
couldn’t be subbed, his goalie played well but his team lacked punch up front,
not so good a night for the away manager.
Peacock
The referee had a poor game, one
yellow was good the other for dissent when it was clearly for a foul, his red
was awful though, what referee gives out a straight red for a bit of lip from a
player? He did play a couple of good
advantages; which get maximum #### Points; and let the game flow for the
most part. Apparently this referee is
nicknamed, “The Peacock”.
Dallas defensive lapses again but only let’s one in; very sharp at the other
end as a dominant Columbus
can’t beat Burse; 1-3 away win.
Columbus Crew Stadium on an
unusually hot October night. Pretty
decent crowd and a lot to play for, Columbus
need a win to keep their play off hopes alive and Dallas need just a point to confirm their
play off berth. Neither team has played
well in the last seven or eight games, wins have been hard to come by and both
defences have been leaky.
Schmidt picks an attacking 4 4 2
with Hesmer in goal; Hejduk and Ward play at full back with Hendrickson and
Gonzalez in the middle;
Rogers adds pace to the right flanks and
Gaven likes to get forward on the left. Oughton and Miglioranzi occupy the
centre; Moreno
and Herron provide the muscle up front.
Burse gets the ‘keeper’s spot in
Morrow’s 4 4 2; a departure from the 4 3 3 that lost him the US Open Cup; Moor,
Pitchkolan, Goodson and Wagenfuhr occupy the back line, always susceptible to a
mistake or two; Alvarez plays on the right opposite Denilson; reputedly not
certain to be wearing Hoops next year if he doesn’t fit into Morrow’s team; Toja
provides the creativity and Serioux the muscle across the middle; the hard
working Thompson is linked with the pacy Oduro up front.
The midfield is tight with
neither side gaining the upper hand in the opening minutes; Burse makes the
first of many quality saves when he gets down to Gaven’s intelligently
delivered free kick; Burse punches, waywardly this time but the two Columbus forward
aren’t on the same wavelength and a corner is the result; Alvarez keep keeps
Hesmer honest with an astute run and shot.
Columbus enjoy the bulk of
possession and use it to pepper Burse, the young ‘keeper seems well up to the
task, making three greats saves in the first half; his opposite number seems competent and isn’t
tested half as much; Denilson works hard; as well as his half a dozen touches
of pure brilliance he defends as well, earning himself a card in the process;
the defenders of Dallas get isolated when the Hoops attacks flounder and
Columbus break; one such break sees Gaven play the ball on the left, Moreno
turns Goodson inside out and lays the ball back into the path of Gaven, the
midfielder controls the ball and thumps a shot which beats Burse; slack play
from Goodson and the Dallas defence.
Columbus keep up their attacks in
the first half but Dallas do break out with pace and agility, Alvarez being
brought down twice to stop the Hoops; Hesmer doesn’t inspire confidence with a
fluff on a straightforward corner, Columbus can’t beat Burse and Dallas are too
busy defending and being outplayed in midfield to mount any serious attacks on
Hesmer.
Neither manager makes any changes
at the half.
Alvarez comes alive for the start
of the second half, his smart back post free kick finds Goodson and then he
makes himself available to Oduro, the forward drifted wide to beat Wagenfuhr
and pulled the ball back to the midfielder, a cut inside and a sniff of the
goal and he pulls the trigger, inside the far post as Hesmer is made to look
slow and lumbering as he allows the ball into the net without even trying to
stop it.
Columbus come right back, a point
is not what they need; Oduro uses his pace to get to long ball and cuts the
ball back for Thompson, the big man’s shot is blocked at the near post; Hejduk
skins Denilson bit his astute cross is cleared.
Morrow’s defensive troubles are
accentuated with an injury to Goodson, he is replace buy the veteran Rhine; the
substitute is straight into the fray with a good tackle to disposes Moreno;
Oughton sees a shot deflected and Rogers shoots wide from a good position;
Pitchkolan gets a yellow trying to stem the yellow tide. Kamara comes on for Herron and Miglioranzi
sees a shot go high after a good advantage by the referee; Kamara plays a good
ball into the channel on the left for Rogers, his first touch gets him beyond
Rhine but his second touch is poor and the substitute comes back to make a
quality tackle; Ward wastes a great opportunity with a free kick at the wall
from the edge of the area; Thompson flicks a long Burse clearance on; the
defence is nowhere and Oduro rounds Hesmer with only a tap in to regain the
lead; he rushes the shot and only finds the side netting; the Ghanaian had a
similar opportunity last week and fluffed that one as well; his last
contribution to the game is cack and he is replaced by Ricardinho.
Columbus pile on the pressure; Hejduk
has a great cross cleared; Oughton heads well from a Rogers cross; Kamara comes
close at the back post and Denilson shows his mettle with a great last gasp
header to deny Kamara.
Gonzales cuts out a cross from
Ricardinho, then Thompson’s hard efforts are rewarded with a scrappy poacher’s
goal; Schelotto comes on as a last gasp Schmidt change but Dallas increase
their lead; McCarty crosses into the area, Alvarez shoots and Hesmer can only
parry into the path of Thompson, he slots home his second.
A final Columbus
flurry sees Moreno
head wide from a Thomas cross and then the striker hits the post.
Morrow has some decisions when
his team start the play offs; Denilson played well but his inclusion limits the
flexibility of Oduro and Alvarez, the manager will be very happy with the
Brazilian’s contribution though, he’s finding his touch and working hard to win
the ball back, at one point he lost the ball and then ran ten yards to track
back and win possession with a good tackle.
The defense is still a worry, Goodson culpable of two ghastly defensive
mistakes. Three points is three points.
Schmidt will be disappointed that
so much possession wasn’t turned into a win; Burse was good but the forwards
could have done better. Tough schedule
to get to the play offs and perhaps his job is in jeopardy if he doesn’t.
I barely noticed the referee in
the game, it flowed, one great advantage was played and he did it without
imposing his presence too much, when things got chippy he stepped in, good
performance.
I’ve given this piece some
thought, so please feel free with your comments.
FOR:-
17 goals this season already – a
new record
More exposure in Colombia about the MLS may mean more players
from Colombia
attracted to the MLS
Only cost $325000 basic
AGAINST:-
Plenty of Colombians in the MLS
before Angel came along.
New York is in the same position in the
league now (more or less) as they were this time last year, so Angel hasn’t
made a huge difference.
In England bringing in older foreign
players worked. The money was there, the
sport is HUGE in the UK,
TV revenues have allowed player wages to reach unforeseen heights – It’ll be
tough to replicate that progression in the MLS.
He had one good season at Villa
and a few mediocre ones.
I still kind of waver on this
signing. From certain angles it looks
good but from others it doesn’t.
A better Colombian signing by far
is Juan Carlos Toja, at 22 he’s got the potential to be an MLS player for years
to come.
Juan Pablo Angel is a different
kettle of fish to David Beckham.
