Anybody Else Catching the Other Playoff Games? What do you Think?
By: Laurie | November 1st, 2009I’m watching NE-Chicago right now (well, not technically right now, since it’s halftime) and I’m finding myself thinking a couple of things.
1) In general, our players are a fair bit more technically skilled than New England’s.
2) So how the hell did we lose to New England again? Twice?
3) On the other hand… Wow. That Mansally free kick that led to the New England goal was something else. I wish Freddie could do that. Or I wish we’d pick up a dead ball specialist in the off season. (What’s Juninho doing these days?)
4) Oh, what?! A woman can dream, can’t she?)
5) Jon Busch got his clock cleaned by Shalrie Joseph. He went up over the top, then fell the length of Joseph’s body and landed on his shoulders/head. I’m amazed he’s still out there. (Also a little surprised that Toledo let play continue. NE hit the post on a keeper-free net.)
6) This game is far more entertaining than I expected.
I’m expecting LA-Chivas to be a defensive snoozefest with one or two counter-attacking goals. I hope I’m wrong. (About the defensive snoozefest. Not the goals.)
Anybody else watching the games? What do you think?
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After the third goal in what was expected to be a nil-nil snoozefest (er, excuse me, “defensive game”), Max Bretos says, “I think Houston and Seattle set the tone for these playoff games.”
I took that to mean, “Houston and Seattle showed that you don’t need to leave these games with 98% of your body parts asleep.”
Yay, us.
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I’m not watching the playoffs, but as for Juninho Pernambucano, he signed for a club in Qatar. HUGE missed opportunity for MLS, in my opinion. If I were a GM in MLS, I’m on a plane to France the minute that Juninho suggests he might not sign for Lyon again. With the constant fouling in your average MLS game, the kind of free kicks Juninho brings would be lethal.
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Don’t suppose you know how many years he signed for?
Just wondering…
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Two years, which means he’ll be pretty close to the end at 36 when he’s done in Qatar. He would have been a great signing for an MLS team at 34; it’s a little more questionable at 36. If the free kicks are still there after two years, he could still be a great signing, especially for a team that people like to foul a lot. I’m sure there’s a team like that in MLS. Maybe one that wears green.
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In two years, I don’t know if Seattle will still have the players who get fouled a lot.
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And the LA-CHV match is turning out to be interesting… the ESPN HD picture is nice after looking at FSC’s crappy picture.
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Dave, I was coming here to say the same thing. VERY entertaining game if you’re a neutral. 2-1 LA at the half, and LA is dominating and playing a high-quality game.
My guess is that LA will move on in the series, although I’d like to be wrong — both because, after watching this game, I think our chances against Chivas would be better and because the game would be at Qwest.
(Because it goes without saying that we’ll win in Houston next week.)
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I’m also thinking that whoever wins in the East has no chance in the final. The quality of play from the Western teams is just too high.
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Also, I find it amusing that FSC puts the name of the home team first, European style. ESPN puts the name of the away team first, American style.
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That makes sense for FSC because most of the soccer they show is European.
As for having players who get fouled, as long as the Sounders are committed to playing an attacking style we’re going to get fouled aggressively. It’s not like there are a lot of finesse defenders in MLS.
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Why don’t you just buy Juninho now? Why wait until his contract is up?
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Better yet lets kidnap Juninho….why the heck not no one would suspect Seattle of anything that devious. They’re basically considered Canadian…much too sweet to ever kidnap someone!
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Thomas, I don’t think MLS ever buys out contracts. And if they do, I’ve read that it counts against the salary cap for the purchasing team, which this year is estimated at approximately $2.3m for the entire team (minus all but $415k of the DP’s salary.) That pretty much rules out the purchase of any player worth anything at all who has significant time on his contract.
You may remember that the league didn’t buy out the last few months of Beckham’s contract at Real Madrid, which resulted in Beckham’s ankle getting seriously injured and pretty much wiped him out for all of 2007.
So, in short, I wish this was an option, but I don’t see it happening.
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Juninho would be great, but while we’re at it I’d like to sign Messi and Fabregas, too.
I’ve been watching the other matches and think they’ve been great. I do think that Sounders and Houston have looked like the best squads so far, although to be fair there was no Schelotto for the Crew.
I was impressed by Larentowitz in NE. Free kick CAM out of contract? hmmm. . . .
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Sammy, while we’re at it, I’d like to put in my order for a little Zidane with a side of five o’clock shadow.
Wait. I believe I have revealed too much.
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Am I the only one who thinks that the Chivas – LAG game was horrible? With the exception of the first goal scored by Maicon Santos, none of the goals were created by the teams that scored them — they were all the result of what Martin Tyler would refer to as “comical defending.” Maybe my impression is being colored by my rave green glasses, but Seattle and Houston looked miles better than either of those teams. I don’t know if it’s the pressure of the playoffs, or the fact that the LAG – Chivas rivalry is already highly touted, but damn … that match was not a good advertisement for MLS.
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Ken, in my mind there’s frequently a difference between “entertaining game” and “good soccer.” Especially in MLS. I thought the LA-Chivas game was hugely entertaining, especially the “comical defending” goals. And double-especially the Maykel Galindo goal on the wayward backpass.
But you’re right. Not high-quality play. There for awhile (right before the half) I thought the Galaxy were going to put together a good game, but I was wrong.
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