This entry was posted on 6/8/2008 9:58 AM and is filed under uncategorized.
First half, excellent football. I really think they finally figured out how to play to the advantages of having Deuchar. If you have a guy who's that much taller than everyone, play to his head. Quite honestly, I think that Kevin Hartman had a great game and that was all that really prevented RSL from getting the win. Hartman made about 4 great saves, each of which should have been goals. I loved the offensive pressure thought the first half. The second half bogged down, but in my opinion mostly because the ref decided to stop letting the players decide the match on the pitch but decided he would start calling every little contact. It was horrible to watch him call back a break for a foul that should have obviously been allowed to continue as an advantage. He did that on about 3 different occasions. To top that off, he would allow obvious fouls, things that should have received a yellow card as a professional foul. The lack of referee consistency made the game bog down into a undecided stalemate the last 20 minutes of the match.
Technically, RSL played extremely well. Even without the goals, the technical aspects of their game were first rate. The pressure from the back line, through the midfield, to the strikers was excellent. The midfield did an excellent job keeping the ball in the attacking third and maintaining good possession, as long as the referee was not blowing his whistle and making some completely strange call. This match should be made into a referee training video on how not to do things. Not to say the fouls were not something that could have been called, they certainly were, but I have to question the referee's assessment of when to apply advantage and when not to.
One other impression I got from this game and thinking through the week as to who would be RSL's MVP so far this year was how obviously improved the team is since last year. Taking the wrecking ball to the team over the past year really will start paying off. Last year, the only defender that we had who was worth anything game in and game out was Eddie Pope. Our back line was mostly absent for the season, which is why Nick Rimando had such a great year. That said, this year Rimando hasn't been our MVP, which is really a good thing. While Nick has certainly demonstrated that he's capable of making spectacular saves, the fact that he has rarely this season been called upon to make those saves says something about our backline's play so far. Nat Borchers has been an extremely capable replacement for Eddie Pope, shoes that are extremely hard to fill. Olave I think with some more playing time will be a better defender than Gooch on the USMNT. He has the size and speed, and as he gets more experience with his positioning, which is good already, he will be a shut-down defender that will be extremely hard to beat. I think Ian Joy is the best left defender we have, but to really say anything about him, I would like to see him at 100%. PErhaps the biggest surprise this year has been the play of Chris Wingert. His crosses are spot on, other than Morales and Williams, he's the best crosser on the team. Beltran, after a rough first game has steadily improved and should be able to work his way into a consistent starting position.
Our midfield this season has probably been the weak point. I am not a fan of the Ellinger diamond midfield, but it works if you play it right. My personal preference would be to run a 5 man midfield with either just Deuchar up top so a 4-5-1. Another option would be a 3-5-2 with Espindola up top to start. Findley is a very capable supersub, but I think his speed is best utilized towards the end of a game after defenders are tired. Off the bench is where Findley is most dangerous.
Well, overall a good game for RSL, just a bit disappointing that in the last 20 minutes, the referee ruined the match. Until the referee problem in MLS is fixed, MLS will continue to be viewed as nothing more than just a pub league. This is the first step really. Yes there are bad refs all over the world, but in general, most top flight leagues have top flight refs and MLS certainly cannot say that.
Now for Euro thoughts, the Czechs played generally poorly, but Karel Bruckner is a tactical genius and made a perfect sub in bringing Koller out and Svěrkoš's goal was great. Jankulovski looked bad in the first half, but played better as the match wore on. Grygera had a howler, lucky it was against Switzerland, against Turkey or Portugal, if he plays like that he will be punished. Rosicky is sorely missed, in general the service into the box for Koller was poor and there was little in the way of creativity coming through the midfield.
