MLS Eastern Conference Final
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Yes, it's the big one, lads. My New England Revolution boys led by former Liverpool great Stevie Nichol vs. the Darth Vaders of the league - D.C. United. Gooner's at the match so it's all Revolution all day long here at LOB. Any of you Premiership elitists out there watching? Go on, then, give it up for the Revvies!
posted by gatorbob @ 4:09 PM
40 Comments:
Oh dear, Bruce Arena has just tipped the Revolution for victory today. Not a good sign.
It's all about Taylor Twellman vs. Christian Gomez today - who'll be the hero?
Oh, a harsh early yellow card for Andy Gorman. I thought that was all ball.
Josh Gros with the first half-chance of the day, whistled by the post, thankfully.
Yes, it's 1-0 Revvies! Double T with a brilliant turn and shot into the right corner.
Arena with an ironic comment: "Eric (Wynalda) you should've let me know about Twellman before the World Cup." Oops.
It's a lightening fast start to the match, very unlike the MLS, end to end. I'm loving it.
Screaming Eagles, Screaming Eagles, we can't hear you on the box! Weeee can't hear you on. the. box!
Moreno looks way off the boil. Maybe feeling his age at this point?
Freddy Adu gets a sharp shot off but Matty Reese has it covered.
Eskanderian is getting far too much room in midfield, setting up Moreno for a sharp shot to the left post.
Eskanderian wastes a good free kick opportunity. We're really under the cosh. Typical snatch and grab routine and now we're putting some players behind the ball. I wouldn't be surprised if we take Pat Noonan off at half time.
Ooh, a near thing from a corner, it actually tipped off the bar and then into Matty's grateful arms.
Another near effort from Moreno. It won't be long now if they keep giving Moreno that kind of space. Gooner and his buds must be going potty at RFK.
Eskanderian and then Josh Gros go close. This can't keep up.
Cor, Reis was in no man's land on that corner.
Seventh corner of the match for D.C. And they've had nine shots to our one. But it's the goal that counts right?
Arena notes that the Revs have reverted to a 3-5-2. They've got to get the midfield, especially Shaorie Joseph back into the game.
Franchino just about had a second goal there. Very, very close.
Love Stevie Nichol, what a class act!
Oh, Double T should've at least tested the keeper with that volley. We're starting to get back into this match.
End to end stuff now - probably the best MLS match I've seen all season.
Whoever wins this one, it's just a great advertisement for the league, full stop.
Looks like Hernandez is going to have to come off. A bloke who looks like Richie Rich is warming up.
Very harsh free kick awarded just outside the box on Joseph. Moreno did get sandwiched though.
Free kick to come....
And Gomez smacks it into the wall and it's deflected out for the corner.
Getting close to half-time. This is an excellent result so far for us. We'll have to reorganize at half-time though. We can't soak up this kind of pressure for another fortyfive minutes.
Another shot from Adu is collected by Reis.
Half-time: 1-0 Revolution. Twellman says "We're not playing well right now." Too right. We need to hang onto the ball more in the second half. But so far so good with the scoreline.
Another excellent save from Matty Reis from Adu. A rifle of a shot. Now the eighth corner kick to come...
And we clear the lines.
The second half has started much as the first ended, with pressure mounting from D.C. The most we can hope for here is to launch counter attacks and maybe nick another goal.
Ninth corner for D.C.....
A short one and it's cleared again. Our back four has been magnificent today.
The Revs are just not linking up properly right now. We clear the lines but haven't been able to hold up the ball in midfield and take the pressure off Dorman and Parkhurst for any time. Franchino and Heaps are responsible for that.
Stevie Nichol must change things before long, probably taking Pat Noonan off for a defender. I can't see us doing any more than trying to kill the game off now.
Twenty five minutes left and Adu is coming off.
I do not like this change. Carlos Smith, our hapless speed merchant on the left is coming on for our captain Joey Franchino. WTF?
One last roll of the dice for D.C. - Dyachenko coming on with fifteen minutes left.
Three minutes to go of stoppage time and my boys will be going to the Cup!
Full-time: 1-0 Revolution! I have to admit that this was a case of daylight robbery. We snatched an early goal and hung on like grim death. Gooner must be gutted because this is the sort of thing that teams have been doing against his Arsenal in recent weeks. It wasn't pretty, particularly in the second half, but we're in the final. I'll take what I can get these days.
Many congratulations Robert.
Many commiserations Steve.
I didn't watch much of it but I did see the end.
Bob, I bet you would take some of the success of the Revs down at Elland Road.
Congrats Bob,
This has been coming for a number of weeks, maybe months. We flattered to deceive with our 14 day winning streak through the year, but when it came down to it were crushed by some real truths. The first is that we cannot hope that Jaime Moreno is going to continually save our bacon, year after year. Gomez was great this year, but they are of the same vintage. Our two best players are past their best and if they cannot get it done in 60 minutes, can't get it done.
The second is that Adu and the publicity gift that Adu is, must be shared around the league. We're playing him when he hasn't made the jump to mature play when we should have been developing a talent that could mature more quickly. A third year at United has been a waste for both the team and Adu. I don't know exactly what European outfit he's talking to but I'd bank the mortgage that it isn't Real Madrid or Chelsea, the talk at the end of last season.
And finally, we need to chop away the dead wood like Erpen, Prideaux, and Rimando, and bring along the younger Carroll, and guys like Dyachenko who've suffered from less time.
Always next year... (sigh)
Freddy Adu continues to be a mystery. We've long had the conspiracy theory that he's actually three or four years older than he claims - so that he was about Rooney's age when he started in the MLS and is now in his early twenties. It just doesn't make sense that a fourteen year old kid wouldn't develop physically.
Take Aaron Lennon. When he was at Leeds as a sixteen year it was really frustrating to see the skill at one point but see him get knocked off the ball or not have the strength to get to the bye line and put a cross over. We all know what he looks like today.
I honestly don't know what would be the best thing for Freddy. A move to Europe would just expose his weaknesses even more to my mind. It really puts the league into more disrepute that they trumpeted him for so long and were hoodwinked the way they seemed to be.
And yet today, he's bigging himself up about how he's in serious talks with a few European clubs.
I agree. I can't think of any team in any of the top leagues that would take him on and put him in the starting eleven. David knows his young guys at Old Trafford better than I do, but I suspect that he couldn't count on being included in the League Cup campaign squad or even most games with the reserves. I can tell you that at Arsenal, he'd be behind Aliadiere, Bendtner, Stokes, and Lupoli who bar Aliadiere have been farmed out to lower division clubs to get games and keep up their development. He'd also be behind Denilson who's the same age and who looks a ton more useful.
But by all means Freddie, go. Whereever it is that you can get to, some say it's Reading because of the Bobby Convey connection, go and learn a bit of football and soon.
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