May the Revolution Continue!
In a near carbon copy of Saturday's opening schedule, ESPN2 is serving up a buffet of MLS footie tonight starting with a resurgent New England Revolution followed by David Beckham's Galaxy.
Should be a fun one. Pop in for a chat if you're watching.
posted by gatorbob @ 7:53 PM
64 Comments:
Uh oh, just when you thought it was safe to watch MLS again, here comes Rob Stone. No doubt there will be the Tower of Babel approach in the booth for the matches too. Yikes!
Alright, this is starting to look a bit better on the coverage side. Half an hour build up with not too much silliness, review of games from the weekend and now the teams. Best news yet - no Dave O'Brien.
Well, we'll see tonight if the youngsters can do a job in Chicago. Twellman is out for six weeks, Ralston for four to six weeks, Dorman and Noonan are gone. We're still solid at the back but we're going to need the new Gambian boys to catch fire in a hurry.
Chicago of course have Cauhtemoc Blanco up front with Chad Barrett and Chris Rolfe.
GOAL! Chicago jump out to a quick lead. Justin Mapp found space on the left, crossed and Chad Barrett stuck it past a prone Matt Reis. It's the first goal we've conceded this season. Not a good start.
Khano Smith is back from his exploits with Bermuda and has slotted in on the right with Manny Castro taking Steve Ralston place in the middle.
RED CARD! Laurentowicz goes in over the top and he's off!
Disaster for the Revvies. And Shalrie Joseph has gone into the book for dissent on top of it. I have to admit that my first reaction was that it was a red card offense.
Good to hear Tommy Smyth in the box and he seems to know his stuff about the MLS. Let's hope the Revvies stick one in the old onion bag soon.
Justin Mapp is ripping us up on the left side. That has to be sorted out but quick.
The good thing is that we're still playing good football and seem pretty unfazed by what's happened in the first ten minutes.
Looks as if Khano Smith is going to make way for a workmanlike midfielder Gary Flood. I would have taken Castro off, who hasn't impressed me yet.
Khano Smith doesn't appear happy as he comes off and Stevie Nichol will have his work cut out for him to sort out that man management problem.
We're going to have to make more use of those dead ball situations as we won't be able to play the free flowing match we'd like to with ten men.
If we could dig out an equalizer before half time, maybe we can build upon it in the second half. I still don't rate Chicago very much, especially their back line.
Justin Mapp comes through Shalrie Joseph and picks up a yellow and it does appear as if the ref's a bit card happy tonight.
Another corner for the Revs....
ooh, I thought that Shalrie was nudged off the ball there in the penalty area but the ref didn't call anything.
A brilliant save from Matt Reis there keeps Chicago out.
GOAL! And Chicago are two up now. Blanco threads a ball through to Barrett who dings a ball over, there is an almighty scrum in the area and Frankowski, Chicago's new Pole, stabs it home. More disaster.
Kenny Munsally is shown a yellow card and we could easily lose another player before long.
That was better from us, Manny Castro getting wide and putting over a decent ball that earns a corner.
Oh, Munsally should have buried that chance from the corner, but he snatched at it and it ballooned into the crowd.
We've had six corners in this half, which shows how we're bombing on despite the scoreline. We're still in this match, amazingly.
Hey Gator . . . thought Blanco had put that penalty over the top, but no luck. . . I'm in Raleigh for work . . . when do you relocate?
Hey Gator . . . thought Blanco had put that penalty over the top, but no luck. . . I'm in Raleigh for work . . . when do you relocate?
Oh dear . . . 4 to 0 . .
Is it just me or does the pitch look a bit small?
We aren't in it, now!
Two quick goals and we're 4-0 down within thirty eight minutes.
First the ref gives Chicago a ludicrous penalty for a supported Nyassi foul on Mapp. Blanco converts.
Then Mapp again cuts us apart on the left and squares to Barrett who nets his second. Bloody hell!
Yes, but Leeds beat Doncaster!
Well, that fourth goal has finally knocked the stuffing out of the Revs. Munsally has been withdrawn by Stevie Nichol and we don't have much to play for at this point.
Hey Trev, I'll be moving up to New York in August. Good hearing from you. Hope that Raleigh is good for you.
Half-time 4-0 Game over.
Thanks for blogging the Reds win in Rome. I didn't know the result until reading your report. Terrific stuff!
I'm signing off to the night . . . Talk to you soon, Gator B . . .
Cheers, Trev.
Second half starting...
What on earth can Stevie Nichol say to the team in the dressing room at half time?
Cristman gets in one on one with the keeper but knocks it straight at him.
Another shot comes in from Castro and it's well saved again by Bush. Bush is down now.
Chad Barrett picks up a yellow.
Yet another corner coming up for the Revs. The ninth of the match....
Cleared out again.
The thing that I love the most about Nyassi is that he tracks back as much as he bombs forward. What an engine on this kid!
Matt Reis makes another brilliant save to save a fifth Chicago goal.
Barrett coming off finally. Glad to see the back of him.
Tommy Smyth has just announced that West Ham United will be the opponents in the MLS All-star Game in Toronto this summer. Great stuff!
This is a bit of an exercise in futility for the Revs at this point.
It would be nice for us to pop in a late consolation goal in order to keep a positive goal difference.
And that's it....4-0 Fire. Oh dear.
Next up - it's Goldenballs with something to prove after that 4-0 drubbing at the hands of Colorado. And the return of San Jose - bless 'em - to the MLS. Should be fun.
The bad news for the Galaxy is that Carlos Ruiz, LA's obvious target man, is out for four weeks after that atrocious challenge on Saturday.
It's a mystery to me why Twellman waited until the first week of the season to have his surgery. What was he doing in December - drinking egg nog?
Frankie Yallop's side looks seriously under strength so surely this is an opportunity for Becks and co. to shine tonight. They really need to turn it around.
And the Earthquakes nearly jump out to an early lead from a free kick but it's called offside. That would have been a confidence blow for the Galaxy.
A cross from Becks wins the first corner of the match for LA....
Lovely corner from Becks and Gordon gets up too early and pops it over the bar. It was a free header and he should have done better to get over the ball.
Allen draws a point blank save from Joe Cannon, who's about the only name player on the San Jose roster.
LA's Randolph picks up the first yellow card of the game.
YEEESSSSSS! Goal for Beckham. I'm telling you, MLS really, really needed that goal. That will go a long way toward making up for all of the bollocks around Becks last season.
Landycakes did well to play Becks in and the boy made no mistake slotting past Joe Cannon.
The LA defense looks better tonight without that clown Abel Xavier on the pitch.
This is definitely ESPN2's A team - JP Dellacamera and Johnny Harkes in the booth.
Nice move again from the Galaxy. Becks lays off to Donovan, who spreads it, the ball comes in and Alan Gordon gets his head on it, just wide.
It's noticeable tonight that Becks is looking for Landycakes at every opportunity. It could be a very fruitful partnership. On Saturday, Becks was constantly looking to play the long ball to Ruiz and it just didn't work.
There's definitely a Beatlemania sound to the crowd whenever Beckham goes over near the crowd to take a corner or throw.
GOAL! 2-0 Galaxy. Becks a lovely ball through to Landy and he chips the keeper. ESPN2 were so busy replaying the Becks goal for the zillionth time that they almost missed that goal.
Now we're starting to see some sexy football from LA.
Becks with a free kick opportunity...
Becks rockets it in and Pires misses with a clear header. Should be 3-0.
Half time - 2-0 LA and it's like night and day with last weekend.
LA look much more balanced tonight as a side and they're working for each other rather than trying to shine.
Full-time - 2-0 LA; a much more satisfying result for the Galaxy and the league, which has a lot riding on Beckham's success in the States. Well done, Goldenballs!
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