It's been a long time since I've seen a game in person, I'm thinking it was the last Silverbacks home game of last season. Yes, I miss my Motril C.F., so this will have to do for the time being.Shoe showed up late as ECB and I were enjoying some cold Sam Adams in the parking lot/rock pile but made it on time for kickoff.
I must say that we here in Cupcakes land are not particularly fond of Mr. Dan Antoniuk, your two-goal scorer for the Silverbacks. A few weeks ago during our rec league game at the Park, Mr. Antoniuk happened to be our referee, and he happened to just forget the rules. The resulting frustrations and attitude directed towards us (not to mention the loss we took and broken finger for yours truly), and we really don't care if Dizzy Dan misses the whole season with injury.
That being said, we still root for the Silverbacks. It was great to have everyone out there again, and although the never-ending construction is quite an eyesore, it's still good to see some futbol.The game? Blah. Not many chances for either team in the first half. Antoniuk got the ball off a goofy free kick, turned and shot it in for a 1-0 Atlanta lead at halftime.
Early into the second half, Antoniuk scores a nice goal from Millwood. Wow, 2-0 against Montreal. Maybe this season will be different?
Wait, nevermind. These are the Silverbacks. And Jason Smith is still their head coach.
You're up 2-0 with 15 minutes to play and you let in 2 goals. The substitutions and lineup left so much to question: Why make straight swaps with a two-goal lead? Why not sacrifice a forward for an extra defender? WHY IS RODRIGO PLAYING ON THE WING?
I know that last pic doesn't look like much, but Montreal's about to put it in the back of the net. More and more disappointment. The Silverbacks are the Tecos of USL-1. Everytime you think, "Wow, they might actually do something good!" they wake up and remember "Oh wait, we're Tecos (Silverbacks)".
Friday night and a national TV audience await as Minnesota comes to town. Hopefully Fox Soccer Channel will get some good shots of the bulldozers and earth movers. And hopefully the team didn't drive paying customers away.
2 comments:
I had been juggling some of these thoughts since the game, so I'll just go ahead and drop the sprinkles here:
- The lineup was odd, compared to last year anyway. McManus at right back instead of d-mid, Justin Moore at right mid instead of right back, Rios at left mid instead of center mid, Buete at center mid instead of left mid. I thought Tony did well in the back, Moore didn't do much of anything in mid, and Rodrigo and Buete were alright, but would've been better in their usual spots.
- The Silverbacks got a 2 goal lead, but I don't think they were really that much better. The first goal was kind of fluky and the second was just a great finish with absolutely no build-up.
- Antoniuk was tough to handle up front. He can't ref a lick, and probably should work on not being such an ass to the people in the Silverbacks' 7v7 league, but he can play. Which makes me wonder why he was pulled at the end...
- The team really didn't have a style. They were sort of playing long ball, but without much purpose. When they found Antoniuk's head, he was making a few things happen, but that was about it. Rivillo had some skill, but never saw the ball much in positions to do much with it.
- That said, nothing was done to protect the lead. All of the subs were straight swaps, the formation wasn't adjusted at all. Once Montreal figured out not to play the ball in the air at the center of the Silverbacks' defense (Bobo and Jarun are beasts), they starting getting chances. Adjustments were needed, but they never came.
- To me, the game looked like a replay of the second half of last season.
I'll add the one thought that constantly keeps coming to my mind:
If Hayes is out for Friday's match, I'd move Moore to left back and put Dayton O'Brien at right mid. He looked outstanding to me in his limited appearance so hopefully he can get a chance sooner than later.
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