Monkey Madness

Very, very impressive win tonight by the Silverbacks. A few quick thoughts:

• Great workrate up top by Hassim in his first start. The two goals were very good, but his effort was even better. His hustle was causing a lot of mistakes by the Puerto Rico backs. He was easily my Man of the Match. Shame he had to come off...
• That said, good choices on the substitutions. Queeley came on for an ineffective Justin Moore on the right side of midfield. O'Brien came on for a gassed Hassim. Liendo came into the center to neutralize Villegas for PR (who was killing Atlanta after he came in). The last couple of subs were just for guys who were gassed (Rios and Jarun).
• Great winning goal, that started from a smart ball by Rios back across the grain. Antoniuk flicked the ball through perfectly for O'Brien, who finished well under the sliding keeper. It was nice to see something not originate from a long ball for once.
  
• When they used it, the build-up play was nice. There was still too much long ball in the first half. PR was smart and marked Antoniuk out of the game for the most part. They were not ready for Hassim though, and didn't really know what to do with him. When teams man mark Antoniuk, I'd really like to see play come though Rivillo and Buete in the middle a little more.
  
• All in all, a great performance tonight by Atlanta. They could be for real after all. Let's see how they finish out the road trip in Miami on Sunday.

If y'all think I'm negative, check this match report out. You're welcome.