August 26, 2008

CONCACAF Champions League: What have we learned in the 1st half?

New England is slow.

Attiba Harris couldn't score at The Bunny Ranch with a fistful of $20's.

Zach Thornton loves Panamanian cuisine.

Let's see what happens in the second 45 minutes...

Quick corner for Joe Public. The Revs defend well though and it's cleared.

Wow, 2 subs for Chivas USA to start the second half. Unfortunately, Jim Curtain is one of them. Esky is the other one, I had actually forgotten about him. The announcers seem happy that Shavar Thomas and Attiba Harris are leaving the field. Oops, it's Paladini and Suarez leaving. Why Suarez???

Well, Attiba can't score, but he tries to send someone to hospital instead. Let's focus on the ball Attiba, please...

GOAL Joe Public, they absolutely abused the left side of the Revs again. Tierney was just simply outrun again.

Warren almost gets stranded for goal #2, but it's over the bar.

Esky just misses wide with a right footed volley.

Sounds like they passed out horns in Panama. Maybe some beer too, as the crowd is getting louder.

Wow, the Revs had a chance to counter with speed after a misplayed free kick. Tierney instead gives the ball up and jogs back to his position. YOU'VE GOT TO GO FOR THAT SON!!!

Jay Heaps gets a "chicken kick" to the chest. Another bad free kick though, the Revs just look absolutely dead.

The MLS teams need to pick up their intensity, they look like they're playing at half speed. Disappointing...

Tauro definitely passed their Time Wasting 101 class, they've already progressed to cramping up.

Great piece by Bill Archer about the crookedness of Jack Warner in Trinidad, here's some shady info about the stadium the Revs are playing in.

Chivas free kick from about 20 yards out, let's see what they do with it. Sacha just puts it over the bar, not too bad.

Jim Curtain looks lost, wandering around the box.

Well, he committed a useless foul at midfield. At least he knows what's going on, I wasn't so sure...

Tauro is reduced to fouling a lot when Chivas runs at them, there's a goal out there for the Goats if they can find it.

Chiles is done for the night, Lawson Vaughn is in. I guess Bornstein will push up.

Curtain just gets abused on a cross by Chivas, he looked scared of jumping.

GOAL Joe Public, a sub comes on and scores with his first touch. The Revs better get control of this quickly or they're going to have some HUGE problems in the return leg. The goal came from a ball from the Revs' left side again. Tierney is just not ready for this level.

GOAL Tauro, against the run of play. Great ball out of the back sets up 3v3. Chivas are screwed when Curtain and Thomas are two out of that three, they look lost, the Tauro player runs across the box and finishes past a perplexed Thornton.

Will the USL teams make MLS look bad tomorrow?

Shalrie Joseph earns a PK for the Revs. Great ball from Twellman to spring him and Joseph gets clipped by one of the defenders.

Meanwhile, Attiba Harris tries to injure another player. Panchito gets run through a signboard, no foul.

GOAL New England, Castro finishes the penalty coolly. Joseph is banged up on the ankle, will he be able to continue?

Esky misses again from distance, very close.

Juanito earns a dangerous free kick for the Goats. Esky tried to sneak it under the wall, didn't work.

The Revs take off Castro in a weird move. I wish Nicol was more aggressive sometimes.

Tauro somehow blows a 2v1 counterattack. That was amazing.

Flores earns a free kick on the edge of the box, can Chivas do anything with this one? Nope, Nagamura clips the wall and the keeper beats Harris to the rebound.

I think every Tauro player has been on the ground injured in the second half. They are not making friends. I can't wait to see how much injury time we have in Panama.

Sacha is killing himself to try to get Chivas back into the game. Props to the effort, if not the execution.

Germanese gets a great ball across the box, but no one is there to get it. New England might get a tying goal, they're looking much better in the last few minutes.

Too many MLS players are pulling out of tackles like this is a friendly. C'mon guys, you're better than that.

New England is almost out of time, and looks like they're just going to settle for the 2-1 loss.

Chivas gets a few corner kicks, but can't get anything out of them.

The Galavision announcers keep calling him Terry Vaughn. Lawson is going to be pissed.

The Revs lose, I don't think things are going to be easy for them back in Foxboro either. Joe Public has a HUGE speed advantage. New England has to find another option on their left side rather than Tierney, he can't keep up.

SEVEN minutes of stoppage time in Panama. Great job by the referees, that's about right considering all of the "injuries" suffered by Tauro.

Esky with a great cross that just missed Sacha.

A goal would be really big for Chivas, but I don't think they can find one. They look like they're out of ideas at this point.

They finally realized that his name isn't Terry.

Just blow the whistle at this point, it's over. Chivas has A LOT of work to do back in LA. We'll see how well Tauro travels for one of the biggest games in their club's history.

2 comments:

El Güero said...

I don't think MLS could have looked any worse than it did tonight.

Absolutely pa-fucking-thetic.

I hope the Goats had a nice vacation down there, considering they didn't even decide to show up for the game.

If Cruz Azul and Pumas wax Hankook Verdes and Harbour View, the trolls will come out of hiding to remind us of how superior the Mexican League is to MLS.

But whatever, I'm infinitely anxious to see how Puerto Rico will do tomorrow night. I think they'll surprise a lot of people.

Longshoe said...

Chivas looked bad, but you do have to keep in mind their 924 injuries right now. That hampers them a lot.

That said, I think you could find better players than Attiba Harris, Shavar Thomas, and Jim Curtain at your local car wash.

New England didn't look completely horrible, just too defensive for my liking. Nicol might not have had much of a choice, as they have injury issues too. The main thing that stood out was Joe Public's speed.

The main difference between the Mexican teams and the MLS teams is the salary cap. Depth is much better in the Mexican league.