RSL @ MetroStars [R] April 2

[mckid]

Right on, thanks guys!

[Dadof3]

Take them for what they are worth (as they are my opinion...they are worth nothing...absolutely nothing! :D )

Though the conditions made the play difficult and at time comical, we probably did see enough to at least start to get a gauge on the team...

My ratings (10 = incredible...1 = nightmare)

DJ - 8 Obviously came up big when he needed. Shows very nice quickness and shot-saving ability. Did not have to deal with too much due to the D in front of him. Maybe we've answered the question as to whether the Dallas year was a nightmare because of him or because the Burn just flat out stunk.

Behncke - 5 Made one error losing his man on the point blank shot, and gave the ball away a couple times, but seemed to be adequate otherwise. Hard to tell about whether he will be exposed for speed on the outside as the Metros were going left. Seems solid in the air. Made a couple of decent runs forward.

Pope - 5 It is usually a good thing when you are not sure whether a central defender is on the pitch. Seems to close down the Metro's attempts to go central. Got caught on the loooooong wind-aided goalkick which bounced over his head.

Akwari - 6 We may have discovered a very solid central defender here. Crew fans were not too pleased with his play as an outside back last year, and because he was stuck behind Marshall and Frasier in the middle, the Crew considered him expendible, to RSL's benefit. Looks to be rock solid in the middle.

Pearce - 4 Quick, who else lost money betting that Hack Pearce would get RSL's first yellow? Was exposed in the second half by Gavin which led to most, if not all of the Metro's offense. Lacks enough speed or quickness to cover on the outside. Gave up the last minute free to the Metros. RSL's defense lacks speed in general, but Pearce was the only one who was truly exposed. His two or three offensive foreys were forgettable. Managed to not give the ball away. Suprisingly, did not hack much.

Kamler - 5 A tale of two halves. The first half did a very nice job breaking up Metro attacks early and showed some nice vision giving service after he won the ball, all of which contributed to the D giving up very few opportunities. Dissapeared in the second half: hard to tell if this was due to conditioning, Williams' inability to help as much defensively because he was looking to go forward, or the Metro's decision to get left as soon as possible. We all know that Kamler is the stop gap until Besagno is ready, and his play in the first half probably preserved the tie, so we'll have to call the experiment a modified success. If Williams has to work as hard defensively as he did in the first half for the rest of the season for RSL to have defense in the center of the pitch, RSL is in trouble.

Williams - 9 DJ got the press due to two nice saves, but IMHO Williams was RSL's player of the game. Showed nice bite the first half and great touch on the ball throughout the game under extremely difficult conditions. Held the ball well, under high pressure, and provided a good outlet for our D and for Kamler. Like the rest of the team, may have lacked some patience in the second half trying to break down the Metro's defense, so settled for long shots. Will have a tough time finding ways to connect in the box due to our forwards' lack of athleticism.

Dipsy - 7 Better than feared defensively and showed a nice work rate all game long. Did not show an ability to turn the corner which does not bode well for RSL. Did a very nice job showing for the ball and helping RSL keep possession through the middle third. One good shot. The issue for the coaching staff will be whether the Metro's ability to attack left was due to the Gavin matchup with Pearce, or due to the Teletubby's defensive shortcomings. Personally, I thought he did enough defensively to keep Whitfield on the bench.

Rojas - 5 Gave us what was expected...good defense, very little offense. Did not show an ability to beat his mark one on one. Hard to tell whether he can give good service as the wind destroyed his crosses before he made them.

Krispy - NR Not involved enough to tell. If he can turn the corner on defenders, he may see himself getting WAY more playing time. With RSL's forwards, our outside mids MUST break down their defenders to create man-up situations in the box.

Mathis - 6 Pretty much what we expected from Mathis. He cannot outrun anyone so he sneaks around looking for the ball and looking to give a magical one-touch ball. Had some very nice touches and worked hard showing for the ball. Lost the ball a few times in dangerous situations. Non-issue defensively. A couple adequate long-range shots...should have done better with the free from 22.

Kreis - 6 The re-birth of Joe Max-Moore...great shot, good work rate, but if closely marked, not enough athleticism or size to create space for himself. A good leader, but will only score as a poacher.

Ellinger - 5 Decent start. As always it is good to get a point on the road, and the team looked prepared to play. (Compare to Chivas). The Kamler experiment worked for the first half. Was slow to react to the Metro's decision to exploit our right side, and it almost led to the game-winner. The Dipsy experiment looks to be a good one, but will have to find creative ways for Kreis and Mathis to get opportunities other than long-range shots.

Team - 6 Considering the conditions and newness of the team, probably as good as result as could be expected. As a group showed more touch on the ball than the Metros, but less athleticism. Showed the potential for scoring a highlight-reel long range goal, but little else offensively. The D seemed organized but was slow to adjust to the Metro's everything left plan, and the back four appear slow in general.

Go ReAL!

[bordelais7]

Good analysis. The only part where I disagree is on the Pierce/Dipsy situation. It looked to me that the reason that Gaven kept getting room to work on the left is that Dipsy was either caught too far forward or was late on defense, leaving Pierce to clean up. I saw 3 seperate occasions in the first half where Pierce just shut down an attack and didn't even allow a cross to get off. Yes, he's a hacker, but I thought he was our most smothering defender.

No, he's not paying me to say this.

[Dadof3]

I'm not sure that the attacker that Pearce was shutting down in the first half was Gavin.

Maybe it just comes down to Pearce not being able to handle Gavin (no crime in that) and Dipsy and the center backs were just slow to recognize it.

We will know soon enough which half may have been the anomoly. 😉

[Rover]

We'll see, but I thought Behncke and Akwari were the worst RSL players on the field. And although Williams was solid, he showed his tendency to "Run-like-Valderrama" way too often. I expect our midfielders to work very hard on defense regardless of their primary responsibility.

[Loyal1]

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[dasoccerplayafosho]

i agree with all of the comments, except for a few.

I strongly disliked the commentators on KSL, even though a lot of that was spurred by one segment, and I quote, "If we were watching football, this kick would be on the 25 yard line of the football field" "but we're playing on a real football field" "Or should we say a ReAl football field...." "nice.... work"

I really liked the play of dipsy and rojas, at least when they were on the ball. I wasn't too sure about their positioning, but what can you expect?

Who was that in the corner that got about three guys around them, and was trapped close to the side line, but instead of trying a simple pass, pulled it behind their leg and passed it down by the corner flag? That was a great play.

[Merrill]

Originally Posted by Czar Jake

oh yeah, I guess I should have said that. These sports shows all start at 10:30, right after the local news.

Fox has one that runs on Sunday at 10:00, but don't expect Mike Runge to make much more than a passing mention of Real.

It's funny, because when they announced the team, there were a few skeptics in the newsroom about the value of soccer coverage, and Mike Runge said that we should treat it like it was Major League, and give it a chance, but since then, it can't get a mention at all. Thursday night, two days before our LOCAL TEAM'S FIRST GAME EVER, and he doesn't touch on Real at all. Instead we get to see a story about the fact that the Illinois Fighting Illini Basketball team went bowling together two days before their game. Riveting $%#@!

[clarette]

I'm going to reserve any real judgment until we've played actual soccer... that match was the weirdest thing I've seen since having to personally play on a sheet of ice! It was seriously hilarious... I kept giggling every time the ball would suddenly start rolling back the other way.

I watched the game one and a half times -- the whole Direct Kick broadcast and half of the KSL broadcast before switching it over to the Revs and San Jose -- and still don't think I could really get much out of it footballing-wise.

Rojas looks like he could be a major asset though. I'm sure he was probably just like, "WTF?" the whole match but it looks like, under normal circumstances, he can whip in some nice crosses from the left.

[BroncsBomber]

D.J. was absolutely the Man of the Match.

We got a point on the road and we have actual game experience without having to suffer a loss.

The game looked like it was played on a field that was tilted to the right about 30 degrees. I thought we attacked better going against the wind than NY/NJ did in the same conditions. We also dominated possession when we had the wind at our backs. The shot selection was a little lacking in the second half but its not like you could string a nice setup pass into the box.

I am definitely looking forward to the next match and after a weekend of begging I will be getting MLS Direct kick.