Whitecaps 2016

[shorty]

According to this article, it is the minimum allowable: 70 yards.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/yankee-stadium-dimensions-cramping-new-york-city-fcs-style-1432860456

If that's true, though, the hash mark indicating 11 yards from the corner flag should be 2 yards from the 18-yard box.  I recall someone posting a picture that made it look a lot closer than that.  Couldn't find a clear example.  This one actually seems to show that 2 yards is plausible.  Hard to tell though.  Plus they could cheat on where they paint the line.

 

[Bison44]

The broadcasters have talked about it before. DeVos said he stepped in off on an earlier broadcast, and it was under the 70 yard minimum.  No TV illusion, it looks narrow and it is.  

[shorty]

Looks short and is short, as well.  One of Ousted's kicks yesterday landed just outside NYCFC's 18-yard box.

[Grizzly]

I have heard that the width is different at each end. I haven't seen it personally myself but Impact supporters who have gone to games say the pitch is terrible and it is really not an acceptable pitch for a professional game. Apparently it is not even level in some spots. It does give NYCFC a big home advantage because while all teams have to deal with the same pitch, at least they are used to it.

[BearcatSA]

It reminds me of the bad ol' days of the NASL at San Diego, Chicago, or Minnesota, with the baseball infield being part of the pitch.

[Unnamed Trialist]

Watching Caps live on Eurosport, what a pleasure. Whoever is directing cameras is a goof, missing play while focussing on a player who did something 5 minutes before. I can't believe that is a SN feed, is it?

HT. Caps could and should be leading but got hit on a goal that was well taken, but still badly defended from the start. Won't single out players, but since Robinson has been coach we are always out of defensive position. You constantly see cover arriving late on plays, mostly the mids tracking back after the fact. Like 10 second after the fact. Nor do we pressure together, as a team, we improvise individually, very often one pushes and no one helps and that guy looks like a fool for trying.  We have poor defensive positioning combined with mediocre defensive committment, and it hurts us games like this where the strikers miss clear chances.

Still hoping we can get a real coach one of these years.

[Unnamed Trialist]

Deserved the win though both goals were keeper blunders. I sat there giving the finger to Gleeson on both of those. Going to be a hot-shot keeper and stop everything, then? Well take that.

That was probably the worst I have ever seen Timbers, Nagbe had like one good play, Adi was poor, Valeri too. If I complain about Caps I guess their fans have even more to be worried about.

[TRM]

We deserved the win as I too thought Portland totally sucked. We created so many good chances and score on those 2? Okay I'll take it. Keeper cheating for the cross and being beat short side for the first and totally flubbing the missed header (Does Perez get an assist for distracting the keeper?). I'll take it. We are due some goals from open play.

That said that is the best I've seen Morales, Bolanos and Kudo play. Morales was almost out Laba-ing Laba with his defensive work rate and Bolanos was playing possessed. We'lll need all 3 firing to make the playoffs so let's see them do that regularly like they should!

[Unnamed Trialist]

10 hours ago, TRM said:

We deserved the win as I too thought Portland totally sucked. We created so many good chances and score on those 2? Okay I'll take it. Keeper cheating for the cross and being beat short side for the first and totally flubbing the missed header (Does Perez get an assist for distracting the keeper?). I'll take it. We are due some goals from open play.

That said that is the best I've seen Morales, Bolanos and Kudo play. Morales was almost out Laba-ing Laba with his defensive work rate and Bolanos was playing possessed. We'lll need all 3 firing to make the playoffs so let's see them do that regularly like they should!

Just the intelligence on the goal makes me respect Kudo that much more. First look it looked like a huge keeper blunder, and probably is. But the fact that he had the confidence and accuracy to pick that spot shows he has talent and character. Nice to see. 

We have a lot of competition up front, with Kudo, Rivero, Hurtado, Pérez, as long as none of them really shows consistency and wins the spot scoring, I say keep rotating and keep them on edge.

 

[Obinna]

16 hours ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

Watching Caps live on Eurosport, what a pleasure. Whoever is directing cameras is a goof, missing play while focussing on a player who did something 5 minutes before. I can't believe that is a SN feed, is it?

HT. Caps could and should be leading but got hit on a goal that was well taken, but still badly defended from the start. Won't single out players, but since Robinson has been coach we are always out of defensive position. You constantly see cover arriving late on plays, mostly the mids tracking back after the fact. Like 10 second after the fact. Nor do we pressure together, as a team, we improvise individually, very often one pushes and no one helps and that guy looks like a fool for trying.  We have poor defensive positioning combined with mediocre defensive committment, and it hurts us games like this where the strikers miss clear chances.

Still hoping we can get a real coach one of these years.

Do you know what the problem is with Robinson's coaching? He played in the Championship.

[Unnamed Trialist]

3 hours ago, Obinna said:

Do you know what the problem is with Robinson's coaching? He played in the Championship.

That must be where he got his gentlemanly manner and excellent human relations skills.

I actually mean it, he is a nice guy and very fair play, but it does irk me that certain important things never get fixed, ever, they are not seen and not worked on.

[shermanator]

Holy fuck did Kudo ever get destroyed....

[BradMack]

12 minutes ago, shermanator said:

Holy fuck did Kudo ever get destroyed....

I legitimately thought he might have been dying when Carl Robinson had to come out and take the players away from Kudo. It looked pretty bad immediately but then that happened I thought I might have actually witnessed someone hit their head so hard that they died. Scary stuff but pretty unavoidable.

[TRM]

It appears Kudo is okay. Well as okay as you can be when you get your bell rung like that. Perez comes in and scores 2 including a late bicycle kick highlight reel one. First Manneh seems to have turned the corner on his soccer smarts and do my eyes deceive me but was that Hurtado showing touch, guile, smarts and finesse? Whoever is working with those 2 is doing a great job. Both came on as subs and made an impact.

We are slowly climbing our way back up the table. Good to see us scoring from open play. That open play drought was way too long. Morales is doing great passes to switch the attack constantly delivering well weighted 30-40 yard passes.

[shamrock]

I still can't believe that second goal stands. How was that not dangerous play, because it went in?  

[Grizzly]

Talk that the Caps had a deal for Kamara with Rivero and allocation money going the other way but then it did not go through although the current situation is not really clear. I would make that deal though. It would make Vancouver a contender for the Cup having a striker of that quality:

 http://blogs.theprovince.com/2016/05/11/whitecaps-rivero-for-kamara-deal-on-then-off-according-to-reports/

[TRM]

8 hours ago, shamrock said:

I still can't believe that second goal stands. How was that not dangerous play, because it went in?  

You would have to outlaw any scissor kick when a defender is within a yard. That isn't going to happen. The keeper and defender were obviously wanting the play called back. We'll see what MLS says on their weekly review. Chances are they'll say nothing for once.

[TRM]

6 hours ago, Grizzly said:

Talk that the Caps had a deal for Kamara with Rivero and allocation money going the other way but then it did not go through although the current situation is not really clear. I would make that deal though. It would make Vancouver a contender for the Cup having a striker of that quality:

 http://blogs.theprovince.com/2016/05/11/whitecaps-rivero-for-kamara-deal-on-then-off-according-to-reports/

No thanks. Rivero for all his lack of goal production does all the other stuff a forward should do and isn't poison. Kamara is like  Balotelli  in that regard. No thanks.

[Keegan]

I'm not sure Kamara is the "quality" people think he is.  Even comparing him to a Balotelli character is giving him too much credit.  He sure seems to love drama like Balo but he isn't close to the same class.

He has been good with Columbus poaching goals inside the box but aside from last year his career high for goals in a season is 11.  And then after the wild total of 22 he had last season he told the media he would have retired had Columbus won the cup and then he had the fiasco with Sierra Leone (who he was mediocre for) and then it was all about him trying to be in Hollywood after his career.  This guy has some ego and it's always a cry for attention... really Kei?  You're going to retire after a career year and you think there is a demand for nomadic MLS strikers in Hollywood?  Also, here is why he was run out of Middlesborough http://www.gazettelive.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/kei-kamara-malaria-tweet-storm-7273838

Columbus got a very, very good return for him and I'm interested to see what New England does with him.  I don't think he'll be a huge loss to Columbus, the way the team is set up whoever replaces him should do well.  Not that Columbus was doing all that well anyway with him.

My guess is we'll see Kei fade into obscurity like the last MLS/Euro reject "superstar" Eddie Johnson.  

 

[Havoc88]

On 2016-05-08 at 8:06 PM, Unnamed Trialist said:

That was probably the worst I have ever seen Timbers, Nagbe had like one good play, Adi was poor, Valeri too. If I complain about Caps I guess their fans have even more to be worried about.

Late on this, but to echo this post, even watching TFC lose to the Timbers they were awful. Portland are not good right now and Gleeson had to make 4-5 outstretched saves to keep the game where it was. A far, far cry from 2013.

[umpiredice]

Kudos to Kudo for being able to sit up just a few minutes after getting his jaw shattered.  Yep, it's broken and he's having surgery on it today.  He's probably gone for the season.

I was at the match, and that was the most horrifying collision I've ever seen live.  The way his head snapped back and he hit the deck and then everyone started waving for the medicos, I though he'd broken his neck.  I'd say "get well soon, mate" but really I hope he takes his time and makes absolutely sure he's fully fit before starting to train again.  This is not an injury you rush back from!

I just watched the video on the Whitecaps website, and it fully warrants the "warning - graphic content" tag.  You can see his jaw is deformed when he hits the ground.  It's really, really ugly.

[TRM]

Sam can relate to Kudo. Maybe we should warn our smaller players that no matter how fast you are, keepers are usually much larger, solid and you'll lose badly in a collision. Get well soon Kudo.

[SuperCanuck]

9 hours ago, Keegan said:

I'm not sure Kamara is the "quality" people think he is.  Even comparing him to a Balotelli character is giving him too much credit.  He sure seems to love drama like Balo but he isn't close to the same class.

He has been good with Columbus poaching goals inside the box but aside from last year his career high for goals in a season is 11.  And then after the wild total of 22 he had last season he told the media he would have retired had Columbus won the cup and then he had the fiasco with Sierra Leone (who he was mediocre for) and then it was all about him trying to be in Hollywood after his career.  This guy has some ego and it's always a cry for attention... really Kei?  You're going to retire after a career year and you think there is a demand for nomadic MLS strikers in Hollywood?  Also, here is why he was run out of Middlesborough http://www.gazettelive.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/kei-kamara-malaria-tweet-storm-7273838

Columbus got a very, very good return for him and I'm interested to see what New England does with him.  I don't think he'll be a huge loss to Columbus, the way the team is set up whoever replaces him should do well.  Not that Columbus was doing all that well anyway with him.

My guess is we'll see Kei fade into obscurity like the last MLS/Euro reject "superstar" Eddie Johnson.  

 

I wouldn't hire him to work the concession.  As you said, he's only similar to Balotelli in that he's trying to be as weird as Balo but not quite pulling it off.  I'm not surprised the Whitecaps made an attempt for him, and glad they failed.  Trading a popular, hardworking guy like Rosales for the fans' #1 enemy is one thing, since he's actually a great player to have on your team, but Kamara?  No thanks.

[shamrock]

On 12 mei 2016 at 4:22 PM, TRM said:

You would have to outlaw any scissor kick when a defender is within a yard. That isn't going to happen. The keeper and defender were obviously wanting the play called back. We'll see what MLS says on their weekly review. Chances are they'll say nothing for once.

I'm not suggesting he should be fined or something. The defender went to the ball with his head and then there was the kick. Even Blas couldn't believe it counted for a few seconds. If it had been an away game, now way that goal would have counted. 

[TRM]

5 hours ago, shamrock said:

I'm not suggesting he should be fined or something. The defender went to the ball with his head and then there was the kick. Even Blas couldn't believe it counted for a few seconds. If it had been an away game, now way that goal would have counted. 

It is difficult to rule the goal out because the offensive player was closer (Perez had the inside position). If the defender wants to jump straight up fine but if he is going to jump across or into the offensive player then it's his fault if he gets hit. Not wishing for a player to get their head kicked on a play like that but defenders have to accept some responsibility for their actions. As it was the defender wisely pulled back and his head was 3 feet from Perez's foot at the time of contact. They were showing a half dozen angles of it in super slow motion on TSN's highlight reel. 

The fact that the ball went in and the place was going nuts did probably weigh on the refs mind but at no point did he start to raise his whistle so he made his mind up early not to call it. The place going nuts probably re-enforced his decision. Away game or home doesn't matter, it depends on the ref involved and if they are influenced by crowds. I'm not a fan of Toledo but he doesn't seem easily influenced by players, coaches or crowds.

Perez didn't see the ball go in. He got up and realized the place was going nuts and that he had scored. He saw the keeper with his hand in the air and was probably wondering if it counted. That was the reason for his delay.