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MLS 2023 Playoffs Match Thread


narduch

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Caps were terrible tonight, a shambles really. Vanni's management was horrific: having Richie and Sam switching constantly, playing Hoillett on the right when almost every goal he scores is coming in from the left, subbing off Cubas, persisting with Vite for the duration, Laborda!, having Raposo take set pieces at decisive moments.... 

No one played well except Takaoka I guess. That will all be overlooked due to the ref's performance. Truly shocking. So bad, that him letting LA persistently foul for 80 minutes before finally giving out a yellow is about #5 on the shit list. 

Watching the rugby last weekend and then watching Murillo. 

I need another beer. 

 

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This guy cannot be reffing another game in this league, let alone the playoffs.  The penalty was terrible and bad enough, but how Bouanga was not booked late in the first half for that cynical frustration pull back on Vite when he was setting up on the counter into considerable space was unbelievable.  Considering that he already had acrrued other deliberate foùls prior to that one, that would have been a booking 999 out of 1000.  But hey, if you are a league MVP echelon player, then the refs get direction from Donny Boy to keep you on the field and immune from booking.  And then the cynical fouling without booking continued from there.

What a travesty of blatant officiating corruption!

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The biggest gap that I saw was between the Whitecaps own players rather than between them & LAFC. By this I mean the players weren't connected enough (until Hoilett came on) and always seemed too far apart from each other, trying to connect constantly on 70-yard passes. If that was the "gameplan" that Sartini (who always seems to walk like he's got a four-inch splinter up his ass) had in mind, good for Laryea for not adhering to it. Unfortunately, I thought his fellow Canuck who replaced him (Raposo) was the worst player on the field when he came on* and I agree with those who are puzzled with the decision to have him take all the spotkicks when Gault was also on the field - the corners were decent enough up the more dangerous free kicks were awful.

One thing to bear in mind for those saying that the Whitecaps weren't likely to win the match, due to MLS's new screwed up playoff format, they didn't need to. Despite getting blown out in the first match, a couple of draws and victories in PK's would have got them through.

*Not the worst performer on the field though - that's got to go to Tim Ford, although I am thinking that my Chargers might be able to use him tonight as an offensive lineman against the Jets given the way he blocks.

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Vanni made a giant show of himself as usual. The Vancouver crowd eat up the whole victim card but really his coaching was a terrible. Too defensive to start the game. Raposo was a terrible sub and brought on Hoilett way too late. I thought the pk was suspect at first but on second look it wasnt terrible. Iffy but not terrible. The bizarre play after 90 minutes was probably going to amount to nothing anyways. Since the goal was obviously offside why not keep your cool?

Edited by SpursFlu
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1 hour ago, SpursFlu said:

Vanni made a giant show of himself as usual. The Vancouver crowd eat up the whole victim card but really his coaching was a terrible. Too defensive to start the game. Raposo was a terrible sub and brought on Hoilett way too late. I thought the pk was suspect at first but on second look it wasnt terrible. Iffy but not terrible. The bizarre play after 90 minutes was probably going to amount to nothing anyways. Since the goal was obviously offside why not keep your cool?

He is incapable of keeping his cool, it is part of his schtick - he uses his clown act to cover for his very obvious deficiencies. On the goal being offside, I think he was actually more pissed at Schopf being cleared out by the ref at the other end. In his eyes, I am sure Schopf was going to postage stamp it. 

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10 hours ago, Gian-Luca said:

The biggest gap that I saw was between the Whitecaps own players rather than between them & LAFC. By this I mean the players weren't connected enough (until Hoilett came on) and always seemed too far apart from each other, trying to connect constantly on 70-yard passes.

Conversely, after re-watching this match, I was very impressed with the two way contributions of the LAFC central midfield grafters Acosta and Tillman.  They covered a ton of ground, while Ilie remained deep, and ended up winning a lot of loose balls from clearances, especially in the first half, keeping the possession rolling and linking the play.  Also, with the back four having primarily stay at home fullbacks this evening, they also allowed the three man front line more attacking license, though the fowards also put in a defensive shift:  Bouanaga neatly flicking the ball away from Raposo as he shaped up for his golazo volley attempt was sadly funny.

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You'd have thought it would have been a player from the losing team, but trust Miazga to be the dickhead in question. I recall he got a yellow card during the shootout for standing in the 18 years box after his successfully converted PK giving the NYRB fans the heart symbol with his hands for what felt like half an hour instead of moving back to the centre circle to allow the next NYRB shooter to take his kick. I guess that's what he was enraged about after the victory?

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17 hours ago, BearcatSA said:

Conversely, after re-watching this match, I was very impressed with the two way contributions of the LAFC central midfield grafters Acosta and Tillman.  They covered a ton of ground, while Ilie remained deep, and ended up winning a lot of loose balls from clearances, especially in the first half, keeping the possession rolling and linking the play.  Also, with the back four having primarily stay at home fullbacks this evening, they also allowed the three man front line more attacking license, though the fowards also put in a defensive shift:  Bouanaga neatly flicking the ball away from Raposo as he shaped up for his golazo volley attempt was sadly funny.

Unfortunately I find that Raposo still plays like he's very naive on the field. Which is understandable if he was still in his first year coming out of college (where there tends to be a lot of naivety) but not after this length of time as a pro.

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6 minutes ago, Gian-Luca said:

Unfortunately I find that Raposo still plays like he's very naive on the field. Which is understandable if he was still in his first year coming out of college (where there tends to be a lot of naivety) but not after this length of time as a pro.

I think he is at a ceiling but can continue to have a Shea Salinas kind of role and career in this league, and he had a good long run too.

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2 hours ago, BearcatSA said:

I think he is at a ceiling but can continue to have a Shea Salinas kind of role and career in this league, and he had a good long run too.

He's the Whitecaps new Teibert. He doesn't have any better options and they can trot him out as their Canadian content even as other players move on.

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1 hour ago, Watchmen said:

He's the Whitecaps new Teibert. He doesn't have any better options and they can trot him out as their Canadian content even as other players move on.

Isn't this where a club should be pushing a younger player instead?  Why have a career Shea Salinas when you can potentially have another Ali Ahmed.

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that miazga suspension is gonna make vanni's look like a disneyland trip, doing that in any context is bad but after your team won and advanced... ridiculous

1 hour ago, Footyeh said:

Isn't this where a club should be pushing a younger player instead?  Why have a career Shea Salinas when you can potentially have another Ali Ahmed.

the only wingback player in the caps system that's realistically on the radar is gherasimencov, who probably needs another year with wfc2 and to be very good at the next pro level like ahmed/becher/johnson were before making the jump up. raposo is a fine stopgap/rotation level player for ~1500 minutes across all comps

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