Today, at Trinity, we picked up a point versus Capital Crew in a 2-2 tie.
Since we gave up a goal in the final minutes to concede a tie, it feels like a loss to many of us. But Your Captain is satisfied. We have to settle the ship somehow. Let's take the point and build upon it in October. Also, I think we had a better performance than last week, which isn't saying much but is still satisfying (remember, we integrated two more new players today). There were some positives: we possessed the ball almost half the time versus like 25% in our game against the Red Devils. Also, we had some nice build ups in the attack, and a more communicative defense (at times).
In the first half, we started off shaky, yielding some shots in the first few minutes. We eventually settled the game down and slowly began to play more in the attacking end of the field. Finally, Jackie made a great pass to Adrian, who possessed in the box and picked his shot to the far post. It was a very good goal. Not too long later, however, we gave up a goal on a cross.
In the second half, things got a little rough. The Crew's goalkeeper made an illegal slide into Katya, who I must say rebounded pretty nicely from a vicious hit. From my vantage point on defense, the slide was an excessive attempt to clear the ball. Later the same goalie would literally grab Kristin's ankle on the 3' and prevent her from making an assist. It was a PK that was not to be and an unsportmanlike play. But the game continued without incident. We kept our cool. As the half wore on, we applied good pressure in the box and got our second goal when Ally recovered an errant clearance and punched in a shot from the 5'. From here, the defense changed formation a few times and failed to lock down. We gave up a goal in the final minutes, but it was a good goal off a bad bounce. No big deal.
Good game everyone, it's something to build on.
Notes: 2-2 tie versus Capital Crew, Trinity, Sept. 23, 2007. Goals: Adrian (Jackie), Ally (unnassisted). GK: Liam.
Don't forget all that "slipping" the other team was doing. They were slide tackling and making it look like they were slipping on the wet grass. The refs have to be good enough to spot when experienced players are deceiving them. The same thing happened in our championship game - the ref wasn't experienced enough to see that every time Alex got beat he fouled the player that beat him. It's called a professional foul and it is supposed to be an automatic yellow card. Being a ref in this league I know for a fact that they disproportionately give less experienced refs to 3rd division games. But there are experienced players in these 3rd division teams that play these refs like aces up their sleeves.
ReplyDeleteWe're off probation now Pete so please don't censor this comment ;)
I'm very frustrated.
Goleros take pride that we played clean! and that we held a much improved Crew team to just two goals!
I don't have a problem with your comments. Our calm reaction to the reffing in this game will be the subject of another post. I thought this was actually the best thing about the match.
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