RSL vs. RBNY [R]

[BetterThanChivas]

Originally Posted by the cup

I'm still baffled about how Meola can completely wipe Williams out in the box and not make any contact with the ball and no penalty is called.

That was one of the worst calls I saw in this game. That ref was totally a New Yorker.

[BroncsBomber]

The ref was horrible. He watched Wynne wipe out Ballouchy in the first half and did nothing and then proceeded to nail us with ticky tack fouls and provided them with scoring chances. It was midway through the second half and New york had only been called for fouls 5 times and the anouncers said they were only charged with one foul in the first half. That is ridiculous.


On the goal Chris Brown was holding two Bulls on side which is unforgiveable since he is at the backside of the play with a perfect view of where everyone else is.
That guy can't even get a throw in to one of our players. I'm beginning to think he is color blind since his passes rarely get to an open player.
I hope he figures things out because he is a liability on the offense and defensive end of the field so far.

[xlyte]

the one descision that baffled me more than anything was the way the ref decided to card. We get a card for shouting and the refs assistant from 25-30 yards away. They get up in the ref's assistant's face and shout at him and get nothing ....

[xlyte]

Originally Posted by www.realsaltlake.com

NEW YORK RED BULLS HEAD COACH MO JOHNSTON

On allowing RSL to come from behind:
"We didn't hold the lead and I told our team we should have come away with three points. We closed up shop and then we nearly gave up a goal at the end with Chris Klein. We can't afford to do that."

...snip...

NEW YORK RED BULLS GOALKEEPER TONY MEOLA

On RSL's goal:
"We knew that they were going to come at us for sure. Scott Garlick, for me, had one of the best games I've seen him play in a couple of years. We had as many good chances as they had to score. We gave them a few too many chances and in the end they came through."

what game were they watching? Should have come away with a win? had as many chances to score?

[Aerick]

Despite the dissapointment that was the attendance figure, the weather, the parking situation, and the lack of support in E32 without RCB there, the game was a great one to watch! I don't remember the last time I saw RSL play so well! Phenomenal!

Bright Spots:
Garlick
Medhi (again)
Kries' goal
Klein (that man makes some dangerous crosses)
Passing
Sequeira's head
Sequeira's runs
Cunningham's speed
Cunningham's first half

Dissapointments:
NY's rebound goal (didn't we have one of those last game too?)
RSL's luck (can't we get a couple breaks?)
Cunningham's second half
Corners that went to far (like the last one of the game, what a heart breaker. You've got one last chance to win the game, and it's a corner. Then you end up overshooting everyone on the field. :P )
Officiating

[Rover]

Good observations by all.

Have a few to add.

I wasn't impressed by our play in the first half other than the corners, which were excellent and should have produced a couple of goals. We picked it up in the second half, but Talley leaving the game set us up for the RBNY goal since Akwari was the missing man in the defense during that series.

When Kreis entered the game the energy of the team (and crowd) picked up and we were all rewarded with a goal. Yes, we dominated, but if you don't finish you don't win games. Good effort, but still a ways to go.

I thought Klein and Mehdi were very good. Klein needs to be fed the ball on the run so he can distribute from the left wing more, but no fault on him. Once Medhi fully adjusts to the speed and physicality of MLS, he will control games. If he does so within a couple of months, he should be rookie of the year. Not yet, though.

As for the offside calls, we had a great angle on them in the first half from Section 35 and I can tell you that Cunningham in particular was offiside on virtually every through pass. Yes, some calls were blown, but a number of those were non-calls when Cunningham was clearly offside. RBNY was not running an aggressive trap--it was just poor positioning by Cunningham and, to a lesser degree, Williams. Mehdi was flagged for a few, but that looked more like miscommunication on runs up the wing.

So overall a good effort by the team but we're not there yet. At least we know we are competitive, and that's better than the way it looked after Week 1.

[rslfutbolfan]

Originally Posted by Aerick

Despite the dissapointment that was the attendance figure, the weather, the parking situation, and the lack of support in E32 without RCB there, the game was a great one to watch!

Dont forget it was a holiday weekend and lots of kids have this next week off so are out of town. Not a good weekend for a home opener!

We need to do something about the refs..... any ideas?

:rules:

[Aerick]

Originally Posted by Rover

...So overall a good effort by the team but we're not there yet. At least we know we are competitive, and that's better than the way it looked after Week 1.

...Or all of last year. 🙁

[AreliusIV]

Originally Posted by AreliusIV

Keys to the match:

1) Shut down Guevara (Cutler).
2) Take Buddle and Djorkaeff out of the game (Pope, Talley).
3) Ballouchy has got to step up. The honeymoon period is over. We need him to provide quality services.
4) Williams needs to be more mobile and do more 1-touch passing.
5) Sequeira needs to support Williams and Cunningham well.

1) We did a good job shutting down Guevara except for the one play where the whole defense stood around and ball-watched and let Guevara in to score. (B+)

2) Good job taking Buddle and Djorkaeff out of the game. Although I am concerned about Pope's back. On several occasions, he grabbed his back and winced. (A-)

3) Ballouchy has talent but his pace leads you to believe he thinks he's still playing college ball. He needs to pick up the pace and kick it up a notch. (B-)

4) Williams was just OK in the first half. The second half was incredible. He was all over the place. Too bad he couldn't convert his break-away. He mis-touched the ball before Meola crashed into him. Were it not for Kreis' goal Williams would be MOTM for me. (A)
The scary thing is that as Williams goes, so goes RSL's offense. It seems our offense hinges on Williams. Hence, the need for him to be on his game.

5) Sequeira did well in the first half but was AWOL in the second half. I place some of the blame for RBNY's goal on Sequeira. As Guevara was working his magic before playing the ball into Buddle, Sequeira was just standing there ball-watching. I felt like he was invinsible in the second half. There were long stretches of time where you didn't see him. I think he needed to provide better offensive support. (B-)

Other observations:

1) Finishing was our downfall. If we could have finished half our chances, we would have won by several goals. Cunny's breakaway. Williams' breakaway, etc.

2) RBNY's goal was a direct result of Chris Brown playing Buddle onside. If you watch the replay, you will see the whole defense pushed up except for Brown. If Brown would have pushed up with the rest of the defense, Buddle would have been offside. Brown is a good athlete but he is taking a long time learning his new position. And it cost us tonight.

3) Akwari makes me nervous!!!

4) Kreisy: What can I say? He's still got it!

5) I'd like to see what Ryan Johnson can do.

6) Meola comes up with a game-winning save on Klein's breakaway. Klein chipped the ball deftly and it was destined for the back of the net, but Meola came up huge as the ball deflected off his shoulder.

MOTM: Kreis for pulling out the tie, Williams all-around.

[rabble-rabble]

My random thoughts....

GREAT effort by the team. Lots of hustle out there.

Defense was fairly solid with just one tragic mistake being quite costly.

We JUST start finishing our chances. You can look at the stats and count all the shots, corner kicks, and other numbers, but the ones that get into the net are what shows up on the scoreboard.

As others noted, we have a big problem of our forwards finding themselves offside. Then when they find themselves several steps ahead of the last defender, they just sort of slowly walk back while the player with the ball has to stop and wait for them while the defenders are closing in on him.

The altercation was unfortunate. I'm fairly certain I've seen the fellow in the purple before a few times so he wasn't from New York supporting his home squad and as others have surmised, may have been there to cheer against RSL rather than for the Red Bulls. The other of the two definitely was a bit 'wobbly' likely having had a few drinks during the match. McAfee went over and seemed to have things calmed down, but then STAFF came over and in my opinion became overly agressive and caused things to blow up again. At one point I saw the orange shirted STAFF grab the one fan in a headlock while the guy was just standing there talking (allthough he may have said something to provoke the reponse of course.) In any case, I would hope that we as home fans welcome others into our stadium no matter which squad they are cheering for. Let's not get a reputation for being unfriendly.

NY has some of the the WORST looking uniforms I have seen. They look like they went out and purchased some undershirts to produce them.

Lastly, word has it a few of the tailgating attendees weren't very tidy. KUDOS to Stucki and family for all they did. They have enough to do putting away equipment and food without having to pick up plates of half-eaten food and beverage containers. Let's all please try to pick up after outselves shall we?

Next home game in 2 weeks. Landon Donovan says he loves playing in Salt Lake, so let's give him a hearty welcome.