Thursday, July 3, 2008

Cleaning House (Cordobas, Predictions, and Grades; oh my!)

Yes, I know there has been a distinct lack of content here on the Review as of late. I apologize and throw myself at the mercy of the soccer gods! ...Or something. Actually, I recently got a new job and am currently having a very difficult time adjusting to the hours, which has made it hard to keep the site up. I'll try and keep it up better in the future. Anyway, on to all that needs to be done!

First off, if you missed it, Matias Cordoba is gone, back to Argentina (thanks, SL Tribune). Apparently, he was upset with the paltry amount of playing time he'd gotten. Of course, if he'd shown ANYTHING in that playing time, maybe he'd have gotten more; I'm just sayin'. That means RSL has two roster spots and, if I recall correctly, they also have two international slots available. Hopefully Jason and Garth can get us a striker (Archie dammit! Or even Indra perhaps?) and another attacking minded midfielder or outside back (Kipre, come home!). Actually, let me revise that, hopefully they can get us someone who can actually put the ball in the net. That would be a nice change.

Secondly, let's get back up to date with 'Ye Olde Royal Predictions.' Here's my picks for this week:

Thursday, July 3rd:
Creamsickles 2 vs. REAL SALT LAKE 3

Friday, July 4th (Happy 232!):

Kansas City 1 vs. Dallas 2
Energy Bovines 0 vs. Crapids/Cripids 2
NERds 3 vs. LAG 2

Saturday, July 5th:
Chicago BSOF 1 vs. Columbus The 2
NTOTB 2 vs. TST 2

Last 2 weeks' results:
Week 13: 2 right (1 exact), 7 wrong (22%, 11%)
Week 14: 3 right (1 exact), 4 wrong (43%, 14%)

MLS Season Total:
41-59 [7 exact] (41%, 7%)

And finally, here are the player grades for the ugliness that was RSL at Kansas City:
Nick Rimando-7 Distribution lacking, but solid keeping.
Tony Beltran-3 Beat all night, passed to opposition, scored an own goal.
Nat Borchers-5 Missed a few marks, clearances were fairly poor.
Jamison Olave-8 A beast all night.
Chris Wingert-5 Too many passing mistakes.
Andy Williams-5 OK, but seemed to wear out in the 2nd half.
(Kenny Cutler 80)-5 Didn't have much effect on the game.
Dema Kovalenko-5 More poor passing by an RSL player.
Javier Morales-4 As leader of the offense, needs to do a LOT more.
Kyle Beckerman-7 Feisty and all over the place. Good game.
Robbie Findley-6 OK considering he was out of position all night.
(Tino Nunez 69)-5 Barring one play, largely invisible.
Kenny Deuchar-5 Wore down early 2nd, needs to shoot AROUND defenders, not INTO them.
(Yura Movsisyan 69)-5 Looked energized against his old team. Lots of effort, no results; needs to pass now and then.

Jason Kreis-4 The 4-5-1 got beat all night. Findley is NOT a middie. Taking out Findley AND Kenny for Tino and Yura???!?!

Officials (Head Ref: Alex Prus)-4 Let way too many tackles from behind go, often when an RSL player was headed towards the 18. Let the game turn ugly.

RSL Man of the Match:
Jamison Olave-Forget OnGoal, Olave owns the Wizards!

Assclown of the Match:
Jason Kreis-Ah yes, Professor Kreis! How goes your "How Not To Coach A Soccer Game 101" class?

Like I said, I will do my best to keep the site up in the future! Thanks for sticking with the site, I appreciate it!

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