Saturday, August 30, 2008

I'm Baaaaaaaaaaack: Crapids vs. RSL 8/29

Hey everybody, sorry about the long break since the last post, I have fallen way behind. Between work and vacations and everything else, I have been pretty busy. I did finally get to watch a game live (on TV) last night (hooray!) and so I'll do some quick grades here to start getting back in the flow. I have work in a half hour and have the cold from hell so this is the best I can do for now! Enjoy.

Player grades:
Nick Rimando-8 Positioning was good, made some key plays.
Chris Wingert-7 No big mistakes, played 90 in a shutout.
Nat Borchers-7 Got slightly caught off guard a couple times but otherwise solid.
Jamison Olave-8 RSL's defensive rock for the night.
Ian Joy-7 Played pretty well, pushed forward when opportunities arose.
(Robbie Russell 46)-7 Had a very similar game to Joy: quiet but good.
Will Johnson-7 He was active and looked to be helping to push the RSL attack
Kyle Beckerman-7 While still missing some of that spark from last year, he was feisty in the midfield.
Javier Morales-6 Disappeared for stretches, had 8,000 corner attempts, maybe 1 was any good. Long assist to Espi was nice though.
(Clint Mathis 81)-6 Wasn't on the field long enough to judge well.
Andy Williams-8 Played well both ways, his assist on the first goal was a thing of beauty.
Kenny Deuchar-6 Looked pretty active but blew a header and was a bit too unselfish.
Fabian Espindola-9 Simply amazing. Best player on the field by miles.
(Yura Movsisyan 72)-4 Why this guy is getting paid to play soccer is beyond me. Should've had 2 or 3 goals with the chances he had. On the flip side, much more active than usual.

Coaching grade: 5 The lineup seemed to play well together but points off for the subs. Yura Movsisyan should be working at Burger King, not being the first sub off the bench. If you're going to pull Espi, and not a mediocre Deuchar, at least put in Robbie "I score millions of goals as a sub" Findley over Movs. Hell, put a wheelchair bound grandmother in before you put in Movs.

Ref grade: 6 Decent, but a bit inconsistent. Second half was better than the first but (especially early) he would let hard, obvious fouls go, and then call ticky-tack little fouls that no one should ever call. But for the most part seemed fair and eventually got a handle on the game before it got too rough.

RSL Man of the Match:
Fabian Espindola
Was there any doubt?

Assclown of the Match: The Crapids
In a surprisingly (and somewhat unfortunately) low-key RMC match, no one really stood out. So I give it to the whole Crapids organization, just for being them.