Friday, November 6, 2009

Do You Believe In Miracles? YES! Pt. 2

OK, so maybe it's not a bunch of college kids defeating the Soviet wrecking crew in hockey, but it was still a HUGE win, especially for a team that has struggled so mightily on the road. I'm still giddy about the game so not much for commentary, but I do want to mention what a big difference it makes when the midfield shows up (compare this game to game 1 and you'll see what I mean). Anyway, on to the grades!

Player Grades:
Nick Rimando-7 Possibly could have had the 1st goal, although not totally his fault. Otherwise stellar.
Robbie Russell-3 Only real weak link on the night. Really bad, 2nd goal is on him.
Chris Wingert-6 OK game for Chris. Still not on 2008 season form, but not bad.
Nat Borchers-7 Steady game for Nat.
Jamison Olave-7 Was it a penalty or no? Wasn't given so he stays at 7.
Andy Williams-8 Was an absolute animal in the first half. Really nice to see Andy score to lock it up after the year he's had!
(Jean Alexandre 91+)- Not on the field long enough to get a rating
Kyle Beckerman-7 Solid most of the night and, most importantly, didn't get a 2nd yellow so he's available for the conf. final.
Javier Morales-8 Finally looked like '08 Javi.
(Clint Mathis 82)-6 Not much of a chance to do a lot as the Crew were in desperation mode when he came on.
Will Johnson-7 As always, extremely active.
Robbie Findley-7 Was a little worried the pressure would get to him on the PK but he calmly put it away.
Fabian Espindola-7 Earned the PK that put RSL on top for good.
(Yura Movsisyan 65)-6 Solid, but like Mathis, got caught up in the Crew's desperate attacks.

Coach grade (Kreis)-7 Not sure how much was him and how much was the team just doing it themselves, but the squad kept motivated after going down 2-0, which is a complete unknown for an RSL team on the road.
Ref grade (Toledo)-4 As usual, a terrible game for Toledo. Missed some big calls for the Crew and called way too many fouls on RSL that he didn't call the other way.

RSL Man of the Match-Andy Williams
What can I say? The guy looked like a world beater for much of this one. The goal was just icing on the cake.

Assclown of the Match-Frankie Hejduk
Normally I'm a Hejduk guy, but his incessant whining brings his AOTM, just beating out teammate Alejandro Moreno who put on the biggest show of flopping this side of Blanco.

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