Game 29: Dallass vs. RSL: First Win at the River

I'm a bit busy today so just player grades for this one. Not a pretty win, but a big 3 points for the boys and with only a tie against the Crapids/Cripids, RSL will be a playoff team at last!

Grades:
Nick Rimando-6 OK game for little Nicky
Chris Wingert-7 Got forward pretty well, assist on the Johnson goal
Jamison Olave-8 Beast in the back again, broke up a ton of early FCD breakaways
Robbie Russell-6 A little too quiet
Ian Joy-7 Played well, especially late
Kyle Beckerman-7 Played destroyer all night long
Dema Kovalenko-5 Could've (and possibly should've) had a red for slapping an opponent across the face
(Andy Williams 46)-6 Steady game for Andy
Javier Morales-7 Had a very quiet 2 assists, but I'm giving him credit for them
Will Johnson-7 Almost an 8, just one too many mistakes, but the goal was beautiful
Clint Mathis-7 Some good old up play from Clint, looked totally worn out by the end
(Kenny Deuchar 89)-6 Didn't have much time to affect the game
Yura Movsisyan-7 Got lucky on it, but a goal is a goal
(Robbie Findley 73)-7 Goal was almost as pretty as Will's

Coaching grade (Kreis)-8 Subs made sense and brought the proper attacking mentality to the 2nd half.
Refs grade-6 Calls were a bit uneven and maybe a bit card happy, but the game was very rough and they had a tough job to do.

RSL Man of the Match: Jamison Olave
Almost went to "Billy", but since he earned the only 8 I gotta give it to him.

Assclown of the Match: Pablo Ricchetti
Easy call. Dude unnecessarily takes out Johnson with an ugly tackle and gets a straight red. Then he proceeds to argue the call, not leave the field, and tries to pick a fight with Joy (granted, that's not hard-if he didn't PLAY soccer, he'd be a soccer hooligan!). Very classy Pablo. Assclown stuff all the way.


PS-If you are interested in taking a bus trip to see RSL beat "the Dicks" (sorry, any chance for a new Crapids insult must be used, especially if it can be used in a delicious double entendre) there is "official" information over on the DesNews blog. Also thanks to SoccerPrime for the original tip-off on this, I just haven't been updating as much as I should lately and hadn't gotten around to posting it!

Game 9: RSL vs. FCD Player Grades

Hey, cut me some slack, I'm only a week and a half late! Ha ha! Anyway, I just wanted to post some grades for the Dallas game so that all my season rankings and such still are correct.

Nick Rimando-7
Chris Wingert-6
Nat Borchers-3 Was at least partially responisble for both goals.
Jamison Olave-6 Defense held until he came off
(Matias Mantilla 77)-5
Ian Joy-4 Sadly, RSL's best player going forward in the first half, but can't forget the red.
Dema Kovalenko-5
Kyle Beckerman-4
Andy Williams-4
Javier Morales-5
Kenny Deuchar -4
(Fabian Espindola 54)-6
Robbie Findley-6 Thoroughly outplayed Deuchar, yet comes off instead of Kenny...
(Kenny Cutler 46)-4

RSL Man of the Match:
Nick Rimando - None of the field players earned it, and both goals were not Nick's fault. I have to give it to someone, so I give it to Nick and his 5 saves.

Assclown of the Match:
TIE Bobby Rhine and Jason Kreis - Rhine for his complete overreaction and unnecessary "assault" of Javi Morales. Kreis for his inexplicable substitution patterns.

Game 7: Dallas vs. RSL

I'll try and get an actual review up, but just to be safe, I wanted to throw out my grades and awards for the game.

Game grade: B-
Too many defensive lapses (that, luckily, didn't cost us for once), but RSL seemed in control most of the game and pushed to the end. A fair result and a solid, if unspectacular, win for the boys in red.

Player grades:
Nick Rimando-6 Pretty good game, helped by some bad Dallass finishing.
Jamison Olave-4 Didn't make a mark on the game.
(Andy Williams 40)-8 All over the field, involved in nearly every positive RSL play.
Matias Mantilla-5 OK, but Dallass got way too many open chances that they squandered.
Nat Borchers-5 See above.
Tony Beltran-6 A clear improvement over Mr. Joy.
Kyle Beckerman-6 Came on late in the game, goal was nice, but touch was AWFUL all game.
Dema Kovalenko-6 Hard nosed, solid effort.
Javier Morales-7 Solid game for Javi.
(Kenny Cutler 57)-7 Looked good in the midfield.
Chris Wingert-5 Odd game from him (and for him, position wise).
Fabian Espindola-7 RSL's most dangerous forward on the day.
(Robbie Findley 80)-6 Hard to judge, not a lot of time to do much.
Kenny Deuchar-5 Needs to impose himself on the game more.

RSL Man of the Match:
Andy Williams - Kept his head in the game and stayed active. Really helped push the attack. And his assist on the Beckerman goal? Perfect.

Assclown of the Match:
Ricardo Salazar - No, not for the officiating (which was surprisingly decent), but I can't remember when I've seen a ref get in the way of the action so many times. He even got hit by passes at least twice. GET THE HELL OUT OF THE WAY, RICO SUAVE!