2009 Game 11: RSL vs. San Jose: Officially the worst team in the league?

Well, are we? It sure looks that way after RSL was thoroughly dismantled by a previously 1-7-2 Quakes team. Yes, that's one win. And if not for some heroics by Big Nick Rimando (with a little help from Bulldozer Olave), this game could have ended up just the opposite of the 6-0 shellacking that "Twilight Zone-RSL" put on the NERds. Since I don't even want to think about this one anymore, here's the grades:

Player grades:
Nick Rimando-8 Played big despite the d letting him down over and again
Chris Wingert-6 Decent game, not great
Nat Borchers-4 Probably Nat's worst overall game for RSL
Jamison Olave-7 Kept RSL in this as much as he could
Robbie Russell-3 Beaten over and over and over and over again
Will Johnson-5 Very up and down
Kyle Beckerman-4 Every pass went to no one
Javier Morales-4 RSL needs a LOT more out of their playmaker
Ned Grabavoy-4 Did nothing, then team improved instantly when he went off
(Clint Mathis 64)-6 Solid effort
Luis Miguel Escalada-4 Was he in the game?
(Robbie Findley 55)-8 Big goal; one of the few to give a real effort
Fabian Espindola-5 Try being ONside once in a while Espi!
(Yura Movsisyan 56)-5 Useless as usual

Coach grade (Kreis): 3
Lineup was terrible (seriously, why does Findley keep starting on the bench? He's one of the league's leading scorers!) and subs were too late and a bit over-reactionary. Plus, never seemed to do anything to react to the pressure his team was under. Poor job.

Ref grade (Stott): 2
Quite possibly the worst reffed soccer game I've ever seen. One sided to an obvious degree for the home team, but that wasn't the worst part, as bad calls (and no-calls) flew both ways. Let the game turn into a low-rent UFC match and didn't seem to care. Threw yellows for one thing and then let the same thing go minutes later. Just painful to watch. If I wasn't trying to get away from awarding DotD to refs, he would've won it by himself in a landslide (however, that doesn't mean he gets off scott free).

RSL Man of the Match-Nick Rimando
Yes, he let in two, but with the defense playing like it did, that is basically a shutout.

Douchebag of the Day-The SJ broadcast commentators and the officiating crew
Both guys were complete homers, which is ok to a point, but these guys went into the realm of idiocy. SJ could do no wrong in any situation, while RSL was just there to mug the poor Quakes. The play-by-play guy's complete inaccuracy in his retelling of the DCU game was an interesting twist. The mention of Cannon working hard to preserve his shutout, after letting in a goal minutes earlier, was even better. And the mangling of Movsisyan into something approximating Mowsivian? Just icing on the cake. I pity you, San Jose fans, if this is the best they can do for you. As for the refs, well, see above...

In other words, blah.

Uh Oh Spaghetti-O's

Crap. Missed all the fanfare around the Ben Cup second leg as my computer has been out with...a computer version of swine flu? I'm not feeling too creative at the moment, can you tell? Anyway, congrats to RSL on a big (and surprising, given recent form) road tie that keeps the cup in Utah for another year. So craziness at home and at work here lately, but I hope to have the site back up to date and fully going again in the next couple weeks (that's not to say I won't possibly get some occasional posts in between now and then). As always, thanks for coming by!

And in honor of the win, here is the beloved cup itself:

Peaceness, kids.

Updates coming soon

So I have grades ready for the Colorado game, but haven't yet watched the LA game. The plan is to watch it and the KC game this weekend and then get all caught up hopefully by Monday. Famous last words, I know, but the Review will keep plugging away and, as always, thanks for coming by!

How's that workin out for ya?

Well, that Kyle Davies-for-basically-nothing trade is really paying off. Now Nat is hurt, Worst is hurt, Olave has no knee cartilage, and our other backups (Russell, Wingert) are really outside backs (and their backups are 1st and 2nd year guys). Good move guys, really well done.

2009 Game 6: RSL vs. Crapids: Rocky Mountain Cry

Wow. What a turd. Will RSL ever win a road game? 8-ball says: Signs point to no. Since we are already to the midweek game, no use for a full review. Here's the grades from the game:

Player grades:
Nick Rimando-6 Decent until the injury
(Kyle Reynish 35)-6 Left out to dry on the goal, solid debut
Robbie Russell-4 An abomination of a 1st half, only slightly better in the 2nd
Nat Borchers-6 Stopped most attacks going his way
Jamison Olave-5 Bad call or no, got to be more careful than he was on the red card
Chris Wingert-5 Very up and down
Clint Mathis-6 Still played decent even completely out of position
(Tony Beltran 74)-6 Quiet in garbage time
Kyle Beckerman-6 Very bad at times, good at others, however, the only RSL player with enough passion on the night
Javier Morales-4 Terrible. Turnovers galore, poor free kicks, and a 1 game suspension (although I am tempted to give an extra point for elbowing Mastro, who generally deserves it)
Will Johnson-5 Just a thought, but I'd be curious what would happen with Will as a 2nd striker and a burner like Findley up top. I think that would make a good combo
Robbie Findley-6 Needs to be more aggressive shooting the ball, but ok
Yura Movsisyan-5 Still couldn't hit the broad side of a barn from 6 inches
(Ned Grabavoy 66)-5 Mostly useless.

Coach grade (Kreis)-6 After going a man down, there wasn't a lot he could do
Ref grade (Jurisevic)-3 Most ordinary calls were ok, but the big calls were all missed. The straight red on Olave? Terrible. Morales's elbow on Mastro? Missed it. The obvious pick-up of a pass back by Pickens in the 3rd minute? The one that would have changed the whole complexion of the game for RSL? The easiest call he'd have all year? Didn't make it. Shockingly bad.

RSL Man of the Match-Kyle Beckerman
Did Kyle play the prettiest game for RSL? Did he play the most technical game? Was he even the best player on the field for RSL for much of the game? No, no, and no. But Kyle did something that few of his teammates wanted to do: hustle. He wanted that game. He wanted the RMC. And yes, he tried a bit too hard to make something happen at times, but at least he tried. If, say, Javi had put in that kind of effort maybe the scoreline would have been different. On a related note, Javier Morales gets an honorable mention for MOTM, not for his play, but for decking Pablo Mastroeni. Well done!

Douchebag of the Day-Pablo Mastroeni
Was his normal whiny, crying, dirty-playing, douchy self. Honestly, perhaps we could just change this to the 'Pablo M. Award'