Silverware! Probably our best hope for the shiny stuff this year, and probably not the most prestigious of trophies, but silverware nonetheless. And a spot in next year's Champions' League. Now, assuming that we don't get any format changes next year, the Open Cup win puts us in the qualifying round--you know, the one that MLS sides did so well in this year? Ugh. Guess we'd better try to upgrade our seed, eh? But enough about notional seeds in far-off tournaments. Let's savor tonight's victory . . .
* Time to start hitting the refresh button on the GoffBlog so we can find out how hard the Bum Hammy Hammer hit us this time. Sounded like Vide fell to its mighty blow, and a glancing strike removed Emilio in the early going (but not before he did what Emiligol does best!). Good thing Guerrero's call-up got cancelled, cause we're going to need the bodies this weekend. And goddamn it if we see Iron Rod getting called in for cover! Anybody else expecting a fairly lame and exhausted performance on Saturday in Quake-land? Screw expansion! Look at the state to which MLS rosters are being reduced by injury--Champions' Cup qualifiers, anyone? I say focus on building larger and deeper rosters before expansion if you want the league to be taken seriously and not stuffed to the gills with 18 versions of this year's edition of the Galaxy, but who the hell am I?
* It sounded like the Battery were all over us for portions of this match but faded late. Admittedly, I'm going by Lifton's LiveBlog and Limarzi's radio call, but that seemed to be the gist of it. And maybe it's just me being entirely too hopeful, but it did seem that a lot more counter chances started appearing once we got our Prodigal Gallardo back on the field. Fingers crossed that he's all healed up, cause his ability makes us a whole different enchilada to deal with. It'll be interesting to see how Tommy reshapes the midfield with his return. It sounded like Vide (and then Fred) was wide right with Quaranta in the middle ahead of Simms. Perhaps he's prepping for how we wants us to play with Gallardo back in the fold?
* You know, I felt more relieved than elated at the final whistle. I guess that's just a product of how much MLS has been sucking it up against supposedly "lesser" competition as of late, and year upon year of piled-up insecurity at being a fan of soccer in the states. But perhaps now is the time to just put all this intarweb cynicism and furious nitpicking aside for a moment, crack a cold beverage, and just enjoy the win.
So that's what I'll leave you with. Negativity is banned (at least until tomorrow) around these parts. Let's do a little celebratory jig (only a little one, to match the level of interest in this cup--damn, stop it with the negativity already!) and break out our scarves tomorrow (in the 90+ degree heat and humidity--shut up, you cynical lout!). Cue the mandatory Queen!
We are the champions, my friends!
Vamos United!
PS: Who gets picked last in a 5-a-side pick-up game at the park, Dyachenko or Alavanja?
Out! Out, damn it! You just couldn't leave well enough alone!
No comments:
Post a Comment