3rd Degree

Some good insight there. You’re right, both Cooper and Ricardinho both got too much of the ball on the wide side of the field with absolutely nobody in the middle to feed it to. It looked a bit more dangerous when Rocha joined the attack.
I actually thought Rocha had a good game.. particularly for someone who just flew in from Brazil yesterday.He broke down LA’s attack on a fairly consistent basis and ran the full length of the field a number of times as he switched roles. I’m curious to see how he will combine with Toja, as they are similar sort of players. I think Toja is a better tackler, but Rocha could be more threatening offensively.
That was the first time I’d seen mr magical shoes since last year and he has improved dramatically.. but I think he still holds the ball too long, but I’m really excited about his prospects.

It was a good move to bring on Arturo for Richetti, but too late.

Great report Peter, unfortunately it’s not great for FCD. I came away from the game last night more worried than ever about the team. This was L.A. without Carlos Ruiz!

Sala was World Class last night and without his superhuman saves we get embarrassed once again.

Totally agree with Peter’s insight. What good was the trip to Brazil if they come back playing like it was their first game together?? Morrow needs to stop playing around with the starting 11 because last night the team lacked cohesion.

3rd Degree: Can you guys find out if there will be a LIVE FEED for the game vs ATL. Paranaense?

After last nights game, I think that I think that:
The Pitch looked fantastic.
The new Kits are ghastly.
Dario Sala is still our #1.
This is going to be a season of offensive constipation. &
Saragossa is Rocha’s Minnie-Me.

Being bedridden the last couple of days, I was forced to watch the game on a tiny little window on my PC. So I can’t say I saw the whole field.

I have but one comment, until we replace CR’s spot in the lineup with a proven and still capable goal scorer, we will not be playoff contenders. KCJ is not a viable #1 option.

I appreciated Ricardinho’s effort a lot more than ever before last night - he kept making second and third efforts to keep the ball after the defense tried to knock him off the ball. Dario really was the man last night, though, with some truly inspired work. The worst performance though (from a Dallas player!) was Rhine. Did he get a single cross anywhere near a teammate? It seemed like at least half of his crosses were blocked by the defender.

Lack of finishing is really a concern to me right now. Part of the problem last night(I think) and has been previously mentioned was the inability of either Rhine or Wags to get off a quality cross from the wings. The result was that our forwards needed to play further toward the touchline in order to receive the ball. This can be solved when McCarty and Alvarez play in those locations (assuming Alvarez wants to be a two-way player).

I was very happy with our actual possession time last night though. Only saw stats regarding shots and shots on goal. My gut feel is that we must have easily possessed 20-25% more than our average game last year. Hard for the other team to score if they don’t have the ball…..

Sorry. The worst FCD player performance last night was not Rhine, it was KCJ.

Dax needs to give Ricky some tips for covering/defending the ball when you’re smaller than the other players. Ricky kept getting blown off possession, but at least he tried to get it back a few times. Dax is a master at defending the ball.

Saragossa just spares me to death. He is a redundant member of the squad at this point. Rocha looked lost, but gave good effort. Little Ricky is brave and speedy. Drew did have a couple of giveaways, but made some good tackles. Pitch was pretty good. All in all, I’m not too worried. Just need to get some better understanding in the midfield.

Good crowd but as always does not really push the team or support it! Do we know how to cheer in Dallas?(dont think so)

Sala had a very good game, he really saved the FC dallas! Drew as ok and Rhine was terrible! Does he knows how to cross or what?

Rocha had a good game in my view, he tried hard, made some good runs and long passes! Saragosa was strong on the mid and Richetti was ok! Up front cooper was terrible! We need a striker or we wont be able to win many games! He needs to look for the ball and finish(or at least shot on goal) whenever he has an opportunity! Ricardinho played great! made some nice plays, ran a lot, came back to help and look for the ball but at the end ran out of fuel!

Hope to see Toja back and Alvarez on the starting line-up SAT and really hope not to see Rhine on the field, he is just terrible

Can’t give 5-6’s to any attacking players when we get ZERO SHOTS on goal. A shutout earns the defenders 6-7’s and that’s really basic stuff.
These grades indicate we played good (near our potential) and if that’s true we may not win a game this whole season.

Ricardinho does not impress me. Kenny needs some one who can’t get the ball back to him. Lets give Dom a chance to start with Kenny and see what happens

They definitely looked more dangerous at the end of the game when they were playing a 3-4-3. Wags & Rhine are good bench players but if they are our option for width then we will have trouble getting good service up top. What are the other options out wide if we go with Toja & Rocha in the middle?

I think we should go with Dax on the right and Toja on the left and let Rocha and Pablo patrol the middle.

If the idea is to get our best 11 on the field, then we need to go with a different formation. If the 3-5-2 or 3-4-3 means that we have to role with Wags and Rhine as the starting wings, then we need to go back to the drawing board. They are great guys and hardworking role players, but if they are consistently in our top 11, this thing is going nowhere.

Anyone catch our #1 draft picks total whiff?

Loved Rico and Rocha, thought Wags did pretty well. Dario was super. Everyone else…definately pre-season form…

FCD remains undefeated in ‘08 regular season play!

Hey! Photoshop last night’s eastside into the TV background of future evening games! Bob’s your uncle!

One of the things they’ll have to work out is the distribution from the centerbacks. Both Serioux and Moor made some bad decisions, but I think it may be because the wing midfielders were taking up bad positions and leaving them few options. LAG were closing the two of them down quickly and forced some bad turnovers. One thing I liked was Pitch doing a lot of organizing and talking in the back.
Wags and Rhine, as everyone else has noted, didn’t offer much going forward and it played more like a 5-3-2 than a 3-5-2. Fortunately they aren’t going to play anyone else who can hit 60 yard diagonal balls to the outside midfielder on the opposite side.
I think the shots on goal stat is a bit deceptive, as they made some good chances that just didn’t force the LAG keeper to make saves. Of course we want them to put shots on frame, but I thought they had some decent chances — Cooper’s sliding shot in the first half, Alvarez’s shot, the one off of someone’s knee, etc.
Overall I thought they were better in the second half than the first — Morrow made some good adjustments, I thought.

i agree w/ alejo. morrow needs to quit switching things up so much during preseason. it’s been 6wks worth of the same thing. we looked so indecisive and lost in the 1st half. our chemistry should’ve been a little better than that. it seemed like last year when we kept losing possession of balls or were giving them away.

as far as wags and bobby, those guys are good role players. i can live w/ 1 of them starting, but not both of them. drew moor must’ve been having flashbacks of the US v. mexico game.

Has Morrow really switched things up? That looked like the same starting line up as the first CAP game.

I’ll reserve judgement on players until the season starts (when I’ll finally be able to see a game on tv), but I would advise some of you to step away from the ledge at least until then. If the team still doesn’t look better with Toja, Dax, Arturo, and Davino in the starting lineup, then you can be worried. Sala was obviously on form, and the rest of the team is still a bit unsettled. Relax.

One thing I did not need my tv to tell me is that the new kits are horrible. The 3 blue stripes on the shoulders, shorts, and socks give the illusion of purple directly on the red background. What happened with the numbers? Didn’t the league go to standard lettering/numbering a few years ago? And, finally, the less said about the white backs, the better. At least I know I’ll be saving money on replica jerseys this year.

Back when Beckham was on Real Madrid, they went to Chicago to play Chivas. I was living in New York for the summer but traveled to Chicago for one day one night just to watch them play. I was AMAZED watching them warm up before the game. Beckham was on one sideline while Ronaldo was on the other. They were about 50-55 yards apart and Beckham was putting the ball on Ronaldo’s foot about 95% of the time. I’m not talking one-hops or Ronaldo having to move; the ball had such a perfect trajectory that it landed literally on Ronaldo’s foot from 50 yards AWAY! It was disgusting how easy it is for him to place the ball where he wants to.

Comment by Ze Bill on March 16, 2008 2:59 pm
FCD remains undefeated in ‘08 regular season play!

so the 3-1 loss to Avai does not count? Besides, who really cares if we win or lose in the preseason?!?!

Overall not bad preseason game . We need to have Toja in there. Cooper missed 2 very good crosses from Wag’s and never seem to be playing forward. Not sure we are playing the right people in the forward position. But it is preseason

Agreed Cooper didn’t really play the forward role that he needs to, but that could be because for the first 70 minutes of the game he had nobody passing him the ball. Ricardinho was just terrible. I don’t think he won a single 50/50 ball all night, he didn’t have a single dangerous pass, and his shots were anemic at best. I think Cooper with Dom/Abe and some real wingers will be a much better combination. Bobby is not a winger. Not enough speed. I’d prefer to see Bobby in a more defensive role anyway, though. You could tell Bobby’s brain was always one step ahead of everybody else’s; his feet were about a half step behind. Defenders need brains, attackers need feet, and midfielders need a combination thereof.

so after I make this comment.. I am sure everyone will bash me, but I would like to see shea and thompson as the starting forwards… with cooper as an attacking mid… with his size it would be a nice touch… I believe that with shea and thompson our line would blow up

i wouldn’t mind seeing brek as our LWB…as long as he quits whiffing on the ball.

These rankings are not so accurate IMO. Saragosa is decent as a DM, but he has no creativity and is slow with the ball. Basically, he is redundant with the roster as it stands. And Serioux had the best distribution from the back…and the worst with some of his giveaways. He should be back at DM, Wallace takes LB. Make Pablo a spot starter and put Toja and Dax in CM with Serioux. Rocha and whoever on the wings - maybe Rico. Then put AA and KCJ up front.