October 28th, 2008 . 1:11 pm . By: Buzz Carrick

Of our elaborate plans, the end. Of everything that stands, the end. – Jim Morrison

With little riding on the game and two red cards to really mess it up, it’s hard to take much away from this one.  Dave Dir was also right that massive changes are coming to this team to re-make it in Schellas’ image.  So really the only things to think about were the Golden Boot and evaluating Victor Sikora.

El Bueno (The Good)

- Congratulations to Bobby Rhine on a great career, he’s a pure class guy.  Class move to start him by Schellas, and class move by Davino to give Rhine the captain’s arm band.  Class move by Bruce Arena to be the first one up to shake Bobby’s hand as he subbed off.  I would have liked to have seen Rhine subbed at a minute mark more like 85′ but you can’t have everything.

“If the game went on 180 minutes today, I wouldn’t have liked coming out.  The fact was, coming out when I did, that was tough.  It’s funny — you feel like you’ve seen the game better than you ever had. You know the way it should be played, you know scenarios and decisions that should be made on the field, but when you can’t keep up physically, it helps make the decision easier. It’s a young man’s game, and I’m no young man.” – Bobby Rhine

- I thought Serioux at central midfield worked fairly well, although one game is hard to judge.  He wasn’t getting much help playing forward from anyone in midfield frankly.  Obviously Ricchetti is and will remain first choice here. But I would take Serioux over Saragosa any game.  I loved seeing Serioux getting in Beckham’s grill again when Becks was bitching at the referee about the red car to Pires.  I bet it was something about red cards and tackles.

- Speaking of Ricchetti, I spotted him standing in the end zone behind the field in FCD street clothes supporting the team.  Class move by him to travel.

- Sean Franklin is the clear Rookie of the Year for me.  Yes LA stinks, but he’s by far their best defender.  I’d take him quick on any MLS team I was running.

- Nice to see Chase Wileman on the field, he deserved some PT as he’s been playing well for the reserves.  But one can’t help but wonder if these were some charity minutes for a bottom of the roster player who will have a tough time making it next year with all the FCD picks.  Given he got a solid 30 minutes, I am betting it was more about a short first team evaluation.  Yet as nice an all around game as Wileman has, the size is just a killer.

- Congratulations to Donovan on the Golden Boot, he deserved it.  It’s ridiculous how much better an individual player Landon Donovan is than anyone else on the field.  Seriously dude, about freaking time you moved on isn’t it?  How many times did he blow past Davino like the slow one was standing still?

“I’m very proud of it. Very, very proud of it. I would have liked, like most years, to have played more games. That’s the situation though, but given everything, I’m very proud of it. I really wanted to get to 20 goals. Thanks to Eddie Lewis, today I got it. Not many people do it, here or anywhere else in the world.” – Landon Donovan

El Camino Central (Middle of the Road)

- Dir solo to start the show?  Oh there’s Ray.  That travel to LA can be tough.  I’ve had the same problem before.  It can take four hours from landing at LAX to the Home Depot Center.  Seriously.

- Cooper was working his balls off early, but just couldn’t get any help from the midfield today.  He had a couple chances in the second half but I think was gassed by then.  I am going to go out on a limb and predict this is NOT Cooper’s last league game for FCD.

- Sikora, who is under a very short window to prove he should be back, was good and bad.  The read and run for the goal was high level, but there’s a missing step and quickness I recall from his trial before his injury.  Can he get that back and is it worth the risk he will?

No Tan Bueno (It’s Not Good)

- Pitch’s second yellow came for the same thing the first one did, inability to handle the player on the run at him.  It underlines something we’ll get to post season about the nature of this defense.  I don’t want to get into it to much in this venue.  He also was doing an immense amount of work covering for Davino and had a fairly good game except for the two cards.

- So no start for Greg Vanney?  Come on Bruce, one game for Julian Valentin is not going to fix the fact he’s a bust.  Give Vanney the curtain call just like Rhine.  Vanney played some great ball for LA back in the day and even figured on the National Team, he deserved more.  At least Beckham understood and gave him the captain’s band.

“I think it was a given, really. Someone like that, that’s had a great career. Coming on for his last game in his whole career, like I said he’s become a good friend of mine and every one of the players respects him, so I think it was only right that he had the band. If he would have started the game he would have had it coming in. We wish him all the luck. Like I said, he’s a good career and we wish him and his family good luck in the future.” – David Beckham

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