Game Grades: Columbus Crew vs FC Dallas
June 23rd, 2009 . 2:05 pm . By: Peter WelptonThere were a couple of interesting items of note from Saturday’s 2-1 comeback victory over the Crew. 1) It appears that the home-field advantage of crushing heat actually turned out to be just that as Columbus wilted as the game wore on. 2) Hyndman made the most effective substitutions as of yet. It is not that Dallas played that much better than they did in the loss to Houston a week ago, it is that the team was successful in the two areas that previously failed them: Finishing Chances and Simple Defending. It didn’t start out so well as Dallas again allowed a soft, set piece goal and hacked on a couple of decent build-ups. Dallas again showed some nice passing spirit as another team came into Pizza Hut Park looking to sit back and wait – wait for that sure to come Dallas turnover. Sure enough despite having the run of play, Dallas was down 1-0 before too long. While Columbus showed the effects of the hot summer night, Hyndman played his cards smartly with the insertion of Shea, Cunningham and Avila. Shea immediately forced the pressure with speed and workrate, while Cunningham found some of his touch and himself caused some problems for the Crew. It was Avila though that broke through, first with the beautiful goal and then the pass that lead to the game winning PK. Overall there was a sense that the team played better together, especially in the 2nd half. Genuine excitement showed on their faces after Cooper, very smartly btw, slotted that penalty. No question about it, the 4-1-4-1 is the formation to ride. No, this isn’t enough to ramp the team to a playoff spot, but it is evidence that there are some players on the bench that actually might be able to provide some of the stuff that the starters are missing. Grades:Burse: 6 – Almost a ‘quiet’ night for Ray SUBS: Cunningham: 6 – Improved performance, but not one that matches his salary Avila: 9 – Almost perfect 14 minutes 8 Comments Comments RSS TrackBack Identifier URI Leave a comment |
“McCarty: 8 – MotM again, covered so much ground…”
“Avila: 9 – Almost perfect 14 minutes…”
how can dax be MOTM if Eric has a 9 ?
Because Dax played the whole match
then dont give a 9 for avi….
why not?
Starting to hear that Saragosa was only subbed because he was hurt. If so changes my opinion on the subs.
“Starting to hear that Saragosa was only subbed because he was hurt. If so changes my opinion on the subs.”
I’ll try to view this in a glass-half-full sort of way. Woohoo, Saragosa’s hurt!
“I’ll try to view this in a glass-half-full sort of way. Woohoo, Saragosa’s hurt!”
If he starts again, I’ll view this in a why-is-Saragosa-drinking-half-of-my-water kind of way.
As usual pretty crazy grades. No one deserves a 9 for 14 minutes of play and Saragosa can’t be a 3 on a team that wins and everyone else gets 7’s. Peter you look real prejudgous with these grades.