Yo're Not in Kansas Anymore

So that was something new and interesting...

First, apologies for not updating this more. Well, not apologies really, work has just been kicking my ass as of late. I've sort of stopped doing weekly predictions since that was the least interesting stat stuff, and because picking the home team is just the safe bet in MLS anyway. But I do want to keep up with power rankings and player ratings.

So I guess maybe first things first. Let's do some player ratings for last night.

 

New York Red Bulls
Bill Gaudette	4.75
Markus Holgersson	4.75
Heath Pearce	4.75
Conor Lade	4.26
Wilman Conde	4.75
Dax McCarty	4.26
Joel Lindpere	4.50
Tim Cahill	4.50
Teemu Taino	4.50
Kenny Cooper	4.26
Sebastian le Toux	4.26
Thierry Henry	4.50
Team Average	4.50
Sporting Kansas City
Jimmy Nilesen	6.24
Aurelien Collin	5.99
Matt Besler	6.98
Seth Sinovic	5.74
Chance Myers	5.50
Lawrence Olum	4.26
Oriol Rosell	4.26
Graham Zusi	5.50
Roger Espinoza	5.25
Julio Cesar	5.25
Paolo Nagamura	5.00
Kei Kamara	5.74
CJ Sapong	5.99
Jacob Peterson	4.26
Team Average	5.42

Not that surprisngly, Mesler get's man of the match, for a solid job on defense and his involvement in the first goal. So congrats to Mr. Matt, well earned and an excellent three points.

I actually think the wins more or less puts us in the playoffs for sure. I don't think it's mathematically certain just yet, but 8 points up on Houston and 9 points up on Columbus means we can skuff two matches while they win and still lead them going into the last few weeks... Of course the shiled is what we want, and Portland helped us out there, but man is San Jose good at scoring goals when they need to.

As far as the trip goes, I had a blast. Only bummed we didn't get to hang out with More New York fans while we were there, everyone I talked to was super nice and welcoming, but for some reason they didn't want us mingling with them pre-game... Go figure.

Poor crowd of course, and I mean, yeah, midweek game, stadium location isn't ideal, Yankees were playing, Bruce Springsteen was in town, blah blah blah. Kansas City fans can't really talk about attendance I guess, except Red Bull Arena is really really nice and the team is actually really really good, despite what the fans keep saying (I really think they expect titles and anything less is failure, which is one way to look at it, I guess... kind of a Yankees mindset that rubs me wrong, but whatever).

I thought the match was well played. Both teams looked good while attacking but New York didn't really have an answer to SKC's high pressure, and their set piece defending was just god awful. Flat footed stuff by everyone.

And then there was this..

Come on New York, you're better than that...

Also there allegedly was an Henry head butt? I didn't see it, but there was definitely a scuffle towards the end of the game... Gonna go look at highlights for it. I used to have a lot of respect for him as a plyaer, one of the best in the last decade, but after what he did to Roger a bit ago it's been fading...

Anway, I don't have much to say. Great to see us grab a huge three points, wish I could have stayed on for the Montreal leg.

Here's some photos if that's your thing. I just got a new phone with a great camera so I've been having some fun...