America's hat?

So, the wheels fall off at home once again... While I don't think it's time to hit the panic button just yet, the lack of run of play goals at home is cause for concern, as it the seemingly simple mistakes that have lead to goals. Both Haitians made awful mistakes that wound up costing SKC two goals and possibly the game (who knows what happens if they dont give those up). Bieler earns a penalty that I think was a bit soft. He goes down easy and contact seemed to start outside the box, but I'll take a little luck every now and then... I almost wanted to see it over turned though. Two overturned penaltys in a row? Would have been hillarious.

Well, despite the result, SKC arguablly controlled most of the game and really dominated the stat line. Montreal came in and had a good game plan, and I'm sick and tired of di Vaio being offsides on every single ball to him.

Anyway, if we win that game 1-0, I think the conversation is entirely different. Still, losing at home sucks and it'll be interesting to see what Vermes does with the long break.

First, some ratings, then I'll do a photodump.

I'm not even gonna give out a man of the match nod for this one. Bieler really doesn't deserve it, and may even see a suspension for this second half antics leading up to the nesta red card. Montreal a bit lucky on both goals. Frustrating.

Anyway, here's some pictures. Probably the last game I go to for a bit, gonna have another kid born on Wednesday. We'll see though...

Benny and the nets

I'll say it. That was probably the best performance I've seen a Kansas City team turn in in years. End to end, total domination. The 2-0 score line was generous and the only thing I have to say negatively about a player is Biler should have had a hat trick. But that's the Kansas City team I think we all wanted to see and Montreal was utterly swarmed and devoured. And in the player ratings this week, it actually shows.

Here's how everyone fared.

Much love for Zusi and Besler, but Benny had a monster of a game, unlocking Montreal with some great through balls and playing lights out against everyone. I think a lot of people had been skeptical of him, myself included, but if he keeps playing like that the rest of the season, he may see a lot more time with the USMNT in qualifying. I'd love to see it. What I'm not loving seeing is that moustache... eek.

Edit - and now, for some match day photos. I really need a better camera...

It happened, it happened

So that was definitely an interesting game. Not that entertaining for a neutral, I would imagine, and probably really poor if you're a Monreal fan, but... well.. interesting.

I actually don't really agree with either PK call, but I don't entirely disagree with them either. Each one was maybe 50/50, so getting one in our favor isn't too bad. What was bad was how poor we were playing after going down a goal, and how well we played after scoring one. It looked be another typical SKC loss, where we dominate the stat line but lose the most important part, but once Kamara had the ball in the back of the net it all turned around.

And for the record, I totally called Peterson playing well last month. Jacob Peterson, that is. Not Peterson Jopseh. Though he hasn't played poorly either...

Anyways, I was surprised to see that it finally happened, a player on a non-winning team scored high enough to warrrent man of the match. So here we go...

Montreal Impact
Donovan Ricketts	4.6
Zarek Valentin	4.6
Shavar Thomas	4.6
Felipe	5.8
Patrice Bernier	6.9
Davy Arnaud	4.3
Justin Mapp	4.9
Collen Warner	4.6
Sanna Nysassi	4.3
Jeb Brovsky	4.9
Hassan Camara	5.8
Justin Braun	4.0
Eduardo Sebrango	4.6
Marco di Vaio	4.6
Team Average	4.9
Sporting Kansas City
Jimmy Nielsen	5.2
Aurelien Collin	5.2
Seth Sinovic	4.3
Chance Myers	4.9
Matt Besler	5.2
Graham Zusi	6.3
Roger Espinzoa	6.0
Paolo Nagamura	5.2
Jacob Peterson	5.8
Peterson Joseph	4.3
Kei Kamara	6.0
CJ Sapong	4.6
Teal Bunbury	4.3
Soony Saad	4.3
Team Average	5.1

So, there you go. Even though SKC looked to be the much better team by the score line, it was only a slightly better outing player by player. Montreal actually had the better share of possesion by the end of the match, and the stats were, more or less, even. So Graham Zusi with SKCs best performance, but Petrice Bernier gets man of the match and earns a spot as one of the players Kansas City no longer wants to see lining up against us.

A few thousand words

Here's a partial dump of some game photos I snapped. Nothing great or anything, but a fun time was had by all, even with the poor result.

Some kind of yardstick

Well that was disappointing. I'm not going to get too much into discussing the match other than I would be a lot less upset if we had at least scored. Felipe's first goal was goal of the week stuff in my book, great shot, and not much you can do about a soft penalty call like that, but not even scoring, at home, against an expansion team, after a bye week really asks a lot of questions.

I did take a few pictures which I'll throw up in a little bit. For now, The Full 90 has a decent writeup, and Down the Byline goes into some questions regarding the roster.

What I will do is throw some numbers back into the ole spreadsheet (Which is getting far too tabular for its own good... I wonder what the limit is in Excel...) and get some player ratings. Here we go.

Montreal Impact
Donovan Rickets	6.7
Matteo Ferrari	4.4
Tyson Wahl	5.9
Nelson Rivas	5.9
Felipe	7.0
Davy Arnaud	4.1
Lamar Neagle	5.2
Patrice Benier	7.4
Sinisa Ubiparipovic	4.4
John Brovsky	5.2
Hassoun Camara	5.6
Justin Braun	5.6
Andrew Wenger	4.1
Eduardo Sebrango	4.4
Kansas City
Jimmy Nielsen	4.1
Aurelien Collin	4.8
Matt Besler	3.7
Chance Myers	4.8
Michael Harrington	4.4
Graham Zusi	5.2
Roger Espinoza	4.8
Bobby Convey	6.3
Julio Cesar	4.1
Paolo Nagamura	4.1
Kei Kamara	4.4
CJ Sapong	4.4
Teal Bunbry	4.1

So, there you have it. Man of the match for Saturday's match was Montreal's Patrice Benier, for a PK goal and some good defending to keep a clean sheet.

SKCs best player was Bobby Convey.

Ask again later

In honor of midweek games and BigSoccer going dark for upgrades (in what will surely be a move that will require many soccer fans to find other, more productive ways to waste their tieme), I'm getting predictions in early this week. It actually seems like a pretty straightforward week, so I'm hoping things pan out well. I bet big in the WPL game, at least...

Colorado and New England draw
Seattle beats LA by a goal
San Jose beats DC by two goals
Chicago and Chivas draw
DC and Toronto draw
Seattle beats Philadelphia by two goals
San Jose and Vancouver draw
LA betas New York by two goals
Kansas City beats Montreal by three goals
Salt Lake City beats New England by two goals
Portland beats Columbus by one goal
Colorado and Dallas draw

Definitely excited about the SKC game this week, I've got a good feeling about it (which of course means I just jinxed it). With Montreal playing for a Canadian CCL spot mid week (a game I think they're gonna want to give their all given how the MLS season is going for them) I think we've got a great chance at a win. Maybe even a blowout. Plus it'll be a nice home comming for Davy.

I also secured tickets for the away game in Philly in June, so that should be another fun trip. But more on that later.