RBNY v Colorado: My Eyes!

By: Martha | May 13th, 2007

Before it all went to hell. Well, that was just dire — no hustle, no spark, no nothing. As the game went on, the atmosphere in the ground went from bummed, to uncomfortable, to pissed off — you could tell the complacency on the pitch was sending fans right back into the negativity of last year; I hope to God next weekend feels different for everyone, because that’s a path we really don’t want to go down again. (A note to the guys yelling “Trade Angel!”: You’re not funny, you’re assholes. Shut up.)

Reyna was out with — wait for it — another injury, so we started with just Angel up top. He worked hard, showing for the ball and making good runs, but the service was pretty much non-existent so it really didn’t make a difference what he did. On the rare occasions that RBNY managed to advance the ball beyond Seth Stammler (who played well, but really shouldn’t have had the ball as much as much as he did) and the deep midfield, the crosses or passes into the box were so bad they pretty much defy description. No one would shoot, and the passes tended to be hopeful and into space rather than to feet, or into someone’s path. Or at least, someone not play for Colorado.

I have no idea why Arena decided to go with a five-man midfield instead of starting Jozy, but it’s not as if everything caught fire during the last 10 minutes when Jozy was on, so it’s probably not fair to point that decision as the entire problem. The problem, really, was a lack of coherent effort. You could feel guys like Dema and Cletus periodically try to will the team into having some passion, but their personal fire could only carry them so far and, when it failed to affect everyone else, they would inevitably slip back as well. The whole thing was just exasperating, not only for those of us watching the game, but also for poor Bruce, who was losing his mind in the second half trying to get the team to play to feet and with speed. (Yes, he yells the same things you tell that high school team you used to coach. Isn’t that depressing?)

The only good thing I can find in the whole game* was Colorado coach Fernando Clavijo, who wore all black and was good-natured and exploding with personality. Plus, Wikipedia tells me he once played for AND coached one of the many St. Louis indoor teams, so he’s now my favorite coach in the league. If only watching the game had been as much fun as watching Clavijo, the whole afternoon would have been great. Sigh.

Also, I feel compelled to mention something I realized today: Such is my love for Dema (who played midfield and right back, half the time with cotton in his nose and wearing a numberless shirt, the badass) that I will never, ever be able to tell if he’s played terribly and given the entire game away. So consider yourselves warned: When Dema is crap Chris will be the one to tell you, because as far as I will be able to tell, he’s always brilliant.

(In addition to the one above, I took a bunch of mostly crappy pictures; will upload some of them in a bit.)

*Actually, I thought of another one: They fixed the printing on the jerseys, so now all of “KOVALENKO” and “VAN DEN BERGH” are on one line, rather than being stepped up from armpit to back. Who says MLS can’t solve problems?