First One Leg, Then the Other

Thankfully, for Union fans, this round is 2-legged.  My overall feeling about Sunday’s first leg against Houston Dynamo is that they were doomed from the announcement of their starting lineup, yet put up a great effort, worthy of leaving PPL Park with a zero goal deficit.  The inclusion of Stefani Miglioranzi in the starting XI was borderline criminal, and responsible for their minus-one differential.  He is an injury or suspension fill-in, at best.  There are no logical tactics that should include him in a starting role.  He’s not a 90-minute player, he’s not fast, and he’s not even above-average for an MLS player.  Inevitably, Nowak would have to sub for him, which isn’t a tactical sub because it’s necessary.  I would rather see Juan Diego Gonzalez in Thursday’s match than Miglioranzi, and JDG hasn’t played a single minute in MLS play this season.  The difference is I KNOW Miglioranzi hurts this team (Adam Hainault agrees with me).

The positive outlook is that Union were able to threaten Houston’s defense, which had conceded just 3 goals in their previous 5 matches.  There was luck involved in Sebastien Le Toux’s goal, as the pass deflected off of the back of the head of a helpless Houston defender.  But there was also luck involved in Houston’s first goal (well, their luck was that Nowak started Migs.  Oh wait, I’m supposed to be positive in this paragraph).  The substitutions were all positive.  They created several opportunities for goals, but their inexperience showed.  Jack McInerney, for all of his willingness to get forward on well-timed runs, needs to realize that sometimes he needs to be on the ball-side of his defender because he’s not going to win headers too often.  Roger Torres, for all of his willingness to play the nicely-weighted through-ball to a surging teammate, needs to realize that his teammates don’t always see the game the way he does (although they friggin should).  Freddy Adu, for all of his experience internationally, needs to realize that he is still the new guy on the team and he has much to learn about how his teammates play.  McInerney was certainly hurt by his lack of playing time (damn you, Fat Chooch!), and it showed in the waning moments of the match.  A little more sophistication in his game probably finds him in a better position to attack the ball and put more threatening shots on goal.  Roger finally learned to drop deeper in the midfield to be the conduit from defense to offense.  Playing in that manner with Adu also on the field should lead to a more consistent and potent offense (all in due time.  I hope this happens Thursday night, but I’m not counting on it).

The best thing to come out of Sunday’s 2-1 defeat is that we have learned Michael Farfan and Seba can step up to the big moment and perform in the playoffs.  Their play combining for the response in the 7th minute shows that Seba is not a fluke, and Marfan has cemented himself in the starting XI for the foreseeable future.  Speaking of Farfans and positives, Union are very lucky that Gabe was not issued a red card for his wreckless challenge on Danny Cruz.  I think the yellow card was the correct decision, especially given that it’s a playoff game and the teams get more levity to play and compete hard.  I have no refereeing experience, but if Garfan had been issued a straight red card, I would not have argued it.  I would have been really upset at Garfan for the challenge, instead.  It was an aerial cross to a stationary winger.  Cruz was not making a run behind Garfan, therefore there was no urgent need to win THAT particular pass.  If anything, by playing proper body position, Garfan could have easily dispossessed Cruz after Cruz’ first touch on that pass.  Worst-case, Houston has the ball on the wing at the foot of someone not named Brad Davis, therefore, it’s not Houston’s most-threatening position.  All of that being said, Garfan also did well to compete hard and not pick up a second yellow, so Union’s comeback attempts did not have to come a man down.  And he is eligible for Thursday’s match.  Which is a positive because….

….it’s one less possibility that Stefani Miglioranzi starts… you knew I was coming back to that, didn’t you.

Nick Y., the other .5 of Unholy Union

Touch-ing Solo – lines

Congrats to the USA Women’s National team on making the Women’s World Cup Finals.  They’re facing off against Japan on Sunday.

No, i’m not gonna make a joke this time.  I’ve been called racist, bigotted, asshole, and many things – but orientalist I am NOT.

In Union news, there is yet ANOTER rumor that Ruiz will be joining a Mexican team.  And there is ANOTHER rebutal by the star forward saying he’s staying.  There’s cheers, jeers, women weeping… Unfourtanately with our fan base, we don’t know which news is causing any of these emotions.

In MLS news, Red Bull enjoys having no cups.  They sent only 14 players (no staff) to face Chicago Fire, the day of, for the USOC tournament.  Two things can be taken from this – they don’t take the USOC seriously, and that they take the regular season seriously.  Fortunately for us, they only walk the walk on one of those things.

It’s been a while since I talked about the CONCACAF scandal, but not much new news bits (read: comedy) has come from it.  Since I didn’t do a TL last week, here’s the update – how bad is your company management when someone keeps pressing outside courts to put themselves back in office?   It’s really bad when you have to re-release the same mandate saying the man is banned from all things soccer.  At this point the punchline is just “FIFA” and a snicker.  Then again, it has been for 50 years.

In other news, my stand up comedy gig is going well (read: in my mind).

Back to the Union – we are going to play a game.  Pin the ball in Juan Diego Gonzalez.  If he touches the ball at any point – be it warm ups, half time, the ball came out of bounds and he tossed it to a playing player, take a picture.  We want proof that he is DOING SOMETHING WITH SOCCER.  The picture has to be after this date (looking at you Earl, sneaky bugger).  Contest to be decided, or just lots of memes.

July 15, the transfer window is approaching fast (so is christmas… it’s already halfway through the year…gotta make christmas cards.)  Nowak has made it known that he wants to be active during this time.  By active he means doing his usual thing and banging hookers.  Wonder where that allocation money for Harvey went huh?

Good luck to the USWNT, and the New England Revolution FANS – may you not get thrown out this time.  In the words of Charlie Sheen ”Already got your money”

Postgame: Union vs San Jose Earthquakes

A scoreless draw on the road against a team that hadn’t scored a goal in 3 of its previous 4 matches.  That is what Union left San Jose with Saturday night.  While Chris Wondolowski was in the lineup (though you wouldn’t have known it based on his high complaint-to-actually playing the ball ratio), they were missing Bobby Convey and Steven Lenhart.  The latter two have given Union many problems, so their absense made this a match that should have more closely resembled the thrashing in Toronto.  Union dominated possession and chances, yet scored the same number of goals as the ‘Quakes, and yours truly:  zero.

As we are now past the halfway point of the season, I can now rip the team for the way that they’re playing, per my promise given during the first YSA Report podcast.  My head is still spinning trying to grasp the logic of the Jordan Harvey trade, then we get news that Carlos Ruiz, Veljko Paunovic, and Carlos Valdes were all going to be absent.  I understand that the lineup was going to be drastically different than what it should have been.  All of the players in the starting XI have played this season.  It’s not as if they asked ANOTHER 30-something to come out of retirement to play.  I just don’t get how a team that “allegedly” practices together can look so disjointed.  Case-in-point:  Roger Torres’ header attempt.  He was completely unaware that Jack McInerney was in the same zone and in far better position to leverage that head strike likely into the back of the net.  THESE FRIGGIN TIES AGAINST INFERIOR TEAMS HAVE TO F*CKIN STOP!!!!!!!  It’s great that DC United helped the Union’s cause by beating the NJ Pink Cows, but the team can’t rely on the rest of the league beating each other up so Union stay atop by default.  Playtime is over, kids.  Get three points when they’re there to be had.

The last place I want to see Stefani Miglioranzi is on the field, trust me.  If someone had told me that Migs was going to play all 90 in this match and somehow NOT make an error that directly resulted in a goal, I would have done a “bearfight” in celebration.  I’d prefer that he find the seat next to Juan Diego Gonzalez (that is, if anyone can actually find him).  He played a solid game in emergency duty, the credit for which will rightly be given to Faryd Mondragon.  I’d also like to thank the San Jose organization for having to use UC-Santa Barbara’s facility for their games.  It was quiet enough that Migs could hear the directions from Dragon so well that even he couldn’t screw this game up. 

I don’t want to see the possession statistics on this match.  It will make me want to throw up, and then punch somebody.  Or maybe punch somebody and then throw up on them.  Either way, I’m going to be in a bad mood when the statistical analysis proves that Union should have won this match by a field goal.  Union’s next match is against New England Revolution, the last place team in the Eastern Conference.  This match has now become a must-win.  If Union really want to prove that they are the top team in the East, then they need to be able to beat the worst teams in the league, regardless of the venue.  That’s what happens in leagues everywhere else in the world; the big guys beat up the little guys (I don’t want to hear Manny Pacquiao references).  KC was a bad team: scoreless draw, DC just changed their team up mid-week: another draw, playing a short-handed sh*tty team in San Jose: scoreless draw.  Road draws build character for bad teams.  Union are in first place, but that will not be true much longer if they can’t figure out a way to beat the teams that they should beat.

Nick Y., the other .5 of Unholy Union