One More Time

Trade today, game this weekend, and family coming to town.  Short recap tonight.

Second verse, same as the first.  Well not exactly, the first time around there was a combined 1 shot on goal this time there were 11, but the result was the same, a 0-0 draw.  Once again the Rapids couldn't generate good shots on target, even when they were put into good positions.  San Jose did generate good shots, but the Rapids had a better keeper.

My strategic consideration was our midfield creativity.  It was absent for the most part though Eloundou did show a spark.

Other Observations:

• Interesting lineup for this one.  I did not see Hill or Watts, much less both of them, getting the start.  Neither of them were shining stars but Watts was at least solid on defense.
• The defense was picked apart at time though, Moor had another save off the line, O'Neill seemed out of sync, and Piermayr had possibly his worst game as a Rapid.
• Klute is exempt from the above, he had some good moves.
• Good to see Powers back, but more and more he's becoming a box-to-box guy and not an attacking mid.  That's not a bad thing but that really means we need Sanchez back ASAP.
• Hill was mostly invisible.
• I liked what I saw out of Eloundou.  For a young kid he has a never say die attitude I like.  He needs to get his head up and look for his teammates though instead of cutting inside and going for goal every. single. time.
• Buddle and Torres, *sigh*  Actually they both looked better than they have, but that still wasn't good.  Late in the game Torres had the ball out on the edge of the box and tried something.  It was either a poor cross or a poor shot, but either way it was poor.  It was a good encapsulation of his night.
• That said, they didn't get the midfield support they needed.  We're still struggling to cross the gap between the midfield and the attack. 
• I felt like Pablo may have made a couple of coaching mistakes last night.  First he didn't have Brown or Jose Mari on the bench.  Brown could have really helped find that winning goal (more than Serna did, or Mwanga would have if he had gotten in the game).  Jose Mari would have brought some stability to the midfield which was necessary because of Pablo's second questionable choice.
• None of the 4 starting midfielders had played 90 minutes in a first team game recently, and Hill and Eloundou haven't gone 90 this season.  By the end of the game the midfield was dragging.
• If resting guys like Brown, Jose Mari, LaBrocca, Hairston, etc. pays off with a win on Sunday then it was probably worth it.  If it doesn't though...
• In the end, you can't really be that upset about a point on the road.

Man of the Match: Clint Irwin.  Easy, he had at least 4 huge saves to preserve the shutout.