by Ethan Johnson
September 17, 2007

No photos, what with this being a (poorly) televised road game. Let's skip the small talk and get right to the DVR footage:

• New England, just like their NFL counterpart, plays in Gilette Stadium. Unlike their NFL counterpart, however, they don't sell out the stadium for every (any?) game. Kinda comes off as the sports equivalent of having to take your little brother somewhere when you wanted to hang out with your peer group without him. This was especially reinforced by the bold NFL stripes all over the field, and the faint soccer markings. Hard to blame either side for not playing "wide" when there's a thick out-of-bounds line 10+ yards away from the real one.
• I heard that this game was "Taylor Twellman bobblehead" night. My new amusement is to call Twellman "the bobblehead". If you saw him, you'd understand.
• 29th minute: Cross pass to Noonan (NER), score. 1-0 NER. Sala tried to make the save, but missed.
• 35th minute: Dax McCarty free kick crosses over and is headed in to the far end of the goal by Carlos Ruiz. 1-1. Ruiz endears himself to the NER faithful by tugging the back of his jersey at them while walking to the center stripe.
• Halftime interview with Dax McCarty: Says he was told by the coach to give Drew Moor some help in the backfield, or else New England's midfielders "will kill [us]." Dark clouds gather ominously.
• 65th minute: Multiple attempts to clear the ball away from the FCD end result in the ball being kicked right to Noonan (NER), who blasts it in for the score. 1-2 NER.
• 78th minute: NER attacks the goal. Sala tries to stop the assault, but doesn't hang onto the ball. An FCD defender throws his body down in front of the ball, making the save (again), only to set up easy pickings for NER. Ralston with the finish. 1-3 NER. Ralston runs back to the center stripe making a "rock-a-bye-baby" motion with his arms.
• 84th minute: Oduro comes in late, and crosses the ball over to Ruiz who heads it into the goal. 2-3 FCD. A cool thing that Ruiz does when FCD is losing: He grabs the ball and runs it to the center stripe. No group hugging, no high fiving. I dig that he's saving the celebration stuff for tie games or outright leads.
• 87th minute: Offside called on The Bobblehead. God's existence is affirmed. :-)
• 90th minute (meaning 89:xx): Smith with the golazo. 2-4 NER. Hope fades for a comeback. Smith does a "Lambeau Leap" into the stands.
• Annnnd, ballgame. Nice that Ruiz scored two, and Sala, for all of the abuse he's taken lately, showed definite spark. I ran a fine-toothed comb over the DVR footage and noticed that FCDs defense was way out of line. It was significant when the FCD defender tried in vain to stop the close range assault on the goal, but otherwise, the NFL markings helped show just how far out of goalie orbit the defense was when the ball came into FCDs half of the field. They need to fix that stuff NOW.
• Another lesson from another sport: Notice that "lobs" in tennis are pretty much the kiss of death. So too with lobbing the soccer ball. See, sending it airborne isn't really controlling the ball. Airborne lobs might be great in volleyball, but in soccer it is a matter of time before someone brings it back to terra firma and puts together a goal attempt. FYI only.

Next home game is on September 20th against the hated Chicago Fire. Who's with me? <EM>

(Much, much more virtual ink has been spilled by me about Major League Soccer. The fledgling but growing MLS article archive may be found here.)