Instead of writing match reports as I watch the game, I'll just be doing postgame notes from here on out.
I wish I could say this was a game that RSL deserved to win; but you've got to get shots on goal to deserve a win. The postgame stat sheet says the shots were RSL 11 to Columbus' 4, but watching the game it seemed more like RSL 0 to Columbus 0. The post game stat sheet also says that RSL had 6 shots on goal; I don't remember any of them.
It was that sort of effort. Once again RSL had a defensive breakdown that cost them a cheap goal. In fact, the goal was so cheap that Scott "No Go" Garlick decided to not make an effort to stop it. If you're keeping track, that's two times in two weeks that Go Go made no effort on an opponent goal. I know the guy has a pretty decent MLS career, but a complete lack of effort might mean it's time to hang it up. Even I'm capable of throwing a leg out.
Medhi Ballouchy had a fantastic game, and I found myself wishing he'd just try to run through the Columbus defense. He pulled some new footwork tricks out of his bag this week, and (probably because I haven't seen that AT ALL in MLS yet) I briefly thought of Christiano Ronaldo. Medhi did get pushed around a little bit in the second half, but he was easily RSL's best player. His passes were consistently on target, including a double step-over nutmeg ball to a teammate inside the Columbus 18 yard box that SHOULD have been a goal (instead, Atiba Harris stood and watched it roll not more that two yards in front of him... maybe they should try Atiba in goal). Medhi was all over the field, and he showed that he's perfectly capable of extended possession. The only thing he didn't do was put the ball on goal.
But you can't blame him for that, because he was just following the example of his forwards. Jeff Cunningham attempted a couple shots when he should have passed, and it was never more obvious that he didn't care for his strike partner than when they collided going after the same ball. Atiba Harris immediately fell to the ground in pain, and Cunningham walked off (without looking back) like he felt that Harris had gotten what he deserved for getting in the way.
I really don't have much to say about the efforts of Columbus; they were consistently lackluster and were outplayed by RSL. But they did finish when they needed to, and thus got the 1-0 win.
I can't help but think that Jason Kreis would have been a huge help in this game, but he was out because of last week's red card. I'd like to see someone other than Scott Garlick in net next week. And I wish Eddie Pope didn't make at least one play per week that made me nervous to have him playing on the National Team. I don't know what else to say other than I'm pretty glad I haven't been a RSL fan since last year; 6 straight games without a win is pretty rough, I can't imagine what it's like to watch 18 winless.
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For those of you still reading, here's a link to all the MLS players' salaries. I was mildly surprised to find out that a lot of guys are making less money than I do, but completely amazed that some of the guys don't make a third of what I do.
But then again, a lot of these guys don't finish their runs (a definite difference between MLS and the Premier League) and some of them don't really seem interested at all. Maybe you get what you pay for?
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