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I’m livid. Let’s chat.
Winner: Albert Rusnak
He scored a very nice goal. His trajectory continues to improve. That’s good.
Loser: Nick Besler
I actually don’t think this game is really on Nick Besler. When you basically only have one player in the midfield, you’re going to have a bad time. We had a bad time.
Loser: Andrew Putna
Putna laid a bit of an egg in this one. He wasn’t directly responsible for either goal given up, but he didn’t instill confidence. In fact, I wonder if he’s fully fit — he’s famously got a powerful left foot, but with time running out and half our team in the opposition half, he dropped the ball right at Noah Powder’s feet. It was weird. Now, if he’s not fully fit, that could spell danger: David Ochoa is still out, and now Zac MacMath is out with “knee soreness.” It’s gonna be bad.
Loser: Donny Toia
It was a very poor game from Toia, whose marking on Colorado’s second goal was poor, and whose one-on-one defending was suspect at best.
Loser: Freddy Juarez
I usually keep the coach out of these things. I firmly hold to that. But his post-game quotes have me riled up. I’ll include a reference below, then talk about them.
Juarez: "Great display from our guys. I thought we fought hard. Played well. I'm upset right because the goal we scored taken away wasn't clear and obvious. In a game like this, you've got to have better officiating." #RSL
— Matt Montgomery (@TheCrossbarRSL) August 22, 2021
This is the big one. I don’t like this quote. I really don’t like it. We gave up two extremely weak goals, and the response is that we had a great display? If all you’re looking for from your team is a good attack, I suppose I can see it. But this is a game that demands precision from your defenders, and it’s a game that demands attention from your midfielders. We lost that in two key instances, and we were actively exploited.
To come out and simultaneously praise your team and blame the referee when you weakly concede two goals? I’m not about that.
On that note, I’ll vow to go back to not featuring coaches in this sort of thing. I just needed to get that out there. (Twice, I guess, since I already did that on Twitter.)
Losers: Maikel Chang, Justin Meram and Noah Powder
These guys had just 13 minutes (plus stoppage) to make their mark on the match. It’s no surprise they didn’t produce magic. It’s just not sustainable to expect that from such little time, unless it’s Alvaro Saborio and you’ve got a corner when he’s coming in.