McBride v Crew 7/11

Much more entertaining than the 0-0 score indicates, tho my observations are of the trivia category:

Crew Mgr Warzycha did a pretty good job of assigning fill-inss for Rogers and Marshall; exception being his continued placement of Ekpo on the left wing. HE cant play there.. period. Would have been better to put Gaven on the left and let Ekpo play his strong position on the right, overlapping with Frankie.

The Fire's true DP isnt Blanco but McBride. CB defo is no longer worth the money and he probably knows it. That's why he said he isnt staying with the Fire.

In the first half it appeared that a Fire goal was inevitable, they esp looked good on counters and controlled midfield a lot, but the Crew adjusted just a little and as the game went on, seemed more and more in control everywhere.

Warzycha is said to be a little miffed at the Fire scorer stats. He said that some of the 11 saves chalked to HEsmer were not really.. and that seemed the case to me. Several of the McBride efforts were weak because McB was too far out* to be effective and Hesmer only had to wait for 'em or wave at them.

GBS was taken off, either gassed, or with a minor tweak from the looks of it. HE didnt seem happy, as he didnt seem happy after the DCU game. Dunno.. but worrying.

As the ESPN Crew {Harkes} said, the Yellows were too fast and arbitrary. Ekpo's was certainly suspect and so were a couple awarded to the Fire.

Crew MoM - tie between LB Padula and Hesmer.

*But Brunner continues to impress at CB. The guy's a monster. Wonder what Ives Galarcep thinks about him... after Ives classic "Szetela held Hostage in Columbus" ridicularity; then what do you call NYRB treatment of Brunner?

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Fire fans know what's hot and what's not... Attendance 18,000 compared to avg of 11,000 for the season. A very good crowd including a supposed 150 from Columbus. If it looked like more than that, the 150 is the count from the bus charter.
- and yes, if you listened real hard, you could hear RoadNordecke

I love Bridgeview's looks. Some reason last night was the first time I saw a wide angle shot of what the stad looks like from the field.

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Match Reports: U Pick