“We played very, very poorly”. “He’s played too many minutes”. Also your mentality becomes a little fresher. I don’t think it was up to our standard tonight. He was important tonight for our possession because we didn’t have (Gonzalo) Pineda and (Osvaldo Alonso) out there.
Advertisement
“It’s nice to get two in a game”, Neagle said.
“It was an exciting game”, Arena said. “I said that all along, and the proof is in the pudding”. Matias Laba fired a shot from about 25 yards, but Stefan Frei was there to make the save. “We know that we play well at their place”. They’re a good team.
Neagle was one of seven players in coach Sigi Schmid’s starting lineup who did not play in last Saturday’s 3-0 MLS victory at Vancouver.
Defensive errors were one thing, but the Whitecaps never once genuinely threatened to get a break through of their own and that was partly down to how well their opponents defended and partly down to Christian Dean and Tim Parker being played in the full back roles.
The goals didn’t come immediately, but once they started coming they came in bunches. We were just caught a bit sleeping, and as in every game, the first goal is always crucial.
After a scoreless first 30 minutes, Seattle sprinted away with three goals over a 15-minute span. It was hard then. We tried to rally and regroup the boys at halftime to get the next goal because the next goal was going to be crucial.
Barrett was glad to see Seattle move onto the next stage after fielding healthy lineup and which featured a great showing and excellent 90 minute effort in front of the home supporters. “All in all, a disappointing night, but we’ve got to brush ourselves down now”. Expect head coach Carl Robinson to plum the depths of his 30-man roster to fill a starting lineup for that one. Neagle leads the team with three goals during this year’s tournament and ranks tied for third in club history with four SCCL goals. There’s nothing I can say about that. I think we just need to do better. Maybe they’ll get into an easier group. We’ll take responsibility for that. Ben McKendry, who hasn’t played a minute for me, was set to be on the bench barring a last-minute decision. “I think if we would have done this we would have advanced”. You can say it is because we drew at home or because we lost here. “It’s a good thing we have a game three days from now”.
Even if Vancouver (1W-1D-1L, 4 points) defeats Olimpia (1W-0D-2L, 3 points) in the last group game on October 22, the Sounders (2W-1D-1L, 7 points) would advance on the head-to-head tiebreaker. We’re talking about … building our confidence level, and continue to win games. Seattle did (take care of business), so credit to them for taking advantage of that. “The proof is in the pudding with these young guys”.
“They’ll get massive benefit out of (this year)”, said Robinson. But it’s about rotating your squad as well.
But forced by injuries and a reluctance to tax his regulars before an MLS game this Saturday against New York City FC, Robinson essentially threw in the towel on Wednesday.
Advertisement
The Caps, by virtue of winning the 2015 Canadian title, will get another go at Champions League next summer. “Probably not, but it doesn’t matter now because we don’t have to”. Mine are young players. I have also written about the importance of Pa Mo-Dou Kah to this team.
