Comments on: Do We Care That Galaxy Were Knocked out of the Cup by a USL2 Team?

By: FlatPhenix

FlatPhenix — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 12:25:32 +0000

I am from the Richmond area and a fan of good soccer. I too went to the game and your source was correct. LA dominated possession but it was primarily between the mids and backs due to the constant pressure Richmond put on every ball. The first half looked like LA was waiting for a goal to happen.

LA looked like a different team in the second half. They came out looking to earn a goal. They figured out Richmond’s strategy to trap the wings and avoided the edges of the field. Their was just too much traffic in the center to generate any quality chances. It was a tense final 20 minutes as LA was constantly threatening.

As a follower of the local team and an armchair soccer analyst, I can offer this…Richmond is a solid team. They play smart and have a good work rate, even if they don’t have all the talent of other clubs. They are the USL-2 defending champs. They were USL-1 runners-up (loosing in PKs) prior to that. They were undefeated this season until the game before the Galaxy match where they rested all but 3 starters. They outplayed the DC United A team last year until lightning stop the game after 30 minutes. They have beaten the DC United reserves and the USL-1 Railhawks so far this year, both by 2 goals. Richmond has been consistent performers against all competition.

I think it was easy to look past a USL-2 team or LA decided to surrender the tourney in favor of other matches and their season. In either case, the play lacked luster. The local fans here would have been happy seeing quality soccer put their team away. As it is, they are just as happy seeing them advance.

By: Greybush

Greybush — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 04:34:06 +0000

I’m not surprised that LA lost. I just had this bad feeling that LA wouldn’t take this game seriously & prolly thought they could walk through it, although fan reports from the game said otherwise. I’m a little disappointed that we didn’t win cuz it was a chance for a trophy.

I guess we look forward to the MLS Cup or SuperLiga or Supporters Shield now.

By: Laurie

Laurie — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 03:46:06 +0000

Lee, I agree with you. The damage is less in the trophy case and more in the mental attitude. Shoulda won this one. Didn’t win this one. Now what?

By: Lee

Lee — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 03:16:06 +0000

Personally, I think it’s an embarrassing loss for a team
which is underperforming. The danger is that is gets
in the players heads and causes dissent in the ranks.
This going into the SuperLiga and WSOF where the team
could easily loose all five games could be disastrous.