Stunted Metro speared by Goats, 2:0
July 26, 2007
We hope you enjoyed your Metro soccer, because that was the team's last match for two and a half weeks. Oh, what? You're saying you didn't? How dare you not enjoy a night of the beautiful game at the cavernous Giants Stadium? So Metro lost 2:0, big deal! It's nothing we haven't see before!
That's right. It's nothing we haven't seen before. And that's the unfortunate part.
With Juan Pablo Angel back from suspension, Metro switched to a 4-3-3 formation. Dave van den Bergh and Joe Vide came back to the midfield as Clint Mathis and Dane Richards sat. Chris Leitch and Seth Stammler were paired in central defense as Jeff Parke's injury and Carlos Mendes' flu kept them out of the game. It was Leitch's first action since his return and first in central defense in his Metro career.
Metro had the best of play early, with Juan Pablo Angel hitting the post off a redirected free kick and then Seth Stammler barely missing the net off a corner kick. Then, in the 38th minute, after some careless passing in midfield, a Chivas counterattack ended with old nemesis Ante Razov heading in a cross past Jon Conway.
Altidore had two great chances early in the second, first knocking the crossbar off a John Wolyniec cross, and then firing high from close range after a perfect pass from Vide. Not 100% after suffering an early knock, he had to leave the game. Mathis and Richards came in, Metro kept attacking, but it was all for naught.
Sacha Kljestan made it 2:0 three minutes from time on a breakaway as Jon Conway failed miserably to stop an easy shot. Extra time brought a meaningless save off the line by a Chivas player off a meaningless Angel shot.
No, it's nothing we haven't seen before.
Lineup: Conway, Goldthwaite, Leitch, Stammler, Freeman, Vide, Reyna, van den Bergh, Altidore, Wolyniec, Angel. Subs: Richards, Mathis, Kovalenko.
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