Metro loses to Wiz 2:1, fall into last place
July 10, 2008
Another game, another disaster. No, this wasn't to the scale of last week's debacles, but tonight's 2:1 loss to Kansas City will have a major effect in the standings. The loss moved the Wiz even with Metro on 20 points. The duo are now tied for the last two spots in the East, with New York losing the tie-breaker. Juan Pablo Angel had the lone Metro goal.
Juan Carlos Osorio's lineup shenanigans continued, with the defense consisting of Dave van den Bergh, Kevin Goldthwaite, Jeff Parke, and Chris Leitch. Carlos Mendes, Seth Stammler, Luke Sassano, and Mike Magee lined up in the midfield, with Angel and Oscar Echeverry up front.
Kansas City had a grand total of two chances in the whole match. Sadly, those two chances produced goals. The first came in the 11th minute, as Jimmy Conrad rose above Goldthwaite and headed in a corner kick (a play eerily similar to the one when the two teams met earlier this year). Two minutes into the second half, a through ball found the Metro defense asleep, Davy Arnaud ran into it, and made it 2:0.
Metro chances... there were Metro chances. Some at the end of the first half, two on long shots by Stammler and Angel, one by Angel again, from close range. Dane Richards' insertion into the match midway through the second finally tipped the scales in Metro's favor. In the 71st, three minutes after checking in, Richards sent in a cross that Angel slammed home with a powerful header. Just like that, we had a game.
If only Metro played the entire match like they did those last 20 minutes! So many chances: a long through ball by Magee that Richards ran onto and forced a tough save from Kevin Hartman; a turnaround shot by John Wolyniec that nicked the goalpost. And then, in injury time, a low shot by van den Bergh that Hartman parried, and then another save by Hartman, this time by Goldthwaite off a corner kick.
Alas.
One thing that needs to be said is the uselessness of Oscar Echeverry. We try to be eloquent when we can, but there is no other way to put it: this guy sucks. How can anyone think that Sergio Galvan Rey's former backup can be anything of substance? How can anyone think that Metro, even with the supposed life-saving signings that are around the corner, will be able to produce any attack with Echeverry as the second forward? This team needs a striker, and it needs one fast.
Lineup: Conway, van den Bergh, Goldthwaite, Parke, Leitch, Mendes, Stammler, Sassano, Magee, Echeverry, Angel. Subs: Ubiparipovic, Richards, Wolyniec.
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