Thursday, March 5, 2009

Livebloggamy

Kick is in less than 10.

I know, but I'll be back right at kick to get this, well, kicked off.

Looked for line-ups. Hadn't found them. But I'll get caught up promise. And if you want to follow along that would be dandy.

Santos:
Oswaldo Sánchez (G), Juan Santiago Santiago (D), Jorge Estrada Manjarrez (D), Rafael Figueroa (D), Osmar Mares (D), Fernando Arce (M), Francisco Torres (M), Walter Jiménez (M), Daniel Ludueña (M), Vicente Vuoso (F), Christian Benítez (F)

Montreal: Matt Jordan (G), Leonardo Di Lorenzo (D), Nevio Pizzolitto, Cédric Joqueviel (D), Adam Braz (D), David Testo (M), Sandro Grande (M), Eduardo Sebrango (F), Joey Gjertsen (F), Roberto Brown (F), Rocco Placentino (F)

Three things:

A) I pulled those line-ups from soccernet so I have no idea how legit they are. Are the Impact really playing a 4-2-4? On the road? Doubt it.

B) The player to watch for the Impact is Eduardo Sebrango. He had both goals in the first leg.

C) Not-related: UF Favorite AZ Alkmaar lost in the Dutch Cup quarters today.

Moments from kick.Impact in white. Santos in Green. Glad you're playing along.

Kick And we're off...

Ha ha, and the Impact lost to the Dynamo in a friendly on their way down to Mexico. Too bad the Dynamo got housed on agg 4-1.

2nd minute: Sorry catching up. Barely had time to catch the game. But we're off and Santos is getting the ball out of their half. And now turn it over.

3rd minute: They are talking shit about Oswaldo Sanchez. Santos with a great cross to the right post, but it just goes over the head of the Santos player. The ball comes back in and is knocked out for a corner.

5th minute: Corner looked dangerous but it was cleared out with no shot on goal. Santos plays it deep and out for a goal kick.

6th minute: Impact with a dangerous cross from almost the end line. Sanchez bobbles it but smothers it to kill the threat. The Impact look patient and deliberate and totally non-plussed by the hostile environment... Thus far at least.

7th minute: Impact in the attacking third. Turn it over and a break. It's shut down by Jordan for Montreal.

8th minute: Corner for Santos. They take it short. And on a feed back to the right side, the ball is too heavily weighted and it goes out for a GK. Both teams having success getting deep on the wings so far.

10th minute: Testo taken down. No whistle. Teams exchanging balls. Monteal plays a long cross into the center of the box. Snachez comes sliding out to collect it.

11th minute: A nice professional foul by one of the Impact players when he was beaten on the right. Impact aren't just sitting back, which is nice. As it's allowing open play. This match got chippy late in Montreal, so there might be some carryover the longer this goes on with Montreal not conceding.

Hey Spectator, welcome.

13th minute: Sebrango gets in on the left with some space, but as he cuts it back, his touch is too heavy. It runs out past the 18 and Montreal is too unorganized to do anything after the break down.

14th minute: Ludueña totally beat his man. And with some space sent a cross back across the box. But his left foot puts too much on it and it goes over the only other (diminutive) Mexican in the box. Impact dodge one.

15th minute: Goal 1-0 Santos. Benítez given too much room on a free header. The ball comes in from 20-plus out. It's a great service and a clinical finish. So we've suddenly got a game. Bad defense by the Impact.

18th minute: Two more good chances from Santos. Benítez again off a deflection. He winds up but his shot is blocked. The rebound falls in the box, but is cleared for a corner. Corner is taken short.

19th minute: The keeper comes out to clear it and doesn't punch it very far. Santos lobs it back toward the open goal, but there's a whistle for a foul and the Impact get the free kick. Okay on reply Benítez didn't really have much room on that header for the goal. It was a massive failure (failuer?) by the defender to not get any part of his head on it.

20th minute: Another cross into the box and this time it's Vuoso with the header. It forces a diving save from Jordan. Montreal under a fair amount of pressure here.

22nd minute: Benitez to Ludueña who has all kinds of space. Montreal lucky to get a deflection. The speed of Santos on the wings is killing Montreal as the Mexicans are getting easy crosses into the box. Montreal needs a goal. Then they need to rethink their formation. They really are playing without much of a midfield.

24th minute: And now Vuoso... Wow. 1-1. Terrible job by Sanchez and the Santos defense.

So I was just saying that Vuoso had gotten behind the Impact defense again. But off the save by Jordan, the Impact get up to the attacking third but there is a horrible backpass from Santos that is picked up by Roberto Brown and he splits the last two defenders then beats Sanchez.

27th minute: The complexion of this two-legger has just changed as Santos Laguna now need 3 goals. So they'll have to start pushing and that means opportunites on the counter for the Impact. Just a shockingly bad backpass from Santos Laguna.

29th minute: Santos with no huge change in formation yet. Impact draw a foul in the midfield. Free kick.

30th minute: And they play it forward. No shell here from the Impact. Which is a little odd... Just saying.

31st minute: Benítez with a great chance from the left, but he cuts back from the left edge of the 18 and gives the defender time to recover and strip the ball on a nice clean tackle. Ooh, now Santos with the ball clean deep on the left again after a fortuitous deflection. The ball comes naked across the goal. Jordan is beat, but the ball is cleared. Luck for the Impact.

32nd minute: Motreal need some help on the right side of the defense. Santos is getting all kinds of pressure and space, they just can't make that next pass to get a good shot.

33rd minute: Oswaldo "Dirty" Sanchez is hurt? Didn't even see the injury, but he couldn't wait to get out of there. Didn't even act like he might be able to continue. Wuss.

35th minute: Eh... looks like Sanchez pulled up with a hammy. So it's legit.

36th minute: Another corner for Santos. This one cleared off the line for another corner. The ball is floated in and Jiménez nails it but right at Jordan. That was another good chance for Santos. Even needing three goals, there not out of this as Montreal's defense is shit.

38th minute: Now Benítez on the right gets some space, but it's knocked out.

39th minute: Goooooool.... Sebrango 2-1 Montreal! Okay, I'm not even sure how Montreal got the ball so deep after the turn over off Benítez for a throw in. But Sebrango took a feed right at the six. It was deflected and he settled it befor taking a turn to the right and burying it past the keeper.

41st minute: Brilliant is on for Montreal. I couldn't even see who went off. It wasn't even anyone in the starting XI I pilfered from soccernet. Accuracy and soccernet are not pals.

42nd minute: There were about 8 shots in 10 seconds for Santos right there. Really the ball kept getting deflected, popping up, and finding another player in green. But the defense holds. Montreal, for all of the living dangerously they've done have only conceded the one goal.

44th minute: Crowd wanted a hand ball against Monteal. Might have a legit complaint. Would have been a tough call. But eh... Don't think the defender extended the arm. I'm not kidding when I say this could be 6-0 for Santos Laguna. It's like they are playing 4 Bendtners up front.

45th minute: We're in stoppage time. Two minutes. Goal kick for the Impact.

45 +2 minute: Santos showing too much patience for a team down 4 and with 60 seconds left before half.

Half Montreal up 2-1 and 4-1 on aggregate with 2, count 'em 2, away goals.

Back in a few... talk amongst yourselves. Or in this case, Spectator, talk to yourself if you so feel.

Poor USL, FSC can't even given them their logo on the graphics. Instead putting up one for Racing. Which Racing I'm not even sure. Think it was Racing Club from Argentina.

Okay, the changes...

Montreal: Felix Brilliant (great name by the way) on for Steven Deroux.
Santos Laguna: Miguel Becerra (I think) on for Oswaldo Sanchez. I tried to check the gamecast on soccernet and they didn't even have the right players in the switch. They had two defenders, not the keepers.

Kick Second half underway...

It would take an Oiler's-esque collapse for the Impact to blow this. But... Santos Laguna had all kinds of possesion around the Montreal 18. They also got off plenty of balls that the Impact were lucky to deflect. So it could just as easily be 5-0 as 2-2 as it is 1-2.

47th minute: minute: Impact on a counter. There was an obvious foul, but the ref let them play the advantage. Jimenez just took a whack at Montreal's Brown. It was an easy yellow. Could have been red. Anyway, the ref let them play the advantage, but the problem was the only supporting player, Brown, was on the ground because he had been hacked.

49th minute: And more failure in the box by Santos. They had another cross from deep go right across the goal mouth but nobody could connect. Then a good look on the rebound was blocked on a late charge by Joqueviel for the Impact.

51st minute: Still lots of pressure for Laguna. And the Impact are their own enemies as the kind of refuse to clear it high and wide, instead pushing it back to center where invariably someone in green is there to try a shot or get it to the wings for a cross.

53rd minute: Becerra takes down Brown and that is a stone cold penalty. The back-up keeper doesn't get any of the ball. It was passed him when he took out the Impact player. And somewhat unjustly Santos come right back and score. 2-2.

Stupid blogger. My edits won't go up. And as I'm trying to describe the goal Santos hit the post and get a shot of the rebound off that is barely saved by Jordan.

56th minute: So, backing up. Benitez got in on the right and got off a shot that Jordan couldn't collect (and he should have). Vuoso was right there to tap in a rebound. Then off the ensuing kick, Santos come back down and on a beauty curling shot from the right (not sure who it was) the ball went off the far post. Santos still need to score 3 times, but it's not looking undoable.

Backing way up, the Impact should be sipping shakes right now though. Again, Becerra, the replacement keeper took down Brown in the box. A better ref calls that. On a penalty kick this match is over. Just saying...

59th minute: Montreal with better possesion and David Testo with some space that forces a diving save to his right from Becerra.

61st minute: Quintero with a cross. It's settled and on the turn, the shot is blocked. For being the taller team, Montreal doesn't contest much in the air. Strange.

62nd minute: God, is it my prejudice or are Mexican players just the poorest sports who take the cheapest shots? Ludueña with a yellow for kick an Impact player in the foot when he was on the ground.

63rd minute: Okay, I think FSC missed a sub altogether, but it looks like Quintero on for Mares (Santos) at half. Sorry, working with less than stellar information, not to mention my lack of familiarity with these teams.

65th minute: The Impact are leaving themselves way too exposed on the back. Another good cross from Benitez and the header goes down outside of the right post. Jordan was in trouble, but the header was off target. Anyway, Montreal need to think about reshuffling so as not to leave the back line as exposed. Still lots of time.

68th minute: More from Santos Laguna. Ludueña with service into the box and Jordan is way late to get to it. He punches it and it goes out for a corner. That corner comes blazing right across the cross bar. It's punched out for another corner.

69th minute: Brown held, and he puts his arms up like "Yo, what gives ref?" No whistle. Quintero to Benitez and it results in another corner. It's kept in and go.... Oh, it was in the back of the net but it was offside. Almost for Santos.

72nd minute: Montreal with some possession in the Santos half. Haven't seen much of that this half.

73rd minute: Quintero was a great sub as he's been a menace. Santos with a ball in behind the defense. And it's cleared at the last minute. Santos with their 142nd corner of the match. Ball comes to the top of the box. Right footed shot from Vuoso goes wide.

74th minute: And here we go. Goal Santos 3-2. Vuoso with an easy tap after Jimenez gets almost to the end line with room. He sends it back. Vuoso is there unmarked. Monreal is still having issues in back and is getting beat (and badly) on the right side.

Aam Braz on Brown off for Monteal. So that's finally a 5th defender for the Impact. Yellow picked up by Joqueviel for the Impact.

77th minute: Another yellow here for the Impact. Testo grabbed a jersey after he was dispossessed. Montreal might find the best defense is a good offense as they have done almost nothing in the Santos half of the field this half.

80th minute: Ack, Arce took a dive and got Santos a free kick. Ball goes into the wall.

81st minute: Montreal doesn't clear long well either. And now they concede another corner. Ugh. This is when you can tell this is a USL side. And Pizzolitto bails out Jordan. The keeper was out of position and the ball was floating in when the defender headed it safely over the bar.

82nd minute: Benitez causing more problems and earns a corner. Then on the corner Benitez gets to it on the far post and just misses on the back post. Really, the Impact have about 5 inches per man and they are getting killed in the air.

85th minute: God Montreal, just kick it as far as you can every once in a while. Just to give your backline a breather.

87th minute: Santos get a free kick at the edge of the box. They take it quickly. The ball takes a few bounces and is fed wide to Benitez, but the ball runs out of bounds.

88th minute: Throw in for the Impact. They get it down field to Becerra and Santos is back on the attack.

89th minute: Wow.. I think Vuoso just hit his own player in the back instead of hitting the open goal. Jordan was about 5 yards on the ground away from everything. Then inexplicably the ref gives a corner to Santos. Probably out of habit.

90th minute: Four minutes of stoppage. Not sure where 4 minutes comes from but Santos still needs two goals. They are pushing and get another corner.

90th +1: Okay and the ref atones for the missed call on the corner a couple of corners back by giving the Impact a GK they don't deserve but badly need as they are dragging on the back line.

GOL! Holy Cow 4-2. 4-4 on aggregate.

OMG Another goal 5-2 Santos. They lead 5-4 on aggregate.

I can't even get a description out and they score again.

Quintero again. Two goals in about 90 seconds. I cannot even believe what has just happened. Was he offside? No matter, this is unreal.

And there is the whistle. Santos Laguna 5-4 on aggregate. I cannot believe what I just saw.

Wow, just wow. Santos get 2 stoppage time goals from Quintero. I swear he was offside on the second, but there was no good replay angle. The Montreal defense was caught dead and flatfooted anyway.

Two things: A) Where did 4 minutes come from and B) Back to the PK on the keeper that should have been given.

But credit to Santos, they kept charging and kept getting shots and corners and chances. They are through.

That was a crazy last couple of minutes. I couldn't even get a description of the 4th goal out when Santos put the 5th one in. Wow. Poor Montreal. They were gassed though. They had nothing in the legs and Santos made them pay.

Thanks for playing along guys.

47 comments:

Spectator said...

The Flow Champions Cup highlights from Jamaica are unreal. Rural schools playing on dirt patches with generic electro background music.

Spectator said...

C'mon Impact!!!!!!

Spectator said...

Gotta say this is a pretty open match so far. Credit to the Impact for not just sitting behind the ball.

Spectator said...

Hey PR! Anyone ever tell you you're the absolute best? Becuase you are.

Oof on that goal.... I take back what I said about credit to the Impact. They need to sit 10 players behind the ball. This could get ugly.

Spectator said...

I think I spotted a Brawndo logo on the Laguana kits.... It's got electrolytes.

Spectator said...

Wowee Zowee that was a pitiful mistake by the Laguana defender.

Spectator said...

If you translated Concacaf from Spanish to English would it mean "Withshitf"?

Spectator said...

Santos's backup goalie is in even worse physical shape than I am!

Spectator said...

USL! USL! USL!!

Jacob said...

What's going on here? Are Santos really 4 down on aggregate?

Precious Roy said...

Well, they are down 3 on aggregate (4-1), but with away goals, they need 4 to advance. This is ridiculous.

Spectator said...

So 2 of 4 teams in the Semis from the USL? Awesome!

Jacob said...

Just turned it on, I'll watch along with you two.

Jacob said...

What about an all-USL final? Would they just go a head and shut the competition down (like the WBC should)?

Spectator said...

Welcome aboard! Was getting lonely talking to myself. But now I might switch over to Daily Show and Colbert... I'll give updates from there as well.

Spectator said...

First gotta past Cruz Azul and Atlante, but yeah all USL final would be amazing.

Precious Roy said...

Atlanate looked pretty good. And Montreal is having enough problems with the speed of Santos Laguna, so I don't know if I'd favor them, but it's pretty clear the USL teams can hold their own and, even better, they are happy to play attacking football.

Jacob said...

Too much of a dive to give a penalty there.

jjf3 said...

This is like Christmas in May!!!

Just to clarify: I want MLS to succeed in a huge way. But they need to be gloriously shamed into pulling their heads out of their asses to do so - I WANT the Islanders and Montreal to make the finals (not even sure they can), just to make MLS management realize how misguided they are right now.....

Jacob said...

Shoot. 2-2. Bad fumble there by the keep.

Spectator said...

Ouch, c'mon Impact don't blow this!

Jacob said...

Man, did the keeper get paid off at halftime?

jjf3 said...

Or Christmas in March! Damn beer...mmmmm, beer!

Jacob said...

35 minutes is a long time to hold on, the way this half has started.

jjf3 said...

C'mon Montreal!!

I think they can do it, even after that opening...but don't park the fricking bus...

Jacob said...

Just realized David Testo is out there. Remember him from USC. The one in South Carolina.

jjf3 said...

dammit, that was scary...

Jacob said...

*knock on wood*
Starting to look safe.

Jacob said...

Shut my mouth

jjf3 said...

I might have to give up on Aberdeen, umlaut75...:)

JK, but they need to win this fricking game...

Spectator said...

What a nervy game!! C'mon Impact!!!

Jacob said...

They need to win any game at this point.

Montreal look tired.

Spectator said...

Impact are running on fumes here.

jjf3 said...

Cmon, Impact!!!!

Keep it sane, and survive the last 5 minutes...

Jacob said...

Santos guy assed it out of his own net.

jjf3 said...

Everyone push that last 5 minutes of tiredness, and, WOOOOOWWWW! Just keep them out, you Impact!!!

Jacob said...

NOOOOOOOOOOOO.
How many stoppage minutes?

Spectator said...

Oh no, this is crazy stuff. Santos can't score again can they?

Spectator said...

NNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! Unbelievable.

Jacob said...

Sucks.

Can't say I'm surprised though. That team had nothing left.

Spectator said...

Poor Montreal

Jacob said...

Poor canuck fans who made the trip down there in the corner.

Spectator said...

On the bright side, PR sure picked a good game to liveblog!

Jacob said...

Thanks PR for the live blog. That ending kind of reminds me of the end of the Czech-Turkey game I liveblogged during the Euros. You just can't get it out fast enough.

Excepting, of course, that Turkey had no right to score either of their goals. Santos were obviously dominant for the whole second half.

Spectator said...

Watching the highlights, that was some pretty dire defending by Montreal.

jjf3 said...

Gracias, PR. Thanks for the effort...its appreciated...

Precious Roy said...

Sure thanks for playing along. That was as nuts of a finish as I've seen in a while. Like that Turkey-Czech match. And maybe even a bit like the 4-4 Arsenal v. Spurs match from this season where Spurs scored twice late. Poor Montreal, but they were outplayed severely in the last 45.