Rose City 2 - 3 Burud Town
The Flyers are no longer perfect versus Burud Town. A close match in which some new members of the team got on the board didn't end the way Rose City wanted. Still struggling with injuries to several key pieces, the Flyers are still averaging two points a game. While not great, that's going to keep the team in the running until the rest of the team gets back to fitness. Once the full force is available you can expect a fight to the end versus anyone and everyone in the league.
Week Six features a match against Alliance who are also on six points. Their PPG is slightly lower, but it remains an interesting match. The winner is likely to move up in the standings while the loser continues to fight for a grip.
Sunday, March 31, 2013
Friday, March 29, 2013
Week Five Linup
It's refreshing to have your team up and running at full capacity. That's exactly what it feels like this week for the Flyers with Portland playing again, even though the team's major injuries haven't sorted themselves out yet.
"We're getting stronger by the week," the Coach said when asked. "Once the injured guys get up to speed, expect us to be really dangerous." Expect this team to contend strongly for the Majors Cup. Still missing Marvin Chavez, Martin Rivero, and Alan Gordon on injury, the Flyers are none the less riding a two game winning streak after starting the season poorly. This week they face an undefeated Burud Town who put a hurting on the strong looking OC Zodiac. No doubt about it, everyone will have to contribute if the Flyers are to remain perfect against the Stags. It's no time for the Bernier magic to stop, and newly acquired keeper Luis Robles will have the chance to add to the board.
Starters
Patrice Bernier (MTL)
Aurelien Collin (SKC)
Marco Di Vaio (MTL)
David Estrada (SEA)
Michael Harrington (POR)
Sanna Nyassi (MTL)
Frederic Piquionne (POR)
Luis Robles (NY)
Mauro Rosales (SEA)
Rodney Wallace (POR)
Subs
Marvin Chavez (SJ)
Alan Gordon (SJ)
Martin Rivero (COL)
Reserves
Zach McMath
"We're getting stronger by the week," the Coach said when asked. "Once the injured guys get up to speed, expect us to be really dangerous." Expect this team to contend strongly for the Majors Cup. Still missing Marvin Chavez, Martin Rivero, and Alan Gordon on injury, the Flyers are none the less riding a two game winning streak after starting the season poorly. This week they face an undefeated Burud Town who put a hurting on the strong looking OC Zodiac. No doubt about it, everyone will have to contribute if the Flyers are to remain perfect against the Stags. It's no time for the Bernier magic to stop, and newly acquired keeper Luis Robles will have the chance to add to the board.
Starters
Patrice Bernier (MTL)
Aurelien Collin (SKC)
Marco Di Vaio (MTL)
David Estrada (SEA)
Michael Harrington (POR)
Sanna Nyassi (MTL)
Frederic Piquionne (POR)
Luis Robles (NY)
Mauro Rosales (SEA)
Rodney Wallace (POR)
Subs
Marvin Chavez (SJ)
Alan Gordon (SJ)
Martin Rivero (COL)
Reserves
Zach McMath
Sunday, March 24, 2013
New Superstar? Week 4 Review
Rose City 2 - 1 Union Southern California
The Flyers squeeked it out again this week with a 2-1 decision versus the Union. They move to 3-0 all time versus the Commissioner's Club. But don't think this celebration comes without some introspection. There were quite a few lucky breaks for the Boys in Red, formost among them Jose Correa's deflected shot tallied as an Own Goal for Jalil Anibaba of Chicago. Jeff Laurentowicz did everything in his power to ruin the scoreline as well.
The question instead, since the scoreline remained in the Flyers favor is this? Just how much value did the team pickup with Patrice Bernier? Will he continue to prove to be the goal hound the team needs while the injured players get up to speed? Will the magic stop if (when?) the Montreal Impact lose some of their early season sparkle? In the club's opinion having the combination of Bernier and Di Vaio makes all the difference.
"Being able to potentially pick up two points off one well executed play like we did this weekend is big game," the Flyers coach offered when asked. "It's not as easy as it looks to put a true goal scoring run together so being able to double up like that is invaluable."
Week Five sees the Flyers, now coming off a two game winning streak face a hot Burud Town. The team is undefeated at 3-0-1 so far this season and looked impressive in taking down the previously unstoppable OC Zodiac 6-3 in Week Four.
The Flyers squeeked it out again this week with a 2-1 decision versus the Union. They move to 3-0 all time versus the Commissioner's Club. But don't think this celebration comes without some introspection. There were quite a few lucky breaks for the Boys in Red, formost among them Jose Correa's deflected shot tallied as an Own Goal for Jalil Anibaba of Chicago. Jeff Laurentowicz did everything in his power to ruin the scoreline as well.
The question instead, since the scoreline remained in the Flyers favor is this? Just how much value did the team pickup with Patrice Bernier? Will he continue to prove to be the goal hound the team needs while the injured players get up to speed? Will the magic stop if (when?) the Montreal Impact lose some of their early season sparkle? In the club's opinion having the combination of Bernier and Di Vaio makes all the difference.
 |
| Di Vaio and Bernier celebrate after combining for the game winning strike. |
Week Five sees the Flyers, now coming off a two game winning streak face a hot Burud Town. The team is undefeated at 3-0-1 so far this season and looked impressive in taking down the previously unstoppable OC Zodiac 6-3 in Week Four.
Thursday, March 21, 2013
Haves and Have-nots
This post will be a bit more topical. I don't know how many other league owners truly read all the other team blogs, but I at least pop in from time to time to see what's up with the other teams. Hopefully this will get seen.
I'll be up front. I think most of the changes to the league since the previous year have been good. I spent a lot of last year wondering about how to create value for defensive players within the BSL and our illustrious commissioner answered the call of duty before I even asked. I think those rules are going well. I have little to complain about except for the current condition of my team, for which I really only have myself to blame. There's one niggling issue that's bugging my about the current league setup though. I'm not sure I have a perfect fix available, or even an imperfect one, but I'd like to begin a discussion.
The new roster setup (15 players, 11 starters, 3 subs, 1 reserve) is pretty excellent all around and the expanded roster makes sense to include defenders (who are still under-represented in the BSL) however, the way the reserve rule has been implemented has resulted in what looks, to me, to be an issue. There are currently 12 BSL teams and 19 MLS teams. If you consider that not every MLS team has a top-notch starting keeper we're suddenly looking at a pretty tight supply of decent keepers who will get steady minutes. This problem is amplified by the way some teams have setup their rosters. Several teams are using the "reserve" slot to essentially horde a solid MLS level keeper. They never see play unless the first choice has a bye week. Essentially this reserve keeper serves two purposes. 1) Make sure you still have a top level keeper in case your first choice guy gets hurt. Go ask Colorado's Matt Pickens what that's all about. It happens and it make sense to prepare. And 2) make sure that a good percentage of other BSL teams you play against don't have the same solid keeper you do. This strikes me as an issue that needs solving.
Let me be clear. Nowhere in the current rules does it say this is forbidden. I'm not calling anyone a cheater. I'm simply suggesting that this feels a bit more like gaming the system than I'm comfortable with (perhaps similar to the totally legal but discouraged use of last minute bids on bidding wars). I have no clear suggestion on how to solve this problem and asking teams who are participating in this practice to voluntarily drop their second keeper gets tricky too. I just think we should have a civil discussion. Am I the only one seeing this or am I making some sense? Anyone have any ideas? Or am I just being whiny? Let me know in the comments.
I'll be up front. I think most of the changes to the league since the previous year have been good. I spent a lot of last year wondering about how to create value for defensive players within the BSL and our illustrious commissioner answered the call of duty before I even asked. I think those rules are going well. I have little to complain about except for the current condition of my team, for which I really only have myself to blame. There's one niggling issue that's bugging my about the current league setup though. I'm not sure I have a perfect fix available, or even an imperfect one, but I'd like to begin a discussion.
The new roster setup (15 players, 11 starters, 3 subs, 1 reserve) is pretty excellent all around and the expanded roster makes sense to include defenders (who are still under-represented in the BSL) however, the way the reserve rule has been implemented has resulted in what looks, to me, to be an issue. There are currently 12 BSL teams and 19 MLS teams. If you consider that not every MLS team has a top-notch starting keeper we're suddenly looking at a pretty tight supply of decent keepers who will get steady minutes. This problem is amplified by the way some teams have setup their rosters. Several teams are using the "reserve" slot to essentially horde a solid MLS level keeper. They never see play unless the first choice has a bye week. Essentially this reserve keeper serves two purposes. 1) Make sure you still have a top level keeper in case your first choice guy gets hurt. Go ask Colorado's Matt Pickens what that's all about. It happens and it make sense to prepare. And 2) make sure that a good percentage of other BSL teams you play against don't have the same solid keeper you do. This strikes me as an issue that needs solving.
Let me be clear. Nowhere in the current rules does it say this is forbidden. I'm not calling anyone a cheater. I'm simply suggesting that this feels a bit more like gaming the system than I'm comfortable with (perhaps similar to the totally legal but discouraged use of last minute bids on bidding wars). I have no clear suggestion on how to solve this problem and asking teams who are participating in this practice to voluntarily drop their second keeper gets tricky too. I just think we should have a civil discussion. Am I the only one seeing this or am I making some sense? Anyone have any ideas? Or am I just being whiny? Let me know in the comments.
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