[retired_mallory08]

5 Games Unbeaten....5 Games Without Winning

The draw fest continued at Spartan stadium as the 'Quakes amassed 5 straight draws and wasted a huge homestand that still has 2 games remaining.

Scoring is still a problem for the boys from Cali, however, Clark has moved to address this issue with the arrival of John Wolff (the first in a two part trade that will also see Pablo Mastroeni move to KC for Chris Klein) for Santino Quaranta. SQ never impressed the boss after his recent arrival and the youngster was allowed to leave in the hopes of resurrecting his career. The Uruguayan continues to be unhappy and surely Clark will have to bite the bullet soon and allow the marksman to leave. "Right now he's wasting the air around here" said Clark after another lacklustre performance."He's been capped 10 times by Uruguay - thats no 4th rate side - yet he's struggling badly for us. He's got until Josh Wolff is fit to change my mind."

Wolff injured himself in the first training session after signing with the new club. He'll be out for 4 week. "Fecking typical".

SJ have drawn against the best and worst in the league. 8 draws out of 11 games is a testament to the parity in the league "i don't care what anyone else says". With only 1 win, SJ have the worst record in the West, and 9th overall out of 10 teams. Conversely, only runaway leaders DC have less defeats than SJ's two. The 'Quakes are also 5th best in GD.

The 7 goals conceded is testament to new found solidity at the back. "I said we'd have a tight D this year and I think the fact that we're 2nd bottom but have the 3rd best goals-against record speaks for itself. We're nobody's fool at the back, if we could just start scoring we'd be right up there".

The last session included not one, but two agonising late equalizers to deprive SJ of 4 much needed additional points. The two goals conceded in two shots OT against KC was the only defensive blip this year for San Jose. 'Even DC's Arsenal upfront couldn't get more than one past us. The collapse against KC was uncharacteristic and totally unacceptable".

The team has struggled to get players to man sports their own, too many players are on the fringes right now and a few of the vets (or even rookies) need to step up and help take SJ to the next level.

In other news, SGR signed a three year deal. He may not be as prolific as last year, but his 4 goals in MLS so far (5 in all competitions) is good for T-5th.

"Only Joe Cannon and Ramon Ramirez can honestly look me in the ey and say they're having a decent season. Everyone else? Well, they need to buck their ideas up - big time."

[retired_mallory08]

Breaking Dallas news...

Dallas manager Stu announces key loan signings of Michael Owen and David Beckham. The pair are expected to lead DAllas to new heights...

[retired_mallory08]

??!! and I convinced Nowak to put the boots back on and play again!

[retired_mallory08]

picking up where we left off

Dallas next faced a tricky home date with Columbus...that they promptly lost 0-1. The game was only remarkable for having the 22nd diferent Dallas player making an appearance for the 2005 squad, in only the eighth match of the season. Ty Maurin came in for the struggling Jordan Stone at half in a switch of young central midfielders...this left only young keeper Taylor and young DC Danny Hall as the only members of the squad to have not yet played...Zizi Roberts got the goal for Columbus on the stroke of halftime off of a cornerkick, just another in a disturbing trend of setpieces to go against the Dallas side...Eddie Robinson earned the MOM for 'winning everything in the air', except, notably, the matchwinner.

After facing every team in the MLS once, Dallas found themselves with the stellar record of 2 wins, 2 ties, and 5 losses...

Dallas then traveled to DC to face a side that had a propensity for violence. No less than three Dallas players left the game with injury with all to miss five days or more with their ailments...Behnke, Oughton, and Twellman were all felled by the capital's thugs...the game ended 0-0 despite DC scoring in the 92nd minute, only to be waved off for offsides...it was a fair return for a Dallas team that played the last 26 minutes with ten men...after the game all-star defender Robinson received the MLS player of the week award...keeper Zack Thornton earned MOM for his efforts...though suspensions were warranted for DC, none came about...

Dallas then entertained the Metrostars in the return of the home and home. Substitute Magee got the winner in the 81st from Stone after a nice buildup from fellow sub Twellman...after the game manager Stu remarked he was getting tired of his kids playing great as subs but crap as starters...DC Jolley was played out of positon for the game at DMR and surprisingly enough, didn't impress...it was a fair result for Dallas, who finished the session 2-2-1...the MLS was proving to be a very tight league...

[retired_mallory08]

BREAKING NEWS.....!!!

[retired_mallory08]

[retired_mallory08]

Getting Better

"Well, I'm happier than I was, but I'm not exactly in MLS Nirvana right now". A run of W3 D1 L1 saw the Quakes pick up some much needed points. "I don't care what anyone says, the West is strong from 1st place to 5th place. We don't have a New England or Metrostars to rack points up against week in-week out. Everything we get against a conference rival is hard earned."

SJ had extended their unbeaten run to 7 games before KC snuffed them out. "One defeat in 10 games? I'll take that" said Clark at the end of the session. The run of W3 D6 L1 helped stablibize the ship and kept Clark firmly in the good books at SJ.

"It's tough down here, we have some very passionate fans....just not enough of them. You can see we're adrift at the bottom of the attendance charts and that has a real impact on the type of players we can bring in. That said, I'm pleased to announce the bosman signing of Andre Muri, a young Norweigan international. I hope he'll help us out at the back where we've struggle to find an effective partnership, despite being 2nd bets in defeats (2) and T2nd in goals conceded. He'll be with the team for the 2006 season."

Clark was relatively quiet on the transfer front last session, but did manage to complete the second part of the Josh Wolff/Chris Klein trade. Santino Quaranta had already departed, but Pablo was sent to KC for CK in the middle of the last session.

"Oddly, I put this deal together when we were playing 4-4-2, now we've switched to a 4-3-1-2, with 3 tight in the middle, I don't need the winger on the right. That said, Chris is quality and he will definitely have a place in my team, be it on the right of the trio, in the hole or up front."

Josh Wolff looks to be a solid signing and he and SGR look to be the partnership that Clark will use for the rest of the season. "Adu still isn't ready, and he has been the victim of some bully-boy tactics lately. The poor kid has had both his jaw and some ribs broken this season. Frankly, I'm surprised the police haven't been called in yet. This kid is tough. He just wants to play soccer." The Wolff situation all but signals an end to Uruguayan Fabian Estoyanoff's short time with the club. 'He's been listed and we're looking to sell. It's just not worked out for him here, 3 goals from a player of his calibre is insulting my intelligence. I have Wolff, Adu, Greer and Jason Kreis all coveting his starting place. He's done here."

International call-ups have been a problem, as has morale for certain players. "Pablo Mastroeni was beginning to become something of a lockerroom cancer, mouthing off about how he had lost faith in me. Well, I didn't see anything on the field that would give him the right to criticise anyone. Even when he wasn't away on international duty, his commitment to this side was second rate. I don't think he'll be in Bruce Arena's plans for long with an attitude like that. I'm just sad I wasn't able to sell him to Europe rather than a West coast rival."

"SGR has started to look like himself lately, Ramon is back to his mercurial best. Joe Cannon has been a man-mountain this season so far. Clint Dempsey has made the new MLC position his own and Richard Mulrooney has shown how versatile he is for us playing at MRC, DMC and DR in the last couple of weeks. "

"Yeah, it's not all good. Jimmy Conrad, Brian Namoff and Todd Dunnivant continue to disappoint. If they don't pick it up soon I'll have to look to shift them. I'm going to need some roster spaces heading into the draft. I had a young Belgian DL ready to sign but had no room. Dunnivant better realise that his time is running out and he'll be traded soon. I also have to make space for Andre Muri."

With the team in better form Clark has some right to be optimistic. Dallas aren't out of it yet, but at half way through his 2nd season, Clark has started to make real progress...."I don't want to be the next Ricky Lung after all!"

[retired_mallory08]

Manager Stu expresses disgust with young superstar Eddie Johnson...

"Piece of crap would be putting it kindly,"proclaimed Stu today,"The guy did nothing the last half of last year, and he's done nothing halfway through this year. I would expect a player of his quality to do so much more. (He hasn't scored in a calendar year!) Its time for him to sit on the bench and learn from the other players; I won't be putting up with his mediocre performances anymore."

Dallas fans rushed to EJ's aid, calling manager Stu a 'heartless charlatan'. 'We're not happy with the manager's criticism of EJ," announced the head of the Dallas supporters group, "Me and my brother are right peeved...and so is the other supporter."

"He's still just a boy, and he'll be here long after Stu is gone."

What seemed to trigger the ruckus was EJ's announcement of 'loss of faith in the manager's ability'...

"Unprofessional little snot."Stu concluded,"If he wasn't so talented I'd send him to San Jose like I did with the rest of my deadwood."

In happier news for Dallas, defender Eddie Robinson was named MLS player of the month for May. In unhappier news, ER announced his displeasure with the manager...in unhappiest news ER broke his collarbone and will be sidelined for a month.

"And if he speaks out again, he'll have another 'training accident'. Erm...What I mean to say, is, he's a big part of our team and we'll dearly miss his presence at the back." Stu explained.

Compounding Dallas defensive woes was stalwart Craig Waibel going down with a dislocated jaw at the same time. Two thirds of Dallas's vaunted triumvirate of DC's were now injured at the same time. Manager Stu was not impressed...

"They should throw that San Jose Al in prison,"Stu blustered,"First he breaks my Waibel, then he takes out Behnke. The b******. At least we won on the scoreboard, where it counts. I pride myself on playing a gentlemanly style of football...its a shame there's a shortage of gentlemen to compete against in the MLS."

Stu took time to offer his condolences to the canned Ricky Lung.

"I said from the beginning that he would never last and that he would be lucky to make the allstar break this season...poor bugger, in waaaay over his head...but I do like the look of this Ricky Lung II character, he seems a 180 degree turnaround...or... is he more of an 360 degree turnaround?"

[retired_mallory08]

MLS WRAP STATS UPDATE:

In the latest edition of FSC's MLS Wrap, John Harkes made some interesting analysis of the state of the MLS at the halfway point.

*9 of the 10 top scorers are foreign. This is in stark contrast to last year where some of the leading lights were nationals like Eddie Johnson. Taylor Twellman, Clint Mathis and Pat Noonan have all being almost totally anonymous this season so far.

*San Jose have only scored one goal on the road in 6 contests. Thankfully (for them) they've only conceded two, so are W1 D4 L1 in their 6 road outings.

*DC is clearly leading the way. Despite a slight drop in form, they lead in points, goals scored, fewest conceded, goal difference, top average (Ben Olsen 7.64), top assists (Marko Dinjar, 6), and the 2nd top scorer in Stoyko Sakaliev, (9 goals).

*Top attendance goes to the surging Colorado Rapids with 24,332 more than 2k ahead of the Metrostars. SJ bring up the rear with just 12,938 - 3.5k adrift of 9th placed KC.

*New England on the field frustrations are well illustrated when you look at the 'Crime Count'. NE leads the way in cautions with 3 of the top 4 worst offenders, and 4 in the top 10. Andy Herron (6), Chris Gbandi (5), Fabian Taylor (5) and Rusty Pierce (4) were the offenders.

*Much maligned Georgi Gakhokidze is currently the trickiest winger in the league with an average of 4.35 dribbles a game.

*Goalies are dominating the Man of the Man Awards, with Zach Thorton & Jon Busch (4 each) leading the way in T1. Kevin Hartman & Joe Cannon are T3 with 3 nominations each.

All this and more can be found in the latest Relegation Fighters Gazette. Just follow this link....

http://www.fmusa4you.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=267

[retired_mallory08]

Dallas match synopsis

Dallas entered the session with nine goal and 12 points. They left it five games later with 10 goals and 16 points. Clearly not the session hoped for...

0-1 Columbus

The first game was away to a tricky Columbus side. Lagos grabbed an early goal in the 4th minute for Columbus; and then the two sides proceeded to kick the ball around the midfield for 86 minutes. Keeper Zack Thornton was clearly the goat, conceding the goal on one of only two shots he faced. Dallas forwards were also to blame, not finding the way through despite a ultra defensive Columbus calling them on. Sadly, Dallas could not muster a single shot on target. If there was any silver lining to the game, it was that five Dallas regulars were away on int'l duty and unavailable for the match.

1-0 Kansas City

Dallas came into this home tie with some foreboding, remebering the 3-1 shellacking at the hands of the Wizards a month prior. Their trepidation was not helped by the fact that six regulars were away with their nations...it was time for someone to step up.

Zack Thornton grabbed the team by the scruff of the neck and willed them to victory, (perhaps feeling bad about costing the team the points in the previous game). Thornton was named man of the match, for keeping the braying KC hordes at bay. In the 70th minute, (quite against the run of play), Behnke left three defenders standing and fired a low cross to the near post...arriving there was Joe Max, who burst the back of the net from six yards out. The fans went nuts, and Dallas had their first win of the session.

0-1 Los Angeles

Dalls then went to visit LA, keen to build on their first meeting, a 1-0 win. Sadly, it was not to happen again. The usually infaillable Waibel tripped Victorine in the box, and Vic made no mistake in taking his own spotkick. 0-1, 24 minutes in. The rest of the game was another horrible midfield holding battle.

0-0 San Jose

A really horrible game. Only mentionable for the violent maiming of Waibel and Behnke.

Manager Stu then left the session, allowing his assman to take on Lee's assman in a match up of assman v assman. A predictable 0-1 scoreline followed.

A stellar five match tally of 1 win 1 tie and 3 losses for the Dallas side.

********...