Ten thoughts on our 4-2 win over the Fire

By: Brenton | August 9th, 2011

I’m sitting here awake, so I might as well throw some thoughts down. See previous post for highlights.

1) That was a huge win for us. I predicted a draw, and stressed the need for a win in order to catapult us closer to (and hopefully past) the fewest wins in a season in MLS history. Well, we did it, and with style. This will go a long way to improving morale in the team and the fans.

2) If anyone still doubted Hassli’s ability, they are surely convinced now. What a beautiful first goal. Horrible defending to set him free on goal, but still, he had a lot to do from the top of the arc. Brilliant shot. His two goals put him at ten on the season, just one back of Thierry Henry and Landycakes. And he should have had a third but his penalty kick was excellently saved by an otherwise poor Chicago keeper.

3) Two defensive-ish midfielders seems to work for us. Vagenas and Koffie are getting more and more comfortable with each other, and our passing through the midfield is getting better and better.

4) Both Fire goals were due to defensive lapses. On the first, Boxall got sucked forward when he probably shouldn’t have, Rochat was forced to come over to cover, and he got schooled by Oduro in the box. Not Rochat’s finest moment. Then Harvey made a complete mess of a simple ball over the top, gifting Barrouch the ball. Boxall was lucky earlier after letting his check get past him to a cross into the box; Nolly saved his ass with a spectacular save.

What side of the player should I be on?

5) Nolly could have done better on the second goal, but also made a few great saves, and Soehn has said he’ll stick with him for the near future. Cannon wasn’t getting results, and Soehn made the change and was rewarded for it. Nolly is also cheaper than Cannon by $135,000 a year.

6) Someone obviously told Koffie to shoot. That guy has been due; and his goal wins Southsiders regular Kris a free beer, betting on Koffie over Salinas to score first.

7) Camilo has now drawn four penalties, the most in MLS. Coupled with his seven goals and two assists, that’s good production from a guy I wasn’t very big on at the start of the season. I’m a total convert. But I have a feeling we may leave him unprotected in the expansion draft and Montreal will snap him up.

8 ) Thorrington came in and was okay. Nothing spectacular, but nothing horrid either. Nice to see him back in a Whtiecaps shirt. Same goes for Teibert at left back: nothing special to report, glad to have him back on the pitch.

9) Home field advantage counted in this match. Hassli should never have got to the ball on the first goal, but the Fire defender misread the bounce on the turf. Same with Koffie’s goal: the Fire keeper totally misread the bounce in front of him.

10) A great win, but let’s not forget that it was against another horrible team. The Fire defence and keeper gifted us a few goals. A 4-0 loss to the best team still makes sense after this 4-2 win over one of the worst. We’re still in last place, and still only have three wins on the season. We need two more to avoid equalling the MLS record, and only have a few opportunities in our 11 remaining games. I’m looking at you, Portland Timbers.