July 2, 2007
D&C - Sluggish Rhinos can't keep pace
D&C - Bertz' suspension forces lineup changes
D&C - Rhinos fans pay tribute to Fairport grads
First off, The Stampede had a sweet tribute to the Fairport 5 and they also raised almost $1200 during the Rhinos-Silverbacks game on Friday night for a memorial scholarship fund.
But that moment was the best part of Friday night. The Rhinos were flat, lost 2-0 to Atlanta, and were unable to retake first place in the USL 1st Division.
The best part of the weekend was that Vancouver only gained a point in Charleston and Montreal suffered their third loss in eight home games in 2007 when the last place California Victory took out the Impact 2-0 on Sunday.
The weekend's action hasn't caused a lot of changes in the USL 1st Division table. However, if you look at things on a Pts/GP basis, the Portland Timbers has passed Vancouver and moved into the top spot in the standings. Portland trails the Whitecaps by five points, but they own three games in hand over Vancouver.
It's going to be really interesting to see the second half of the 2007 USL 1st Division season play out.
US Soccer blues
US Soccer.com - U-20 Men's National Team Blog
I was hoping for a better result when I was watching the game. Even though the US took the lead on Danny Szetela's goal, South Korea were outplaying the US. The surprising thing to me was how slow the US looked in their opening match of the U-20 World Cup. South Korea looked a lot faster both in the midfield and especially up top where South Korea's front runners were consistently getting behind the US defense.
Thankfully the US got a point out of the match and are still alive to advance. Although, with Poland defeating Brazil 1-0, the road out of group play isn't going to be easy by any stretch.
I'm also hoping that the punch to the head that Josmer Altidore took was no big deal.
US-Paraguay tonight
US Soccer.com - MNT June Blog: On to Barinas...
US Soccer.com - U.S. MNT Prepare to Face Paraguay on July 2 in Second Copa America Match
US Soccer.com - Jonathan Bornstein podcast
Soccer by Ives - Who should start vs Paraguay?
I'm with Ives on Eddie Johnson pulling up when he gets near the box. Sure, he drew the PK vs Argentina, but he also pulled up a few times and had me screaming at the TV.
So while I was thoroughly entertained by the Sacha and Benny podcast, as usual, I'm again going into tonight's match hoping for the best and expecting the worst.
The fact that Mexico has already advanced at the Copa America isn't helping things, either...........
One good thing happened over the weekend
The Rhinos Women avenged their 4-0 road loss to the Laval Cometes on Saturday night with a 2-0 win.
Gretchen Miller scored both goals for the Rhinos and Joy McKenzie made 4 saves, including one on a PK, to give the home team their third win of the season.
Miller is now tied for sixth in W-League scoring with 15 points in only six games played. Miller is also tied for 4th in the league in goals with seven and trails long time US Women's National Team forward Tiffeny Milbrett by a single tally.
Joy McKenzie is tied for seventh in the league in saves with 46 in eight games played.
The Rhinos Women host Ottawa a week from Saturday, July 14th, at 2pm.
The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author, and not necessarily those of the Rochester Rhinos or SoccerSam.com. Feel free to send any comments or complaints to news@soccersam.com. James promises to read (but not to respond) to all of them.
