Well, this should be about the easiest road trip of the season for the team. Should be two wins, if not easy wins. I notice that neither game is being webcast...is regular radio covering? Yeah, sure.

Why do you think Cincinnati will be a "easy win"? They've been playing some pretty good soccer recently.

So squeaking by Charlotte & beating Indiana equate to playing good soccer? My - my, haven't we lowered the bar a little bit?

Maybe the bar has been lowered to limbo levels, but a win is a win is a win. . .

I hope that the Pats can have a good weekend on the road. Just heard that Ahmed Figueroa might not be making the trip, he picked up an injury in practice this week. Also, the Pats have Jose Diaz listed on the roster but he has yet to sign with them. Are they being a little optimistic about this player? Heard that he has offers from Rochester and Syracuse on the table and is waiting to make a decision. Good luck this weekend guys.

Diaz was the Patriots' draft pick if memory serves, so if Rochester and Syracuse want him they may have to pay for him.

Figueroa's injury shouldn't hurt too much -- frankly Javier Carrasco has been a step better at that same spot in relief of Ahmed, who has also received two yellow cards in two matches. Carrasco hasn't played more than a half of soccer, though, so I don't know about his conditioning. The coaches do like both of these guys, and Figueroa had a much better second match against Minnesota.

It should be an interesting road trip. I think we'll see if the Pats have improved based on this trip as they've never really done well on the road. They were 2-0 vs. Cincy last season and 1-1 vs. the Blast, winning at home, losing on the road.

It'll also be interesting to hear how Fred Estrada does in goal against his old team in Cincy. Hopefully he feels he has something to prove.

As for radio -- nada.

I believe El Paso lost to Minnesota 1-0 at home, Cincinnati lost to them 1-0 in Minnesota. Sounds like the teams maybe more even than you think. I'll go with Cincinnati 2-0.

How about these reasons?

1. Took Virginia Beach to the limit...game would have gone to OT except for Washington's goal in the last 10 seconds

2. Beat Charlotte 1-0...controlled 80% of the game, Charlotte did not have very many chances to score

3. Whupped Indiana...I know, they're not that great, but a win is a win

4. Nearly tied Minnesota in the last 15 minutes of the game

I would say they are playing pretty good...considering just about everyone everywhere (including the league) has predicted them to be horrible, which isn't the case.

El Paso was ahead 2-nil when Minnesota scored a late goal in the second match - that'a a bonafide credible A-League win - both the Cincy wins are equivalent to pre-season scrimmage wins against some college teams IMO.

I predict an El-Paso sweep over Indy & Cincy this weekend.

I don't think anybody thought the team would be horrible, at least at the start of the season. In 2002, the Riverhawks were 3-1 to start the season, and were 7-8 on July 20 before going 1-12 for the rest of the season. Over the last four games of 2002, they gave up a total of 20 goals. If there any reason to believe the situation this year is any different than last year?

I think the Riverhawks are dangerous at the beginning of the season when the players feel they have something to prove. But if the situation degrades like it did last year, another collapse over the last half of the season is certainly a possibility. But I certainly wouldn't want to play them early in the year. I think teams still have to take them seriously, at least for now.

At the same time a lot of us had little positive to say about El-Paso's shoddy defending last year - it appears - so far at least - that the new Patriot's Coaches statements about addressing that lackadaisical style in the back is indeed true - If they stick with it they will be a factor in the West this year.

I said it would be "about the easiest", not meaning that they were guaranteed wins but not near as hard as some of the other road trips they will make in the future.

As someone pointed out...this is very early in the season. I don't know if you noticed or not but even MLS teams look ragged right now. Bad passes etc. Just like the game last Friday on Fox world (Seattle vs Portland).

Funny thing, I thought the level of play (considering early in season and what I said about MLS) looked pretty good and I'm thinking that part of it was definately psychological in that they were on a decent field in a very nice stadium.

No, No -- BUCK es mas macho. Es el perro grande!

It's too early for predictions, but...It's a real possibility that the Pats could flop on the road -- they have before. But I don't think they will. Frankly, Cincy on a day's rest will be rough, though.

Hope someone remembered to buy the airline tickets!

haha

Personally I thought you guys were lucky to get a point last night.

It's the road, man, it's the road. I'm certain playing two in two means they'll draw back on the reins a bit.

Glad things are looking up for the Blast, although that was the backup goalkeeper yesterday -- a young player from Cd. Juarez, and I believe last night was his very first American pro game.

From the Blast's own press release, it said that on the second goal the player nutmegged this kid -- shot the ball right between his feet. Is that true?

BACKUP KEEPER!! - WHAT KINDA B.S. IS THAT??? Did you guys have a helluva line at Vegas for a draw or what?

From where I was at I couldn't see it clearly, but it did look like something that shoulda been saved. We had our backup keeper in their too last night and both goals would probably not have happened had Lynk been in there for us. ElPaso did have a chance in the overtime though that Rodgers came up huge on, so I guess I shouldn't be too hard on him.

I hate finals.

Anyways, I'm back from the dead. The Pat's started off their first road trip of the season on a good note. (A tie on the road for this club is good.) 2-2 tie in front of a crowd of about 3500. (I dont want to hear about the whole "Freebie night" debate that has been going on at the main A-League board or at BigSoccer, so don't even bother.) Good to see that the team didn't misbehave like past season. Or at least I haven't seen anything indicate that they did.

Next up, Cincinnatti later on today.

indystar.com: Blast\'s new acquisition pays quick dividends



a-league.com: Blast Get First Goal and Point of Season

Vox or someone, what is the logo on the right side of the Pat's kits from the pic. The Kappa logo is in the middle, the Pat's logo on the but I cant make out the right. I know Nautica took over for Pepsi as the main shirt sponsor.

Lastly, what's up with this site turning more and more into BigSoccer? Whatever happened to people worrying about their own team and only their own team? Every team in this league is unique, so each has unique problems and solutions. It may be very hard, but how about we try to keep things positive, no matter how much you might see things otherwise?

I honestly couldn't tell you what logo that is, Chuy. Hopefully I can find something next week, but as for now I've got no clue.

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quote:Originally posted by snaggle321:
Why do you think Cincinnati will be a "easy win"? They've been playing some pretty good soccer recently.
So squeaking by Charlotte & beating Indiana equate to playing good soccer? My - my, haven't we lowered the bar a little bit?

Let's see: Hawks 3 Blast 0
Hawks 3 Patriots 0

If squeaking by Indy by the same socre as trouncing the pats is not good soccer, what kind of soccer are the Pats playing?

Last thing I heard on tv friday night was El Paso was behind 2-1, glad to see they came back and tied it. Tie on the road this early in season is a good thing. I thought, at least on paper, that Indiana was a very good team not getting off to a very good start and was afraid they'd get going this weekend.

As for Cinci, I will have to look over report but they seem to be on a roll right now and on a High but this is still very early in the season for all these teams and we should not forget that..all of us. With Cinci's recent past history their fans should not be too smug this early.

So, tie and a loss this early on the road isn't so bad, especially if we got out of there without and red cards.

In reading Cinci site I see where Rios was ejected in 51st minute (only 6 into the 2nd half) but a Cinci defender was also ejected at the same time. Not that familiar with EP line up; is Rios a forward? Cinci player was a defender.

Although both teams were down a man, EP seemed to suffer the most. Two Cinci goals fairly early in first half and third in 80th or so minute.

Such a mixed bag this weekend it is hard to say, just from Cinci game, that EP might have same problem as last year finishing.

Man, that guy in the Indiana picture is a giant!

Yeah, it's early. A 3-0 loss is never that good, but it was the second match in two days. The tie in Indy was the best news. That sets things up well for the second leg of the US Open Cup qualifier back here on the 23rd.

I'm beginning to think (I know, I know -- easy does it) the Pats are getting a bit of a raw deal with this double-header weekend setup, though. Teams in close proximity to each other can play one match a weekend, but with nobody else near El Paso Central Div. teams stay here. Saves a lot on the travel for them, but who's going to pay 17 bucks for two days worth of tickets on this end?

Joel Rios is a defender from Ciudad Juarez who played with Second Division Astros.

Noticed that, other than the mutual ejections, Cincy had five cautions to EP's two and 23 fouls to the Pats' 13. That's good! And what's up with Cincy -- the home team wins 3-0 and gets five yellows and a red? Woof.

Gee, dare I say that the PATs might have toned it down too much? Sizable diff in the number of fouls and cards given out. Two defenders ejected at same time? Wonder if it was a corner kick and one was down in the other's penalty area.

Has anybody seen a report on this game?

Was the defense as bad as it looks?
Was the keeper asleep or dodging bullets let through by a swiss cheese defense?
Where was the attack? Too busy trying to defend?
Was the midfield the problem?

Tired from the previous game/trip?

Just curious, that's all.

Went to Cinci afternoon paper and they had several stories on the team but only about once sentence about the EP game. Nothing we didn't already know.

From what I'm to understand, the team didn't perform at all. Interesting that the coaches believed that both Indiana and Minnesota were the better of the three teams they've seen.

They drove to Cincy, got in at 3 a.m., kept their eyes peeled for tornados most of the day, played on astroturf with standing water, D Guillermo McFarlane was one of five players sick and, by their own admission, pretty much stunk the place up vs. Cincy.

After playing last weekend with the backup goalkeeper they are getting a new one, a former collegian (!) whose name escapes me at the moment. Freddy was apparently playing on last year's contract, but they still haven't completed one for this year yet.

Indiana has gone through a major overhaul if one believes what I've seen on board (have not gone to site to confirm), releasing several players and signing up replacements. Interesting this early in the season. Not sure whether that took guts or no brains/no patience.

Doubt will see that here.

Ineresting comment Chuwy makes about the coaches deciding the team needs more conditioning...I was under impression that they'd done more than any recent team pre-season.

Sick? Food poisoning? Flu? Hangovers?

Also interesting comment about the rain. It reminded me that when i heard they were playing I was surprised because I'd seen a story on CNN that parts of Indianapolis (I lived there at one time when I was a kid) were flooded!

And the other interesting note was the artificial turf field. Was it the old kind? Hard?

Well, looking forward to seeing what happens to our Texas boys this weekend.

I am told it's the dreaded old-school astro turf. And it apparently was the flu.

The new GK is named Scott Alexander. Played at Cal State Fullerton and showed well in a good program, though he is under 6-0. His 1999 GAA ranks fifth all-time for the Titans (1.something). Plus he's 24, which helps a young team.

It's fairly new Astroplay. Pretty good field. Slightly faster than traditional grass. And I've never seen standing water at Town & Country.

AstroPlay is what the Sun Bowl has, and it's fairly well-regarded. Good. As for the standing water, I wasn't there so I'm relying on second-hand info, but they said the rains were pretty heavy and there was water left.

Yes, it did rain heavily most of that day. And I couldn't make the match, so there may have been water on the pitch. I just know from my experiences in the past it drains pretty well. Now, the field would play even faster when wet. I saw St. Louis Univ. play the Univ. of Cincinnati on the same surface in the rain and they had fits the first half. Second half, they adjusted to the fast surface and controlled the game from there. I would definately say the field is a big advantage to the Riverhawks against teams that haven't seen that surface (especially when wet!).

They've seen the surface, but wet? In El Paso? HAH! It has literally been months since we've seen rain that's done anything more than dirty the windshields. I just got done mowing my lawn with a Weed Whacker if that tells you anything.