MLS Cup Playoffs - December 11 - Portland (Away)

I've been scouring the web for things.


A view of our fans (from a video of their equalizer) 1639369284725.png







And of course, probably the best pre-game moment of the day:
 
Baby face Chanot!
How lucky are we to have had the same keeper and CB pairing SIX years in a row?! I feel spoiled, and will be a bit crushed whenever it ends.

Speaking of Johnson, I was hard on him early in the year, and I stand by it. He was at the low end of average. He worked through the slump and was much, much better at year end and in the playoffs. Good on him. I also never thought much of his penalty stopping abilities during his time here. I don't have numbers, but even in regular season, it seemed that opponents only failed if they missed the net or hit the ball very poorly. In the playoff shootouts this year, he made 3 solid stops out of 8, which is damn near Nick Raimondo or Tim Melia BOSS level. That's especially so when MLS GKOTY Matt Turner blocks none and Steve "I flub things in MLS Cup Finals" Clark makes just one. Three was massive, especially because he made them early: Second kick against New England and First Two against Portland.

On the flip side Our boys made 9 of 10 PKs!!! Wow. And Morales, the only guy who missed in 10 attempts, made the first one against New England which was amazing. With this team's PK shootout record we needed an instant script-flipper and he delivered. Maybe it took someone who wasn't here for any of the previous PK failures to have the brass ones to do that. And how did our guys decide to put him first in New England, which came out of nowhere, but then not put him first again in Portland, when it would have been the most normal thing ever? And credit to the takers on all three teams: how often do you see 2 shootouts with 18 shots taken and zero off net? Maxi made 2 freaking PKs in the biggest spots ever!! Next year, if we get in another shootout, I'll be shocked if the opposing GK does anything but stand straight when Callens shoots. But he'll put it in somehow.
 
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At away games we tend to have better coordination, not sure why though. It was well done this time! Much better than at Philadelphia. But I agree, if we can have this every game, it would make the supporter section absolutely rock!

There's something about the expansiveness with the bleachers at YS that makes coordinating a little tougher (particularly with no distinct leader at the front helping keep everybody on the same page. At away games we're all compact and can hear each other / the drums with a lot more ease.

Which brings me to the second point -- having no drums in Philly was REALLY tough. It's already hard to keep a large group of people in time (particularly if they aren't rhythmically inclined), but it's even harder when you don't have a distinct beat to give them.
 
There's something about the expansiveness with the bleachers at YS that makes coordinating a little tougher (particularly with no distinct leader at the front helping keep everybody on the same page. At away games we're all compact and can hear each other / the drums with a lot more ease.

Which brings me to the second point -- having no drums in Philly was REALLY tough. It's already hard to keep a large group of people in time (particularly if they aren't rhythmically inclined), but it's even harder when you don't have a distinct beat to give them.
That's what I figured was happening, and I was thinking about how interesting it was that they let us bring drums in for an away game!
 
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Of all people for you to be behind in the security line, OF COURSE it was the VAR. That's incredible.

For the record, even though I firmly believe that was a foul, I'm actually OK with it not being called in that moment. Five seconds to go in the championship game, their last chance, I'm OK with it being a non-call. It's a foul at nearly all times of the season, but in that moment I'm OK with the way it went down. Plus if they do call that goal back, there's probably a riot on their hands.

I'm sure had we lost I'd be thinking differently.

Curious -- would you feel the same way if we had ended up losing?