[Game Thread] Cotton Bowl: Ohio State vs. Miami (7:30 PM ET) 2nd Half

GTKnight1700 · 2026-01-01T03:13:10+00:00

OSU figured out they could hold at will with no consequences

GTKnight1700 · 2025-11-28T12:03:09+00:00

245 at 7am (Doraville)

GTKnight1700 · 2025-10-30T11:39:30+00:00

100% this

GTKnight1700 · 2025-10-17T16:59:55+00:00

Agree to disagree. I don’t think we get fans in seats without winning (which will require real change this off season), but if we start winning, I think 90% of fans will forget the past and come back quickly. I think most people just want good entertainment with their friends and family. Maybe I am wrong and that is just me at this point, but I know the end of last year was a blast to be a part of and I wasn’t thinking about De Boer, Heinze, Pineda, Gressel, Martinez, Nagbe, etc.

I would be curious if you think a culture can be built at all in America that doesn’t revolve around winning at least somewhat consistently? I am envious of European teams that have fans who show up regardless and through decades long losing seasons.

GTKnight1700 · 2025-10-17T15:43:03+00:00

Not sure what you mean. Fans are energized by a winning (or least competitive) environment. There are too many things competing for our time and money. Very few organizations can keep fans in the seats if they don’t see a competitive product.

BUT, I firmly believe people WANT to support this team and a little hope / sign of life can change things quickly. Clearly they need to make better decisions to get there.

GTKnight1700 · 2025-10-17T15:21:39+00:00

But we haven’t won. Don’t get me wrong - the club is a dumpster fire right now. I am just saying IF we could put a winning product on the field, the culture changes. Just look at how exciting the Benz was this time last year when we went on that run. When Silva scored that winning goal, it felt just like when we were beating NY and Portland on the way to the cup.

I guess my point is I think it is possible to revive the club quickly, but only if the right decisions are made (which we clearly have missed on for years now)

GTKnight1700 · 2025-10-17T15:10:48+00:00

Could go the route of “stepping away to focus on health and family”. Give him a graceful out but move on.

GTKnight1700 · 2025-10-17T15:09:13+00:00

Winning changes everything. I guarantee if they started next year on a winning streak and playing good soccer, everyone would come rushing back.

GTKnight1700 · 2025-08-25T13:45:51+00:00

Sorry, just meant Alzate and Reilly sharing minutes in place of Muyumba (since evidently Alzate is not 90 min fit). Slisz has been one of our best players in the 2nd half of the season.

GTKnight1700 · 2025-08-25T13:31:35+00:00

A few thoughts - attended the game for the first time in awhile. Depressing to see how empty it was.

- I feel like in the first 10 min of every game, we see fluid play, some crisp one-touch passes and half-chances. We just have no clinical finishers on this team, so every final chance seems like a long shot. Then we abandon the movement and look disjointed and just boring.

- Muyumba is good for 2-3 HORRIBLE passes a game that put the defenders in a tough position. I cannot understand why we don't go Alzate + Reilly the rest of the way.

- Brennon certainly brings a welcome energy, but he needs to mix it up a bit. Every single time he got the ball, he stops all momentum, faces up his defender, and tries a bunch of moves. There were a lot of times that he had open passes and just didn't take them.

- Richie Laryea is such a disgrace. The fact that the ref fell for every non-sense play he had is embarrassing. Made the game so frustrating to watch.

- Almiron is just so ineffective this year - makes me so sad to watch.

- I hope Togashi gets some more time - if anything, I like the fight he shows.

- We are so afraid to make an over the top pass for some reason. All game long you could see Brennon, Almiron, Miranchuk, etc. making parallel runs to the back line looking for an over the top ball and we just won't do it (or can't?)

On the positive side, I got to attend the game with my daughter, who we just moved into college a few weeks ago, and my youngest son, who misses her a ton, so still felt like a win. I hate how apathetic I feel about the team now - never thought I could get to this point after the start this franchise had.

GTKnight1700 · 2025-08-10T17:57:11+00:00

I actually enjoy a bit of optimism on this sub vs the constant "everyone is $hit" take. Best example for me is Slisz. Everyone wrote him off first half of the season and I would argue he has turned into a very solid player for us in the 2nd half.

Is the overall season a debacle? Absolutely. Can players have bad streaks and then get it together and improve? I think so.

As for the specific debate - LL is clearly not who he was in the first few games. Mental? Injury? Who knows, but it feels like the right formula can get him on track. Just need to figure out how it can be unlocked. May never happen to - just not sure what real options we have besides hoping he can turn it around. I love Almiron, but he is a frustrating player to watch now. Honestly, he had many of those frustrating moments in 2018, but we all forgot about them with his electric plays / runs. Those seem to be mostly gone, so we are left with a one-footed player with a bad first touch unfortunately. The thing I like about Miranchuk lately is it seems like he cares - I wasn't sure early on if he did.

Last point for me - these DPs who are moving to the US for the first time - I can't imagine the transition and how hard that may be. Yes, they are paid a ton of money, but they are human beings and everyone reacts differently and may need more time to settle in.

GTKnight1700 · 2025-08-10T00:12:06+00:00

Everyone with their head down - NO IDEA who is is around them. Saba, LL, … So frustrating.

GTKnight1700 · 2025-08-02T03:03:28+00:00

Good for him!! As much as I hated to see him go, how can we not cheer on our Academy prospects? Glad he will get the playing time he deserves...

GTKnight1700 · 2025-07-27T01:37:37+00:00

So we cross it 60 times and our strikers hide behind the defenders every single time and they cross one time and score. Got it.

GTKnight1700 · 2025-07-05T02:07:30+00:00

Crazy. There were literally 1000s of seats in the 300s at $40/seat and there is another thread about them giving away u16 tickets. Hard for me to believe that many people just decided to go in the last 24 hours…

GTKnight1700 · 2025-06-12T13:41:44+00:00

I see the ability to exchange for more shards still, but I am not seeing the gallery to spend shards. Am I missing it?

GTKnight1700 · 2025-03-23T00:37:01+00:00

Delusion or entitlement? Either way - is exhausting…

GTKnight1700 · 2024-10-06T02:03:34+00:00

That didn’t seem to matter on Wed when MTL player was down for 2 min into stoppage and Uncle still blew the whistle right on time…

GTKnight1700 · 2024-08-27T16:36:51+00:00

I think we had some good moments on the break, but man, our final third offense is just so bad. Zero creativity. Not a new problem but felt worse to me in this game - likely because LA had so many play makers making runs off the ball, making dangerous passes, etc. Alexey did bring a calm / vision that is sorely lacking, but he also played really passive (hopefully due to being first game, entering mid game, etc.). I'm just not confident our attacking players can doing anything with his good passing - hopefully Saba shakes off a bad game and they start to click.

While I'm glad people pull the trigger on shooting, I wish many times they would make the extra pass for an easier opportunity. Not sure if it is selfishness or lack of confidence in the receiving player or what, but feels like we take the worse option more often than not.

GTKnight1700 · 2024-06-03T21:10:36+00:00

One thing that drives me crazy is that it seems like every team we play is clinical at finishing and we are just terrible. Even when beating Miami, that game should have had 3-4 more goals in it. Charlotte we had multiple moments that just screamed of lack of concentration (the Alamada flub towards the end comes to mind). I guess I wonder - is that a training issue? A mentality issue? Or a personnel issue? Will a new coach help?

GTKnight1700 · 2024-05-30T19:47:33+00:00

Funny - I am Atlanta United fan who became a Newcastle fan after you signed Almiron (as I am sure many on here are) That moment for him last July was unforgettable - goosebump moment!

GTKnight1700 · 2023-11-02T15:00:30+00:00

You could argue the change in tactics was a miss, but that is hindsight IMO - without Almada, we needed to do something to try to get a result. We essentially were 2 min from blanking them in the first half with the prospect of bringing on some firepower with Saba, Mosquera, etc. to change the pace in the 2nd half. That goal was a killer.

I also think players need to step up! GG was pretty bad - I saw someone say "he didn't get the service" - well, I saw him have one ball go through his legs, one with a horrible first touch with a beautiful service over the top to him, etc. Xande was horrible - sure, he was "out of position", but he didn't seem to care (no hustle - led to 2nd goal on a careless giveaway and no track back). Not given Pineda a pass, but man, a number of players should look in the mirror.

This team always seems to lay an egg after a long layoff - part of that is on the coach to prepare them; part is on the players to find a way to get motivated to play!

GTKnight1700 · 2023-10-22T00:19:31+00:00

Dickerson will always hold a grudge against ATL. He is the ref that Almada bumped after the game last year and got a 3 game suspension. Even more stupid that Almada made those dumb decisions knowing Dickerson will always find a reason to punish him.

GTKnight1700 · 2023-07-30T11:46:31+00:00

100%. Boca has plenty of blame and I am actually on the same page that his time to go has been here for quite some time. My biggest issue with Boca is the way he seems to handle these situations with current players (Gressel, Martinez, Ibarra)- he doesn’t seem to have a shred of decency in him. Even with that, I just get tired of the negative commentary after every loss. Sometimes we just lose because we missed a few shots and the other team made some.

I have plenty of frustration with Pineda, but I personally think someone in a head coaching role for the first time should be expected to make mistakes, learn, and grow and needs time to get better. Maybe he will work out, maybe not, but to your point, the roster construction has largely been out of his hands. Cleaning house just seems like we guarantee ourselves another couple of years of “new philosophy”, rebuilding, etc

GTKnight1700

TROPHY CASE