The elusive sublime, the ubiquitous mundane

By: Sean | June 19th, 2008

First half thoughts: There’s just this hair’s breadth between Chivas and Chicago right now, despite the 2-0 scoreline.

The Fire are identifiable as the team that won routinely a month ago – calm in possession, organized, with an extra gear when they burst out of deep midfield – but they’re just … missing … that cutting edge. And I’m not talking just about Chad Barrett, although he seems to me the most obvious symbol of the insidious advance of mediocrity.

A couple of other things:

- Sacha Kljestan may have that magic thing the USA has been missing in the midfield: Creativity. I don’t know when I’ve seen an American player with a better sense of the attacking possibilities inherent, moment by moment, in the flow of play.

- Chris Rolfe needs to play as a striker, or probably not play. I love the guy, I love his game, but when Francisco Mendoza is muscling you off the ball, maybe midfield isn’t your cup o’tea.

Full time thoughts:

Very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very disappointing.

The passing was poor. No movement. No snap in the counter. No fantasy football – just lump it, chase it. Suck, suck, suck, suck suuuuuuuuuuuuuck. Sucky suckness. The Fire (apparently consuming all the oxygen, or something) created a localized vacuum of some note. I’m surprised it didn’t screw up the weather.

It’s not all about effort. The game needs some sparkle, and this attacking lineup has clearly lost its sparkle. They pressed Chivas early, but Barrett’s pair of misses were the signal to initiate Project: Stationary Football.

And the second half was atrocious, universally. The Fire staggered out of the locker room ashen-faced, looking traumatized – did Hamlett assassinate someone with his mad kung fu to make a point? Has anyone taken a head count of the locker-room personnel? Whatever the reason, the passing was terrible, which meant combining through midfield was out of the question, which led to longball, which led to the deficiencies of our Attackin’ Americans: Rolfe, Barrett, and Mapp.

Rolfe is getting mauled out there – it’s like watching a housecat against rottweilers. It’s not hard to imagine a post-McBride future where Rolfe is restored to his natural movement-striker role and flourishes, but right now the dude is suffering. Barrett is full of muttering and gesticulation again. Mapp … ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, allthebreathjustleftmybody … ehhh … good lord, Justin Mapp. He can do it. He just don’t.

– Kljestan do, though. I wrote something about his sense of attacking possibilities – that should just read possibilities, period. Kljestan was all over the place on defense in the second half, making certain the frustrated Fire stayed frustrated.