USOC Third Round Recap: Michigan vs Chicago: ugh

Early this morning I wrote a "recap" of last night's debacle in Michigan on the way back to Chicago. Due to technological failure on my end, I wasn't able to post it right away. So join me after the jump to relive the emotional horror that was last night.

What the hell happened? I just witnessed the biggest f*****g disgrace in my tenure as a Fire fan. Seriously I don't have many words right now. How many thoughts can you have after wandering aimlessly onto the field that your team just lost on?

Rafa Rabayo was awful. A listless first half followed by another listless half followed by a sad sack lack of effort in extra time. I want him gone. Tomorrow. The FO should be busy organizing a buyout for a want away player who no longer gives a shit since this league is too hard for him. At this point it is questionable if Robayo ever cared. There is no way a PDL midfield should own Robayo and make him look like a lost soul at the end of his career playing only for a paycheck. Rafa can take his ego back to a league where he can actually make a difference. Gaston Puerari was a better player. At least he cared.

Federico Puppo scored. That was positive. From my vantage point he at least tried. The biggest problem with Puppo is that he isn't talented enough to play at the MLS or PDL level (apparently). He is a step too slow, small, and lacks a true poacher's instinct. Diego Chaves was a better player.

Defensively the youth across the backline showed. Hunter Jumper did not have a good game. He had issues most of the evening positionally. He was at fault for the first goal when he fell down and allowed his man to have a clear run towards goal. I did not have a clear vantage point on the second goal but it was either his or Jalil's man that scored the goal. The third goal I really couldn't tell you what in Hristo Stoichkov's name happened or who was at fault. All I can tell you is that I was emotionally devastated after that goal.

Tony Walls was OK. Had some mental lapses passing the ball and didn't always make the correct decision on what to do with the ball when he had it. He did work hard and showed some promise as a squad player.
I don't enjoy saying this. Kwame Watson-Siriboe is never going to be a MLS caliber defender. He is big and has ability in the air but his decision making process was questionable once he came in for Berry. He played with effort but his talent level combined with the amount of minutes he has gotten is not sufficient for a game of this type. Injuries are not an excuse here despite the fact that our two injury prone center backs happen to be injured right now.

Frank Klopas' substitutions were odd. Still don't understand subbing out Barouch for Oduro when Puppo would have been the more obvious choice. Having your target striker still in the game made more sense then playing the two smaller players. Especially considering speed appeared to be nullified by the size of the pitch and the turf for most of the evening. Putting Gargan in over Nyarko was questionable when offensive creativity was going to be needed in extra time.

There were a handful of guys who played with heart and effort tonight. I thank them from the bottom of my heart. Daniel Paladini played like he gave a shit. So did Mike Videira. I owe Mike an apology. Earlier this season I begged for him to be cut. For this game alone he deserves to be on the team the rest of the season. Worked hard for the full 120 minutes and was the only person in the first half who was able to get forward from the midfield (it was only twice but it was noticeable). Orr Barouch was decent. Nothing special but he didn't embarrass himself. Corben Bone was more than serviceable and scored a nice goal. Dan Gargan played well in the substitute roll. Paolo Tornaghi was fine. Um yeah that's all I got.

I never want to talk about this game again.