Roundtable: Taki What You Can Get

James Bridget Gordon: What’s up, y’all. Let’s do this thing.

The Fire lost at home to Atlanta 2-1. I’m of the opinion that they could’ve at least gotten a draw out of this game. Some folks have said that Atlanta was just too strong for us and they were always going to find a way to win.

What do you think? Was this destined to be a write-off game? Or is it a missed opportunity?

Ruben Tisch: I think they played well enough to win. They should do nothing but work on finishing during practice.

Ruel Gutierrez Apostol: Missed opportunity. The first-half we were in control but the finishing was poor.

Adnan Bašić: Yup. I don’t think MLS is at that point where certain teams are guaranteed to beat other teams like in Europe. If the Fire finish some chances it’s an entirely different game. Or if Adams doesn’t lose it to Almiron in a bad spot.

James Bridget: The frustrating thing for me is that the team put in such a solid defense performance for the entire game, EXCEPT for those four minutes early in the second half. That pocket of time between the 53rd minute and the 57th just wrecked the whole night.

Adams had such a great game, right up until that giveaway.

Ruben: Rookies gonna rookie. It’s up to the vets to actually score goals when they should.

Adnan: Adams will learn from it, and will only get better. The Fire are yet to perform for a full 90 minutes, which is annoying.

It’ll probably be Collier last start for a while but I’m not sure who’d replace him. Campos until Torres comes in?

James Bridget: At this point I’d be happy with starting the dog from the Air Bud movies.

Ruben: I don’t get it. He’s been the weakest part of an otherwise fantastic attack the last 2 games. It is time to try Campos.

James Bridget: One bright spot though: Johan Kappelhof. Lowkey one of most important members of the squad right now.

Ruben: Johan Kappelhof is good. (TM)

James Bridget: You can’t trademark that, it belongs to the commons.

Ruben: Fair.

Adnan: 2nd best CB the league behind Opara imo. He played so well and did it while on a yellow card for like an hour.

James Bridget: Alright let’s talk Montreal.

How are we feeling about this?

RJ: Should exploit their poor defense. They’ve allowed in 22 or so goals.

James Bridget: We can totally take them. But we also could’ve beaten Toronto. And Minnesota.

Anyway: predictions?

Ruben: 2-1 Fire.

RJ: 3-0. Then at the end of the game Pauno will run to the field and rip off his suit which reveals a shirt that says “Welcome Torres.”

James Bridget: Ok but is that a 3-0 win or a 3-0 loss?

Anyway, I’m going with 2-2.

Not feeling super confident right now

Ok, shift change!

Sunday we got what is probably the platonic ideal of a #ScamGang game, with the Red Stars walking out of North Carolina with a point.

Almost as importantly: the Red Stars desk had brunch.

Claire Watkins: There was a lot of yelling and I DID put my face in my hands for stoppage time.

James Bridget: It’s true, we were dying.

RJ: I saw that brunch picture. Yall had some takis. Are you gonna share with the rest of the squad?

Adriana Hooper: When they said 4 minutes of stoppage time I was like, for what?!

Sandra Herrera: Red Stars brunch was as WILD as the game, so it was perf.

Yours truly brought the takis. CUZ THAT’S WHAT I DO, SON.

(And yes u may have some)

I tried my best to provide both sustenance and comfort as Claire was also dying. Back pats and takis for the win.

Adriana: 42 shots and only 1 goal! NC has a major finishing issue but somehow are still # 1 lol

Sandra: For hydration breaks I believe a minimum of 3 minutes is added for stoppage. 2nd half was probably 4 due to some injury stoppages.

Adriana : Get out of here with your time logic Sandra. I just didn’t want to handle my anxiety any longer lol

But really. The lineup was a bit hmm to me at first but they’ve played so many games, it was a matter of time before some rest was needed. Against NC though was a bit of a head scratcher for me. But it kind of worked. At least enough to pull a point. But Naeher absolutely was the biggest (and probably only) reason they got that point.

Claire: I definitely questioned the rotation, only just cuz it was a matchup against the league leaders, but in retrospect I thought it worked really well.

Adriana: Yea, I don’t think they honestly looked that great and if NC wasn’t as bad in finishing right now it might’ve been much different but the scoreline at the end is really all that matters. And being able to pull it out with that starting XI is a testament to the S C A M

Sandra: I mean, if you’re going to scam, you gotta do it right and be all unsuspecting.

Cheers to being SUS AF.

Adriana: I also want to see that consistency from Naeher moving forward. She was amazing but has had more than a few questionable things happen this season and with the NT but we know she’s capable of more (hello yesterday.) But she proved she can do it with an ok defense so that reasoning for me was kind of diminished yesterday.

I also found her yesterday going back to her more “conservative” approach that the NT seems to be wanting to force her away from, even though that’s her more strength side. I mean she did need to be more aggressive to an extent but not at which the NT was pushing her.

Claire: I thought CRS walked in with the exact right mentality yesterday, which elevated Naeher’s game. Just survive.

Adriana: I didn’t really think about it that way but makes sense. And survive they did.

Sandra: Naeher was unreal yesterday. It was like watching a video game. Just couldn’t believe what I was watching, and yet wanted to see more lol

It’s like which save was your fave? There are TWELVE to choose from.

Claire: Gotta be the one against Zerboni early. That goes in and the whole match changes.

Sandra: Word. Somebody needs to gif that, but like with a cape.