miaowang123: hind their full backs and the centra

hind their full backs and the centra

3 Nov 2019 at 22:16

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- By the end, a crowd of 16,008 was chanting his nickname. Custom USA Soccer Jerseys . Sergei Bobrovsky made 36 saves and Cam Atkinson had a goal and an assist to lead the Columbus Blue Jackets past Carolina 3-0 on Friday night, ending the Hurricanes season-best five-game winning streak. "Bob was the Bob weve grown to love," teammate Brandon ;Dubinsky said. Boone Jenner and Dubinsky also scored for the Blue Jackets, who have won three of four. And Nathan Horton contributed in his first home game in a Columbus uniform. But make no mistake about it: Bobrovsky stole the show. "He was in his game today," said Carolinas Justin Faulk. "Hes obviously a good goalie. Hes proven himself in this league." Horton, a big-money free-agent signing last season who missed the first 40 games after shoulder surgery, raved about Bobrovsky. "He showed why hes one of the best goalies in the game," Horton said. "Its great for us to have him." Bobrovsky, who picked up his second shutout of the season, was making his first home start in more than a month. He missed 14 games with a strained groin before winning at Madison Square Garden against the Rangers on Monday night, 4-3 in a shootout. He said the key was concentrating. "To be honest, I almost dont remember my saves tonight," he said. "I make one, then I try to be focused on the next." Last years Vezina Trophy winner as the NHLs top goalie was in fine form. He stopped Elias Lindholm twice on jam shots at the corner post during more than a minute of a 5-on-3 for Carolina in the third period. While the Hurricanes were pressing on the remaining power play, he gloved a hard shot from the high slot by Zach Boychuk -- and held his glove high in the air for several seconds while the crowd roared. The crowd chanted, "Bob! Bob!" throughout the final few minutes. "Our goalie energized the building in the third period with some of his saves," Columbus coach Todd Richards said. "That is a little reminiscent of last season." Bobrovsky, acquired in a trade with Philadelphia 18 months ago, went 21-11-6 while leading a late-season charge last spring that brought the Blue Jackets within a tiebreaker of making the playoffs. "When hes playing like that, it gives us a chance to win every single night," Atkinson said. The Blue Jackets moved to 20-20-4 with the win. Carolinas Anton Khudobin had been the hottest goalie in the league. He came in with a record of 6-0-0 with a 1.84 goals-against average and a .943 save percentage. He had allowed two or fewer goals in six of his seven games -- then gave up two in the first period. The Hurricanes Brett Sutter gathered a loose puck in the corner but Horton hit him and forced a turnover to Jenner. The rookie was all alone in the slot and went high on the stick side of Khudobin for his sixth goal of the year at the 15-minute mark. Just 70 seconds later, the Blue Jackets struck again. This time Atkinson carried the puck through the neutral zone and then slid a pass to Dubinsky on the left wing. His rising shot from the left dot beat Khudobin inside the far post. It was Dubinskys ninth of the year. Atkinson had also saved a goal when he got a stick on Jeff Skinners wraparound midway through the first 20 minutes. He then picked up a goal of his own at 5:54 of the third when he took a feed from Mark Letestu and found the net from the left hash for his 12th goal. The Hurricanes had piled up a season-high in goals while beating Toronto 6-1 on Thursday night at home. But Bobrovsky stifled everything that came at him, capping the shutout with a sprawling glove save on Nathan Gerbe with just over 2 minutes left. "We had one or two breakdowns and they capitalized and scored goals," Carolina coach Kirk Muller said. "Theyre a good team. They play a good system and they dont give up much." NOTES: Columbus C Derek MacKenzie was sitting out the final game of a three-game suspension for boarding Phoenixs Oliver Ekman-Larsson. ... It was the second of five meetings this season, with the Blue Jackets winning on Dec. 23 in Raleigh, 4-3. ... The Blue Jackets improved to 9-6-0 against Carolina, including 5-2-0 at home. ... The teams have never gone to overtime in their 15 games. ... Former Stanley Cup-winning goalie Cam Ward missed his fifth straight game for the Hurricanes with a lower-body injury. USA Soccer Jerseys China .com) - Mikko Korhonen carded a 5-under 67 on Thursday to claim medalist honors at the European Tours Final Qualifying Stage tournament. Wholesale USA Soccer Jerseys .  Seriously. Seven years of losing has brought many different faces, players and management, to the annual pre-season get-to-know-the-team round up.SHAPES OF MLS Toronto FC had week one of the new MLS season off, but their first opponents, the Seattle Sounders, kicked the campaign off with a home match against current MLS Cup champions, Sporting Kansas City. Rain and a slippery surface made passing difficult for both sides, but Ryan Nelsen and his coaching staff were given more than a few glimpses at the way a new Seattle side will want to play. The Sounders would win the game 1-0 in the fourth and final minute of added time through substitute and former TFC striker Chad Barrett. Front Two With Clint Dempsey only named on the bench, the attention was already on the front two of Seattle before the game began. Once it started, it was interesting to see Kenny Cooper, acquired from FC Dallas last December, as the striker who dropped deep. Lamar Neagle and former Chicago Fire star Marco Pappa were named by Sigi Schmid to play out wide, but neither of these players hugged the touchlines, instead choosing to play narrower to help their midfield duo. Full backs, Dylan Remick and DeAndre Yedlin in particular, were asked to provide width. It is worth noting that Yedlin had a very good game and whoever plays on the left for Toronto FC next week will have to work very hard defensively on that flank. The choice of Cooper to drop in, while surprising, turned out to be effective. First of all, Cooper recognized his defensive responsibilities. He knows Sporting Kansas City like to play the ball out to the centre backs, so he sat well on their first outlet, Lawrence Olum, as this image shows, while also highlighting the narrowness of the three behind Obafemi Martins. Coopers ability to drop into space also confused the centre backs who were unsure how deep to defend once he was able to get into the channels between the lines. Aurelien Collin, on this occasion, found himself guessing whether to stay deep and track the run of Martins or go to win the aerial battle against Cooper. If Cooper starts against Toronto, his positioning will need to be tracked more by the defensive midfielder, likely Michael Bradley, to stop Steven Caldwell from stepping up and leaving space in behind him, which is what happened for Martins here. Finding space behind Alonso and Evans There are very few midfield pairings in MLS better than Osvaldo Alonso and Brad Evans. Thee two have an excellent understanding, but one thing Toronto FC will look to exploit next week is the space they leave behind them. Stitched USA Soccer Jerseys. Seattles centre backs are not the quickest, so they like to sit deep and usually the midfield is diligent in its positioning, but when the team loses second balls, there is space behind them to exploit quickly on the counter. Toronto FC will need someone with the intelligence of Graham Zusi, who did it for KC, to recognize those times. Here you see Alonso lose concentration and Evans press, leaving space for Zusi to run into… Seconds later, Zusi is away to orchestrate a scoring opportunity for the visitors against an unprotected defence…. It helped that Sporting Kansas Citys 4-3-3 had someone with Zusis intelligence but Torontos likely 4-4-1-1 will have three candidates to get into that space with the wide men and whoever plays off the striker, likely Dwayne De Rosario, who, perhaps, wouldnt be best suited on the left against Yedlins attacks. Midfield structure essential to the end This game looked destined to end 0-0 when Benny Feilhaber was withdrawn in the 92nd minute, but a minute later his replacement, Ike Opara, was easily beaten by Alonso deep in his own half and suddenly Seattles DP had acres of space to sprint into. Suddenly, Alonso had their opponents where he wanted them, as he transitioned into their half and connected with Dempsey, who would lay it out wide for the cross that would win the match. It was a fairytale finish for Seattle who now head into next weeks game against Toronto FC with a perfect three points. We have seen that they do allow space in behind their full backs and the central midfield, but you have to be intelligent enough to exploit that when the opportunities arise. It will be interesting to see what they do with Dempsey. When he came on in the second half, he played just off Martins with Cooper moving out wide before he was later taken off. For that moment, there was room for all three on the pitch, but it will be rare to see that from the start. The key for Toronto will be tracking whichever player joins Martins in attack. The former Newcastle striker was quiet in this game, but this season will feast on slow defensive lines by running in behind when Cooper or Dempsey plays him in. ' ' '



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