Finger-gnawing fun

Last time out. Montreal (8-3-3, 27 points) had its full complement of ex-Rhinos on the field
(Martin Nash, Mauro Biello, Eduardo Sebrango, and Gabriel Gervais), but that
dog refused to hunt as Rochester (8-4-2, 26) denied the Impact a third straight
win, netting a 2-0 victory at Frontier on a lovely Saturday night. Montreal’s
loss, which was its first in seven matches, was devastating to the Canadian
fans who made the long journey to Rochester, forcing them to blubber into each
other’s pretty sky-blue ensembles like little girls.

            After sitting through the national
anthems of every country from A to L, Rhinos fans were treated to a splendid
39th-minute free-kick goal from Stoian Mladenov, who must have realized dead
balls would be his only opportunity to score until Coach Ercoli returns him to
his natural central midfield position. Speaking of central midfield, did anyone
else notice how relaxed and in control and, well, good Nash looked for Montreal now that he isn’t being forced on to
the wing? There must be something to that old adage that says you shouldn’t
continually pound a square peg into a round hole.

            Even with the 1-0 lead, The Score knew — it just knew — there would be a last-minute
goal, and gnawed off all of its fingernails in anticipation. The Score just wasn’t expecting said
goal to come from Doug Miller, nor could it believe Miller had that much fuel
left in his tank in the 89th minute. Miller now has a goal or a yellow card in
10 of Rochester’s 14 league matches. And speaking of colors, The Score couldn’t pick out Billy
Andracki’s black jersey in the sea of dark purple Montreal tops, but heard he
stopped two point-blank shots in the second half.

            It wasn’t all good news, though. Ian
Fuller snapped his arm in half 10 minutes into play, and Rochester was
outplayed (not dominated, just outplayed) by Montreal for the majority of the
evening. Still, the win was a huge confidence boost for the team, which would have been crushed by a nearly
unprecedented third loss in a row.

Next up. It’s a pair
of weekend clashes against the bottom-dweller Lynx (5-6-3, 18) — Friday at
Frontier and Sunday in Toronto. The Rhinos boast a 10-0-2 league record against
the Lynx at Frontier, and a significantly less impressive 4-4-6 mark in
Toronto. Peter Pinizzotto’s side has scored just 12 times in 14 matches this
year, but it has also allowed only 16 (Theo Zagar has more shutouts than
Andracki). Toronto’s top scorer is Ali Ngon (3+2=8)

            June was tough because of the number
of matches, but July might be worse because of the quality of the competition
(read: No showdowns against Syracuse or Pittsburgh). After the weekend
doubleheader against Toronto, the Rhinos will face Charleston (10-2-2, 32)
twice, Richmond (8-3-4, 27) twice, Virginia Beach (6-2-5, 20) once, and have a
third-round US Open Cup match thrown in for kicks.

Where have you gone, Andy Restrepo? Richmond swept a pair from Virginia Beach, and Greg
“Thunderfoot” Simmonds scored one in each match, including the game
winner on Saturday. The last time Carlos Parra scored for Atlanta was the first
time the team won in 2003. He tallied again this weekend, and Atlanta managed
to topple the hapless Charlotte Eagles. And Rene “Father Time” Rivas
had the S-Dogs’ lone goal in a 2-1 loss to Charleston. Rivas also earned his
second yellow card in as many starts.

            On Sunday evening, Aleksey Korol had
the GWG in Pittsburgh’s 2-0 road win in Cincinnati, and John Ball had an assist
in Milwaukee’s 4-0 destruction of Indiana.

MLS update. Another week, another pair of goals from the seemingly unstoppable tandem of
Ante Razov and Rhinos 2003 draft pick Damiani Ralph. Pat Onstad led San Jose to
yet another 0-0 draw, as that team continues to enjoy the best record in MLS. The Score‘s fantasy team cracked the Top
700, despite forgetting to unload the injured Steve Jolley until his value
plummeted.

— Jon Popick

For The Score‘s detailed weekly updates on
the Rhinos and the A-League, visit Jon’s site, Planet Sick-Boy, at
www.sick-boy.com.

This article appears in Jul 2-8, 2003.