Last time out.The Score can barely see straight after the
Wangling in Webster, and most of the 4,000-plus who were in attendance are
likely suffering from a similar rage-induced sight impairment. It’s the second
year in a row in which the Rhinos have been bounced from the U.S. Open Cup
thanks, in part, to some extremely questionable sub selection, but this time
around Rochester also had to contend with a very physical (read: rabidly
violent) Kansas City team and a head referee with either a personal vendetta or
glaucoma.
           Fans were left scratching their heads wondering why, when
the match was tied and sent to overtime, the Rhinos’ most potent scorer (Greg
Simmonds) was left on the bench. A similar strategic blunder was perpetrated in
last year’s Cup loss to Hershey, when former Wildcat Jamel Mitchell was never
used, even though Rochester found itself down a goal with 20 minutes to play. The
Score doesn’t confuse the substitution process with rocket science. When
you’re winning, add defenders.
           Conversely, when you need a goal, inserting offensive
subs is the logical choice. Yes, we’re blue in the face, but we’re going to
keep saying it until it starts happening — at least on a semi-regular basis.
Next up. Only six existing A-League teams have winning records
against Rochester (9-2-5, 38 points). The bad news is that each of the Rhinos’
next three foes come from that elite pool. First up is Charlotte (7-2-10, 34),
who have beaten Rochester in both of the matches in which the two teams have
faced off.
           Like The Score said back on May 15, the key to
beating the Eagles is shutting down forward Dustin Swinehart (last year’s
number two scorer, who found the back of the net against the Rhinos on May 18
in the Eagles’ home win). Canandaigua Academy graduate Andy Guastaferro makes
his first Frontier Field appearance for Charlotte.
           And yours truly will play in the annual Celebrity Media
halftime extravaganza, in which he will either bring pride and glory to City‘s
good name, or employ defibrillation paddles to prevent him from going into the
light.
           On Friday, a very dangerous Montreal (7-2-5, 31) side
returns to Frontier for the finale of this season’s four-match series against
Rochester. Like most battles between the Impact and the Rhinos, the home team
generally wins (Montreal took 1-0 and 2-0 shutouts at the Claude, while
Rochester squeaked by with a 1-0 win at home earlier this month).
           The Impact have won two straight since that loss in
Rochester, and former Rhino Eduardo Sebrango was named the league’s Player of
the Week, as well. With Montreal clawing its way toward first place, expect
this to be one of the most physical battles on this season’s regular-season
home schedule. But if you can’t make it, watch it on television (Empire Sports
or Fox Sportsworld).
           The home stand extends into Sunday with a rare 3:05 start
(The Score can neither confirm nor deny the odd kickoff time has
anything to do with Greg the Bunny coming out of hiatus early that
evening) against Hampton Roads (5-2-13, 24 points). It’d be easy to look past
the Mariners, especially with big road matches against Charleston and Atlanta
looming next weekend, but these guys aren’t quite the pushovers everyone makes
them out to be.
           For starters, they nearly beat the MetroStars in Cup
action last week, and they thumped the mighty Richmond Kickers this past
weekend. Since Rochester beat them 2-0 in June, the Mariners have replaced
scoring threats Steve Butcher (to Toronto) and Mark Rowland (to Montreal) with
Gary Glasgow (from the nefarious Wizards), Christof Lindemayer (from Cincinnati
via Hershey), Gabe Eastman (Cincinnati via Nashville) and Daniel Alvarez
(Cincinnati via Colorado).
It’s all relative. Portland’s Fadi Afash has scored in 10 of the 13
matches in which he has played in 2002. The Syrian striker leads the A-League
with 12 goals. As a comparison, the Rhinos have scored 14 goals in their last
13 regular-season games.
The newest Rhino. Rochester signed forward Hamisi Amani-Dove in an
attempt to solve their scoring woes. Amani-Dove was recently released from the
Dallas Burn when they landed Irish midfielder Ronnie O’Brien. Other recently
available players looking for a new home include Jeff Houser (released by
Pittsburgh; was the league’s fourth-best scorer in 2001) and local boy Aleksey
Korol (released by Chicago).
Road trip. Can’t get enough of Rochester’s bad substitutions at
home? Join the Safari for a weekend road trip to Cincinnati and Indiana (August
16-17). For more information, stop by the Safari’s table in the concourse
during any of this week’s matches.
If it makes you feel any
better. Kansas City goalkeeper Tony
Meola was booted out of the Wizards’ weekend match against Los Angeles when he
took down the MLS’s leading scorer Carlos Ruiz in the area. He was, no doubt,
still riled up from the Cup match against the Rhinos. That makes The Score feel just a little bit better.
— Jon Popick
This article appears in Jul 24-30, 2002.
