Newcastle United failed to produceHeat problems, turf issues and a collection of cartoon characters stood in the way of today’s game. Undeterred, Newcastle United went to watch a game of football – and that’s about all they did.
Immediately after kick off, the lads were forced to defend as Orlando City threw everything they had at us. Misplaced pass after misplaced pass plagued our team who were unable to escape their half of the pitch for the opening 5 minutes. Short of some smart runs and passing play (including a 1-6 between Alan Smith and Cheik Tioté), Orlando controlled the game.
In that time Ryan Taylor, who was playing at left back, managed to pick up a knock and was substituted on the 25th minute for Jose Enrique. Here’s hoping that knock is minor and he was taken off as a precaution.
Just so you have an idea of Orlando’s dominance, we had conceded around 4 or 5 corners at this stage – compared to the 0 Orlando had conceded.
Once the 35 minute mark had hit, Newcastle sprung to life and charged out of their end of the pitch, thanks to Enrique, and tried to keep the play beyond the centre circle. Dinks from Jonas (playing on the right!) was blocked, and as the ball was kicked out wide to Dan Gosling, he promptly ran into an Orlando defender. Canny. (more…)
It's 'Newcastle Week' in Orlando apparently.For those who want to watch the Orlando City v Newcastle United friendly game early on Sunday morning, you may be pleased to know that the match is available on at least two live Internet video streams.
As Hugh mentioned in his match preview(ish) for the game, the match kicks off at 19:30 Orlando time, which is 00:30 on Sunday morning UK time.
Live video streams of the games will be shown on ‘Orlando City Soccer‘, which looks to be the official club site, or one that is closely affiliated with the Floridian side anyway.
The game is also available on USL Live. For this one just click on the ‘live games’ tab at the top of the page, and the details will be shown on the right hand side. Click on that and Bob should be your uncle. (more…)
Turf ripped upPitch problems needed to be solved ahead of Newcastle United’s pre-season game against Orlando this evening.
It seems there are a few problems with the pitch at Orlando. Apparently the Orlando team usually play on astro-turf (not be confused with Astro Boy) but Pardew wasn’t keen on that idea due to its alleged proclivity for producing injuries. So Orlando owner Phil Rawlins spent a six figure sum getting real turf laid for tonight’s game.
However, after a pitch inspection today, both teams have agreed that they don’t particularly fancy the freshly rolled pitch after all.
It was thought that Rawlins might acquire a magic carpet from Orlando’s ‘Olde Shoppe of Inexplicable Items’ to play on but, alas, they’d sold out, so it looks like they’re going to have to put the astro-turf (not to be confused with Batman) back.
As a result, Pardew may have to rethink his team selection for tonight and it’s thought he may opt to leave Demba Ba and Steve Harper on the sidelines in case the synthetic pitch affects their troublesome knees in some way, although Bolton played on the astro-turf (not to be confused with Deputy Dawg) last week without any problems. (more…)
Destination FloridaIn the second of their three-leg American pre-season tour, Newcastle United face Orlando City tonight.
Our pre-season tour of the States continues with a game against Orlando City Soccer today. With much of America gripped in a heatwave – and Florida’s pretty hot and humid in normal circumstances anyway – the game will be another tough test of the team’s fitness.
Pardew said that, whilst the heat was an issue to contend with, he thought that playing in it would be beneficial to the squad in the long run:
“The heat is definitely an issue.
“No matter where we play in America, it will be hot. We can’t do anything about that, we just have to play in whatever weather that day has in store for us.
“It is not unusual,” said Pardew, doing a commendable impersonation of Tom Jones. “I saw the light of the night that I past by her window,” he added, trying to perfect the voice.* (more…)
Oh no! Not again!As many of you may have heard, Hatem Ben Arfa was stretchered off in the Magpies’ 0-0 draw with US team, Sporting Kansas early this morning (UK time).
As esteemed collegue Hugh reported in this piece, Ben Arfa was injured around thity minutes into the game after a tackle by Kanasas player, Espinoza, and will be returning home from the tour. This is something that will, no doubt, be somewhat worrying for many Toon fans, especially so after the events of last season with Ben Arfa’s double leg break after a shocking scissor tackle committed by Manchester City hatchet man, Nigel de Jong.
Anyway, this may be just gossip, but honoured and trusted site user, ‘Geordiedug’, has has had word from a friend who is staying in the same hotel as the Newcastle United team that he has spoken with French master himself and he said that he was suffering with an ankle problem, should be out for around three weeks, and hopefully, will be back for the start of the season proper. (more…)
