Sometimes the wind howls. Sometimes the silence is the deafening thing.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Jesus Bueno\u2019s time seems to be all but up in Chester.<\/p>\n
When he arrived, a countryman-turned-teammate of then-burgeoning club legend Jose Martinez, expectations might have been that he\u2019d take El Brujo\u2019s place in formation and, inevitably, lore. Instead, he\u2019s been mired in the second or third tier of players in Chester since Day 1. Worse, he seems to shrink when the games demand his best \u2013 just this year he cost his team points in Houston in a close match (a handball penalty is the obvious focus, but just as meaningful was his stealing of the ball off the head of Tai Baribo as time wore down and the Union grew into things) and was abysmal in Vancouver. His conceded penalty was foolish, but he routinely lost possession with extra touches and made all-or-nothing challenges miles from his goal, at least one of which turned directly into a Vancouver counter and tally.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The wind that swept him onto this team will simply keep blowing. His boat isn\u2019t moored here and in hindsight never really was.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Bradley Carnell is part of this story too, of course: the man at the helm, the one who set this whole ship a-sail when he replaced yet another club legend, the one who already has a breathtaking, top of the table finish to his resume as well as a backbreaking fall from grace on it too, the one ultimately responsible for the choices Saturday night.<\/p>\n
He rightfully opted for a second-choice group for Saturday\u2019s clash, not just because the Cup holds its own promise, but because no one wins on the road in MLS and fewer than no one wins three times zones away. That rationality still holds, but its application all but evaporated into the cool, Canadian air shortly after kickoff. The Union looked not only destined to lose, but also looked out of sorts, overmatched, and without a thought going forward or in protecting their goal.<\/p>\n