The one thing this schedule does do is amplify the significance of our matches against LA (2 on the road), Seattle (2 on the road), Dallas (2 @ Home), KC (1 on the road) etc. Those games are really big now as swing games. It's our best opportunity to slow the competition down. Breaking LA's serve was big. The flip side is next year - KC will have a brutal schedule in 2013. RSL will host Seattle and LA twice...but visit Dallas twice. That's all assuming (tin foil hats on now) that the schedule is flipped and not revised in favor of media giants in 2013.
this is the best part, you just KNOW that the league is going to come up with some bullshit reason to change the schedule next year so there is no flip and payback for the teams that benefit so much this year.
Well, they pre-announced it as a two year arrangement, but yeah, the Don holds all the cards in this deck and might deal himself Jokers.
Back to the discussion on our starting eleven for this match, interesting choices facing Kries this week. Does he keep his line-up stable and stay with the starting eleven that has beaten L.A. and N.Y.? Or does he bring his regulars, Johnson, Sabo, and Morales back and sit players like Sabastian, Paulo, and Gil? Personally I really think Johnson is going to have to prove he shoud be starting again, Sabo too needs to show he can produce. Gil has done nothing to be benched but with Morales ready to go I think Gil or Grabavoy will have to sit. Give Borchers another week and Kries needs to face another decision in sitting Shuler who has deserved nothing less than playing week in and out. Great problems to have, kinda starting too feel pretty good about this team, a little reminiscent of how many of us felt early last year after crushing New England and L.A early. Starting Eleven for Saturday Rimando Wingers, Olave, Shuler, Beltran Valasquez, Morales, Beckerman, Gil Paulo, Espy
Dropping Grabavoy to the bench makes zero sense to me. If you want to keep Velasquez on the field, I think that you sacrifice Gil. In the first two games you have probably noticed that when either Beckerman or one of the outside backs get caught out of position it's been Grabavoy primarily that has rotated into the vacant spot. I think at least for this first part of this season it's going to be crucial to either have Johnson or Grabavoy out there as much as possible as both player has much more of a defensive mentality than either Velasquez or Gil. Both of those players have improved in that regard, but they're not quite where they need to be yet as two-way players. Velasquez twisted his ankle in practice today. Depending on swelling that also could factor into the equation. I also thought for sure that Sabo would start last week. I think there's a decent chance he starts. I've always thought that he and Will Johnson are the two players on this team that don't tolerate being on the sideline very well.
Totally understand the reluctance in sitting Grabavoy, but I just see a more dynamic play with Gil and Valasquez together on the pitch maybe a vision into the future. Besides we are playing Chivas who needs a strong defense? Further agree that sitting Sabo and Will may create issues, but like our coach has often said "players have to earn their spots week in and out". Truth be told Will is a energy bunny who's value is totally related to his unbelievable work ethic but he will really never be a great soccer player, and Sabo is in Salt Lake because he is so up and down he can not make it anywhere else in the soccer world. I may regret these comments tomorrow, but it is rather cool to see a "future RSL team"
I am guessing if Velasquez did have a full on ankle twist today, he isn't starting or even playing on Saturday. Maybe we will see Steele or Alvarez get the start if Javi isn't ready yet. Johnson was upgraded to questionable, so its conceivable that he could get some minutes, but I doubt it. Now its possible Steele doesn't get any time on Saturday. He might have a hard time getting there since he failed his driver's license test today. OUCH!
We should pull a Bruce Arena and start our battered vets, not really. I remember what a fight Chivas gave us last year - even down a man or two...didn't we just escape with three points on a last minute shot from Young Willy?
yeah, we couldn't score on Kennedy to save our lives in that game. It is because of that, that I'm not too comfortable with the talk of "well it's just Chivas". Yeah, it may just be Chivas, but look who is the manager. If there was a guy who knows the RSL philosophy it would be Frasier. He knew how to give RSL fits when we played them last year. We have the better players, but if Frasier can get his guys to fight and clog the middle, RSL suddenly isn't so superior. The XI I think we'll see for this match is as follows [LINEUP-4-4-2]Espy, Sabo, Grabs, Javi, KB, Gil, Wingert, Olave, Schuler, Tony, Nicky[/LINEUP-4-4-2] Bench: Reynish, Borchers, Cruz, Alvarez, Johnson, Paulo Jr, Steele Reason for rotations - Javi for Velasquez: Rolled ankle, rough week, don't want to overwork him early. He hasn't done anything in the games to lose his spot, but we don't want to burn this kid out early. We need his energy in late July onwards. He didn't expect to see the pitch much if at all this year, Kreis sitting him down and explaining that this isn't because of play but because of the long term picture would make sense to the kid. He is humble, he'll get it. - Sabo for PJ Paulo had a hell of a game against New York, I'm not going to deny that. What this move is for, though, is to get that target guy that we missed greatly in the second half against New York. Once they applied pressure, we lacked a guy to get the ball out to. Once Sabo came on, he was that target and was really our only bright spot (if you forget the shank, he actually was quite good in his few minutes). Paulo off the bench is a lot like Findley off the bench, at least on paper. Change of pace, likes the ball at his feet going at players, combines well with Espy, etc. Like Tian, explaining to him that this is a long term move will, hopefully, make sense to him. I'd keep Schuler in because rushing Borchers back just doesn't make sense. Also, Schuler is a starter anywhere else in the league. Just keep him back there.
It also didn't help that chivas parked all ten guys in the box for the rest of the game, breaking that down isn't easy, especially when you're as emotional as they were and just throwing everything at them with no thought towards tactics. I also remember thinking there was a small bit of question whether Johnson was offside on his tap in, but the refs wouldnt have left the field alive if they called the goal back and they knew it. Talk about poor timing for a twisted ankle, 2-3 days out is the worst; that's just enough time to let the initial swelling go down and the real soreness/pain limitation to set in. I doubt he plays on Saturday. Shitty to hear about his car (and Steele failing his test), but I'd rather have those types of problems than players having broken ankles, lol.
I really hope Espy gets a brace in this game http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/article/2012/03/21/mlss-next-messi-moment-coming-salt-lake
The whole discussion about Will vs. Velasquez is a really interesting one because they are such different players, but play the same position. I've enjoyed seeing Velasquez the past two games because he's completely comfortable in tight spaces and does well with the ball at his feet. The interchanges between him, Gil, Javi, Espy, and Paulo have been really nice, in general. We don't get that as much with Will. On the other hand, Will covers a huge amount of ground and is substantially better defensively. Which player you put in probably depends on who the opponent is and how you expect the game to play out. Kreis has a lot of options for those two wing spots, if all players are healthy: 1. Very attack-minded: Velasquez & Gil 2. Middle ground: Grabs/Will & Velasquez/Gil 3. Very defense-minded: Will & Grabs I'm not as sure where Steele fits in yet. I also wonder to what extent Kreis foresees Gil playing on the wing, or if he is set to be purely the backup for Javi. At any rate, as well as Velasquez has played, if I'm Kreis I definitely don't start him over Grabs or Will at this point if everyone is healthy. Much better to ease him along as much as possible.
I really like that post Ivensor, and I think that may well be how we see the season play out. Kreis has a toolchest of midfielders and he can use the appropriate player in the appropriate setting and keep the mids more fresh.
Any predictions for this one? I'm going with 1-0 if RSL fails to score early. If they do score early, I'm predicting a bloodbath. I expect Chivas to go 11 behind the ball, keep RSL off the scoreboard, and try to snag a cheap one off a counter or set piece. But if RSL ruffle the onion sack early, Chivas will be forced to come out and play soccer...then RSL will really find space to do work.
my feelings exactly if RSL gets a goal in the first 30 this could turn into a route really fast, especially if Chivas starts chasing. If they can hold us to 0 til half then we are in for a whole other beast. I'm going 3-0. Though, my heart and head both tell me it really should/could be a lot more. 6 or 7 type thing if RSL is clicking. Games like this, where your team is so much better than the other, are hard to get up for. I'm hopeful Kreis will remind them "remember last time these guys came to the RioT?" If that doesn't get a fire under Kyle and Espy's asses, and therefore everyone else as well, I don't know what will. If we are the first team to give up a goal to Chivas I'll be pissed.
I saw that article and thought the comparison of Espy hitting 30 goals and claiming the record to Messi getting his four bazillionth and change was ridiculous. MLS doesn't need to make up hollow milestones, they need to celebrate good attractive soccer as it happens. (Hmm, this sounds like a rant against showing LAG and NYR on national tv and getting some better looking teams on the air.) On the other hand, I'm looking forward to a couple of seasons of watching Espy and Sabo trade the record back and forth. It may be a small thing, but it will be fun.
I thought it was clumsy, too. Messi becoming Barca's scoring leader is worlds apart from a player on a 7-year-old team getting his 30th.
I'm really hoping for 5-0, just because that would be awesome. Having a GD of 9 3 games into the season? Sign me up. However, I'm willing to be this is going to be a closer game. holding us to the half will be tough for Chivas, but with numbers they might be able to do it. I'm thinking this might be a scary game for us. 1-0.
I'm bringing a fairly big party of people to this game, including a few first timers that want to check out the RIOT and the beautiful game for the first time. So I'm fairly certain we're in store for a nil-nil draw. Apologies in advance.
It's ok, last year my sisters first game as a 2-0 loss to the Crew, and she was still sold. Kudos for bringing newbies. I've got one person coming, this will be his second game.
hope all of you that are bringing people have your tickets set. as was said earlier, the POAP (no, not what the urban dictionary says) has this game as one where they get tickets. It'll be a strangely filled RioT for such a bad team. Weather... http://www.weather.com/weather/wxdetail/USUT0226?dayNum=1 ********in beautiful