PBP: PIP: Western Conference Semi Final Game 1; LA Galaxy vs San Jose Earthquakes; 11/4/12; 6 P.M. PST

Also, and I say this in the spirit of hearty competition and good sportsmanship, let us remember this about San Jose: ******** those guys. ******** them right in the ear.

Thank you for your kind attention.

I hope we win. By a freaking lot.

Ricardo Salazar will be the ref...uh oh.

I think we can beat the smurfs if AJ or Sean are healthy, Sarvas starts, and Landon is up top with Keane. Omar is going to have his hands full with douche bag again, and we really need AJ to keep an eye on Wondo. Chavez will kill us if Hector starts again.

I bet Cronin is happy to see Dr Beckham again!

Fingers crossed that Franklin and Juninho can go. Then piggy-backing (and agreeing) on the esteemed Mr. Profiled's thoughts, I'd start this one:

-----------Keane-----Donovan
Highlander---------------------Sarvas
----------Juninho---Beckham
Dunivant--Meyer--Gonzilla--Franklin
---------------Saunders

And leave Buddle, Wilhemsson, Villareal and Stephens as our sub choices....

This dude here is a trip. At least his is consistent in how awful he is, But main thing to remember is dick salazar (dick as in richard) is simple minded and easily decieved. So we mind our tempers and point out the extreme douchyness that is lindsey nohart! The sooner he gets red carded the better!

Woo hoo! And on to San Jose! I really hope to go to the game on Sunday and cheer the boys on to a win! I'm trying to convince some friends to come. Hopefully the game is not sold out. Does anyone know Salazar's stats in reffing our games?

I'm hoping for:

Keane Donovan
Magee Juninho Sarvas Beckham
Dunivant Meyer OG Franklin (if healthy, if not, definitely not Jimenez, so maybe Gaul?)

Hm...look at this interesting interview/article Ives did with OG.
http://www.soccerbyives.net/2012/11...-set-on-another-mls-cup-and-a-usmnt-spot.html

The injuries to Franklin and AJ reminded us of how thin we are at right back. If you followed the reserves this year, you would know we have played Jimenez, Jordan, Meyer, and Keat at right back on occasion, but we have also played Academy players more often than not. We simply gambled in our roster decisions preseason when we cut some true fullbacks in favor of more versatile players. So, we now need players to show their versatility and at this point in the season you have to go with experienced players over your 3rd or 4th choice at right fullback on a depth chart. That probably means Sarvas again if Junino and Beckham are good to go. If either one of them can't play and we need Sarvas in the middle, you probably have to go with Gaul over Jordan or Hector. At least Gaul helps out against San Jose's trees on set plays and balls over the top and he has played a decent amount this season. He also just played against San Jose, which at least gives him some experience to draw upon in defending against them.

What do you do if Franklin, Juninho, Williamson, AJ and BJ are all injured (as they were at the end of last night)

We may have to try this:
------------Buddle------------
---------------Keane----------
Magee----Sarvas--Becks----LD
Todd-----Meyers----Omar---Gaul
---------------Saunders-------

Or I would love to see Villareal for Buddle or maybe bring Stephens into midfeld and push Landon up top instead of Buddle. (I suspect that would be popular here)

To quote the greatness that is mike magee, "This is the game we have been asking for, we are ready." That is Mike Magee for ******** those blue bastards we are going to rip your round tails off and shove them down your throat. Why this team has always brought such vitriol in me I have no idea. Oh and by the way yeah we take your water, do something about it. This should be a great series and another classic matchup between two hated rivals. These playoffs should be great. =)

Everyone who talked crap about Franklin at any point this year need to please sacrifice some small thing )like no snickers bar today) in penance to the soccer gods in hopes that they will allow him to heal up.

If AJ is healthy, do you consider starting him out wide since Meyer played pretty well? I don't think you do because they rock solid center pair is important, but I think you at least think about it.....

I read somewhere that AJ said he "hoped" to be ready for MLS Cup on Dec. 1st if we made it that far. So I'm not going to count on him being available any time soon...

I'm just really, really hoping that Franklin was held out as a calculated precautionary measure and that he'll be good to go on Sunday.

I'm sacrificing a Smurf.

I would sacrifice my mom's old douche bag, but that's in San Jose.

Since we on a very limited break between games . So this is my line up....



Donovan Keane


Magee Becks Stephans Wilhelmsson


Gaul meyers Gonzo jimenez


Saunders


And bring sarvas and juninho as super subs and to rest them so they can be fresh and ready to go at Buckshaw.....

I sincerely hope that Franklin is ready to go. And Bruce simply MUST start Donovan and Keane together up top. We need to score as many goals as possible, especially with our defense hurting like it is. And I'm also hoping Dunivant steps up his game. I thought he had a particularly off game last night, weak passes and crosses. Come on, Duni, don't fade away yet!

I was loving how Gonza was tryna messi his way into the Van Defense , if only Sean Franklin or Dunivannt possesed such Cojones we would be raping Defenses from all angles...

Thank you Benny. If anyone has read the Van post game the first part is exactly what I was saying. As for this game, I think I'm in the KILL KILL, MANGLE MANGLE group. Hopefully the team gets a little more healthy or we could be looking at a crisis for this first game.

I waundered over to read the Smurf board and they want our blood just as bad as we want theirs. As Crimson requested I did not troll their boards. I did take some value away from them though. Two of the few posts there that actually offered some insight as to what they think should be done goes as follows...
Ignoring the colorful rhetoric of course...

KEYS to this game:

- Target their RB Jimenez and rookie CB Meyer. Those guys were clear weak spots last night that Vancouver exploited. We should be able to exploit them even more.

- Get Lenny/Gordon to shade away from Omar... Omar shut Lenny down in the first half of our last game against the scum.

- Don't concede free kicks around the area.

- Watch for short corners... Vancouver didn't step on one and boom easy cross to Magee for the scum's first goal last night.

- Our midfielders need to put in work and win the midfield battle. It's absolutely possible to win the midfield battle with the scum playing old tired legs Beckham and with them being on short rest. Cronin/Chavez/Baca need to run hard the full 90.

- Can't have Morrow getting mismatched against Buddle on crosses he will get beaten in the air.

- Don't try to copy Vancouver's strategy. Do what we have done all year and stick to the Goonies game plan. Short passes through the center of the field, work it to the wings, cross it to Lenny/Gordon who shoot or lay it off to Wondo.

__

This might be a good game to start all three forwards. Omar can only cover one of Gordon or Lenhart, so I think we should have them work together right from the start. Omar may get caught in "no man's land" trying to win every header in the box while Wondo glides in from midfield and finishes the slop. This means I wouldn't start Dawkins, but a stronger defensive midfielder opposite Wondo. Maybe Salinas? We can always bring in Dawkins and Chavez for offense later on. I like having them coming off the bench against a tired and physically battered defense, because both can take people off the dribble and set up or score some easy goals.

This being the case they are also very afriad that the ref is very pro LA Galaxy when it comes to calls despite being the type to allow lots of dirty play. There is also a very healthy fear of Mike Magee(naturally), 2005 happening again and that they don't have enough healthy forwards to be a real threat outside of Wondo and their poacher Lenhart.

LA's keys to victory...

1 Have Omar once again own Lenhart. (This can be done)
2 Have LD and Keane start at forward (This can be done)
3 Control the center of the midfield (This can be done)

And this is the most important of all

4 KEEP OUR COMPOSURE!!!

San Jose can easily go down 10 men in this game really quick if we allow them to be themselves.
Also we can go down just as fast with Sarvas and Juninho both sitting on yellows, and Becks quick draw temper. I said it in my predictions that if we treat this like a South American team we are playing in their house we can defeat them soundly and in perhaps even epic fashion. We must stay professional and not faulter under the temptation to lose our cool on this team. DO THIS and its pretty much in the bag. Just watch.

If I am San Jose, I am feeling pretty confident about this game. We have holes in the backline, and that was not an impressive game.

That said, any game plan for SJ that doesn't have Dawkins in the lineup is insane.

Well. This match won't be decided here. It will be decided over there.