San Jose Earthquakes @ DC United Sunday September 27, 2009 - 3:00PM EST WATCH: Telefutura CSN Mid-Atlantic LISTEN: 1600AM (SPANISH) 1540AM (SPANISH) 1390AM (SPANISH) 1050AM First league match since the meltdown at home to Seattle. Figure most starters should be well rested after another reserve outing against Marathon 3 days earlier. Likely still unavailable: Jakovic, Burch, Fred, Khumalo Done for rest of season: Allen, N'Silu, Janicki
Here's what I'd like to see, but think it's not very likely: -------------------Wicks--------------------- Namoff-----James-----Simms---Habarugira McTavish-----Olsen---Szetela------Wallace -------------Quaranta--Pontius-------------- Obviously things change if Burch or Jakovic are available.
Allen, N'Silu and Janicki are no longer eligible to play MLS games. See Goff's blogpost of 09/15. They are eligible to play CCL, but not MLS.
Huckerby gave us fits in San Jose--just tore up our wings. He's out for the year with a bad hip. That should help. (Convey waves arms)
Can we win by more than one goal, please? And not by a PK. Goals in the run of play would be nice. I would like a 4-0 win.
Well who do we see playing against Marathon? Kocic Namoff James John Habarugira Szetela Jacobson Simms Wallace Pontius Emilio subs: Moreno, Hamid, McTavish, DiRaimondo, Shipalane, Allen, Gomez Then San Jose? Wicks Namoff Jakovic Vaughn Olsen Simms Quaranta . . . . Fred Gomez Pontius Emilio Subs: Kocic, Moreno, John, Wallace, Szetela, Shipalane, Jacobson From what i remember Vaughn was a really good player. I could see him getting some starts in the last few games. And playing a 3-5-2 at home against San Jose seems right to me, with Olsen and Simms in from of the back 3, i feel like this is one of those games with this formation works. The time table is right for Jakovic to return (i hope) And i don't think Quaranta and fred will not be available for this game.
Seriously, need to keep this one up. We know our lineup against Marathon will be pathetic, especially with Namoff out for the foreseeable future.
<Channeling Gene Kranz> With all due respect, sir, I believe this is gonna be our finest hour. </CGK>
-------------------Wicks---------------- Vaughn---Jakovic-----James---Burch Szetela-----Olsen---Simms----Wallace -------------Quaranta--Pontius--------- Thinking it'll look more like this now. Although I won't be terribly surprised to see a 3-5-2 either -----------------Wicks----------------- -------James--Jakovic--Burch-------- -----------Olsen------Simms---------- Quaranta---------------------Wallace -----------------Gomez---------------- ------------Pontius--Emilio------------ I also wouldn't be surprised to see Soehn start Fred on the left.
In theory I have no problem playing a 3-5-2 at home against SJ - however, with Jakovic just coming back from injury and a game Thursday, I would prefer the 4-4-2 so as to not wear out the center backs.
Hopefully DC United can continue their winning ways. It will be raining gametime, so that is an added bonus.
Chiming in here going forward from CCL. Amazingly, and maybe because it faced a Marathon team a bit weary from their extended politcal travel, we patched together a line-up that worked fairly well together, got energy and movement all over the field, and worked fast. Well, faster at least than recent efforts. So, if injuries don't improve other than Jakovic, I'd expect more of the same from that match. --------------------Wicks------------------- Vaughn--------Jakovic------James----Wallace/John Pontius---------Olsen------Simms-----Quaranta ------------------Gomez/Fred------------------ ------------------------Emilio------------------ subs: Moreno, Shipalane, DiRimando, Jacobsen,Khumalo Energy seems restored a bit from the recent rest, and has me already anxious to validate a bit more with better form and fininshing on the pitch come Sunday. The team saw playing with more speed, bite, and support rewarded last time out in CCL. The test now comes to see if Soehn can continue to fill roles hopefully established in a 4-4-2 that despite a headless midfield (no true amid) has considerable bite going forward. I wouldn't mind seeing Fred tried up top this match, seeing all 4 of Shipalane, Quaranta, Wallace and Pontius coming ahead of him on the depth chart out wide. Playing him more centrally might just be the thing to recharge his engine, especially with the cover we could now provide. Still, I'll continue to pull for both Namoff and Burch to heal as fast as humanly possible. Looks like those "crappy" line-ups in CCL might be paying off with depth, if more of us can get healthy. And there isn't a nicer time of year to get supplied with more options, especially if you don't need to use them.
Just a broadcasting note- Comcast will be showing the live version of this match on their Comcast Plus network, which for me at least, will NOT be in HD. I can only presume that the bump from the main is due to post-game coverage on the Skins'. HOWEVER...... Comcast will apparently be showing the match on delay the same Sunday, starting at 5:30 PM ET, which I can get in HD, hope it's being shot that way.
