Sporting KC @ Colorado 5/19 8pm p/i/p [R]

I'll be happy if we don't do something to beat ourselves.

This. All I want is for us to play 90 minutes without a total brain fart. If we lose, so be it, but at least make the other team beat us.

That said, ifwe play like the first 45 last week we can win. Without Roger and still possibly Seth? I would be happy enough with a solidly played draw.

i think we were outplayed in the first half last week until friedrich went out with the injury. after that, we were completely in control until collin went da-da-da-dumb again.

As much as Ill miss seeing Roger's tenacity in the middle, Im almost happy PV has to do something different against CO. He probably wont -- just go w/ Nagamura -- but I do like the fact that there is at least a slight unknown leading up to this week's XI.

Oh, and I am still in the player rotation camp too, so bonus there. You cant realistically expect Espinoza to run like he has all year long anyways.

If we can keep Casey (and Collin, for that matter) under control, I think we can win this one. From what I have read, their D was pretty much a mess against DC since they have had to plug some holes due to injury. Get a goal early and keep pressing for #2. You would think they would be pretty focused to get out of their funk this week after reverting to last year's brain farts against Chicago. Would like to see Teal do the same thing he did the last time we were there.....


Oh, and Mullan might also miss this game due to injury.
http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/article/2012/05/18/henao-edu-could-make-first-starts-colorado-vs-skc

Yeah, if nothing else - the Battle of the Bic'ed Baldies, Collin v. Casey, should be fun to watch.

Casey made his first start of the season Wednesday in DC I wonder his fitness level to start two games in a week

I thought he looked pretty good coming off of a long injury, and I think he'll get time, but who knows how much.

I'm sure he'll get time especially with Cummings out but I'd question fitness levels after the long lay off

Bunbury and Nagamura starting tonight. Should be interesting.

Nagamura was expected, Bunbury is surprising, but not shocking. I personally would have sat Kamara over Sapong though.

Please don't ever play Peterson again. He has been painful to watch!

Jacob or Joseph? I thought Joseph (Haitian Xavi) did quite well when he came on.

When you're up 2-0, you HAVE to close the game out. We let Colorado have way too much possession after we were up 2-0 and didn't really press again until it was 2-2. Poor performance.

that should feel like a loss, right?

We were way too content to let Colorado pass the ball around. I thought halftime might fix that, but nope. Joseph pleasantly surprised me. Jacob Peterson did not. And Cesar continued to pass the ball away. Uff.

I really hate seeing him come on for Convey every time.

cesar was hardly the only one doing that tonight.

That's who I figured. I'm still waiting to see what Vermes saw in him when we signed him, and anything that would have pointed to why he would have wanted to trade for him before this year.

Watching the replay, Kimura was his man on the tying goal

I know, but that's a consistent issue with him.

I'll always take a road point, but definitely feels like a loss. We were playing pretty well for exactly half the game. The first 22:30 and the last 22:30. When we ease up and get lazy we look like absolute junk.

Anyway, fantasy points went up so here's some automated player ratings. Bunbury with the man of the match for his brace. Hopefully he can keep it up.


Colorado Rapids
Matt Pickens 3.9
Drew Moor 4.6
Koskue Kimura 6.5
Hunter Freeman 4.6
Tyrone Marshall 6.5
The Ginja Ninja 5.4
Martin Rivero 5.8
Jaime Castrillon 4.6
Wells Thompson 4.6
Conor Casey 6.1
Tony Cascio 4.6
Edu 4.3
Kamani Hill 4.3
Luis Zapata 4.3

Sporting Kansas City
Jimmy Nielsen 5.0
Aurelien Collin 5.4
Matt Besler 4.6
Chance Myers 4.3
Seth Sinovic 6.1
Graham Zusi 5.0
Paolo Nagamura 4.6
Bobby Convey 3.9
Julio Cesar 5.0
Kei Kamara 4.6
Teal Bunbury 8.4
Jacob Peterson 4.3
Peterson Joseph 4.3
Lawerence Olum 4.3

I am really excited for what Peterson Joseph could be for us. Very promising young talent. As far as Jacob Peterson goes, he's just open cup depth the way he played tonight. Sapong for Convey would have been ideal. Really annoys me Convey gave up the first free kick, that led to Colorado's first goal, with that stupid challenge from behind.

Bayern gave up the equalizer on Chelsea's only corner of the entire game. SKC gave up two goals, both on free kicks from just outside the box (though the second one took a couple of extra touches). Not a good day for my teams defending set pieces.

He had gotten fouled just before and it was frustration, IMO. Doesn't excuse it, but gives an idea of what he was thinking.