Official DC United @ The Los Angeles Galaxy PRE Match Thread & PBP [R]

[Knave]

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DC United @ The LA Galaxy
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http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y63/brl/sampson.jpg
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I http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y63/brl/move_heart.gif John Harkes.
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- Stuff You Need To Know -

• Date & Time :: Saturday, July 23 @ 4:00pm EST
• Television :: Live on ESPN2
• Audio Webcast :: MLSNet.com (http://www.mlsnet.com/MLS/sights/)
• Broadband Video Webcast :: None
• PBP AIM Chatroom :: BigSoccerDCU :: Directions Here (http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&postid=2238175#post2238175)

- Notes and Ramblings -

• Ticket Organizing Thread (http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=217338)

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No Flames - No Trolls
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[MattMathai]

Lanky, time to post your Cobi Hump picture...

[Red&Black]

i haven't seen LA much this year, is genius-guy still playing his potent 3-6-1?
or 6-3-1 or whatever the hell it is?

[eltico]

Sorry Lanky, but I can't resist...

http://www.bol.ucla.edu/~brlevine/DCU/CobiHump.jpg

[CPRoyale]

What are the chances we will see Nana this Saturday? I imagine that Jamil got the call last night due to his performance in Cary. He didn't really bring anything to the table against KC, except for a weak shot, so I would hope Nana would become a first choice sub against LAG.

[Hedbal]

Nana left the Reserve match about 70 minutes in suffering from heat exhaustion. 37 year-old Guppy, from cool, wet England, went the full 90!

[Knave]

I rarely predict wins. Indeed, I really avoid the whole prediction game. But I got one call right earlier this year when I predicted that we'd be the team to break New England's without a loss streak. And now I'm predicting that we break the Galaxy's without a loss at home (to an MLS team) streak.

Why? Simple.

First, the Galaxy haven't looked that great with Donovan in a quite a while. The Galaxy have three wins since May 25th. That's three wins in two months! Three wins in 11 games! And those wins were all against Chivas USA and Real Salt Lake.

Second, they've looked even worse without Donovan lately. Well, now that the USA is into the Gold Cup finals the Galaxy will be without Donovan yet again. Yes, we're missing players too, but - really - our call-ups haven't hurt us nearly as badly as call-ups have hurt the Galaxy.

I think the Galaxy are ripe for the picking. We just need to step up.

[JoeSoccerFan]

Nana left the Reserve match about 70 minutes in suffering from heat exhaustion. 37 year-old Guppy, from cool, wet England, went the full 90!

Problem is that we can't discern how much effort Nana put in for 70 minutes compared to Guppy's 90 minutes. In other words, did Guppy just hang around on the left occassionally pushing forward. Whereas Nana could have been in the middle trying to forge the attacks while still getting back to help defend.

[DoctorD]

We saw the LA weaknesses on Monday.

* Make them attack through Pando and especially though Naldo if he's on the field.

* Watch out for Gomez' shot and he doesn't mind cranking them from distance.

* Kirovski is effective as an A-mid, but shoots like crap (except on dead ball situations). Same with Nagamura.

We need to conserve our energy. Last week's LAG-Chivas game was fast-paced and that field is nice and big. Hopefully cool California will seem like an icebox compared to DC and KC.

[Pints]

Problem is that we can't discern how much effort Nana put in for 70 minutes compared to Guppy's 90 minutes. In other words, did Guppy just hang around on the left occassionally pushing forward. Whereas Nana could have been in the middle trying to forge the attacks while still getting back to help defend.

That's exactly what I was thinking. Still nice to see Guppy playing for a full 90 minutes. LA LA LA............I have no predictions.

[RMDad]

Both teams have arduous schedules the last couple weeks.
They are more deeply gutted by USMNT call-ups.
Our team bus should probably have red crosses on the sides for all the walking wounded.
I predict a brisk first 20 mins, followed by a progressively chippy, slogging in the trenches match.
If United has another day with noone there for crosses to get to, we are hosed.
Score early,score repeatedly, hospitalize Jones (Dema needs a confidence boost)
:cool:

Mark

[fatbastard]

La la la la la
La la la la la
La la la la la
LA Sux Ass .........

[Red&Black]

cobi jones
has a very nice hairdo...

[Red&Black]

landon donovan is the ********y of the year...

[fatbastard]

landon donovan is the ********y of the year...
This weekend, he's a stud (wearing #10 for the USA), next week he goes back to being a diving, whiny pu$$y :D

[JoeW]

Several thoughts about this match:

1. The question for me is finishing. Someone (Adu?) has to step up and take the service from Gomez and Moreno and convert it. We're too dependent on Gomez to provide our goals.

2. I agree with Knave on this. LA has fattened their record with wins at the expense of RSL and CDC. They're even less impressive without Donovan. Furthermore, I think they have been focused on Real Madrid and we're an afterthought.

3. I think we've got the ability here to really seize midfield--just grab the game by the scruff of the neck. This is a very good match for Guppy to play in (probably not as a starter) b/c it's a wide field and his ability to cross/switch play makes it even wider and exploits holes in their defense.

4. I also think our "style" or system of play works well against this LA team. I think their backline doesn't handle pressure well at all. Too bad Eskandarian isn't around--he's very good at this. But in any case, our frontline needs to chase balls and push defenders to act on the first or second touch.

5. This is where all of those hard practices by Nowak start to payoff. After the heat and humidity of DC and KC, LA will seem like...well...Southern California.

[ursula]

I could imagine Guppy starting here. As Joe said the weather is favorable as is the width of the field. You could put Gros on the right and then move Dema inside and decide to use him in place of Simms.

[eltico]

Considering how undermanned we are, I wouldn't mind seeing Nowak do something unexpected here, but not too drastic. Start Guppy. Move Dema into the middle. Move Wilson into the midfield. Play Gros up top.

Just one of those. Something that will go against how Sampson drew up his pre-game plans. Do something unexpected, and Sampson will take the bait. He will try and outsmart Nowak, do something outlandish himself, and completely upset the balance of his team.

They're excellent at home, and certainly have a rhythm and a cadence to how they like to play there. We don't do particularly well here against them, and having played midweek and now moving on to a huge field that will leave Gomez gasping by the 30th minute, I'd say it's worth trying to goad Sampson into enlarging his ego by doing something dumb and upsetting the balance his team has when playing at home.

[greenbill]

http://www.bol.ucla.edu/~brlevine/DCU/CobiHump.jpg

LA fan Drew Carey approves!!! :eek:
http://www.kreweofbacchus.org/kandt/images/Carey.JPG
I love you Landon! Love, Drew

[Pints]

In regards to Guppy. I read that he played the full 90 for DC on Thursdays reserve match thus making him inelligable for this match.