Where: DC AF Why: Scheduling peculiarities and such When: 7:30 Local Time/4:30 PT (aka my local time) International break soccer fun with DC. Not sure if Toronto is going to be without Bradley and Giovinco. We are probably without Arriola, Segura, Moreno, and tactics. James
ESPN+ (likely blackout) The former News Channel 8, home(rs) of D&D, first among paid apologists. Hopefully they can save the excuses for some other time.
Yet anther border-line-or-not must-win game. Nothing like being away for the first half of the season to make the end of the season extra dramatic - who needs relegation to create artificial excitement, we have "the final playoff spots" I did not realize until this weekend that the Crew/AustinVilla was down on our end of the playoff seeding, I thought they were doing better than that for some reason. But it seems like there is motivation for the players to do more than just barely get in the playoffs, which is nice for the coaching staff. It'll be weird to take a glance at any standings after this game and not see United with the fewest games played Anyway, since Toronto sucks, I expect this to be another nail-biting game that we don't put away until after the 83rd minute. DCU: 2 Toronto: 0 yes, the last 10 minutes will be fun An extra prediction: The referee will make a bad call that gets the stands rocking and he (hopefully) fears for his safety for a bit. It's quite possible at least one team ends the game with fewer than 11 players. #WeWinWednesdays
Ulises Segura is with Costa Rica in New Jersey for a friendly tonight vs. Colombia and, depending on his playing time, he could be in uniform for DCU tomorrow, Olsen said.— Steven Goff (@SoccerInsider) October 16, 2018
I expect tomorrow's lineup to be the same as Saturday's, except with Nicky starting at RB. Hopefully, he can go 90'. Segura would be nice to have as a midfield sub, If he doesn't play much or at all tonight he could start at RW, as Stieber played a very quiet match (in part because the Acosta-Rooney duo soaks up most of the passes, and Stieber and Asad are often ignored).
Oh, god, no. He had absolutely no idea what to do on offense and often made the wrong run at the wrong place at the wrong time. James
Sadly, Chris Odoi-Atsem won't be part of the conversation until next year, assuming his cancer therapy goes well.
It's hard to argue with those with more expertise than I, but I'll give it a go. I disagree that making the quick and easy pass is the key to effective offense in soccer. Those are necessary, but only to set up the unexpected pass that opens the opportunity to score. Rooney's amazing re-directs are anything but simple and easy - they are the unexpected passes that break down the defense. Acosta's breathtaking dribbling sucks in defenders and leads to the great pass and goal. The game with Dallas was a defensive chess match which we won while playing short handed. A bit rich that a team that has risen from bottom of the table to a possible playoff berth is now faulted for a less than dominating victory against the west leaders.
I think he's saying that you need to make a few simple ones to get the offense in position to set up the Rooney-to-Acosta killer redirect, you can't go for it straight out of the box. I think there's something to it in that I had seen something missing the last two games that had been present in most of the Rooney-era games before that, and this clicked with me as an explanation for what it was. I'd be fine with that argument except for the Chicago game. Chicago is not a good team and they also, to my eye, did not play particularly well (it's a classic tell when you sub your center mid out at half time), but we made hard work of them.
We are headed to this game for our first time at Audi field this season. Does anyone just drive to Anacostia Metro station and park there and just metro one stop to Navy Yard? Have a family of 4 attending but rather not pay $50 in parking.
Thanks for the info. I saw some other posts asking if that station is safe. Have you ever had any issues there?
Missing Arriola and Moreno and Fisher and playing one of the best (or maybe the best statistically) defense in the league. Makes a lot of sense to me.
Segura played 23 minutes. Hopefully that means he can come off the bench if we need him. He'd likely replace Ellis or Jeffrey on the bench, so I'll take that, even if we know he's limited to 35 minutes or less. Just would give us a lot of tactical options that neither Ellis nor Jeffrey give us. I also wonder if DeLeon will start or if he'll come on at halftime for Robinson.
Not if you high press like we often do. You can win the ball and have an attack going immediately. What's missing is Arriola at right mid. He was a RB for the Chicago game, and while he was fine there, it hurt our attack to miss him higher up the field. Segura and then Stieber just aren't dangerous in the same way as Arriola. I do think Stieber *can* be dangerous enough though... he just hasn't been playing as well.
I didn't know whether I should de-construct Dallas or not, but they are a team that is wont in recent years to start out strong and fade late, which they seem to be doing this year. Their record from August is 4-3-3, but this papers over a pretty easy schedule. Their three games against playoff teams were two 0-0 draws and a 2-1 loss, and they've also lost to the Earthquakes twice in this time. Not for nothing, their leading scorer has 8 goals, which means that a defensive chess match might not be the right approach when you need points and when that's the game they want to play. Sure, as a tactical option. That can't really be your whole game plan, though. Being a team that plays with two holding mids, we ought to be one that can possess the ball and build from possession. I think there's some truth there, but we still have a pretty talented team attacking wise, and I don't think missing Arriola should explain it. Somebody mentioned that Steiber was frozen out, and he did look that. I wonder what the dynamics of that situation are. Before Rooney, he was the highest paid player on the team, and I don't think he or the team pictured him being a reserve. I don't know if a distance has developed there, or if it's just they're not in each other's rhythm.