SEASON OPENER! TV: UNIVISION, MLS LIVE A new era begins... parity is upon us... remain faithful yet vigilant. "Happiness is like those palaces in fairy tales whose gates are guarded by dragons: we must fight in order to conquer it." - Alexandre Dumas We've been cast from the palace and thrown into the fray. The fight to achieve happiness and retain honor commences. Enemies abound. “Arise, arise, Riders of [L.A.]! Fell deeds awake, fire and slaughter! spear shall be shaken, shield be splintered, a sword-day, a red day, ere the sun rises! Ride now, ride now! Ride to [Glory]!” ― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King F'n A! LETS GO G's! The Cup or bust!
I'm excited to start a new season but feeling very pessimistic about how we'll do. The only thing that makes me feel like we might get a W is that Dallas has to play in the CCL and they might prioritize that.
Unfortunately, they won their first leg 4-0 so there won't be much incentive to wear out their big guns on 3/1.
I don't see Romney & Garcia having the raw speed/physicality nor the ability to read the game well enough to keep a team like Dallas at bay for 90 minutes. Might have been an interesting game with Zardes, Rogers & Colen as it is I'll take anything that isn’t demoralizing.
This will be tough. Dallas will probably not even need to use it's starters in champions league this week so they will be ready to go. I'd love to see a win but I'd settle for some cohesion and some positive signs.
I'm going to go way out on a limb and predict that we will need to score multiple goals if we are going to win this game....
Zardes returns to training; no promises on if he'll be available for opening night. Still, makes it seem like we won't be without him for long. http://www.lagalaxy.com/post/2017/0...me-field-training-ahead-season-opener-insider
Excited by some of the additions but completely baffled by our off season defensive moves. Not sure what our style is and have a lot of trepidation about the opening game. I feel like a blow out is a real possibility, very likely. Fingers crossed.
I fear that the Orcs of Frisco will overrun our makeshift defenses and we will suffer a harsh defeat. One ray of hope is that Gio (Was it Gio?) feels that the bond amongst the team is stronger than last season. We are gonna need that in this journey. Chip the glasses and crack the plates!
I think the outcome of this game depends solely on JJ, JP, and JVD being able to succefully complete through balls when we hit Dallas on the counter. If we can't find Alessandreni, Gio, and whoever else is play up top or out wide in space, we won't have a chance.
It's not even about winning the midfield battle. Dallas play a 4231, so they'll have 3 midfielders to our 2. They will have possession and control the game, we just need to force turnovers and push forward quickly before they can get numbers back. A lot of the preseason hilights of Jones were his great through balls. If he can hit a few of those, we'll be able to create some chances.
I don't think will be playing a 4-2-3-1 if the pre-season and CCL games are anything to go by. Without Diaz, they've been playing a 4-4-2, and even when Morales has been on the field they haven't really shifted it around to what they'd done in the past.
Good point. Finding the through balls, and also the forwards handling the ones they get well. We had a couple of stumbles in that regard from Gio and Jose in the last game. Maybe wasn't their fault, I couldn't tell.
If they play a 442, then I'm not that worried about midfield being overrun and I think we could actually control the possession and where the game is played (which would be better for Dallas IMO). Then it will be up to the DPs to step up and make stuff happen. Do we want McBean or Lassiter to start? I'm in the McBean camp as I think he'll make Gio more dangerous.
My wife and I will be there. Why? We're trying to make it our goal to visit every MLS stadium at least once. So far we have Philly, NJ, Columbus, Salt Lake, San Jose and Portland off our list. We figured now living close to LA why not go there for a weekend. Any food in or around the stadium we should hit up?
In-stadium, the "Kitchen" grill place on the south side has good shish kabob. Outside, Big Burger on Victoria and Avalon makes a good BLT.
An admirable objective. Welcome. Hope you enjoy your visit. If you wear DCU gear to the game, you may find your welcome somewhat muted.
Bacon-wrapped hot dogs from the not-really-legal cart vendors after the game. BWHDs are an LA institution.
Haha we know better. We'll probably be rocking some type of US gear. Also thanks for the recommendations everyone. We're really looking forward to a nice dry and warm weekend.