United Is Down To Its Last Chance (Goff, W. Post, 11/9) Lots to comment on. United Is Down To Its Last Chance - Goff, W. Post Fire eyeing next step in playoff run - Wright, W. Times United Is Down To Its Last Chance - Ziehm, Chicago Sun Times Sarachan calls Fire's 2-0 playoff lead 'scary' - McDill, Chicago Daily Herald
Ivanov to start. Stoich to the bench. This is going to be an ugly match to have to start my morning with on the west coast.
As probably the biggest Marco supporter on this forum, I can honestly say I hope this is his last game in a red and black kit. I've defended him on BigSoccer this year with all the passion I could muster. He's my idol and a personal friend. I've seen him do some remarkable things on a pitch that I will never forget. But yet I'm not naive enough to think that he is the player he once was. It strikes me as a little weird that his last game in the States could very well be in the same stadium where he got a red card in his only WC appearnce. An era is over but my team is still DC United. Godspeed Marco, you've made every Bolivian and DC United fan proud... The MLS owes you huge.....
He's our best defender in terms of offensive ability. It's our only move thanks to that 2nd goal against versus Chicago. Way to keep the focus boys...
Ivanov So basically from what i gathered about the comment that prideaux has less offensive skills than ivanov is that they are going to start ivanov over prideaux. What? That would spell disaster. If you want more offense take out slow, whiny, and old midfielders out of the line up. Basically bench Etch. His contributions are limited and I believe it would be a more complete line up with younger more athletic players with less egos.
Re: Ivanov I posted earlier in the week that we had to get prideaux off the field in this game. playing him at left back in a 4-4-2 gives us a huge hole on the left side any time we move forward into the offense. We have 3 capable center backs, but one needs to sit if we're going to play aggressively. Unless you'd like to see the 5-4-1 we played last week again, that is...
Thanks for the link Knave. ""We've got to let a lot of heart and emotion come out and play like it's our last 90 minutes, which it very well might be," defender Mike Petke said." I think this quote sums it up the best. Hopefully they come out fighting. As to last games, it could very well be the last game in a DC United uniform for a lot of players and coaches. Hopefully everyone has gotten the message.
I agree with Hudson starting Ivanov because a backline with Nelsen, Petke, Ivanov, and Namoff can still get us a shutout and Ivanov is one of our most dangerous players of set pieces, which the way our offense looked in game 1, may be DC's only way score. However, I would still keep Brandon in the lineup and let Brian sit because Brandon is very good at taking one player out of the game and with Razov and Raph up top, we will really need his marking ability.
Three more articles added above: https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&postid=1787243#post1787243