I want the team that is kicking ass in the reserve league to get a chance against the big boys. Put a bus in front of goal, run your ass off and hope for a lucky break.
Feature the Open Cup game. I want the trophy and the Champions League berth to validate the season. I see Houston wondering who this Israeli kid is.
rest the key players. pardo and nyarko (and injured grazzini) should be out at the very least. wouldnt mind seeing pappa get a half in just to keep his momentum up i wanna see barouch for a whole match.
If the Fire had lost to RSL as expected, I'd have no reservations about saying start the reserve team, but now that they are only a game back from a play-off berth, I think Frank should go with a mix of first and second teamers.
Rest the veterans at least... It helps a little bit that it's a 3:00 start on Saturday, but Frank should still let the reserve team prove themselves...and, I think we can win this game with the bench...it will also make it difficult for Houston to figure out an effective game plan with a lot of new faces in the lineup...and believe me, the backups will do everything in their power not to lose this one, or the flight to seatle won't be fun for them.
I think there should be a good mix of players on Sat. Try to keep the back line mostly intact, but maybe rest Gibbs and maybe Segares. Same in the mid-field, give Grazzini and Pardo the night off, and maybe only make Pappa put in 60 mins or so. And mix up the forwards, maybe just start Oduro with either Chaves or Orr and then sub Nyarko for Oduro later in the game and keep both speedsters fresh.
No Pardo, No Gargan (only real RB we have) and no Segares. Maybe Pappa, Oduro and Nyarko on the bench. [LINEUP-4-4-2]Barouch, Chaves, Bone, Pause, Husidic, Palladini, Penta, Anibaba, Cuesta, Videria, Johnson[/LINEUP-4-4-2] Bring in Pappa, Oduro or Nyarko if needed in the second half.
This is a tough decision, but the decision should be based on fitness and who is carrying injuries. Grazzini should definitely sit. We really don't have many options for LB and RB so Gonzo should play and either Gargan or Anibaba at RB. Nyarko keeps getting battered on the field so he should probably sit and maybe Pappa just because of his summer. I think Barouch or Chaves should come in for Nyarko.
Some of our starters have played practically every day, even when I thought they should be rested. It seems like some of them have more trouble with short rest than others. With that in mind: [LINEUP-4-4-2]Chaves, Oduro, Pappa, Paladini, Pardo, Pause, Segares, Gibbs, Mikulic, Anibaba, Johnson[/LINEUP-4-4-2] I want Anibaba to start Tuesday at CB, but he only had a substitute appearance yesterday so he already got his rest. Banner is probably a better option than Pari at backup LB. He's been off the injury report for a couple weeks now.
I would rest Pardo, Oduro and Pappa. We need those guys fully rested against Seattle. Let Pause, Paladini and Vidiera work the midfield as destroyers, throw in Banner and Chaves as our wingers and let Nazarit try to head one in. BTW, anyone know what the regular Fire starting 11 in our reserve leagues look like?
I do not think we have a regular line up, plus a few players in the reserve can't play with the first team: Chicago Fire 3 – 0 Houston Dynamo Chicago Fire: Sean Johnson; Bratislav Ristic, Kwame Watson-Siriboe, Michael Videira (Peter Beasley 65’), Pari Pantazopoulos; Corben Bone, Martin Rivas (Brady Wahl 86’), Daniel Paladini, Davis Paul; Orr Barouch, Gabriel Ferrari (Manny Rios 71’) Rapids Chicago Fire Reserves – Alec Dufty; Bratislav Ristic, *Peter Beasley, Kwame Watson-Siriboe, Pari Pantazopoulos; Victor Pineda; Martin Rivas, Baggio Husidic, Orr Barouch (*Manny Guzman 73’), Davis Paul; Patrick Nyarko (*Brady Wahl 89’) Chicago Fire Reserves 1 – 1 Sporting KC Reserves Chicago Fire: Alec Dufty; Dasan Robinson, Kwame Watson-Siriboe, Josip Mikulic (Peter Beasley* 41’), Bratislav Ristic ©; Martin Rivas, Brady Wahl*, Baggio Husidic, Victor Pineda; Cristian Nazarit (Gabriel Ferrari 69’), Orr Barouch Dallas Chicago Fire: Jon Conway; Bratislav Ristic ©, Dasan Robinson, Josip Mikulic, Pari Pantazopoulos; Gabriel Ferrari (Lyle Martin** 46’), Daniel Paladini (Martin Rivas** 73’), Mike Videira (Brady Wahl* 79’), Corben Bone (Dado Hamzagic** 73’); Cristian Nazarit (Peter Beasley* 82’), Orr Barouch KC again Chicago Fire: Jon Conway; Bratislav Ristic (Brady Wahl* 54), Dasan Robinson, Josip Mikulic, Pari Pantazopoulos; Baggio Husidic, Mike Videira (Peter Beasley* 46), Corben Bone (Manny Guzman* 66), Victor Pineda; Diego Chaves (Martin Rivas** 54), Orr Barouch Missing the line up for Colorado #2 Chicago Fire 2 – 0 Real Salt Lake Chicago Fire: Jon Conway (Alec Dufty 46’); Victor Pineda, Josip Mikulic, Yamith Cuesta, Mike Banner (Gonzalo Segares 46’); Michael Videira, Daniel Paladini, Baggio Husidic (AJ Jeffries 46’*), Pari Pantazopoulos; Cristian Nazarit (Kellen Gulley 64’), Diego Chaves Dallas Chicago Fire Reserves – Jon Conway, *Francisco Mendoza (Pari Pantazopoulos 46), Yamith Cuesta, Kwame Watson-Siriboe, Dan Gargan, Daniel Paladini, Orr Barouch, Baggio Husidic, Mike Videira (Corben Bone 62), Diego Chaves (Kellen Gulley 58), Cristian Nazarit (Victor Pineda 53).
The thing with focusing on Houston is, I would MUCH, MUCH rather win the USOC than make the playoffs. You don't get a trophy for making the playoffs. I want to go nuts in Seattle on Tuesday I want to attend CCL games next year Even if we make the playoffs, we have a long way to go to win MLS Cup. The playoffs are a means to an end, not the end itself
I guess I'm going to be in the minority here, but I'd like to see most of the regulars start on Saturday. Rest Grazzini again just to make sure he's ready to go on Tuesday, and maybe give one of our fragile central defenders another break, but other than that, I say go with the first team. We can sub some players out early depending on how the game is going, but I just don't see a huge upside to resting them. RSL rested a ton of regulars against DCU on Saturday for all the good it did them. Keep the momentum going and get a win in Houston. If we beat Houston, we have a good chance at catching them in the standings.
Don't worry, we wouldn't host the one-game playoff anyway. Still dont think we have a realistic shot at the playoffs - so it's a no brainer to do whatever it takes to be best prepared for Tuesday.
Rest the starters, this is a great opportunity to get the reserve players some starts and meaningful minutes. Like others have said, I want to attend CCL games next year, and the only game that has direct bearing on that is Tuesday night. ETA: just saw that the Sounders are opening up the Hawk's Nest for this game- all the more reason to go for the jugular Tuesday night. I'd like to see how quiet we can turn a full house up there.
I'm going to revise my previous statement and also suggest resting Nyarko due to his tendency to get injured. Start Chaves in his place. You have to play Oduro against his former team, though. True, but they went down a goal early and then snapped (partially out of frustration IMO). They had a 5-game winning streak going, and now they've had 2 straight 3-goal losses heading into a 3-game road trip beginning in LA. I would have agreed if we had lost last night, but we're within 3 points of a playoff spot, and Houston is within reach if we beat them. I think the confidence of another league win will do more to bolster our chances on Tuesday than the rest. Houston is not a meaningless game IMO.