VS Game: DC United vs FC Dallas Date: Friday, March 30th Time: 6:30 PM [CST] Location: RFK Memorial Stadium, Washington, District of Columbia, United States Weather Forecast: Clear; H 63; L 46 Competition: Major League Soccer TV: NBC Sports Radio: Univision 1270 AM (??) Last Result for Opponent: 0-0 at Vancouver. A winless opponent with Brek back (I assume?) and Castillo must be close as well. Need a win here.
I picked the SKC result but should have been wrong, and I was wrong about the Portland result but probably should have been right. I forgot to predict the NY result, but I probably would have been wrong. So I'm going with a DC win. If they can't beat a weakened Dallas team at home (Brek may be tired even if he plays; he usually is, after all), in a game they probably consider a big opportunity for their first win, then they're in even bigger trouble than they seem to be. They don't have a lot of injuries and they've spent the first three weeks of action experimenting with their lineup to arrive at a workable starting XI which will soon begin to pay off. 1-0 DC, and let's hope my predictions continue to miss the mark. (I'm 60th overall in ESPN fantasy and 560th overall in MLS fantasy, though! )
i for one appreciate young shea putting club over country last night... (too soon?) .... he looks like he might need some rest though....
Despite the deficiencies in our lineup right now I am certain Brek will not starton Friday. He will be on the bench and play the last 20 minutes if we are chasing the game or pushing for the W. Probably a deserved rest as well. Selfishly I'm kinda glad the U23 won't be going to the Olympics so we will have Shea for the rest of the season (other than full NT qualifiers). The U teams are like minor league baseball, it's not about Ws and Ls, its about player development. Still a very black eye and a crappy way to crash out of the Olympics not even makine a semi-final and the manner in which it happened. What is Carlos Rodriguez status? Sure would be nice to know if/when Castillo and DF10 will be back. We will be such a much better team with Brek, DF10, and Castillo back on the pitch, top 5 in the league in my book. Further, despite his excellent service to the club, it is a business and business decisions need to be made, from what I have seen already I would start Rodriguez over Jair at left back when we have the three aforementioned players all ready to go and Carlos is not slotting into wide MF role. I feel another draw in DC.
I'd like to believe this but I saw Brek start 312409 games in a row last year including MLS, CCL and USOC...and that was with a closer-to-full-strength team (minus DF of course). I bet he starts and goes 90 but hope I am wrong.
Brek just played 3 games in 5 days. And he looked gassed in in the second half of games 2 and 3. No way he plays Friday. It's unfortunate since we have a neutered attack at the moment. But realistically I think he needs to rest and play the following week. Any word on Castillo or Villar?
Both questionable on yesterday's injury report, another comes out Friday. By then I'm sure one of our ace sources will have more details though.
Full practice report with lots of injury updates, a chat with Castillo & first words with Brek Shea since Monday.
So Castillo and Brek are back, good news. Funny how both seem very confident in their own ways. Castillo's answers to the questions were well thought out and engaging. Shea's were more "yes, I'm awesome and I'm still pissed from Monday, so f uck off and leave me alone." Love it, ready for a different type of game Friday and looking forward to having the full team back eventually.
Am I the only one sick of all the pushing and shoving? By everyone? Play the ball! Show some skill! For crying put loud this is soccer, not rugby! It makes it ugly. At least blas just scored
Why? His ass was shipped outta here because he was having medical procedures performed w/o the team's knowledge or approval ... oh! ... and because he couldn't score in a whore house. Now BLAS!!!! He can SCORE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Blas has got to be the early frontrunner for MLS newcomer of the year. He makes something happen every game (even if it's through almost blind luck) and is carrying his team.
As I watch this game in the 69th minute it occurs to me that I might start making some doom and gloom predictions about this season. At the very least I think boomersooner is going to have to drop Dallas into the "crap" level of his power rankings.
Well, Shellas gets to see a lineup without Hernandez next week. Should be interesting. On another note I found the game very well officiated, but was a tad annoyed by our players constantly "looking" for calls and protesting non calls. Just play.
Is there any legitimate reason why Ruben Luna can't get minutes on this miserable and woefully shallow team? We'd be a lot better if Perez had help.