Pre-match: Portland Timbers - San Jose Earthquakes (Saturday, 10/27) pregame thread

I wish the radio, KLIV, was in sync with the TV video. Much the better coverage with Dangerfield.

 

Well you got to start Wondo. But what about the other regulars? Save them for playoffs? Or play them because there's a week and a half to recover between the Portland game and the Nov 7th game? I say play Wondo and give guys like Sercan and Garza some playing time. Rest Gordon and Lenny......It's a great atmosphere at Jen-Weld but I want the timber army to go home sad......

 

How badly out of sync is it? Can you listen to KLIV on the web?

 

I'm really looking forward to this game and hanging with some Quakes fans!! PM me if you want to meet up for a beer before the match.

I want to see some of the bench guys get some minutes, but let's not go overboard.

We could maybe start Ike on defense? But with Justin, Vic, and Beta on the backline too. If we're well ahead late, maybe bring on Jed for the last fifteen or twenty minutes. I'd like to see Shea get a start, but pull him at the half for Garza. Perhaps we can give Ring some minutes? or Sercan?

- - - - - Sercan - - - - Wondo
Shea - - - - - - Baca - - - - Chavez
- - - - - - - - - Croninja
JM - - - - - Ike - - - - Vic - - - Beta
- - - - - - - - TheBusch

Bring Dawkins on for Chavez, and Garza on for Shea, maybe Ring for Baca late-ish?

Just thinking.

GO QUAKES!!!!

- Mark

 

There's only a week off for the Quakes between the Portland game and their first playoff game - they will play the winner of the LA-Vancouver game on either Sat Nov 3 or Sun Nov 4. LA-Vancouver will play on Wed Oct 31 or Thurs Nov 1.

But even though there's "only" 7 or 8 days off, I really think Frank plays the regular guys. I think part of the poor performance yesterday was too much time off between games. The guys got better once the game went on, which could be the result of just getting used to playing again. These guys are very fit and used to playing every week unless they are injured, giving them two weeks off can mess with their form.

All of the guys except Bernardez should be well rested as they just had 2 weeks off before yesterday, so why rest them again? And some of the guys (like Dawkins, Salinas, Opara, and Hernandez) have not played much at all the past month, so you want to get them playing time to get more fit and sharp before the playoffs. I really don't see anyone getting any playing time in this game that is not expected to be a key player in the playoffs. Getting the young guys playing time is something that can happen in the spring, not when the team needs to get sharp for a very tough playoff run.

I expect we'll see the same lineup that started against LA, except that Corrales will be on the bench and either Opara or Hernandez will partner with Bernardez on defense. And then we'll see Gordon and Salinas get time off the bench to keep them ready as well.

 

I thought first Quake playoff game is Wednesday 11/7? Wouldn't that give them 10-days off
between the Portland game and the first playoff game...

 

http://www.mlssoccer.com/mlscup/2012

scroll down for schedule.

 

my bad....

I thought the Quakes opened up playoffs at home.....

 

I hear what you're saying.

I think that Frank will rest Gordon, because he's got a knock.

My thought was that we want to give a couple of guys minutes who we may well need in the playoffs.

I think our forwards are good to go, so I'm not really worried about them. I could see giving Sercan some minutes on the off chance that we need him in the playoffs. (Low probability that.)

I can see giving Ring some minutes because he's our backup for either Croninja or Baca.

I can see giving Garza some minutes because we have only three outside mids: Chavez, Dawkins, and Shea.

I forgot about Jason (WTF?! How did I do that?) So yeah, almost certainly we'll see JM, Jason, Vic, and Beta across the back. Maybe bring on Ike for the last fifteen or twenty, depending on the score and how we're doing.

So yeah, you're probably right. Frank will go with the starters, and that's almost certainly the right call. Thanks!

It's cold and rainy up here today. The forecast says 53F and 30% chance of showers for Saturday. (I expect that forecast to become more detailed and accurate as the week progresses.)

GO QUAKES!!!!!

- Mark

 

Sorta' OT -- but I friggin' HATE the playoff format. I mean WTF? Our guys work their butts off all season to get the #1 seed and for what? So they can open the playoffs in Scumbag-ville!?!? I would vastly prefer the home-and-away to open HERE -- on a weekend, and only THEN go down to finish off LA on a weeknight!!!!! Whoever came up with this format should be hanged...

 

The other day it was just a couple of seconds, but enough that trying to watch the stream and listen to KLIV at the same time was a tad annoying. I also want to repeat that KLIV's announcer and their colorman (Chris Dangerfield) were better.

 

Good news for Wondo and the Quakes - Portland has 2 of their normal central defenders on the injury report (Brunner is out, Mosquera is questionable). Danso is also out, he's been out much of the season. But Brunner and Mosquera just played in their game Sunday and are now likely out - the only central defender they have healthy besides these guys is Horst. If Mosquera doesn't get healthy, they'll probably have to go with Jean-Baptiste, a rookie who played a few games early in the year but hasn't played for them since April.

I'm smelling a Wondo brace!

 

For those worried about the sync issue: just record it on a DVR and hit play to correspond with Dangerfield's remarks. Should hold up for most of each half...

Just a thought...

 

Doesn't Beitashour seem like he needs a rest? The guy's been burning it at both ends all season and it's really shown ever since the All Star break. Rest him and start Zayner/Ring. With that in mind, maybe we ought to rest Morrow too.

Get our other quality bench players minutes as well (we'll need them to be sharp for the playoffs). This means that Salinas and Opara should start. It'd be great if we could also rest one of Baca/Cronin, but I don't know how feasible that is. Quality depth just isn't there.

 

I'll be at the game as well. My 5th game of the year, and all road games. If Vancouver beats LA, I'm going to try to make it 6.

 

They just had two weeks off before the LA game (except for Bernardez and Chavez and Gordon). I agree Beitashour is not playing as well as he did early in the year, but giving him the game off won't help if the last two weeks off didn't help.

If Morrow's shoulder is still bothering him at all, it might be a good idea to give him the game off to rest it and make it stronger. Otherwise, I think all of the guys benefit more by playing and getting on form.

 

I wish I had my DVR with me here. Any idea of how you can do that with streaming audio and video on the web?

 

Games aren't coming so fast we need to rest guys. I think we could play our best lineup in Portland to keep them in game shape and on form. A win would be a good confidence builder too leading into the playoffs.

 

I'd be happy if Wondo just get one goal in this game. Tying the record is an amazing accomplishment. But I see him easily getting a hat trick against this Portland team.

 

all i want for Christmas is a Wondo brace and a third star.

 

Really looking forward to this game because it will be a no pressure game, and it will be fun to see if Wondo can bag a goal or two. Although Frank could probably help Wondo's cause by throwing numbers forward and to instruct players to look specifically for Wondo, I don't think he'd do that, and I don't think Wondo would want him to do that either necessarily. Wondo is perfectly capable of scoring a goal or two or three in the context of the Quakes "typical" style of play (which happens to involve throwing players forward a lot anyway ).