Essentially said he was a "stud" and, significantly, said he was a "voice" out there. I do think Neal had a good game against Philly and if he aids in communication, especially with a second year player, Kitchen, next to him and a patchwork defense behind him, then he fills a valuable role. He's never going to knock your socks off with skill, but Neal is a long service pro and having his experience on the field in these pressure games is a good thing. He won't lose a game for you, but, with apologies to the NE game, probably won't win for you either. I do think he is better in that role that Saragosa.
Understand Boskovic's frustration, but gotta admit that during this stretch of three games in 8 days it makes sense to keep him fresh. Olsen's subs have worked. Bosko has been instrumental in helping DCU maintain possession in the first half of games, setting the tone for DCU and delivering quality set pieces. Now, he should still have enough in the tank to start Sunday. I only wish some other players could be rested. Pontius is critical for DC up top. It would be nice if he could have gotten some rest near the end of the last match. Hopefully, we score early on Sunday and he can be subbed. I thought BMac had a solid game. He had a lot of crucial head clearances and generally was in the right place at the right time to disrupt Philly's attack. Everyone needs rest, so Sunday may be a good time for Dudar to step in. Maybe Hamid needs a break, too. After a great game in NE, he had several bizarre errors on Thursday. 5-man midfield did result in better distribution out of the back, but possession then died in the midfield. Pajoy worked hard, but his wasn't able to do much by himself and there weren't enough other players pushing forward in support. This may have been intentional on Olsen's part; D first on the road. It'll be interesting to see how they come out on Sunday.
Neal isn't super athletic, but he is one of the guys who knows how to play soccer. If you watch him, you can see that he always knows where to go. Looking forward to tomorrow night, I finally get to go to a game.
MLS Preview: No additional injuries to report, officially. D.C. UNITED vs CHIVAS USA RFK MEMORIAL STADIUM, Washington, D.C. September 23, 2012 (WEEK 29, MLS Game #281) 7 p.m. ET (Galavisión; CSN-MA) DOWNLOAD FULL GAME GUIDE (PDF) REFEREE: Jose Carlos Rivero. AR1 (bench): Steven Taylor; AR2 (opposite): Kevin Klinger; 4th: Mark Kadlecik MLS Career: 5 games; FC/gm: 25.6; Y/gm: 4.0; R: 3; pens: 3 INJURY REPORT: D.C. UNITED – OUT: MF Lance Rozeboom (L knee ACL tear); DF Daniel Woolard (concussion-like symptoms); MF Stephen King (inguinal hernia repair); FW Josh Wolff (lower back disc herniation); MF Dwayne De Rosario (L knee MCL sprain); PROBABLE: MF Marcelo Saragosa (L hamstring strain) CHIVAS USA – OUT: GK Tim Melia (lower back) INTERNATIONAL ABSENCES: none SUSPENDED: CHV: Oswaldo Minda (caution accumulation; through Sept. 23); James Riley (through Sept. 23) WARNINGS: SUSPENDED NEXT YELLOW CARD: DC: Dwayne De Rosario, Lionard Pajoy, Maicon Santos SUSPENDED AFTER TWO YELLOW CARDS: DC: Emiliano Dudar, Chris Pontius, Andy Najar, Dejan Jakovic, Bill Hamid, Chris Korb … CHV: Ryan Smith, John Valencia HEAD-TO-HEAD ALL-TIME (14 meetings): United 7 wins, 24 goals … Chivas USA 4 wins, 19 goals … Ties 3 AT RFK STADIUM (7 meetings): United 4 wins, 12 goals … Chivas USA 2 wins, 10 goals … Ties 1 Thx, Jay!
Thanks, Jay. The pdf link actually leads to the Dynamo Hum/Onion match. Can't trust MLS to do much right, these days!
I was hoping for Angel not to recover, I have still fresh in my memory the 2 goals he scored last year at RFK, bringing Chivas from a 0-2 to a 2-2. You can't leave him a centimeter 'cause he'll punish you
My first XI would be Hamid Russell, BMac, Jackovic, Korb Najar, Boskovic, Kitchen, Pontius Santos, Pajoy I would move Najar as DC needs to take advantage of Chivas woeful midfield. I would bet that Ben will keep Najar back and put DeLeon in mid; if so look for more balls hoofed over the top, which is not the way to go at Chivas. Right down main street is where most attacks against Chivas are successful.
a good lineup except that Russell has looked past it the last few times he's seen the field. I feel like he's a liability out there and is never really going to be a significant contributor again. I would much rather have Najar at RB if it means de Leon gets the start over Russell.
Shake things up a bit! Hamid Najar, BMac, Jakovic, Korb ----------------Kitchen ------Boskovic DeLeon, Santos, Pontius Salihi If I had one o' them fancy-pants graphic thingies, I'd lay it out all pretty.
I can't even guess a lineup for today. So much depends on energy levels. We had 10 guys go 90 minutes on Thursday on the road. I can't imagine that we can start all of them again.
A bit controversial but what do you guys think about this? I know we haven't played 3 at the back this season but I really think that this Chivas team is so bad we could pull it off. http://secure.dcunited.com/my-starting-eleven/4201
United have played 3 at the back this season, but only while losing late in games. I wouldn't mind seeing it but it will never, ever happen, at least not as a starting formation. as long as we're in the realm of fantasy though I would probably put dudar or jakovic in the middle as bmac is the only one of them with the pace to mark wingers. Najar is a prototype 3-5-2 wingback, he would excel in this. I would use de Leon on the other side, put pontius as one of the strikers, and maybe sub neal or chabala late for de leon depending on how the game was going.
Yep this roster was built for the 3-5-2. 3 solid center backs and no decent fullbacks. 2 young wingers that have the wheels to go end line to end line. And an attacking midfielder that needs to holding mids behind him to operate.
based on the "planted" stories, I would look for this: Hamid Najar, BMac, Jackovic, Korb DeLeon, Kitchen, Neal, Pontius Pajoy, Santos off the bench; Bosko, Salihi and 3rd sub based on score
Per goff #dcu: Hamid; Najar, McDonald, Jakovic, Korb; DeLeon, Kitchen, Saragosa, Pontius; Pajoy, Santos *toilet flushes*
JK, it's not so bad. I think starting Santos is a smart move. Starting Saragosa is confusing though, but it always is.
By warmups it looks like Kitchen/saragosa/deLeon/pontius in the midfield...looks empty bucket-ish. Pajoy and santos up top. Najar/bmac/jakovic/korb in the back.
The results in the East have almost all gone our way this weekend. We're totally set-up to make a real playoff push. But if we manage to fcuk this up ...
Well, I see other people beat me to it. I hope chivas's midfield is crappy and their attackers are slow.
Apologies for the delay - PBP here: https://www.bigsoccer.com/community/threads/dcu-vs-chivas-usa.1975405/