Sunday brings the Houston Dynamo who are struggling on the road and are missing Boniek-Garcia and Brad Davis due to international duty. The Dynamo are 1-5-1 (WLT) on the road this season with 5 goals for and 14 against, and this includes a 4-1 road win: Code: 5/25 @San Jose 0-3 loss 5/21 @DC United 0-2 loss 5/03 @ChivasUSA 4-1 win 4/23 @NYRB 0-4 loss 4/19 @Philly 0-0 draw 4/05 @New Eng 0-2 loss 3/29 @Vancouver 1-2 loss This is another opportunity for the Rapids to earn 3 points. This is game 2 in a stretch (through July 4) when the Rapids play 5 of 6 at home.
My son is walking out with the Rapids, so we have go in at 4.30. I predict a $75 concession bill for my family over the course of the game. Oh, and Charles is going to score.
Who's in and who's out? No Buddle. No Torres? No Sanchez? Brown will need to be shooting on goal Sunday. I think we have more chance at 3 points than not against Houston but I'm wondering what the XI will look like without numerous attackers available.
Dang, Ricardo Clark has been out with an injury. They better get a win vs a team down Clark, Davis and Boniek-Garcia. Though I guess this could be like the San Jose game, right?
Omar should be making the trip. He's maybe only started 1 or 2 matches but he is usually one of the first attacking options off the bench. He's played a nice chunk of minutes off the pine for Houston -- on the wing, IIRC. Omar was not selected for Jamaica's match vs. Serbia. I'm not sure when the last time he was called up. It's been a while due to injuries.
http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/artic...-and-cobi-jones-pick-week-13s-weekend-matches MLS Editors' Picks: All 6 in favor of the Rapids.
------------Brown------------- ---Hill-----Powers------Serna ------Jose Mari---La Brocca-- Klute----Moor---O'Neill---Piermayr --------------Irwin-------------- I think Hill earns another opportunity. Without any other real strikers available, I think they change formations to a 4-2-3-1, which oughta crush Houston defensively. I pencil in Piermayr just because I think he's a better RB than Wynne, though Wynne got the last start.
We oughta be sitting on 21 points after this. No reason we can't finish 3rd this year, with Portland, Vancouver, LAG battling for 4-5. Plus, they're working on bringing Gabby back: http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/artic...locked-mystery-whats-been-plaguing-dp-gabriel
With injuries and international absences, it seems Cumming will be starting unless he's hurt. I was looking at their lineups and saw he started as a wide mid the last two games w/Boniek-Garcia out. I think they lost a forward to injury (Sherrod). Here's who started vs. San Jose last week: -------------Bruin Driver------Barnes-----Cummings -----Creavalle---Carrasco Ashe--Taylor--Horst--Sarkodie -------------Hall Bench: Derick (GK), Brunner, Arena, Cochran, Lopez, Johnson
1-0 win, goal by Brown. The lack of strikers will leave us with a minimal attack, but Houston won't be able to mount anything in opposition. The Rapids will get the win, but it won't be a particularly exciting game. http://view-from-the-couch.blogspot.com/2014/05/creamsicles.html
The guess here - without having seen Houston play this season or knowing Kanner's preferred style - is they will play the Rapids much like CUSA did. They'll play a series of tight lines and try to bait the Rapids into attempting to knock it over the top rather than play through the midfield. Of course the key for the Rapids will be getting the first goal, and preferably in the first half. Should they do this and the Dynamo stay in their shell the Rapids can knock it around without having to take risks, if they start going forward the Rapids can do what they did to Montreal in the second half. My prediction is that should the Rapids score the first goal it will come from distance or a set piece. And should they not score the first goal they will be hard pressed to win the match. Lineup for the Rapids? It's going to be interesting as they have three games in a very short period. We know that Pablo hasn't been afraid to make big changes to the lineup from game to game in this situation. And when you factor in the Sunday to Wednesday turnaround* combined with a match in the heat and humidity on the road in Dallas the following Saturday it seems likely we'll see a lot of different players this week. Eloundou and Neeskens would be two that I would guess will see in at least one of the three matches, and Eloundou might see time off the bench in several. *What the F are the people who make the schedules thinking? I know the match tomorrow is scheduled because of TV, but still . . . The way to have handled this would be a Friday - Wednesday - Sunday series of fixtures. If the Rapids really want to finish in the top 3 in the West they need to win the next two and at least get a tie in Dallas (Dallas seems to be a bit out of form recently, thus the Rapids should have a shot at a point or three in Frisco).
Does anyone know exactly what's up with Vicente? He's never listed on our injury reports but isn't he still sore from that knock he took against LA? Could it be that bad of an injury when he played with it for nearly that entire game? Without some midfield talent, Houston may be wise to bunker like Chivas but they have too many playmakers for that. I don't think Kinnear will let them play for less than three points. I think they'll be aggressive and battle us for everything in midfield. They'll push their outside backs (probably Ashe and Sarkodie) forward and even if they can't have equal possession, their counterattacks could still be a threat. Ashe definitely has skills on tha ball. Bruin has been a good finisher this year, while Barnes has a powerful long range shot. They can definitely capitalize off any defensive lapse. Houston has another speedy Jamaican, Jason Johnson, who was just called back from his loan to their USL side. It would be interesting to see if him and Omar are both out there together at some point... Houston has had some sloppy defending lately but at times they've also played very well. They're giving up 1.71 goals per game despite having five shutouts. Our offensive momentum from Montreal needs to continue. We need to get Deshorn involved early and line him up against Sarkodie. It'd be cool to see Colorado keep a high line of pressure and not give Houston much time to possess in their third, maybe force some more defensive mistakes. Hopefully our guys won't be content with just leading possession but can actually produce some effective opportunities.
Have to agree with unkiemark. This game looks positive on paper, but the team that scores the first goal will have a decided advantage. The Rapids need this one badly, though, so I'll say 1-0 with Hill playing well for the second week (either goal or assist).
He was subbed off at half in that LA game, and the injury he picked up was reported to be bad enough that they hoped he could come back for one of the games this week but was likely going to keep him out until the World Cup break. Bianchi's tweets this week said that he and Buddle both are unlikely to play in any game this week.
Yeah, here's a 5/21 article from the Rapids site: May 21 was a Wednesday, so 2 weeks would be June 4.
1-0 Rapids, goal by someone other than a forward ... a little nervous though that this is a trap game like Chivas
No trap. Think of this like the last time we played up there: a reserve team Dynamo gets trotted out and throttled. The only abundance of players we have is at CB (5). We're paper thin everywhere else due to injuries, the World Cup, and a suspension for sh*t n giggles. I'd be surprised if we manage 2 shots on goal, much less an actual goal. Lineup? Hall Sarkodie-Horst-Taylor-Ashe (c) Crevalle Omar - Driver Lopez Barnes-Bruin At least that is what I would do. Crevalle isn't 100% after missing preseason and the first couple months with injury. He'll have to be subbed out eventually for Carrasco (Mr Morgan ). So the bench would be: Deric(GK) Johnson(LW/ST), Carrasco(DM), Arena(CB), Brunner(CB), Cochrane(CB) It sucks being out a DP and two others who are DP-esque in their cap hit (Rico and Davis).
Thanx Jason and Totoro. That LA game seems like so long ago...definitely missing me an Uruguayan in burgundy @El Naranja, what did you think of Cascio before he went down?
In the 5 minutes we had him (or so it felt) he was great one game and very meh the next. Personally I really wish he was healthy because I think he had talent enough to hold down the right flank and push Oscar to the middle. Losing Sherrod all season too hurts as well. Kid was just finding his form. Now we rely on fragile Omar, a converted Barnes and an incredibly streaky, almost useless sometimes, Bruin. Hope Cascio regains his health and form next year...for you or us or whomever.