This one now has little to no meaning after the Revs have clinched the 2 seed and Toronto has been eliminated from playoff contention. The only thing worth playing for is 4th place overall, which could be a way into the CCL. However, even that may not matter come Saturday as if RSL beats Chivas on Wednesday. If that is the result, the Revs won't be able to finish any higher than 5th. A draw or Chivas win would give the Revs some hope going into Saturday. The only other team who could finish ahead of them is Dallas. They have an 8:30 start Saturday night at home against hungry Portland team. Dallas would need to win as a draw and aRevs win would give the Revs the tiebreaker. So, to clinch 4th place overall the Revs need: -A win Saturday against Toronto and -A RSL draw or lost at home Wednesday against Chivas and A Dallas draw or lost at home Saturday against Portland. Another thing which they could be playing for is to add to MVLee's year in the MVP race, but that is very very minor. Especially as he is one yellow card away from missing a match. And that is where I think MVLee, Soares and Barnes should all sit as they all are one yellow away from missing the first playoff game. Daigo made it through Houston without a card so he gets the good behavior incentive. Barnes is now one game away. MVLee and Soares are not in good behavior range yet. It may be wise to sit JJ too as he has 3 and you wouldn't want him going into the playoffs with 4, as I can't see him going through the entire playoffs without getting a YC (I'm not sure if at any point in the playoffs if YC's reset). So, other than getting guys who are banged up and injured some rest there are guys who we can't afford to lose due to YC accumulation. I want to see as many regulars as possible that are healthy and safe on cards for at least 45 to refrain from getting out of sync and rusty. Finally, I think we'd all like to see Shalrie Joseph play and get the recognition which he deserves.
It does appear that yellow card are reset, but any suspensions picked up in the next match will carry over.
I'd like to see: Mullins Diego-Neumann-Kobayashi-TonyTaylor Dorman Tierney-Soares-Goncalves-Alston Knighton 60 minute sub, Shalrie for Dorman 70 minute sub, Castillion for Mullins Give Nguyen, JJ, Rowe, Davies, Farrell, Shuttleworth some rest and make sure they don't get injured. Keep Daigo's streak alive! Continue to give Mullins and Neumann more time in case they are required in the playoffs Try to get Diego back in form Get Dorman some fitness back from injury in case we need him in the playoffs Give 90 minutes to Taylor to see what he can do Keep Soares and Goncalves together because they clearly still have some kinks that need to be worked out and give Shalrie a standing O in Gillette
Your logic is pretty sound, but I think Alston is so injury prone that he should probably sit too, is there anyone else on the team besides Barnes and Farrell that can play RB? How about Donnie Smith?
He's another player who I've liked whenever I've seen him play. But I believe he's almost Tierney-like in his left-footedness. Not sure he'd do well on the right side. Maybe try Caldwell as a right back for a game?
This works, but I'd prefer to start Shalrie and sub him either at 30 min or, if he's up to it, in the second half. It's a better opportunity to give him the sendoff that he deserves to sub him off during the game, but it's a shame to waste two subs on the same position.
I expect Nguyen to be rested (could be interesting to give Diego a chance in the center of the field). As for Barnes on yellow-watch, I'm not worrying about that. He's a backup and I'm hoping we don't need him in the playoffs. That said, Farrell got his game off and they'll want Tierney to get some action before he gets too stale.
Jermain Defoe ruled out of Toronto FC finale with groin injury, Gilberto refutes transfer rumors October 21, 2014 Armen Bedakian MLSsoccer.com
Toronto FC midfielder Dwayne De Rosario also suspended one game, meaning he'll miss Saturday's visit to Foxborough. #NERevs— Jeff Lemieux (@jeff_lemieux) October 23, 2014
Wow, so many times this season we've benefited by playing teams with injuries or suspensions... Great for points accumulation but once playoffs are in full swing, we will probably have to beat teams at full strength.
I honestly can't get over how much of a bust Defoe has been for TFC. He was dominant at the beginning but has missed nearly half the season, and even when he finally came back from the various injuries/suspensions he hasn't looked good at all. I think as long as Diego, Shalrie, and JJ gets some minutes, the lineup impact would otherwise be minimal. Despite his awesome season, Lee isn't that recognizable outside the core fanbase.
I'll be pretty shocked if Shalrie plays. He hasn't played a minute all season. Has he even made the bench? I don't think so.
And just think about all the millions they are on the hook for! Suddenly Kraft's stingy ways aren't looking so awful.
And apparently Toronto sold Doneil Henry to a club in Cyprus months ago and have had him on loan ever since. Wow wtf. Toronto is such a soap opera, our backups better torch these guys. They've got to be so demoralized.
The scheduled 4th official has been suspended. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/24/s...-referee-after-his-arrest-for-fraud.html?_r=0
He made the bench at least once, and warmed up with the subs exactly once. I remember singing to the joy of even watching him do high knees
Sad to see this kind of stuff happen to people, when they make these kinds of greed-oriented mistakes that show horrendous judgment. The whole thing about being a referee is to exercise good judgment in whatever situation occurs on the field. If a guy is stupid enough to get caught doing something that is easily verified, who knows how susceptible he would be to maybe subtly influencing the outcome of a game if he had a little "incentive" to do so. And of course, the wise guy in me wants to make the obvious joke: An MLS referee being arrested for fraud? He must have been busted for trying to pass himself off as a semi-competent referee!
If the Revs next game after Toronto is either Saturday or Sunday November 1st or 2nd, that would be about 15 days from the Houston game for a player to "rest" if they don't play on Saturday against Toronto. In my mind, that seems like a great idea for guys who have been playing 90% of the team's games this year, but the argument could be made that you could get "rusty" from all the time off. The other thing in the decision would be preventing a player from getting suspended for the first playoff game, either from red cards or yellow accumulation (MVLee, Soares, Barnes). I'd really prefer not risking suspensions by playing a meaningless game. What Heap's preferred back line for this team in the playoffs? I think it involves Alston, JoGO, AJ, Farrell and Barnes as the utility backup, then Tierney is probably the second backup
Would this mean, that if say you had tickets in 103, you wouldn't really be able to get into the fort?
Forgive me for being skeptical, but there was a game earlier this year with a similar seating diagram was used and it looked like there were very few seats available. At the game, it turned out to be not even close to being full. It was s decent crowd, but I think all of those seats that were noted as "taken" were actually on hold and later released. I think the lower bowl was like 2/3 to 3/4 full, when the diagrams showed it to be 95% full. Anyone else remember this?