RSL @ Columbus Crew Saturday March, 14th Time: 5pm EST Venue: Mapfre Stadium TV coverage : STO, Espn + , MLS direct kick Weather: 46 and Cloudy with a 30% chance of rain ☔️. Won’t help attendance but this is Ohio and the weather is subject to change at any moment. Series History: 12W 6L 4D Last year we lost @ Real Salt Lake 0-1 on a 38th minute counter. We started a absolutely horrendous line up looking back at it. Last home game was a 2-1 win where Sosa had put us up 2-0 in the 23rd minute. So this will be the first time since 2016 we had a DP cam play against RSL ! MLS Standings: Crew 4pts , tied for 2nd in Eastern Conference RSL 2pts , 9th place in the west RSL season preview: Freddy Juarez took over from Mike Petke and led Real Salt Lake to the playoffs... now that he has the full-time job his first big task will be replacing the best goalkeeper in MLS history, Nick Rimando. The Wall of the Wasatch retired in the offseason and left a massive hole in his stead. • New 2020 RSL jersey unveiled • RSL's complete 2020 regular season schedule • Lineups used by RSL during preseason Other than that, not much has changed in Utah other than the changing of young Venezuelan wingers. MLS legend Kyle Beckerman is back, while there's plenty of young players that could take a leap into stardom in 2020. 2019 Finish • MLS Reg. Season: 53 points (16W-13L-5D), 3rd in West / 6th overall • MLS Cup Playoffs: Eliminated in Western Conf. Semifinal (vs. Seattle Sounders) • U.S. Open Cup: Eliminated in 4th Round (vs. LAFC) • Leagues Cup: Eliminated in QFs (vs. Tigres UANL) Star players • Albert Rusnak — The 25-year-old has yet to have a truly breakout season in MLS, despite scoring 27 goals over three seasons. Is 2020 the year he becomes an All-Star caliber player? • Damir Kreilach — Almost 31, Kreilach will be looking to stave off any slippage in his game after two strong seasons with RSL. • Corey Baird — Baird will be looking to rebound from a slight letdown in his sophomore season. The 24-year-old is looking to hit double digits in goals for the first time in his career. Key acquisitions and departures • IN: Jeizon Ramirez — Brought in to replace Savarino on the wing, the 18-year-old has plenty of potential. • IN: Zac MacMath — One of the three options to replace Rimando, MacMath hasn't been a regular starter in MLS since 2016. • OUT: Nick Rimando — Rimando's leadership will be missed in a locker room that is headed by a first-time MLS head coach. • OUT: Jefferson Savarino — While Ramirez is in place to replace him, Savarino was a bit farther along in his development than the teenager. • OUT: Brooks Lennon — After losing his starting spot in defense to Donny Toia, the former Homegrown was shipped to Atlanta. Armchair Analyst: Team strengths and weaknesses • Strength: RSL’s backline and midfield have remained almost entirely intact over the winter as they brought back every key contributor from a group that made a living by being compact, limiting mistakes and not getting caught out on transition opportunities. A “first do no harm” approach is a smart one for a team that doesn’t, on paper, have the same kind of high-end firepower as the league’s heavy hitters. • Weakness: They don’t have the same kind of high-end firepower as the league’s heavy hitters. Carlos Vela scored 34 goals last year; RSL, as a team, scored 46. With the departures of Jefferson Savarino, Bofo Saucedo and Joao Plata, only 35 of those return. Highlights of last weeks draw with NYRB http://www.espn.com/video/latest-videos/600/video/4069461?ex_cid=espnapi_internal Prediction: Crew win and punish RSL who will be hoping for a draw. Glory to Columbus !
I’ve been 1 goal too pessimistic each game so far so I’m overcorrecting and going full win by 2. RSL is probably better than I’m initially giving them credit for but this is the type of match that Crew need to win soundly to prove they are contenders. We’ve held our own against two other potential contenders, now we’ve got to take care of business vs a team that’s traveling and somewhere between contenders and pretenders. And so help me, if they let Meram score...
RSL aren’t chumps. Rough week 1, good week 2, especially the second half against NYRB. Red bulls were hanging on to dear life by the end.
This week is the most confident I have felt about a win by two goals (or more). I think those of you lucky ones in attendance will be treated with some Crew goals.
No good weather yet according to the 10 day forecast. Sat on wunderground is looking great temp wise, until you see that it is supposed to start raining right at kickoff. Now, six days out for Columbus is too far to believe any such forecast, but alas, it's out there.
I have a good feeling about this one, but I don't really know why. For all we were promised about Caleb Porter's brand of soccer once he got in "his guys," this has been mostly drab, even given the results through two games. Instead of 90 minutes of hell, or whatever the bloggers are calling it, against NYC we saw a team tentative in attack, moving slowly, and unsure how to unlock a team down to 10 men. In Seattle, we went ahead through a fantastic team goal and essentially let Seattle dictate the proceedings for the remainder of the game. A Seattle WITHOUT Lodiero. We seem to be a team that just lacks anyone with a killer instinct outside of Diaz. As much as I like Zardes, that's not him. Nagbe is a Cadillac, but he's in a different role. Santos tries, god bless him. Zelarayan is still finding his feet. It's a work in progress. Luckily the defense looks stout, and as long as you have a half competent defense and Nagbe bossing the midfield, it's very rare you are gonna be run off the pitch. RSL aint no slouches. And they definitely have the talent to make us suffer. But they may also have Justin Meram running at our weakest link (Afful). That cancels out, I hope. We ride a stong defensive performance to victory and score more than 1 for this first time this season. 2-0 Crew.
Vito was reportedly working out on one of the Obetz practice fields today when our backups were scrimmaging Notre Dame, We’re supposed to know more about Milton’s status tomorrow.
I saw some Meyers (Myers?) tweets. You know, the Dispatch kid. Final was 2-2, and Hamilton went out with a hamstring.
Finished 2-2. Hamilton with a hamstring injury. Lampson played in goal. Francis and Wormgoor were working out on another field: #Crew96 reserve scrimmage vs. Notre Dame today. Will provide updates throughout. pic.twitter.com/8RsqKqlvVx— Jacob Myers (@_jcmyers) March 9, 2020 To state the obvious, this (and the Pittsburgh scrimmage last week) are what you resort to when you don't have a USL team.
You know what... I'd been kind of skeptical about this. I thought that this whole thing was being overblown and this was simply a case of people worrying more about the Devil They Don't Know over the Devil They Do Know. But I've pretty much changed my mind tonight. OSU is cancelling classes. San Jose just cancelled three weeks' worth of events at the SAP center, including Sharks home games. We already had the Arnold cancelled to the public. So I officially don't know shit. I don't know where this is going. And I'm leaving this up to people smarter than me to figure out.
and Coachella looks like it's moving to the fall now. With all of this talk about Coronavirus I can't imagine it's going to lead to great attendance this weekend.
I have a double-header on Saturday. Crew game at 5, Broadway at 8. I'm keeping my ears open for any announced changes. Not too worried about the Crew game but there's a bunch of old people who like the theater.
Given what is happening in Europe (mass cancelleations and closed door matches), I'm beginning to be skeptical of attending many matches this spring--or even Opening Day. I would not be surprised if it impacts this weekend's sports events. The general rule of thumb in Europe seems to be "gatherings over 1000" are banned--and Italy is under full quarantine for everyone. So, if you get to go this weekend, enjoy it--might be the last for a while.
I wonder if they would consider postponing the match rather than play it behind closed doors if it came to that. I wouldn't mind a postponement until summer months for the weather.
There likely are not enough open dates in the schedule. In Italy, they are likely going to have to play a game every 2-3 days to get caught up, once (if) the season restarts. One other possibility is that there will be no champion or relegation and they'll add two promoted teams and use the current standings to decide European slots--in that case, let the lawsuits begin.
Match this weekend to go ahead at the scheduled time https://www.columbuscrewsc.com/post...-statement-covid-19-ahead-home-match-march-14
#Crew96 left back Milton Valenzuela is out for two weeks with a torn meniscus, Caleb Porter says.— Jacob Myers (@_jcmyers) March 10, 2020