So does the team come out all fired up and win one - the first one this season - for Ronnie O'Brien? Do they come out all fired up, run around a bunch and get nothing accomplished? Or do we come out flat and stay flat? I have no idea if this team is going to roll over for the rest of the season or start playing like we all hope they would. I have no clue. I have no idea if Rhine or EJ gets the start. Does Davis go at right-mid or Vaca? What about Paul Broome. This team is one giant question mark. This is a big game - if we can't beat this winless team at home ....I don't know how to finish that sentence. (Almost) More importantly - does Kovalenko leave the field on a stretcher or under his own power?
Good questions all. One thing should be certain. Kovalenko will not be allowed to forget what he did this Saturday.
If we come in with the same lineup as last week (with the exception of Suarez at right d-back), then you can expect Ryan to do alot of pushing and Deering covering for him... ... on Kovalenko's side.
Seriously Ray Hudson would have to be a fool to play Kovalenko. He should really leave him at home for this one.
Rules to live by Don't trust whitey. God loves a working man. See a doctor and get rid of hit. Don't play Kovalenko in Dallas.
Re: Seriously My bet is that Hudson will bring Dema because, in his eyes, Dema did nothing wrong. By bringing Dema Hudson will prove that Dema's tackle was "innocuous" The idiot.
Re: Re: Seriously maybe somehow Chad can check Dema into Ray and they can both leave on a stretcher. Then we'll win 4-0 and we will all be happy
DC will be missing: Etchevery, who just had surgery. Nelsen, out due to a red card in their last game. Questionable: Ben Olsen, who apparently picked up an injury training with the Nats last week. Stoichkov may also be out. Loosing Nelsen, the heart of their defense, will hurt. Loosing Etcheverry may actually help them. Unless he starts Chino Alegria and Elieso Quintanilla in the center. Loosing Ben Olsen also hurts. Bottom line: The Burn can expect more bunker and counter this weekend. A lot more.
According to today's Washington Post, Olsen and Santino Quaranta are both definitely out. Missing Olsen, Quaranta, Etcheverry, and Nelsen means Ray will have to start Dema (which I'm pretty sure he would have done anyways). Missing Nelsen (who scored the equaliser for New Zealand in a friendly at Scotland earlier this week) hurts the most.
I think this is the case also. While Olsen can be an exciting spark, Nelsen provides stalwart opposition that smaller players have a very hard time with.
Dang - DC will be hurting. My God - something weird is happening. I am contemplating a victory. I am beginning to believe we can actually win this game.
Ironic..... Most DC United fans are picking the Burn to win: https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?postid=1153026#post1153026 Many Burn fans are picking DC. Let's hope the Burn 'snap' out of it this weekend, score early and often, and get some revenge.
DC's best chance at winning, especially with Noel Kenny as the referee, is that Dallas tries to take physical revenge for the O'Brien injury and gets one or two players tossed out. Dallas, however, is playing a seriously depleted winless side. Instead of physical revenge, if Dallas played attacking football they could take revenge with a 4-0 or worse drubbing of DC United.
I doubt the Burn go after Dema this game. The ref will be on the look out for trouble and will bring out the cards quickly. I'd expect some sort of retaliation, though, when the Burn play their last regular season game against DC United on July 2. Dema may have his guard down if things go smoothly for him this Saturday and the ref may not expect mischief. Look for Kovalenko to take a beating the 2nd half of the July 2nd game, particularly if one team has a commanding lead over the other.
As much as I would like to see Dema go down in a heap and put on the first bus back to the Ukraine, I would much rather see a frigging win. We stand a better chance of that if we can keep all 11 guys on the field. Revenge is a dish best served cold - and winning is the best revenge. (to mangle/combine a couple of cliches)
The team should not concentrate on injuring Dema, though, if the opportunity presents itself.... The Burn should further not look to drop the hammer and win by three goals, though, if the opportunity presents itself.... A win would do just fine. 1-0, 2-1, whatever. It would do wonders. Give the team some confidence, make Dragon Stadium look nicer. Maybe even turn the season around. It is early to call this a must win game, but it might be. A loss would further crush a team without direction, with games at New England and Chicago coming up, with a home game to surging San Jose in the middle. A loss Saturday, and I don't think the next three go the way we would like. A win chages everything. Go out and get it, boys.
I too think you guys are going to get the win. Those of you who are predicting a Burn loss are ignoring the roster problems we've got at DC right now and the fact that we just don't score goals. It's either going to be a boring and tedious 0-0 draw (our defense should remain reasonably solid even without Nelsen) or you guys are gonna win. The only thing that might motivate DC United is the table. This really is a must win game for us. You guys in the West don't have it nearly so bad and this game is hardly a must win for your team. The table is much more forgiving in the West because there are so many bottom dwelling teams. In the East there's only one - DC. If Chicago wins on Saturday and we lose (both very possible) then we're in a deep and perhaps insurmountable hole. For most teams that would seem a motivation to come out swinging. For DC United ... <shrug>
I am using the term "must win" as a confidence booster for the team, considering the next few games coming up, not in "the Burn must have these three points" fasion.
This is a must win, a nice ass kicking to DC could be a turning point in our season and motivation to keep the wins coming. Come on, we haven't even got more than 1 goal in a game this season, it's ridiculous.
Buzz, since you don't even have Bussey listed on the reserves, what's his status? Is he just waiting around to be released? Have you talked to him lately?
It turns out that MLS home teams can only list 9 bench players. So the 9 I listed are based on the last couple homes games, my observations from practice, and talks with coaches... but it is by no means definitive. Bussey has fallen behind Philip Salyer at right back and since Davis (a lefty) has played right mid before Bussey did, I think that is a fairly good indicator of his status. I have talked to him and I would like to give Carl props. He knows he has fallen down the ladder and is a little down about his oppertunitites here... but he continues to work hard, do extra skill training to get better, and try to prove himself to the staff. I have found a great deal of respect for him as a person due to his attitude and work rate over the last couple months.