Did you really need to post this? I would have rather not known this before I start watching the game at midnight.
None taken. I'm not claiming to have a crystal ball into Jeffries mind, I'm just stating what I expect to see. When a team is playing for the best record in the league (thanks in part to the DC United victory over San Jose ), it isn't inconcievable to imagine that a coach may throw a smoke screen out to the press in hopes that they prepare for differing personnel. IMHO, the last thing Jeffries wants is to have a team know that it will be facing his backups with plenty of time to prepare for them. If they are unsure who will play or think the starters will be playing, you just might catch them a little under-prepared. That's just a hunch on my part, it could be totally wrong. -Tron
just to prove my point if ya dont believe me....... By STEVE DAVIS / The Dallas Morning News Expect the Burn bench to get a significant workout Sunday in Colorado, where an MLS contest at Invesco Field begins the toughest stretch of games in club history. Following the Burn's game against Colorado on Sunday, the team faces a U.S. Open Cup semifinal in Los Angeles on Tuesday and an MLS match at home against the MetroStars on Thursday. That's three games in five days. "I've been telling them to get to bed early," coach Mike Jeffries said. Jeffries won't divulge exactly how he plans to deploy his players, but he's sure to get the most of his 22-man roster on the trip. Reserves Ronnie O'Brien, Eddie Johnson and Ronald Cerritos, and rookies Carl Bussey and Jordan Stone, are among those sure to get some playing time and possible starts. Complicating matters is the suspension (for yellow card accumulation) of central midfielder Oscar Pareja for Sunday's contest. The Burn has already clinched a playoff spot, doing so Wednesday when the Rapids lost at New England. It's all about positioning now in the chase for first or second in the Western Conference. The club isn't ready to give up the pursuit for first-place San Jose. "It's a hard stretch of games, but we go in thinking there's a way of winning all the games," Jeffries said. Part of the thinking will be to play conservatively, especially on the road against Colorado and soon-to-retire midfield maestro Carlos Valderrama. The Burn is 3-0-1 in its last four meetings with Colorado, which hasn't found a rhythm this season. Dallas may be missing some rhythm Sunday. The team tends to maneuver through midfield a little faster on attack without the 34-year-old Pareja around to hold the ball and slow the pace. That could work against a side that needs to conserve energy. Without Pareja, O'Brien will probably play on the right, with Joselito Vaca shifting into more of a central, playmaker role in the middle. Dallas does get All-Star defender Ryan Suarez back. He missed last week's hard-fought overtime win over Los Angeles with a slight knee injury but trained all week. Suarez's availability gives Jeffries more options because Jorge Rodriguez, who was filling in for Suarez, can play in a number of spots. And All-Star forward Jason Kreis, who has just one goal in his last six games, used last week to mend an ailing groin. Jeffries said he cut back on training time only marginally last week. He didn't want to outsmart himself. "You want guys to train and be pretty sharp," he said. "If you walk through four days [of practice], you feel like you have heavy legs in the game, and it's not too easy." O'Brien is fit enough to last an entire game, Jeffries said, even though the Irish midfielder looked tired after coming in as a sub last week. "It's different when you know you have to play an entire game," Jeffries said. "After he came in [Saturday], he made a lot of runs from one end to the other."
See I disagree, I think we should start most of our starters tonight. I watched the L.A.-Metrostars game and the Metrostars are horrible. We can beat them at home with Johnson and Stone leading the way. So why not capitalize on an opportunity to take 1st place tonight, maybe try hard to win the game tuesday (it won't be the end of the world if we loose) then we play a crap team thursday and worst comes to worst we tie them with our reserves.
I agree. I'd like to see the Burn field its best team tonight to maximize its chances for victory. If the Burn can beat Colorado, they'll have all but locked up a 4th place or better seeding in the playoffs, and, of course, they'll be in excellent position to win the Supporter's Shield as well. With a victory over Colorado, the only possible way for the Burn to finish worse than 4th seed would be for both Columbus and NY/NJ to win all of their remaining games (giving them 44 pts apiece) and for the Burn to lose all of their remaining games (the Burn win any tiebreakers against Chicago, Columbus or NY/NJ due to head-to-head superiority) A loss to the Rapids, and the Burn's hopes of winning the Supporter's Shield will be pretty slim. San Jose (11-0-1 at home) hosts Columbus and LA (9-1-2 at home) hosts Chicago prior to commencing their home-and-home series, so realistically the Burn would need to win their last 3 games to have even the slightest chance of getting the 1st seed in the playoffs should they lose tonight to Colorado.
I think both of you are shortchanging the Open Cup. The players want to win the double this year. That means they have to win Tuesday. San Jose has cooperated and lost to DC yesterday so we will still be in the hunt if we lose tonight but hopefully we can at least pick up a point. After that SJ and LA have to play each other twice so they can't both run the table and may throw in some ties and lose ground. We have the easiest schedule left and while we still have to win those games I think the team is right in going after both Cups.
So you're saying that we want to be all geared up and ready for Tuesday eh? Well I'd love to win that game, but I just got a bad feeling about it, I mean I know in my heart we are better than the gals I just don't see us winning, prove me wrong Burn. I guess we'll just have to wait and see what Jefferies has up his sleeve. Damn No TV.
No. I'd like to see our mostly-reserves lineup used in the MetroStars game, not in the Open Cup. Like burning247, I think the Burn reserves have a good shot at getting the job done at the Cotton Bowl against a NY team that may be playing the worst soccer of any MLS team right now. SJ and LA are very likely to win their next matches, giving them 45 pts apiece prior to the home-and-home. The best case scenario for the home-and-home would be, of course, for SJ and LA to tie both games giving them both 47 pts. But the Burn lose a tiebreaker to San Jose (head-to-head) and would likely lose the tiebreaker to LA on goal differential. So if Dallas loses to Colorado, the Burn will need to win all 3 remaining games to have any realistic chance (and only a slight one at that) of winning the Supporter's Shield
No, DC United cooperated and BEAT San Jose. Being at the game, I can assure you that San Jose played as hard as they possibly could. Only a healthy and motivated United side stopped them from succeeding. Make no mistake about it, Donovan was in as fine a form as he has been since January, and the eQuakes were beaten. Glad we could help you guys out. -Tron
Tron, yes thanks for beating the Quakes. I don't suppose you have any influence on ties for certain teams?
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