This game is less than 48 hours so it's time to get cracking! Carolina has no injured stars(as far as the Press will say) unlike the team we just faced. Does anybody predict any line-up shake-ups from Coach Sawyers? What about Montoya possibly earning her first minutes of action this season(assuming she makes the travel squad)? Prinz can be shut down. Somebody will have to man-mark her the entire match, possibly Bryan or Lindsey? Carolina has barely squeaked by us this season. They beat us on late Hege Riise free kicks in the 85th minute the first match and on July 4 in the 88th. Courage, CyberRays Have Backs to the Wall Match Preview This game is on national television(PAX), yay!!!!!! Last PAX regular season match for the 'Rays this season, let's hope it's a good one!
This could possibly be the game of the year. San Jose has to win and Carolina cannot lose another one. This will be a battle. The loser may be out.
This most definitely is a great match to have on PAX one week before the regular season ends. It also will no doubt be a battle since the first two matches between the CyberRays and the Courage were decided by those late game-winning goals scored by Hege Riise. However, I disagree that "Carolina cannot lose another one." To clinch a playoff spot the Courage need just four points in their last three matches and two of those matches are against the bottom two teams in the WUSA. So far this season Carolina is 4-0 against New York and San Diego. If Carolina gets at least a draw in this match, then the Courage will only need 1 point from their last two matches to clinch a playoff spot.
The Boston Globe reports that Erin Montoya has been signed by the C'Rays as a reserve player. Is this to fill in for Clark? Why would they sign a player who can't travel with the team? The final games of the season for SJ will all be on the road. Even if y'all make the playoffs it is very unlikely that SJ will host a playoff game.
Carolina doesn't quite have the desperation that we do, in fact no team in the league does. This could play out as a big advantage for us, should we play with the intensity and diehard that attitude that we need to have right now. Montoya did make the travel squad and I wouldn't be shocked to see her sub in at some point today, probably late second half type of thing. Travel squad most likely includes- Beene, Greathouse Bryan, Chastain, Lindsey, French(although these days, you never know), Alagich, Borgman Sissi, Pretinha, Vench Katia, Eagleson, Montoya There's 14, good guess is that Nanez also traveled so it's down to Wagner, Dorn and Bell for the final spot. We'll probably find out which 1 went today, at least for this game. Think Ian might take 1 player for 1 game, fly her back to SJ, fly another player out for another game and so on? I've never read or heard of any rules againist that. Travel squads are named for individual games, not multiple game road trips.
Montoya did sign on to take Clark's place and she was named for the travel roster for the game today againist the Courage. http://www.sjcyberrays.com/news/rel_20020801.html That will answer your questions. We have other injuries so Montoya was able to fill in a travel squad spot.
Thanks for the info. I've noticed that no one is talking about the C'Rays abysmal road record and the fact that all three remaining games are on the road. I'd love to see SJ sneak past the 'dum for a playoff spot, but those are three tough home teams to finish with. The price to pay for having nice weather (hence more games) early in the season.
You're welcome. Our road record is nothing short of disappointing. This is the time to turn that around and show that we CAN play soccer on the road, just so happens to be againist two of the league's best. I really think we have not played the way we know how to play againist Carolina. Letting in two late goals on set pieces-not a prime example of full-strength CyberRays soccer and hopefully Carolina will see the team play like they can and have before.
Play Frenchie! I hope we win. We need to win. I KNOW we can! I think Carolina, however, is going to feel they have something to prove after some weak recent outings, so they're not going to roll over and play dead. Most of the rest of what I can say before this game is like beating my head against a wall at this point. Yes, I know, it's hard to complain about the starting line-up and sub patterns when you're winning, but I personally don't think the personnel that's been on the field is responsible as much for our better success the last couple of games as the formation we're playing is. I think that 5-3-2 we played was more than a little confusing (since players ended up all over the field--it was so free-flowing). Now, with a more structured 4-4-2, my (somewhat educated) guess is that we're finally able to get something going because people are having more clearly defined roles (if you know what you're supposed to be doing at any given time, it makes it easier to do it!), and Sissi, Tisha, and Pretinha are getting the defensive help they need in the center of the midfield (rather than only on the flanks), allowing them to concentrate more on the offensive end. Tisha's been able to get forward a lot more the last few games (perhaps because she's not as worried about having to play D in the midfield), and that's really helping us offensively. Like any formation change, it takes a few games to work out the kinks and I think that's what we're seeing now that we appear to be clicking a bit. It's not because we're a better team with French (or Alagich) on the bench. I still (probably forever) think we'd look even sharper with those two on the field, but Frenchie, at least, hasn't even been given much of a chance to show was she can do in this formation. I absolutely LOVE what Danni Borgman can bring to the field, don't get me wrong, but I don't like her starting over French. Danni's injured, first of all, so her speed (her primary weapon, along with her strength and heart, at this point in her development) is hampered, and secondly she just doens't have the consistency and saavy that French brings to the field (yet! I do believe Danni has a ton of potential! She's just still a bit of a diamond in the rough). Keep Brandi at right back, put French in at left back. Swap Nanez for Alagich (though that's a more and more difficult call for me to make--Nanez IS playing really well, so it's hard to yank her off the field. I still vote for Di, though!), and finally you have a formation and starting line-up I think looks playoff and Championship caliber. Use Borgman as a sub for Brandi (I bet Brandi's a little beat up at this point in the season and could use more of a breather than she'd dare to admit, and Borgman shouldn't go a whole game if she's still injured) to keep fresh legs at right back where we've been looking a little tired. Of course, I'm not the coach so no one really cares what I think but me!!! Given recent sub patterns, I'll guess (not like I can really guess what's in Ian's mind, but to try) we might see this as the group that traveled: Starting 11: Katia, Bell, Pretinha, Sissi, Venturini, Nanez, Chastain, Borgman, Lindsey, Bryan, Beene. Subs (4+1GK): Eagleson, Montoya (since I guess it's confirmed she's traveling, and we don't actually have any other true forwards!), French, Dorn/Wagner (toss-up here), Greathouse. Do I like the line-up and subs I just listed?? Um, no. But it's my best guess at what's in Ian's (warped) mind. I'm now going to beat my head against the wall one more time to see if I can still feel anything. I know it may be a lost cause, but I'm one of those people who doesn't like to let anything go until I get an answer I'm satisfied with, or at least that makes sense to me, even if I don't agree with it. (I'm sure it's a terribly irritating personality trait to people from the "because I said so" school of thought, and yes, it got me thrown off a team once. The flip side is I've had some coaches who loved it, because I really want to understand what's going on and learn from it!) I'm not meaning to whine, I'm just trying to "get it". On another thread, TishaVench15 posted some nifty stats regarding assists/season and goals/season, and something really leapt out at me. Yeah, that's right, if you crunch the numbers (I quickly added up all the assists and then sorted the players by total) you will see that Michelle French is tied for 7th all-time in the WUSA in assists (with Foudy, Serlenga, and Milbrett--not shabby company), the first player who's played predominantly defensively to check in on the list (take a look...there's only a handful of players who even made the list who play D at all). Hmm... My own number crunching has Frenchie leading all true defenders (players who officially play predominantly D, not D/M or D/F) in scoring this season, as best I can tell. So I see all that, then I see the line-up change to supposedly get "more offensive", and then I read this: Sawyers said, "and I said 'You know me, I always want to have my best people on the field at the same time.'" And BAM there goes my head to the wall again. Yep, still hurts. I am still asking for someone, anyone, if they can, to please take the time to provide a nice objective point-by-point as to why Frenchie's been benched. Please. Then maybe I'll see the light, and my headaches can go away (head+wall=ow). I just feel like we cut off our own foot every time Frenchie's not out there, and since I'd really like the 'Rays to get to FC II, I think it might be easier for us if we try and do it with all our extremeties attached and not limping around on a stump!
San Diego and San Jose have very poor road records due to all the travel back east. And, the weather conditions in the summer on the east coast can be misearbly HOT and HUMID. It takes several weeks to fully acclimate to it. There is NO humidity in California. It sucks the energy out of your legs Would NOT want be even sit out in the sun in Carolina for two hours, much less play soccer for 2 hours. Brutal, brutal, brutal weather. Look for dead balls and possession to determine everything.
Also, Carolina has beaten them twice and given their record against the Fish this season it's going to an uphill climb. Adam has a legitimate take--it's hot as heck over there and to me the players will have to go the extra mile with little adjustment if they are going to eke out points on the road. SomebodyorOther has the lineup right (or at least in tune)--I haven't done my take in a while, but expect Coach Ian to alter the alignment again. See Brandi play in the back, position herself in the midfield, and occasionally make the run up front. The conditions will make it difficult as mentioned. Also the various injuries to key and role players have allowed some of the bench players to step up, such as Eagleson. Also, I didn't get any official word from the team anywhere, but playoff rank has nothing to do with the CyberRays playing on the road. It has to do with the Earthquakes having exclusive rights to the stadium that day--namely a game against DC United on espn2. My source is sfgate.com, but you will have to scroll after the Quakes article... http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/chronicle/archive/2002/08/03/SP175386.DTL and the explanation of the ladies' playoff run... Cheers!
Actually, San Jose should have a good style for the heat and humidity, because they play a possession game. If you have the ball and the skill, bad things can't happen. The match is Riise versus Sissi, whomever sees the ball the most gets a huge edge for their team. Dead balls too. Both sides can be deadly. And the team who scores 1st, needs to continue to play their game, not try to defend the lead. San Jose will catch a break because the weather is scheduled to break by Wednesday as some Canadian air is on it's way