Who: Seattle Sounders @ Caledonia AIA Where: Couva, Trinidad When: 5:00 PM, Thursday, August 30 Watch: FSC Listen: ??? I'm expecting a reserve heavy line-up for this game, particularly on offense. Caledonia isn't a very good team and once we get that first goal, we should see a lot of openings for more goals. On the good news front, Caledonia was able to hold Marathon to a 0-0 draw, so if we pull out a win, we'll be eliminating Caledonia from advancing and will be making life very, very difficult for Marathon. A draw or a loss leaves the door open for Marathon and gives Caledonia hope.
As mentioned earlier, I'm expecting a reserve heavy line-up for this match. Yoshou's Guaranteed to be Wrong Predicted line-up is: ------- Ochoa ------------- Martinez ------ Zakuani ---- Caskey/Alonso ----- Cato Burch -------- Ianni/Parke -------- Scott ---------------- Gspurning ---------------- I wouldn't be surprised to see Martinez and Zakuani swapped. I'm also not sure about Caskey at CM, so perhaps this is an option as well: ------- Ochoa ------------- Zakuani ------ Caskey ---- Martinez /Alonso ----- Cato Burch -------- Ianni/Parke -------- Scott ---------------- Gspurning ----------------
Having been at the first game against Caledonia I think either of those lineups is good enough to get full points. Which is good because the flight to T&T is a long one.
Considering Marathon and Caledonia had a 0-0 draw, we could be very near sealing up the group with a decent win this week.
Way too soon to count Marathon out. If they are able to win at home against us and Caledonia they put the Sounders in the position of needing a win at home to advance. It's certainly not an easy path for them, but they've only had one match so far.
Looked at from the other side: If we win the next 2 games, then the home game against Marathon is not needed to advance. Now, I'm not sure what all the tiebreakers are for determining seeding in the knockout stage so even if we don't need the home game to advance, there may still be stats to play for.
Technically a win and a draw in our next two games would be enough to lock up a seat in the knockout rounds. As far as positioning in the knock out rounds goes, the #1 tiebreaker after points is goal differential. So it behooves the Sounders to run up the score as much as possible.
Not counting them out, not really counting Caledonia out either to be honest. If they beat us then they are right back in it.
Well Marathon will certainly be tough at home so is any Central American team for that matter of fact. Fortunately for us Caledonia is a Caribbean team not that going there and getting a result will be any easier just wanted to point out the geographical difference. Road matches in the CCL are always tough for various reasons.
I like this... a lot. Martinez should be playing withdrawn striker every second of every game that Montero isn't.
We need to lock this baby up early. The last CCL game comes smack in-between SJ and PDX if ever there was a time to rest the first 11-15 that would be the time.
Actually, a win and a draw in the next two games is not enough to clinch. Since Marathon still has two matches AFTER the match vs Seattle on Sept 19 (Sept 26 at home vs Caledonia and Oct 24 at Seattle), the only way Seattle can clinch by Sept 19 would be to get wins both at Caledonia tonight and at Marathon on Sept 19. If that happens, Seattle would have 9 points and Marathon could at most get 7 points. If Seattle win and draw their next 2 matches, even if they beat Marathon and draw at Caledonia, that's still not good enough to clinch. Marathon could get 6 points from their final 2 matches and still tie Seattle with 7 points. Unfortunately for you guys, the CCL match between the Portland and SJ matches is only your 3rd match, so you can't clinch before that match. In fact, as I noted above, with the way the schedule has Marathon playing two matches after they host Seattle on Sept 19, the Sounders will go into that Sept 19 match without much insight into what kind of a result they need. If you assume Marathon will beat Caledonia when they host them on Sept 26, then Seattle's fate really comes down to how they do against Marathon. Sigi is going to have some interesting decisions to make as far as personnel the week that the Sounders play at Portland, at Marathon, and then host San Jose.
And outside of this, Even if we clinch with a win tonight and against Marathon, there is seeding for the next round to consider. I'd rather avoid Santos and Monterrey in the first knockout round if at all possible.
Keep in mind our last game against them was at home and they were in preseason. This time we are traveling and they have had that much more time.
Trust me, it isn't a game you'd be glued watching, hell I'm playing spider solitaire while listening in case something happens.