Chicago Fire midfielder DaMarcus Beasley and D.C. United midfielder Bobby Convey will travel to Richmond on Saturday evening after their contest at RFK Stadium, and will suit up to face New Zealand.
Does anyone have an accurate count on how many players have been released to play MLS this weekend? Looks like we'll be dragging SS against NZ (at least on the offensive end).
From the linked article: That still leaves an offense of Convey, Martino, Beasley, Klein, Donovan (?), Lewis, Stewart, Twellman. Should be good enough to beat NZ.
According to ussoccer.com The following MLS players have been released to play on Saturday: Bobby Convey (D.C. United) DaMarcus Beasley (Chicago Fire) Pablo Mastroeni (Colorado Rapids) Jeff Cunningham (Columbus Crew) Frankie Hejduk (Columbus Crew) Dan Califf (Los Angeles Galaxy) Tim Howard (MetroStars) Clint Mathis (MetroStars)
Goff said Nelsen WOULD be available on Saturday. I believe it was an item at the bottom of the Tim Howard article in yesterday's Washington Post.
Hurray! Now lets see if Bobby Convey is going to be the consistent midfield star of this team. I expect at least a goal or an assist. It's all we ever ask of Marco...
I just ask Marco to be a team player, not get a yellow card for dissent, and play simply, given his physical condition it's about all we can demand.
I'm going to go one more on that Marco request and ask him not to hold the ball til the defense is set up before he passes to an offensive player.
I would not care if we dragged ass to a 5-0 defeat at the hands of New Zealand, if it meant we get our first win of the season, and at home no less. Thank god we'll have Bobby.
The thing is, how many fans are going to be bitching to the USSF that Arena released thier guy but not ours? How fair is it for Mathis to play against KC but not Klein? It looks like Arena has the biggest impact on the games this weekend. This is going to lead to a lot of whining. I know it started with Yallop asking for Donovan. If Arena turned that down, then maybe we wouldn't see the others playing.
Where did you get the idea that there is some fairness principle applied to football or National team call ups? My statement remains the same, I would gladly give up a friendly against New Zealand if it meant that Bobby helps us get to our first and very badly needed win of the season. It's that simple. Arena has to do what he has to do, which means release some and hold on to a few. That's the way it goes, I'm just happy it was Convey and not Stewart given to us. And as far as other players and teams go, I don't give a f@$k. I care about my club and smoking Chicago's ass on the day. I hate that we have to lose Bobby for the Confederations cup. I'm happy for him but we will miss him. So I accept how how call ups go and how the cards fall and for this game I'm thankful they fell in our favor(at least for now.) Cheers.