DC United vs NYCFC

well, at 5pm today there are tickets available - account manager shows me ~115 available in a variety of sections. public TikatDicktator is still touting somewhere in the neighborhood of 300 to 400 seats (very quick rough count) of mostly resale but close to 100 first/STM sale (e.g. presale code needed).

And they are catching a premium; shady-side midfield seats similar to the ones I transferred at face a little while ago are now going for more than double face plus "convenience" fees. Stubhub has about 100 for sale. Wonder what the over/under is on those seats being gone before Friday?

 

Whoever scooped up your tickets must sure feel grateful!

 

wow and I am not willing to pay face value................................

 

Pretty excited about this. I was able to get tickets in our usual section for the usual group of three plus my son.

 

Probably the first season opener I am genuinely excited for in years. We'll probably look rough, but at least the organization shows signs of giving a ********.

 

I wonder how playing them just a couple of weeks ago impacts our play. Too bad none of us saw the match.... Super excited for our offseason to come to an end and our new coach to begin his run.

 

Best case scenario for this season: We end the season with 50 points and make the playoffs

Worst case: We have one of the worst records in the season, but we qualified for the U.S. Open Cup and win that tournament - like that weird season in 2013.

 

Definitely looking forward to the opener. That said, I’ll be pleasantly surprised if we can get anything out of this.

 

I suspect we don't do much until August. We'll be fun to watch, but I think we go 4-7-6 for the first half of the season. Bill, once he returns, will keep us in a few games we probably shouldn't be in. The problems will be:

1) Injuries. We'll have trouble maintaining the uptempo style because, despite the fact that we'll have 27 rostered players with the team, injuries will limit our ability to get to the level of fitness required. Already Losada has said the team is only going to be 65 minutes fit for this game. We've got 9 guys recovering from injury, and they're even further behind the curve.

2) Goals. We have had trouble creating chances and putting them away, and we haven't addressed that definitively. Yes, Robertha, for instance, is different, but he isn't Rooney. It'll take some time for us to shake out who's going to be that contributor (if anyone) and who isn't.

I note the line has us as major underdogs this game, but neither team is going into this in great form. It'll come down to finishing, and that could go either way - a lucky break will probably determine it.

 

US Open Cup sounds like it's being cancelled.

BREAKING: I'm being told the 2021 US Open Cup will be cancelled, with a chance of rescheduling later in the year.

The 106 year tradition ended in 2020 due to COVID-19. In March, @ussoccer announced a 24 team format, which was then shortened to 16 teams last month. #USOC2021

— Phillip Grooms 🌊⚜️ (@phillgrooms) April 16, 2021

 

It's good to come back to the boards, though. I looked at stubhub for tickets just to see if I could convice the wife that we won't die immediately if we go out in public.

I didn't have stubhub on my phone anymore, because I got a new phone sometime last summer... and there was just no reason to do so...

 

And now that I've downloaded stubhub and looked at the resale tickets, I won't be even trying to go. I've saved a lot of money not going out and stuff, but not that much.

 

less than 90 seats available on tikatdicktator but still about 20 first sale seats.

 

OK. Lineup guesses anyone? Fitness probably impacts several guys, but here's my best guess. I'm thinking Flores and Asad will be inverted with heavy wide play provided by Gressel and Mora. I would almost put Canouse in the center of the 3 back line and move Hines-Ike in place of Pines, but who knows? Either way, I can see Canouse playing very deep with a 3 man back line. I could also see Kamara for Asad, but both are out of shape I would guess.

---------Seitz
--Brilliant--Hines Ike--Pines
Gressel--------------------Mora
-------Canouse--Moreno
--Flores-----------------Asad
--------------Sorga

 

I think the only questions here are a) the exact order for the back three and b) if Kamara somehow gets in over Sorga. Otherwise, given who's available, this is who I'd go with.

This particular lineup may start out as more of a 3-4-3 than a 3-2-2-2 that you've listed here but we'll see tomorrow.

 

Good guesses here. The only change I think he might make is replacing one of Canouse or Moreno with a more vertical player.

 

Who on the roster would you replace Canouse or Moreno with who would be more vertical? Canouse at least showed some passing skill when he first arrived here that I think Losada can bring back out of him, and Moreno is definitely more of the destroyer there.

 

Good idea, as far as I am concerned. Don't start it back up until it can be a REAL Open Cup -- not this half-ass version of it.

 

I like Moses, or maybe as EB says, we bring in Kamara or Smith and that lets us drop Asad back into midfield.

 

Pines injured?

 

Sorga starts!

Cmon Estonian Messi.

 

Alfaro?

 

Now I get it. Goff says Pines has a slight knock.