Okay, okay--not trying to sound cocky and overconfident here. United still needs to be Dallas, someone else needs to lose a second game. But there is one other match remaining that I think we should be watching and hoping for a result in: LA-SJ. LA leads but goes to play SJ in their last match. LA win or tie--they're the top seed (and we lose the distinction of being the only side to take a point at Spartan Stadium this season). I'd much rather play SJ than LA. Our midfield matches up well against SJ (despite LD), they stink on the road, we've had 2 fine results against them. Meanwhile, Little Fishie creates problems for us and always manages to cause damage (then, he does that to everyone as well) and their defense is pretty solid. So I'm hoping for a SJ win in the finale. If we don't make the playoffs, that means at least we likely kept the Spawn of Satan out and also got the only positive result from SJ's home of anyone in MLS. If SJ wins and we get in, the best possible matchup I'd see is us against SJ. Comments?
Well if we were to play LA I'd think we'd do it a bit differently and put Reyes on Fish. After that, my main concern with LA is their midfield as they can be dominant in a game. IMO their defense isn't that good, or I'll say that they are good positionally but if exposed they are vulnerable. Their midfield does a great job covering for them. So I'd go with our five-man setup like we've been doing lately to fully contest the middle. As long as we are prepared to fight hard I think we'd have a chance. With SJ, obviously we match up well, but still they have also shown that they can score on us with regularity and we haven't faced their starting defense. I also think that the tactics we used the last game in coming from behind can only be used once as we we were soooo exposed in the back that if Yallop sees that again he'll be ready. As a reference, I think that second SJ game was similar to the first game we played against both the Revs and metros where we won coming from behind and brought our defenders up to do it. Then we tried it again against them and failed each time, finally resulting in a TT hat trick. SJ would kill us if we did the same. Thus we'd have to rely on more traditional tactics and our forwards right now.... god it's awful. Goos will eat them up. (I see what Curtis did against the metros and I see him taking advantage of an exhausted Petke and Jolley and Ziadie plus a tactically naive Akwari.) Anyways, we'll see if we ever get to the playoffs.... but if you're dreaming, we still have a chance at the #7 seed and C-bus and without thinking much I'd rather not face them as compared to LA or SJ as we've looked worse against the Crew than the left coast teams.
I'm not sure that a Ruiz-Reyes matchup works in our favor. I think it would be a very chippy affair. Ruiz has credibility (as the league's leading scorer) and Reyes has gotten a bit of a name around the league. Consequently, I think we'd see a few dives by Ruiz and Reyes couldn't use some of the tactics he'd use playing in Central America. Bottom line: I'd rather face Graziani than Ruiz. As for the LA defense, I agree with you. I was talking more "team D" rather than individual defenders. Lalas and Califf can be embarassed without the right support. But Sigi the Hutt has that team reasonably well organized and supporting each other on defense. As for tactics, I think they'll adjust anyway (just as what teams do to use may adjust). I'm less focused on the 4-2 win against SJ than the 2-2 tie on the road (where we didn't push our defense forward other than one great overlap and cross by Reyes). ABMOD doesn't have the speed or quickness to stay with Donovan. But I think we can get chances against SJ (finishing them is another matter). And if Hudson has the team focus more on defense and less on thugery off the ball against Donovan (in an attempt to slow him down), we can contain these guys. More importantly, SJ is an ordinary team on the road--we have a good chance to take points from them. And give our record on the road, our 3 best teams to play would be: Scum, Chicago and SJ (in that order I think). Since the Scum and possibly Chicago won't make the playoffs if we do, I'd prefer SJ over LA. And, I agree with you about C-bus. We just haven't matched up well against them this year. Better finishing and we should be able to exploit Denton and Dunseth and Co. but it just hasn't happened. And their frontline just kills us.
Yeah, after I wrote above, I thought Reyes-Ruiz is a risk, though I think Hudson would take it. Chippy is a good word for it. Still we came very close to beating LA twice this year... About SJ- it seems that post-WC, Graziani and Donovan aren't working together so well (the second act of Graziani-Kreis?) and this one of the problems that are causing them to no longer be the favorites in my book. So I'm flipping my desire and saying I'd rather play SJ, barely. But I think LA will grab the top seed anyway.
I respect you, Joe W, but as you say, we must first and foremost beat Dallas. All fans should be thinking about what they can do to help the team win at RFK. Everything else is out of our control/influence. If we beat Dallas (Marco is suspended and we don't play well against them) I'll just be grateful to have the opportunity to keep playing. I wouldn't care who our opponent is. Importantly, we don't know what will happen during the Dallas game (injuries, cards) that will significantly affect the next game, if there is one this season. Gotta take care of our own business first! Anything else is a distraction that we and the team don't need. If the swamprats fail in New Engerland, it will feel vicariously sweet, regardless of what happens to DC in our Dallas matchup! Sayonara OZ -- and btw, we'll take Moore if you don't want him. GM Gotta love that new orifice in Mutt butts! I guess you could say that the team did what Bennie said he'd like to do -- tear them a new one.