http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A55819-2004Apr6.html Says Nowak not decided on who will fill Dema's place in the lineup, it could be Adu, Gros or Prideaux. Adu says he wants to start now, Nowak says he will start when he is ready. Also of note: Nana Kwame, a 17-year-old midfielder from Ghana is on trial and had an impressive debut.
Kind of hard to imagine that Nowak would drop either Moreno or Eskandarian and Adu isn't a defensive player at all. The only way he fits is like this: ---Moreno Eskandarian Adu Convey Olsen Stewart --------Carroll and that seems like too much O for a match at LA.
Prideaux did very well against LA last year. I think they will start him and move Namoff up, or go with a 4-4-2. I can't see them starting Gros instead of Prideaux, and Freddy isn't ready.
The only reason they would start Gros was to stay in a 3-5-2 formation. They could start Prideaux and move Namoff into the midfield, but I get the feeling that Nowak wants to move players around as little as possible.
How can a 17 year old African play in MLS? Wouldn't he be limited to reserve action (which obviously there is none here) just as Freddy would have if he had gone to England? Or is there more to this than we know? Sorry, just a bit confused by that.
But don't forget, Prideaux singlehandedly shut down Sideshow Cobi last season at RFK. Taking away that flank from the LA attack would make our job of defending Ruiz, Kirovski and Herzog much easier. Sachin
yep but they still have Victorine and Arturo Torres on the flanks and they looked dangerous last week.
Kovalenko's penalty could be extended to two games pending a review by MLS's disciplinary committee on Thursday that seemed kind of important too, seems like Kovalenko's reputation seems to be the motivation for that. Hopefully that isn't the case though.
It would seem to me that it would be. That elbow didn't appear to be all that bad to me. It was definately flagrant and desirving of a card. A red? Maybe. But it didn't appear as if he was really cold clocking the guy.
yeah baby!!!!! The kid is 14 more likely than not!!!!!! There must be more to the story, relatives of some such. Damn that Goff!!! he's got to be WORST reporter in the history of reporting!!!!!!!! Adu on the left flank!!!!!!!!!! You all will kiss my fantastic ass come Saturday night!!!!!!!
hmmm, i feel a conspiracy coming on. The league sees that Freddy might not get enough minutes, so the league uses Kovalenko as a scapegoat by giving him a dubious red and then a 2 game suspension so that Freddy can get more minutes on the road, thus helping the away attendances. forget those other sports because THESE GUYS ARE GOOD!!! lol
Slapping another game on Kovalenko? That's horsesh*it. Hell, I half expect the MLS brass to throw another game suspension on Etcheverry as a result of Kovalenko's Saturday slap. It's ridiculous.
I sent an email to Steven Goff about this - not about the trialist, but about the single roster spot. My understanding was that we had two roster spots left - one roster protected, and one senior team. Anyway, to make a longish story short Goff only included the roster protected spot in his tally here because that last senior spot is effectively useless to us on account of the salary cap.
Nowak certainly is continuing to send all the right messages about the team and who will play and when with his “It cannot be kindergarten right now, saying you’re upset or you’re going to play in the next game” line. It is not when players say they are ready (to the press or anyone else for that matter) or feel they are ready, it is when they show Nowak they are ready. Great stuff.
Does anyone know what the travel roster size is now that MLS has 3 subs instead of 3 plus a keeper? In the past, I believe, teams could take just 15 players on the road -- the starting 11 plus 3 field subs and a keeper sub. Is it still the same, or is it now just 3 in total? Taking Freddy on the road, particularly if it is only 3 in total, is very risky. It seems to me that teams still need to bring a keeper in case of injury. That would mean just two field subs on the bench. One would have to be a defender, or at least a potential defender, i.e, defensive midfielder. Only one forward? That would be Freddy -- or, in the absence of the hype, would it be Freddy?
I think the 18-for non EU players to play is either a UEFA rule or an EU rule. Doesn't apply outside of Europe.
They could move Adu upfront and drop Moreno to attacking-mid. Moreno certainly created a lot of chance last game. ---Adu Eskandarian --------Moreno Olsen Convey Stewart --------Carroll
Several thoughts here. 1. MLS made changes to the card and penalty rules in the offseason. I'm too busy at the moment to look them up to get the specifics. One of the changes that sticks in my mind is if you're carded, you can't serve the suspension with games you'd have missed through National team duty. I thought I remembered that one of the rule changes was to change the penalty for flagrant red cards (ie: face slaps, elbows, professional fouls) to two games. I could be wrong about that. But if my memory is right, than the league would review the tape and conclude if Dema's foul fit that category and...boom..he's gone for 2 games. 2. I too thought the "18" rule was for EU teams...b/c of the abuse of signing underage African players. It doesn't apply elsewhere in the world. Anyone think it's interesting that it's a player from Ghana? Maybe that's just a coincidence. But I think he (don't know if the player has an agent or not) would be drawn to DCU b/c of Adu. And it's probably not a bad thing from DCU's line of thinking to have someone that might add to young Freddy's comfort level as he transitions to pro life. Ultimately though, I'm sure it all comes down to if the kid's got game or not. 3. Ursula, I don't think we see Adu at left mid. Actually, I think Nowak made a bit of a statement in this first came with Stewart and Convey starting on the wings. Lots of MLS teams have viewed the wings (outside defenders, wing mids) as the places to skimp on salary or go with bargain/cheaper/less experienced players. I think Nowak indicated that he's willing to go with his better players on the wings, partially to create an advantage with their play but also b/c his midfield does some rotation. I think he (Nowak) prefers Freddy in the middle and can live with convey on the wing (with him sometimes rotating into the middle). What was interesting to me is that he (Nowak) mentioned Prideaux as a possible starter. Now it's not that Prideaux can't start. But to start him either means we go with 4 in the back (not likely) or that Namoff moves up to D-mid. If so, that says a lot about Nowak's confidence in both Namoff and Carroll. For starters, it means he sees Namoff as more than a good outside defender but as a multi-dimensional player. Also, it means he also sees Carroll as being capable of being a good holding mid. Ultimately though, I think it comes down to the tactical plan for the game. Starting Namoff means he'll probably man-mark or at least closely mark Herzog. So we might try to play 9v9 (in terms of field players). Starting Gros means we're trying to make minimal changes in the formation (b/c no-one's role really changes)--the old "if it ain't broke don't fix it" strategy. If we were to start Adu he'd really need to play up top--so we'd almost be in a 3-4-3 alignment. That would mean a lot more defending for Olsen and probably Stewart and Convey and substantial change in roles and approach to the game.