Major Fixture Congestion [R]

That is really rough. You can't win every cup so let the reserves battle for the Open Cup. The top 15 players can't compete in all of those games.

 

what is fixture congestion? is that like a clogged faucet or something? what does it have to do with soccer?

 

Hey, if the plumbing's backed up, it's not a happy locker room.

 

Kind of like the old Bullets practice facility at Bowie St.

 

Kenny Arena, please pick up the white courtesy phone.

 

FYP

 

Don't forget US MNT Gold Cup and WQC games

 

At least PN will have to pull out our reserves guys & give them a shot.

I, for one, am dying to see our reserves guys get some TV time against quality opposition & a backedup schedule will be like a dose of salts!

 

It's what, 47 matches if United make the Open Cup final?

This is the price of being good. This is the price of being the team called upon to represent your league on other shores. And we play those kind of friendlies with an international team and some USL-1 opposition every year, so that's no different.

It will cause Nowak and Co. to make tough decisions about lineups and such, but that's part of the job description. It's a good problem to have.

 

Good chance for Troy Perkins to make some noise. He should be plenty busy....
For Open Cup, Hall of Fame and Colorado, maybe:

Perkins

Stokes Merritt Arena Prideaux
Kuykendall
Thompson Van Sicklen
Adu
Walker Kuffour

I'm assuming Namoff will take Prideaux's spot on the first team. Adu is young and should be able to play more than others w/o getting fatigued.

That front three looks menacing to me. Skill (Adu), toughness (Kuffour), speed (Arena)

This team beats Chivas 7 times out of ten. Does that count for anything?

 

Sure. But it's still kinda scary to me. I don't really believe it's going to be possible to put out a team that's both solid and fresh for all these matches; so for some we're going to have to take our chances with subpar lineups, and the wrong decision there can bite you in two games. The other thing that worries me is the increased likelihood of injury when: we've already had one starting defender out for almost all the season so far; and a big offseason signing taking up a roster spot + money and not playing, as a gift from AEG to one of their executives.

Thanks to Daniel Le Rouge for putting this together in the nice color-coded format. There are still other games to be merged into that schedule, though: the reserve league matches. They matter insofar as we can't rest for previous or subsequent big games by relying heavily on reserve players in a league match on the same "weekend" as a reserve match because of the 90 minute rule. Our reserve matches are:

7/3 -- @Cowlumbus
7/21 -- @KC
8/7 -- chicago
9/4 -- Colorado
10/9 -- Scum
10/16 -- Cowlumbus

Looking at the calendar, it's not as bad as it could be -- the 7/21, 8/7 and 9/4 matches are in the midst of congestion, but I don't know how we'd be seeking to rest first-choice players in their corresponding non-reserve games anyway.

On a side note, the reserve match on 7/21 @KC is a bit of a bummer. Hopefully it's bright and early in the morning. The league match against KC is the night before, and we have an away match @LA on 7/23. It'd be nice to be able to travel on 7/21 so that we have at least one practice day at the Toolbox.

 

I can almost understand that happening in April but in the hottest months of the year? Just absurd. It has to affect the level of play and increase chance of injuries as you go into the most important part of the season.

 

Well, the bottom line is we need to stop scheduling these silly USL matches and Hall of Fame game crap matches. If we're going to play USL teams, that's what preseason and the US Open Cup are for. The more we play in these tournaments, the less likely we are to be able to swing these friendlies for the league. We can't continue to do both. That being said, all of the reserve guys on DC have just wet their pants, because they now KNOW that they are going to have the chance to get quality minutes against some decent opponents somewhere within the next 3 months. Can we still call up Quintanilla? LOL

 

If we're going to begin to tack on all these extra games and except invitations to international tournaments (to include the CCC) I think it's not out of the question to realistically look at beginning the MLS season a month earlier in March. I know the DCU can just up and make that decision but it would help ease the pressure of fixture congestion like this. Combine that with playing the USL exhibitions in the preseason like has already been mentioned at it would really help. Plus we might actually be able to not have MLS games on the same day as US friendlies and other international matches.

You can't schedule soccer matches like baseball games with 3 or 4 in a quick row. Unlike baseball, soccer players actually have to physically exert themselves and that takes some time to recover from.

 

First off, I thought DC didn't enter the US Open Cup until the 4th round. IIRC.
Also the Harrisburg match is reserves only and that is how it was scheduled also....this will piss some of you off but I kind of like the fact we have a busy schedule. From a strictly spectator point of view the more I get to see United the better. Yeah it is going to be rough, but when I want alot to eat I don't complain when there's a buffet.

 

^^^ you got it right Pints. They dont enter until August 4 which is Round 4 (some MLS squads do start in Round 3 though -- the rest are in 4)

http://www.usopencup.com/2005bracket/index_E.html

Some of these "extra" games versus Rochester and Harrisburg should be manned mainly be reserves. The only player we have going to the all star game (probably) is Freddy. Our starters probably all wont go a full 90 versus Chelsea and that Chivas game -- well, figure that one out for yourself!

 

Theres no doubt that success brings more matches which is hard on the players. Squad rotation is so important nowadays

 

I think we saw some shining hope from last nights lineup. Regardless of the loss, it's nice to see Stokes, Koffour, and Walker with the ability to come in and make some dangerous plays. Depth is something we do have this season, well maybe not up to the talent line as we wish, but we have it.

 

Well I think this is going to be a very interesting summer. We're going to be playing quite the mixture of matches, from MLS regular season, to Sudamerica Cup, Open Cup, and our friendlies, the guys all have to be pumped about it. I agree there are going to be some interesting lineups coming out of this and I think it will only make our teams depth BETTER.

 

The problem will worsen after the "Clash of Champions" when our roster will be severely weakened. This is because Chelsea will see David Stokes in action and Roman Abramovic will throw MLS an irresistible $20 million and take him back to the UK for the new EPL season. You read it here first.

 

My shining hope for this season is that Andrulis remains Crew coach. As long as he is there, we'll make the playoffs, no matter how many extra matches we have to play. And then we can just beat New England and New Jersey like we always do in the playoffs and we are just an Esky brace away from repeating.

 

You do realize that the bottom TWO teams don't make the playoffs, right?

 

Damn you, there goes my shining hope. Now I've got nothing.