Matches from mid-May through mid-Sept in Texas are usually terrible for RSL (and many other teams in the league). However, Texas has been having heavy rains this week, and it's expected through tomorrow. Gametime currently is projected to be 75 degrees with 57% chance for precipitation. The Nashville game was ugly for many reasons, intentionally so from the visitors. However, IMO RSL actually made a decent effort of playing through the defensive posture of Nashville, who are looking once again like one of best defensive teams in league. They created a lot of set piece opportunities, but those were taken very poorly which is reflected in the lack of shots on goal. Clean a few of those up, and the outcome could've been quite different. Dallas is lingering at bottom of West with 5 points and a single victory in 5 tries. I think we'll see Meram and Julio on the wings again, with Rusnak centrally. RSL is hell bent on getting Rusnak off the mark and likely will be until reinforcements arrive in June. I'm also projecting Herrera and Silva return to lineup as both were "close" last week. Herrera may be stymied by the quality of play from Brody, but Silva doesn't have that obstacle. Projected starting XI Rubin Meram ----- Rusnak ---- Julio Kreilach---- Ruiz Toia ---- Glad ---- Silva ---- Herrera (Brody) Ochoa Bench: McMath, Powder, Holt, Brody, Portillo, Chang, Martinez, Morgan, Besler Opposing players to keep an eye on: Andrés Ricaurte and Franco Jara both arrived mid-last season and there were high hopes for both coming into this season. Neither has lit the world on fire yet. Opponent key stats: RSL & FCD near bottom of league in creating shots. Dallas very effective at putting them on target (41%, 4th in league). RSL 2nd to last in this category at 25% after getting off to a hot start in this area in first 2 matches. Also, Dallas have scored 6 times in 5 matches, but 4 of those goals came in a 4-1 route of Portland. This Dallas team is underperforming by all measures, and most feel RSL is overperforming. This clash will be revealing for both clubs. Seems like a great opportunity for RSL to pick up unexpected points. With the heat out of the picture, and an FCD team that gives up more than a goal a game, this is not likely to be a repeat of last week's 0-0 draw. I think Rubin and Julio will get their chances, but I'm pulling for Meram to finally put one in the net in this match.
Heat may be out of the picture, but that high of a probability means humidity will be in the 80-90% range which, if the temperatures stay above 75, can be just as draining as heat on its own. I'm not overly optimistic about this. The end of May seems to always feature a trip to Dallas/Houston where RSL just looks bad and unprepared for the game. This has been true since the club existed (it tends to fall around my birthday and always gives a rather wet blanket feel to my celebrating). I think the above lineup is accurate. I think Brody was much more quiet in the last game so being displaced by Herrera won't be out of the question. I do wonder if the club could move Toia to the bench and Herrera to the left. I think the team lacks a bite without Luiz that is both bad and good. Kreilach isn't as effective of a player deeper in the team, but he's better than Besler/Ruiz partnership, so I'll take it. I'm just not sold on Rusnak doing anything still. I think we see the aforementioned Dallas big money guys get their time to shine against an overperforming RSL that seems to be slowly sliding back to reality after 6 pretty unexpected points to start the season. I also fully expect Freddy to wait until the 76th+ min to make his first sub despite the need for it being much sooner
Hearing that Phelipe Megiolaro, FCD starting GK, is out for tomorrow's match. However, backup Jimmy Maurer was a starter most of last season and started 2 games this season.
Lineup: Rubin Rusnak ---- Kreilach- - -Julio Ruiz- - -Besler Brody---- Glad ---- Silva ---- Herrera Ochoa chance that it can change before starting time, with Glad being replaced.
How does the RSL twitter get worse each year when posting the lineups? It was perfect when it had the formation. I can accept a straight player list when it's going from either GK-FW, or reverse, but wtf is up with the new lineup being all out of order?
Whoa! That last camera shot shows it coming down quite steadily. This is going to be a sloppy game. Hopefully no one gets injured.
Four slips from the CBs already? We're lucky there. Not just where the balls have ended up but also not to have given up a penalty.
4 goals in 6 games so far. I never would've thought one of our players would be putting up these numbers