New England - San Jose (Saturday, 5/3) pregame/during-game thread [R]

New England - San Jose (Saturday, 5/3) pregame thread

Except that our beloved Los Terremotos will be wearing white at The Big Razor.

This should be interesting. Our defense will be tested for 90 minutes by two proven goal scorers for the first time this season. And Twellman is coming off a game winner that should be Goal of the Week at (suburban) Dallas.

All I can say is we'd better start finishing more chances because from what I've seen -- New England doesn't miss.

 

Sounds like NE played much better in Dallas than the previous week against Columbus. Moore appears to have made a difference in the midfield/attack.

However, they lost Kante to a red card. Also, there defense still sounds shaky, but Brown has been making some great saves to keep them in the game.

This will be a tough game coming off an emotional game against LA. If our finishing is the same as against LA, we will lose this game. It will be another close game decided by one goal...

 

For once, I'll get to see the game this weekend... although I am still 8,000 miles away.

ESPN International's Pacific Rim channel is showing MLS games on tape delay this season, even at odd hours of the night (tonight, they're re-airing the Columbus v MetroStars game at 2 a.m. Melbourne time), and they'll have the Quakes away game against New England on delay as well, airing here on Monday, May 5, at 2:30 a.m...

Here's a link to my search, just to prove the good news...

http://www.international.espn.com/i...eName=Australia - Sydney&LTS=A&language_ind=E

Hope that works...

Even better news... I found out last night that ESPN2's game-of-the-week offering on May 31 between the Quakes and the Chicago Fire will be aired LIVE here on ESPN Int'l-Pacific Rim at 6 a.m. June 1. That way, I'll get to show Jen what my old happy hunting ground of a hometown soccer stadium, that being Spartan Stadium, looks like... and May 31 is my birthday, too.

So my point (and I do have one, amid all my glee) is that for the Revs v Quakes game, I might actually be able to provide some decent post-game commentary about a Quakes game, as I used to do on these boards once upon a time.

 

Re: New England - San Jose (Saturday, 5/3) pregame thread

you mean Twellman doesn't miss. If we handled Ruiz I think our boys will have confidence to handle Twellman and rough Moore up in the middle so he doesn't get the chance to join TnT up top.

And don't forget Hernandez was complaining about the long ball game NE was being forced to play. If they bypass their own midfield, that will give us the time and opprotunity to control the flow and pace of the game.

If we come out high pressure and get a relative early goal, we can clamp down an play precsion counterattacking football through the middle forcing NE to stay with their long ball game.

final prediction:

2-0 EarthQuakes

scorers

Donovan (ching, mulrooney)

Corrales (donovan, Agoos)

heard it here folks!

 

Re: New England - San Jose (Saturday, 5/3) pregame thread

That's a good point. But as long as the back four keeps their shape like they did against L.A., I can't see Twellman nor Harris threatening Onstad.

If Dayak does a job on Twellman like he did on Ruiz, that could set things up quite nicely for the Quakes.

Should be a good game, between arguably the two best teams in the league at the moment...

I'll agree with Toffees_rule's 2-0 Earthquakes pick, that sounds about right. Donovan and Ching to score....

 

New England - San Jose (Saturday, 5/3) pregame thread

So does that mean I'll have to pull out an Aussie flag to hang next to the Hawaiian flag on press level?

 

Re: New England - San Jose (Saturday, 5/3) pregame thread

Sure. Go for it, my friend. We would be quite impressed.

Not understanding Goodsie's frown, however... Showing my wife what Spartan Stadium looks like is something which I find to be a source of pride, having gone to more matches there than I care to remember over the course of 27 years.

In fact, I wish we had a ground like that here. I mean, going to Bob Jane Stadium in Melbourne is nice after the 90-minute train ride from Ballarat, but that stadium (nor any of the other NSL grounds here) just isn't Spartan.

That is definitely one thing I miss, being over here.

 

Re: New England - San Jose (Saturday, 5/3) pregame thread

Why don't you hang the Ozzie flag on the rails in front of section 130 so it will appear BIG on the tube?

 

Re: Re: New England - San Jose (Saturday, 5/3) pregame thread

Anything that Goodsie might interpret as not being pro-SSS will receive a frown.

 

New England - San Jose (Saturday, 5/3) pregame thread

What, Skilled Stadium (or whatever corporate name they've hung on it this week) not good enough for you?

 

Re: Re: Re: New England - San Jose (Saturday, 5/3) pregame thread

Yes! It has character-- and it's not THAT small. It's legal, after all.

I just have a ton of memories there. And memories which shall always remain. And maybe someday, I'll get to show her Spartan in person.

I'm all for getting SSS's in as many places as possible back home, too-- but to me, there will always be something special about Spartan.

It will always be known as Kardinia Park to the die-hards, thank you very much... and at least we play at our ancestral home in the AFL/VFL, nice to see that Glenferrie Oval is attracting weeds.

I like that ground, too-- after all, we had our wedding reception at one of the function rooms there. But like I said, Spartan Stadium will always be special.

 

Re: Re: New England - San Jose (Saturday, 5/3) pregame thread

Fantastic idea.

But let's save that for the May 31 pre-game thread.

 

Anyway... getting the thread back on topic...

Seeing that Yallop has a practice of going with an unchanged starting eleven following a win, does anyone fancy the Quakes being able to control the attack and the flow of play in the same manner that they did against L.A.?

I think this would be a good situation for Manny Lagos to display the same kind of dominance on the wing that he's been capable of. I, for one, would look for Lagos to have a strong game, especially with the continued absence of Ekelund in the middle.

 

don't cry for us revolution
the truth is you'll never beat us

 

Twellman and moore are a lethal combination up top and our defense will have to play a physical match in order to keep them out of the net. Mark those two out like we did ruiz and we stand a chance, leave them space and Onstad is shark bait.A good point though, if we don't finish our chances, it's going to be a long night.
This is a game that I'd be happy to walk away from with a point, let's take it and run.
Quakes-1
Revs -1

 

We OWNED the Revolution last year, and I see no indication that this is about to change. In line with last year's results (2-1 and 2-0 wins), I predict 2-0 with goals for Ching and Manny. I had great fears for the season going into it with all the changes, injuries and bad news, but there's nothing like a string of victories to improve one's outlook!

Go quakes!

 

I look for the Quakes to beat the Revs like a rented mule. Yes, the Revs looked good against Dallas, but that won't matter a bit come Saturday.

3-1 Quakes.

 

New England - San Jose (Saturday, 5/3) pregame thread

I hoist an amber nectar in your general direction and echo your sentiments entirely.

 

Wooo, the first Quakes game I'll see since the Rapids handed us our candy asses late last year! WOOOOOOOOO!

Hmm, Maybe I shouldn't watch, bad luck and all.

 

I'll FINALLY get the chance to see the Quakes here in Boston (first time I've had a car while they were playing here.) I'm looking forward to it, but the weather is supposed to suck this weekend (it seems to rain every other weekend here.)

With the weather and the Revs lacking a playmaker, I can't imagine they'll be giving the Quakes that much space. I have read from many of you guys that the Quakes' finishing was poor last Saturday, but how was the build up in play?

Here's hoping for a Quakes win!

 

I'll be sure to post the live account of the match up here on Sunday (hopefully Saturday night is out in celebration )

 

I might be at the game, depending on the weather...weird thing is, I'll be there if it rains (I have to work at a car wash on Saturday but it'll be postponed if there's rain).