Referee Designations: CLB vs. NE REFEREE: Brian Hall SENIOR ASSISTANT REFEREE: Greg Barkey JUNIOR ASSISTANT REFEREE: Thomas Supple FOURTH OFFICIAL: Erich Simmons Gawd, those pictures are scary. Besides the refs, what else is there to talk about? Will we see a new Revolution Red at the tailgate? It's not pouring at Martha's, yet. (although cask-conditioned should be an interesting option)
Who is the MLS ref that looks like Saddam Hussein? Is that Raul Dominguez? I remember a picture of him shaking hands with NYC fire fighters at the start of the post-9/11 charity match between DC and Metros. Tom
Since Wolde is apparently nursing a sore ankle, it's possible that we'll be down to using a 3rd string forward. My guess is that would be Noonan, probably off the bench for Harris. My biggest concern for the game is that Cbus has had about 4 competitive games in the last 2 weeks or so, to our 1. They should be rounding into form, whereas we're still shaking off the rust.
"My biggest concern for the game is that Cbus has had about 4 competitive games in the last 2 weeks or so, to our 1. They should be rounding into form, whereas we're still shaking off the rust." This is true, but another thing to consider is this: 4 competative games in the last two weeks (including yesterday evening's match against Moreila), could leave the Crew a bit winded & beat-up, especially this early in the season. Have to agree, they may be in better form than we are, but if we can maintain consistent pressure while retaining possession, then we may be able to break them down over the course of the game. The Magpie
I was very encouraged by what I saw v. the Fire on a wretched, half width surface in the opening match. I think this team has a lot more skill that we (myself included) have given them credit for and that on a full sized pitch they may well thrive. The ball control is better than I've ever seen from a Revs team and with more room to pass and turn the distribution should be better than on Sunday. That said, Columbus is a fine team with good players and their game dhould be honed by four competitive matches in two weeks. If everyone shows up (sorry, Joe-Max) this could be a really good game. I am afraid that it will be Columbus 1-2 but a really entertaining match. JIM DOW
Please...this is a home-opener for the defending Eastern Conference champions! Revs 2, Crew 1 with Twellman scoring a typical hustle goal and Hernandez hitting a free kick.
Apparently Craig Tornberg suggested 20,000, and with the weather improving, who knows, maybe we'll get that. The Magpie
I would bet that Wolde will play. I also wouldn't be surprised to see Shalrie Joseph in the middle of the park in place of Daniel Hernandez.
Because Daniel hurt his ankle, and has been receiving treatment for it, and because Shalrie played the full game in his spot during the BC scrimmage. It's a hunch.
Wouldn't mind seeing that in terms of getting Joseph experience, but it won't be an easy assignment with the attacking talent the Crew have. The Magpie
really? i didn't get that impression at all. that would mean opening up the 2nd level of the stadium if i'm not mistaken under the new layout. don't get me wrong, it'd be great....i just don't see more than 15k coming out regardless of the weather. very disappointing league wide so far. dallas and chi were under 10k i think. kc was way up over last year. i know there may have been some doubleheaders and such....but overall, things look very "down" attendance wise from the openers last season (and they were in march no less).
Since both were in their rinky-dink temporary fields, I think both were pretty much at capacity. I recall reading that Chicago sold hundreds of SRO tickets.
Tendencies for teams that have played a bunch of games in a short period of time are to come out stale. The Revs need to come out with the train of thought that they've got to have two goals in the first half. If SN can instill this into every player at the opening whistle, it will bode well for a positive result.
well, mlsnet.com posted an attendance figure of 7143 for chicago and dallas had 9098. chicago posted attendance numbers of nearly 16k on a number of occassions last season. however, i know they intentionally reduced capacity down a couple thousand for this season....so 7143 is still significantly below what i think is there 13k+ capacity. i don't know dallas'....but i think the sellout range is either 10 or 12k. not sure right now. however, i did go back to the other openers to check. there are many pluses and minus between this year and last....so maybe its a league-wide "wash"
I disagree. Overall attendance this season has to be adjusted to account for Chicago and Dallas. Naperville's temporary bleachers from last year have yet to be completely re-installed. The capacity there last week was only 5k. The Fire actually oversold last week, with about 2k of the 7k in attendance standing. Average attendance last year was 15.8k, and after 6 matches this season (two of which were at the aforementioned Fire/Burn venues) the avg. so far is 17.5. We have Victoria St. to look forward to, and the return of Chicago to Soldier Field. I would say things are looking very promising.
Dallas also has a limited capacity for the time being at Dragon Stadium, which can accommodate 12,000 on an over-flow basis. Overall the numbers have actually been quite good: Columbus: 22,058 Metro: 23,786 Colorado: 20,816 Kansas City: 22,403 Remember that LA has a ways to go before they open up at Victoria Street, and both San Jose and the Revs have their openers this weekend. I will say this, it would be a real shame if we can't get 20,000-plus for this match. The Magpie
i don't mind being completely wrong on this issue....trust me. i've searched around to find more specifics on chicago's home situation.....however, neither the official site or chi's bigsoccer pre/intra/post game thread really talks about it too much. i really do hope attendance goes "up" this season. given the fact that doubleheaders always count, its really a pain to sift thru single mls dates to see if this league is really movin up or not. i think it'll be interesting to see the figures from d.c., n.e., nj, and sj once a few home games are under the belt. on a related pre-home opener note....got to love those emails from the center circle and the newly designed portion of that website. yes, yes, don't worry i'm looking forward to the opener as much as the next guy maybe more.....unfortunately far more than the revs organization seems to be though. being a season ticket holder though is a bit like searching thru the "find the hidden pictures" page of that magazine, "highlights", back in the dentist's office as a kid.....rev fans, look at the matchday experience and identify all the missing features that were promised to you back in january.
I can tell you that ref who worked the Crew's Champions Cup match with Morelia was even worse than Mr. Hall.
I think MLS dropped the ball with all these Staurday afternoon games. I've talked with several people who have kids with soccer/ baseball/ softball scheduled on Saturday afternoons through June. I think we'll be lucky to have >15,000 on Saturday, especially with this being Easter weekend and the start of school vacation.
Re: Re: Revolution-Crew 4/19 home debut pre-game There are a lot of MLS refs who are worse than Mr. Hall. My all-time least favorite is Valenzuela.
Dallas can barely hold 10,000. Right now the Fire can't even hold 10,000. In fact, the Fire's game was a sell out. Hard to be critical of those games.
Re: Re: Re: Revolution-Crew 4/19 home debut pre-game Gus St. Silva's moving up in my book. Every match he refs seems to erupt into utter chaos. At least he's generally horrific both ways.