Should be a real cat fight. DCU has a few key players out with injury. We have a bunch of players close to card suspension. TnT is back on track. JMM should be available. Pepe and Bully are becoming a force to be reconned with in the middle. A depleted Crew side is in Chi. A Crew loss and a Rev win would assure Revs a playoff spot.
Against the Burn no one marked Cancela closely and he ran riot, setting up three goals with penetrating passes. If Dema isn't hurt or suspended, I suspect there will be far more of a kickfest on the Razor's greensward than we saw on the vile, shorn carpet in South Lake. Should be a rough one, really quite nasty. JIM DOW
I had the feeling after the last one that this was a series that had every possibility of getting ugly. I hope the refs are watching out for the anti-Pepe hackfest.
Don't count on this. That ice pack he wore at the end of the game may be the portent of something not good.
I was under the impression that TNT hurt himself after the first goal. That he kept playing and scored another suggests to me that he was just pulled out and iced it as a precaution, but I would love to hear something that wasn't speculation.
I was at training today briefly but long enough to see that Joey and Taylor were wearing matching soft booties on their right feet (and on the sidelines) and Cancela, Kamler and Llamosa were going light at best. Certainly this was the Tuesday after a Saturday match and 27 games into the season so rest is with a capital "R." Anmd nobody was offering a prognosis on who might be ready when. I didn't ask either. JIM DOW
Ben and Dema's Fabulous Adventure News item: Olsen and Kovalenko arrive to their favourite South End bistro amongst their most fabulous fans.
no Rimando, no olsen and no nelson for DCU. I would prefer to see Rimando in net as Taylor loves shooting at him. 8 of his 38 goals are against DC and little Nickie. I understand their new forward is big and fast but lacks a decent touch. ...................Brown Heaps.....Kante......Rusty.......Joey/marshall Ralston......Bully....Pepe.......kamler ...........Taylor.........Noonan The Revs have a score to settle here. They were embarassed by DC last time they played at the Razor and I am sure its on their minds. Revs are playing excellent ball and I see no reason DC should stop the Revs streak. Revs 2 DCU 0
D.C. United: Possible Starting Line-up GK: Doug Warren RB: Galin Ivanov CB: Mike Petke CB: Brandon Prideaux LB: Brian Namoff RM: Eliseo Quintanilla CM: Dema Kovalenko CM: Earnie Stewart LM: Bobby Convey FW: Thiago Martins FW: Ronald Cerritos New England Revolution: Possible Starting Line-up GK: Adin Brown RB: Jay Heaps CB: Rusty Pierce CB: Daouda Kante LB: Marshall Leonard RM: Steve Ralston CM: Jose Cancela CM: Shalrie Joseph LM: Brian Kamler FW: Pat Noonan FW: Taylor Twellman Couple of thoughts & notes: * It's pretty well assumed this is going to be a physical contest. Revolution need to build upon their effort in Dallas where the team went without a booking (knock on wood.) That being said I'll give good odds on both Pierce and Kovalenko getting booked in this match. * D.C. United's Ryan Nelsen will be missing this game due to international commitments. IMHO he's United's best defender, and one who has shown a tendency in the past (with respect to the Revs) to push forward with effectiveness, especially on set plays around the opposition's 18. * Rev fans will see a new United keeper in Doug Warren with Rimando out due to injury. Looks Warren's done a pretty good job to this point, but I don't know enough about him to suggest any particular weakness. * Adin Brown needs to limit the rebounds off shots. * Ben Olsen's out due to injury, but Quintanilla shouldn't allow for much drop-off - he may tend to play more direct than Olsen, but he has good speed and can be just as physical. * Bolivian newspapers are reporting that their country's head coach, Nelson Acosta is trying to call up Etcheverry for Bolivia's friendly with Honduras this weekend. If I were Hudson I'd hold onto Etch - their midfield's not exactly endowed with depth at moment, at least in terms of players who can play centrally. * Stoichkov as a late sub makes sense for D.C., but Revolution defenders need to do a better job of not giving him space when he makes runs on the weak side of the play. If the likes of Heaps and Pierce don't pick him up (they've shown a habit of this in recent matches) and allows United to switch fields... the Revs are woefully exposed on the back side of the play. In short, Heaps needs to "Check his six" while following play on the other side of the field. * Joe-Max Moore may be healthy and ready to go, but I'd prefer to start Noonan in this game. There just seems to be better synergy between he and Twellman than what Moore's been able to provide. Then again, if Twellman's nursing an injury, maybe Nicol will decide to play Moore, perhaps bringing on Twellman as a sub. There are some options at forward, but a good many concerns that go with them. Just a couple of thoughts. The Magpie
Nice summary, Evan. I think I'd rather see JMM start than see Delinquent Convicts United take turns stepping on Twellman's sore foot. They will miss Nelsen terribly.
Kovaklenko's goal, as usual, will be to be as disruptive and put a hurt on as many people as many times as he can before he gets his inevitable card. If he didn't get a card, he wouldn't be playing "his" game. With guys like this (persistent foulers), the ref needs to pick up on it early and put an end to it. I don't buy all the reasons for "extra" motivation in a game. The Revs could be playing MARS this week and they'd have plenty of motivation (keep momentum going, improve playoff position, keep coach happy, keep fans off their backs, keep friends off their backs, winning is a LOT more fun, etc.). I don't see a "revenge" factor. The Revs let DC come back on them, just like they did with NJ - they have no one to blame for those results but themselves. DC and NJ humiliated them. They humiliated Chicago, Columbus and Dallas. It happens to everyone.
While he has a penchant for breaking legs, Dema actually doesn't pick up that many cards. Through 10/8, here are the league leaders in cautions: CAUTIONS (YELLOWS) PLAYER TEAM GP CAUT Carlos Llamosa NE 22 9 Oscar Pareja DAL 21 9 Mike Petke DC 22 9 Carlos Bocanegra CHI 17 7 Joe Franchino NE 24 7 Amado Guevara MET 23 7 Carlos Ruiz LA 23 7 Craig Waibel SJ 22 7 16 players tied with 6 http://www.mlsnet.com/statistics/league.html Dema has 5 cautions and one ejection (a double with Razov at the end of DC's win up in Naperville). http://www.mlsnet.com/statistics/league.html He's also on 19 caution points, which means he would likely sit out the next game due to accumulated caution points (21) if he picks up a card on Saturday. Not that I expect that to have any effect whatsoever on the way he plays... Meanwhile, Steven Goff (Washington Post's DCU beat writer) has posted on the DC Board that United denied Bolivia's call-up of Marco. Whether he starts or not is anybody's guess (except Hudson's). Lately he's been more likely to come off the bench on the road, but last week at Columbus he started, so who knows. https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=76391
Good synopsis Magpie.. A few couner thoughts though.. Quintanilla is no where near the same player that Olsen is.. Q2 (as we call him on the DC boards) is actually very very slow and not physical at all.. Think of a smaller version of Etcheverry and that is what Q2 is.. He has very good skill on the ball and has excellent vision and can hit passes on a dime just like Marco.. He is improving his defense game by game but he is no where near what we get from Olsen.. Olsen at this point is unreplacable.. As for the Etcheverry issue, United refused Bolivia's request to have him play and will be available for selection on Saturday.. Keep up the good work...
No one seems to have picked up on Dr J's comment about TnT. Sounds like his ankle will keep him out. Hopefully JMM will be able to start alongside Noonan. Injuries and caution points this time of year really test a teams bench strength. So far our bench has stepped up when needed. See you Saturday at the tailgate George
The Boston Herald is reporting that Taylor has missed practice for the last two days. That left foot isn't sounding too good. The link is here: http://sports.bostonherald.com/soccer/soccer.bg?articleid=21 It's at the bottom of a piece on star midfielder Tony Frias (has anyone else been with a team so long without making a single appearance?).
With TnT out for the year, hopefully JMM will be healthy enough to go. Otherwise, it will be down to Fabbro, Noonan, I. Kante and Matt Reis for healthy forwards. Lee
having a great day after a Huge Red Sox win and then i read this about Twellman!! WTF.......JMM better Cowboy up!!(hate that saying) If taylor is done for a while JMM needs to step up huge along with Mr. Ralston who seems to have taken the year off. I kinda think that Noonan and JMM might be a pretty good pair and trouble for folks to handle.
Echoing Lee's comments - With C. Brown out for the season as well, we have Noonan and Moore starting and Fabbro as the only player on the bench with any experience. I hope I'm 100% wrong about Fabbro; he certainly hasn't impressed so far. Even if we were allowed to pick someone up at this point, I don't know where we would find someone helpful.