San Jose - Columbus (Saturday, 9/7) thread       Will the hometown lads upend the banana-boat boys and get one step closer to the Franky's Fort advantage in the playoffs?       Will the visitors exit Silicon Valley's capitol leaving the blue & white boys all black and blue?       The Earthquakes benefiting from the return of their big Cannon? Columbus having their opponents lamenting "Always the bridesmaids, never McBride"?       Discuss.       GO EARTHQUAKES!!! -G
I think that this is where the home unbeaten streak ends. I'm sorry for my negativity, but after what I just saw, I have to say: Columbus 3 Quakes 1 Go Quakes!
      Maybe, but it seems that anything can happen. Don't forget that after last Saturday's shellacking at Colorado, the Quakes handily defeated Dallas at Spartan.       GO EARTHQUAKES!!! -G
Oops. The Dallas match was before the Colorado match. We've been outscored 7-2 in the past two games.
...and C-bus almost tied (and perhaps could have won) last time they were here, except for a late Corrales goal...the pressure was certainly on. Therefore, I predict 5-1 Quakes...
San Jose - Columbus (Saturday, 9/7) thread i don't see the crew as too much a threat to the quakes. for one thing, they just tied a game with the revs, the team in jeopardy of a playoff spot. since we'll have joe back in the lineup, i predict a san jose win. we should benefit from home field advantage as well. (i don't know if it's appropriate to use we when pertaining to the quakes; should it be they, i don't know...) ...ciao!
San Jose - Columbus (Saturday, 9/7) thread If we get Troy and Jeff back in the lineup (at the same time) I think we'll be much better. At the risk of redundancy, this quote from the Chron, via another thread: "I'm not making excuses," Yallop said, "but not having a settled side hasn't helped us. We're a team that likes to bond, get a rhythm and play as a unit. And that's been tough to do. We've really missed Agoos and Dayak. They played really well together in the back all last year. Their leadership was a big factor in our success."
      You're absolutely correct!       That reminds me of an episode of Seinfeld where Jerry and George were watching a gridiron football game on TV. The team they were rooting for won at the last moment and George started screaming "WE WON! WE WON!", to which Jerry pointed to the winning players on the TV screen and responded "No, they won... we watched!"       So funny, yet so true...       GO EARTHQUAKES!!! -G
San Jose - Columbus (Saturday, 9/7) thread I think the Quakes will win. Don't know by how much though...
Re: San Jose - Columbus (Saturday, 9/7) thread Translator, please? The question really is, can your defense handle our offense. When we're on, we're unstoppable offensively. What's ever more surprising is that our rinky-dink defense is actually starting to gel, and our rookie keeper is playing out of this world. I see it a one goal difference, for sure. 2-1 Crew.
San Jose - Columbus (Saturday, 9/7) thread The quakes have to win, they're going to be pissed for losing to DC united, which will pump them up. Then they'll kick some Crew ass!
San Jose - Columbus (Saturday, 9/7) thread I beg to differ. We were just beginning to gel with the Conrad-Barrett-Robinson-Corrales combination on the back 4 when Agoos and/or Dayak were re-injected into the back line. I know I'm changing my tune from a couple of weeks ago, but I think we should stick with what has been working, and only return Agoos and Dayak to the lineup if-and-only-if that back combination breaks down.
San Jose - Columbus (Saturday, 9/7) thread I'll say go with this starting XI :Cannon,Conrad,Robinson,Dayak and Barrett on "D",Lagos,Mulrooney,Ekelund and Corrales on mid-field,Graz and Donovan up front.I think Goose is not 100% ready yet and Eddie's been solid on Defense also Frank needs to keep a close eye on Lagos and maybe put De Rosario in his place due to Manny's lack of consistency lately he is not the same Lagos that played for us last year. go Quakes!
      The Earthquakes will try extra hard to win this game so that the following day's "Shake with the Quakes!" event won't be a downer.       GO EARTHQUAKES!!! -G
That's probably actually good for the crew since they alerady beat him twice this season, and slipped two by him in a tough loss. But, Aimer, "nobody beats Joe Cannon" you say. So how could that happen. 2-1 Crew.
San Jose - Columbus (Saturday, 9/7) thread If Dayak and Agoos start I don't think the Crew will have much of a chance. The Fort Yallop streak is the only thing keeping us from being as good as DC and the Revs. I am thinking 2-0, Quakes (even if we are starting to suck). I refuse to take any team who wears yellow and looks like a banana seriously. Just kidding. I need to think about my starting XI a little more.
San Jose - Columbus (Saturday, 9/7) thread I'll differ with that. Not with the defensive skills that Conrad and Robinson have, but with, as I see it, the greater presence of mind and control they will have with at least one of the older vets with them. As it stands, those two get bad cases of "the West Nile booking virus."
San Jose - Columbus (Saturday, 9/7) thread My thinking is this: 1. The Crew have EVERYONE healthy for the first time all year 2. The Crew are one point ahead of Chicago for the Eastern conference title with 2 to play after this game (both with Chicago) 3. The defense is starting to gel, finally 4. With the exception of last year's playoffs, the Crew have owned SJ 5. The Crew have been to SJ like DC has been to Columbus in the past (a big thorn) Crew roll 3-1