Pre-match: San Jose Earthquakes - Colorado Rapids (Sunday, 3/6) pregame thread

Hoping to start the year off right.....an opening day win against the Rapids would be great. 3 of the first 4 games of the season are home games.....can't afford to dig themselves into a hole like last year....can't wait for the season to finally get underway !

 

0-0. Welcome to a new era of boring soccer!

Still, the pre-season is not a reflection of the regular season. However, I don't see the team as being good enough to turn it on or off for the regular season. Good news is that we have a defense that played together for most of last year. The bad news is the the offense is pretty much the same.

 

Cronin suspended for the Rapids (yellow card accumulation). MPG suspended for Quakes (red card).

Ted Unkle, ref.

 

I regard Cronin being suspended for the match as a negative for the Quakes.

 

I think given their roster issues, they probably don't think that.

 

Given the improvements other teams made, I don't think we have improved enough.

Fire JD!!

Go Quakes!!

- Mark

 

...and they probably think wrong. :--)

BTW, there are reports that Tim Howard will be joining the Rapids, but not until the summer, so no excuses for the Quakes for this game...

 

I don't claim to know their roster real well, nor what fans think vs brass. But the problem may be that Pappa isn't fit enough due to the stabbing. If so, I think Dillon Powers plays up and they'd choose Cronin to be the more defense minded. But when Papps is back it might allow Powers to go back and put Cronin on the bench. Since he is not on the trip against us, I guess we'll get to see who their center midfield is. I gather maybe their fans believe Pablo thinks every player should be a D-mid; so they are probably deeper than I realize there. But in any case, I agree with you. I don't think Sam got better after he left. Our loss thru suspension is worse than there's by far in terms of quality of player Although we're plenty deep and Negrito can play R-mid if he looks sharp tonight.

 

Fortunately it's looking like the Quakes won't have to face Zac "the mathlete" MacMath on opening day.....

ESPNFC: Tim Howard set to join Colorado Rapids from Everton - sources

 

Not so fast...

If Howard joins the Rapids, it won't be until the summer transfer window.

IOW, Quakes have to prepare to face the "mathlete" in goal next week.

 

One of the easiest matches on the schedule. Can the first match of the season be a must win?

 

No.

 

Very interested in what the gameday 18 (or however many you get to dress in MLS, I forget) will be.

 

Prices on ticketmaster and stubhub are half of last year's opening game. ~1,200 tickets up for sale on Stubhub. A lot of folks are ditching the game?

 

I see a resounding victory against a woeful Colorado team and then the season starts its downhill slide...

 

I'm concerned.

• We didn't score against MLS competition in any pre-season match.
• We only beat the Cosmos by one. Even assuming the Cosmos are better than most NASL sides, they are only just getting into their pre-season. They have not had as much practice time as us, and they have new guys to work into their roster, and they made a ton of subs later in the game. We ought to have hung at least another goal or two on them late.

Am I wrong to worry? Sure the Crapids are pretty soft for the opener, and it's in our house. Still, there is nothing inspiring about our pre-season. We're going to start Alberto, and he's only been with the team a couple of weeks. We're going to start Francis, goddess only knows why. Oh wait! It's because we're short defenders because we're freaking stupid. When was the last time Wondo scored? I sure hope he's due. Good to see that Innocent got some minutes late.

I foresee either a nil-nil tie, or maybe we scrape a goal together and win 1-none. (Come on guys! Prove me wrong here!!!)

Not optimistic about the coming season.

Go Quakes!!

- Mark

 

i think its going to be raining.
according to weather.com, it will be raining all day that day.
plan accordingly.


if we only had a completed roof

 

rain or shine I'm going in with rose-colored glasses.....the backline will be solid,
our mid fielders chemistry will be great and will be firing on all cylinders , and
Wondo will start scoring again, and QA will pick up where he left off last season....

one can always dream

 

That's a bit unfair. Last year's opening game was the first in our our long awaited new stadium so that inflated everything and any comparison to it contains a false variable. Currently there's hardly any primary market tickets let so the game will be a genuine sell out. The glass is half full.

I'd say most of the secondary market are season ticket holders unable to make a 12pm kick off on a Sunday (seriously, 12pm, how crap is that?!), and that's why there's so many up for sale.

 

Having been born and raised in the Northwest, I am no wimp when it comes to rain, but, I did choose my seats where I did because I felt they would be far enough under the roof (as it was advertised) if it did rain. Now I am on the edge of wetness (who knows that reference!) so to speak. Hoping the wind blows the rain at an angle toward the opposite stand!