Look at the Confed Cup callups. We've been bemoaning about how we lose Convey and Nelsen and Stewart. That hurts. But not as much as NE losing Twellman (Harris ain't bad but Twellman is there offense right now). Or Chicago losing their best and most athletic defender (Bocanegra), the guts of their attack and leading scorer (DMB) and team captain and organizer (Armas). Or Metro selling Howard and then losing maybe the league MVP (Pope) and Mathis who (even if he still isn't in shape) is doing a superb job finishing at present. Folks, by comparision, we got off light here in terms of losses. We've now got 3 weeks where the rest of the East will be at reduced strength. This is the time to make up some ground. We've played bad soccer up to this point and we've hoped that the team can improve its' game. Well, (competitively speaking), we've been handed a gift--the other teams are now temporarily weaker. If we can't gain some ground than that's even more depressing.
Also to consider is that most of our upcoming games are against teams in our division. 4 out of the next 5 opponents are in our division, including 2 games against Columbus, who seem to be the most likely team for us to catch up to at the moment. Right now, wins against these teams are more valuable to us, and give us the possiblity to reverse some of the self-inflicted damage that has occurred so far. (This of course assumes that we will be getting some wins this season.)
Joe can I have some of what you are drinking?? Without Convey, who do you have at attacking mid this weekend and next Wednesday?? Marco who was slow before surgery and will be slower now (don't tell me that this knee clean up will help him because I have heard that before). Chino, Brian Carroll, Ben, Dema ?? I understand that Chicago will have a midfield of Whitfield, Mapp, Pause, and Andy Williams but that is still better than what we will put out in Olsen, Chino, Quintanilla, and ??.
actually, your points did make me feel a bit better about the whole situtation. But i dont think we will make up much. Maybe 3 or 4 points.
Another week of a completly different line-up. I think we can make up some ground here. When is Q1 due back? Ray says the spirit of the team is still good, but I don't know, their play doesn't show it. I surely hope something can be salvaged from this season.
Actually, I fear this is where it will get worse, as our poor coaching will be even further exposed. Bradley and Sarachan will look at the cast they have available and develop a game plan that gives them a chance to get a result. Hudson/Trask will keep wondering what's wrong, other than all that bad luck... Here's to hoping JoeW's right and I'm wrong!
I think Chicago and NE are really the 2 worse hit teams because of their lack of depth. Although Logan Pause has played well when he's had a chance. He's no Armas but a capable stand-in. I think Mapp will do alright in Beasley's place also. I think they will miss Bocanegra the most unless they shift to a 3 back. Still he's speed and athleticism will be hard to replace. As for NY, yes Pope has been nothing short of brilliant, but Bradley is a genius in filling gaps. Tim Regan has been very good filling in for DiGimarino and Kenny Arena wasn't to bad filling in for Pope in the 2nd half this weekend and they also have Joe Addo to use. Also you might see Guevara pushed up top with Lisi running the show and Galvan playing on the flank. Galvan is a pretty good player and has really settled quickly to MLS. Lisi with Clark and Williams backing him up has played well and even showed some defensive, which people thought was his major liability. The Metro will definitely miss Mathis. Moreno may or may not be back (but he doesn't need back surgery so that's in their favor) but he isn't Mathis. Also Howard is almost irreplaceable. Grafer is the backup and they have another keeper from Argentina we don't know anything about. Columbus will hurt in the midfield without Martino. Mais and Freddy Garcia will have to pick up some slack but both are capable of being good enough for htis team. I think Hedjuk will be the biggest loss becuase of what he brings into the attack. Defensively they have McCarthy to fill in and also have Nelson Akwari on the roster who might get some time at right back. Cunningham being goen will mean more time to Buddle or West. Either one can get the job done. NE losses Twellman which will hurt them because he is their offense. They will get the same work rate from Harris but not the nose for goal that TT has. Joe-Max may be back which will help and Kamler has contributed as much to the offense but it's hard to see him continue his scoring streak. I think NE and Chicago will have the hardest time making up for the abscences. Ny and Columbus the least.
I like your optimism Our cup is half empty... but, all these other teams cups are now half full. So what we have to look forward to is a very boring game next Saturday and the following Wednesday. Then we have to face a pretty good Columbus side, followed by an offensively weakend New Enger-land. Ugh... I wish I had your confidence. We're terrible. Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch'intrate
Here’s the schedule between now and the break. Ten matches, 30 points up for grabs: 6/07 - Chicago 6/11 - at Colorado 6/14 - Columbus 6/21 - New England 6/28 - at Columbus 7/02 - at Dallas 7/05 - Metros 7/12 - at Chicago 7/19 - San Jose 7/27 - at New England I think United needs a minimum of 15 points in this phase of the season. That would give them 19 at the break, with 13 matches to go. If they sustain that pace after the break they project to 39 points, which may be enough to finish fourth. The next four matches are critical. They need to win at least two of them, because four of their next six are away, where points will be harder to snare.