The San Jose Earthquakes have very dangerous forwards in Kamara and Glinton but, by the time they shoot at Bouna, their team may already be three down. I say this not in some marketing bravura but because Rapids coach Fernando Clavijo will be fielding a very attacking formation come the game Saturday night. It won't be the tried and tested 4-5-1, that's for sure. Nothing like the projected formation on the club website, which looks as if has been left over from last week http://www.coloradorapids.com/TheMatch/Matchup.aspx.
I'm not sure how it's going to exactly work out but you can be sure the emphasis will be on attack. Given what he told me this morning at training, the starting personnel will be what we have become familiar with in recent games; i.e there won't be a place in the starting line-up for some of the more established stars. The youngsters will continue and it's hard to argue with that. Pablo Mastroeni may get a start as he battles back from another injury. I did overreact to his not even being on the bench last week as he had sustained a quadriceps injury in training last week. Clavijo told me he will either play on Saturday or for the Reserves on Sunday, depending on the progress of his injury. Christian Gomez looks to be fully recovered from the knee injury sustained against the Revolution. In other injury news, Ugo Ihemelu told me it will be another two weeks before he may be considered (he also sustained a slight knee injury in training). Justin Hughes continues to battle a groin injury and will not play in this weekend's Reserves game, one he had been targeting for a comeback (see my goalkeeper/Bouna post for more on this and its implications).
Whatever the formation and line-up, nobody is underestimating the San Jose team. They may be new, they may be winless but those strikers are dangerous. Stephen Keel is going to have his work cut out watching them. I hope it does not happen but it would be interesting to see how the Rapids (and the fans) react if they did fall behind. But, stop! No more negative thinking. We could see an exciting attacking performance by the team which could cement their reputation as early frontrunners.
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5 comments:
Great posts as always Nick, but what a tease! Nothing like the 4-5-1 we have been seeing but with the same players? What's that you say? What could FC have up his sleeve? If you made a couple of wild guesses about what FC meant at least my brain might know which direction to spin! :)
Same group of players that we have seen. That may include McManus up front starting for example. I think O'Brien could start also. I'm not really sure how it will all work out either. I think it could be a 3-4-3 but as to plays exactly where, only the mighty brain of FC knows this. Thanks John.
I keep trying to guess what a 3-4-3 would look like and if it is even feasable at the Dick. Honestly I say stick with what works, but then again I would really love to see Cummings get a hat trick this week. And I would love to see C. Gomez knock home a couple as well, he deserves more than just a PK goal.
OK, maybe this is how it will be? The same starting XI with Keel, Erpen and Burciaga at the back, a midfield of Kimura, C.Gomez, Di Raimondo and LaBrocca, or Mastroeni if he is fit. Up front, you'll have Cooke and Clark supporting Cummings. And Herc to come on as a supersub and score!
I'm good with Herc scoring a few!
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