For the third time this season, we're taking on San Jose Earthquakes, and with some luck and skill and hard work, we could, for the first time this season, see our boys come out with three points. Anything more than zero points sounds rather nice right now, though, such has been our profligacy against the Bay Area side.
As usual, I start with the customary looking at of injury reports, with the most striking being a "Doubtful" rating for Nat Borchers, who is suffering from a quad strain. If it is indeed accurate, I can't imagine we'll see him starting, which, I suppose, leaves an opening in the center of defense. I can't imagine anyone but Kwame Watson-Siriboe starting there, but perhaps Jason will take a look at Wingert in the center once again. Is it likely? Well, I'm not particularly sure. Clearly.
Remaining out is Chris Schuler, whose foot condition has been problematic in his return to the side (in that it's kept him completely out of things). It's not surprising now, but I'm hopeful he makes a triumphant return sometime soon. He looked dominant in the center at the beginning of the season, and that he's been out this long has hurt us and has hurt him. He'll need some time to come back to full strength once he's back in contention, so let's not rush him once he's recovered.
Ned Grabavoy remains on the list, listed here as "questionable," meaning we may see somebody in his place again. After he came off last match, Luis Gil stepped into his place and did a fine job, despite his not being the most obvious solution there. Jonny Steele and Sebastian Velasquez could both feature there, too, so we certainly have our options. But that might also depend on the status of Javier Morales, who is still hampered ever so slightly by injury. But he appeared on the injury report last match and played wonderfully against Portland, so that does allay my worries a bit.
With that out of the way, let's run through the defense briefly. Our options, supposing Nat Borchers is out, are not, say, perfect. A central pairing of Olave and Kwame Watson-Siriboe isn't exactly tried and tested, although, to be fair, Kwame and Nat was untested as well. I suspect we'll see this new pairing, but again, Jason does love to surprise every once in a while. I mean, if he did it too regularly, they'd hardly be surprises, so there's nothing much to complain about, right? Right. On either side of our defenders will likely be Tony Beltran and Chris Wingert, although if the Wingmeister is pulled centrally, I'd imagine we see Kenny Mansally get the start. I'd not complain. Oh, and Nick Rimando will undoubtedly start at goalkeeper. I always forget to mention him, which is a little problematic. Oops. That's what he gets for being so reliable, I suppose.
In the midfield, Kyle Beckerman will anchor, as per the usual routine, and Will Johnson will likely start in the left-sided box-to-box spot. If Ned is out and Jonny Steele isn't preferred (I was surprised when Luis came on last match for Ned), I suspect we will see Luis there, which leaves Will to cover a bit more ground across the middle of the park. It's not particularly a worry, as Will has more of an engine on him than most trains. In the playmaking spot, Javier Morales should be doing his thing there — and what a thing it is he does. Remarkable, that guy.
Up front, a return to the pairing of Espindola and Saborio seems in order, while Justin Braun, newly signed, could be set for his first appearance, coming off the bench. I don't imagine we'd see him until late, and it really does depend on how the match is going.
So there we have it. If all things go well, we should be heading home with three points. Keys, for me, would have included stopping one Steven Lenhart, but he's out with concussion, so we really just need to worry about Chris Wondolowski snagging a goal or two. Oh, and, you know, the rest of the team. They do have more players, right?
Alas, I will not be partaking of this one while it is live, such is the nature of friends getting married. This will not affect normal service, and I'll be back with a post tomorrow. I'm still not sure whether I'll be checking the score via Twitter once the ceremony is over, but I probably will. I'm a sucker for that stuff.
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