So, uh, who do we face off against today? Oh, right. The Colorado Rapids. Or, as some are inclined to call them, the cRapids. That's because Colorado starts with a "c", right? I'm going to imagine that's why. Right, but in all seriousness, the match is forthcoming, and rivalry aside, it's a must-win game.
Which isn't to say that our games aren't generally must-win — it's part of being a top-level club, isn't it? — but it takes on a little more urgency considering the state of affairs. Tickets are sold out, excepting, last I heard, standing room only options, but don't let that frighten you. If you'd like some non-evidence, read my piece about it from tomorrow. I really, really do not think we can attribute anything about our performances to attendance, especially when it's essentially imperceptible from the pitch.
Anyhow, there's that. Our side's a little struck by the injury lightning bug, but I don't think it changes too much. Out are Chris Schuler (who was still riding a stationary bicycle during training, poor guy) and Lalo Fernandez, which is a new one to me. Lalo's out with wrist carpal pain, which doesn't sound particularly fun. It does explain why I don't remember seeing him in training yesterday, although a certain inattentive quality I possess could also explain it. At any rate, that's a bit of a blow for the kid, as it interrupts his training regimen, but it doesn't really have bearing on us right now.
Listed as probable are Javier Morales, Ned Grabavoy, Nat Borchers, and Yordany Alvarez, all of whom trained together yesterday. I still suspect all four will get starts and will be rested for the Friday match next week in preparation for our first CONCACAF Champions League match. That will take priority over the league for now, and I don't think we can complain about that entirely much. Still, a balance must be struck.
So, let's run through my predicted starting lineup. I've got no real information about whether these folks will start — only what I watched in training yesterday — and I always suspect my gut feelings are, well, wrong. Let's hope they're not, for my sake.
In goal, one Nick Rimando will undoubtedly start. Rumors of his decline are well out of order, and while I won't go too heavily into that side of things, I will say it is awfully hard to blame a goalkeeper when an entire defensive mindset is gone from the side. Right, no ranting about that right now.
In defense, I have absolutely no clue who will start. If my eyes weren't playing tricks on me, the group training together seemed to be Tony Beltran, Nat Borchers and Kenny Mansally. I didn't see two center backs in the group, and if you recall from yesterday's post, there were 10 men — no goalkeeper was involved in the scrimmages, as per the usual routine. Now, I typically take training lineups at face value, and often it works out, but here, I simply must reject it. I doubt we see Watson-Siriboe and Olave again — the former needs more experience in the system and Olave is not a big talker in defense — so I'll plump for the classic Borlave. It's not at all what I saw in training. On the wings, I suspect we could see Wingert and Beltran, too. I wouldn't mind seeing Mansally in, though.
In the midfield, despite his new injury status, I'm expecting Yordany Alvarez starts in place of our captain, our commander-in-chief. It'll be a good test for him, but with Colorado's Larentowicz out, their passing options will be cut out a bit too. It's good news, I suppose. Around him, I'd suspect Will Johnson is essentially a lock to start, with Ned Grabavoy and Javier Morales the other two options. If they're not fit to go, maybe it'll instead be Luis Gil and one of Jonny Steele and Sebastian Velasquez. Good word, it's confusing sometimes, what with another competition just about to come into play.
Up front, I'd expect to see Fabian Espindola and Alavaro Saborio partnered again, what with their reasonably good combination play. I would at times like to see Espindola tucked a little further inside, but he's the professional — not me. I suspect we'll get a few excellent goalscoring chances, and with any luck, one of these two will bury them. Hey, and maybe Fabian will get back into the goalscoring charts lead, or perhaps Alvaro Saborio will extend his lead. Either would be an excellent state of affairs. And we should get a chance to see Justin Braun, who is apparently quite excited to play, if the Twitter overlords are to be believed. I tend to do so, for better or worse.
Right, not much else to touch on that I feel like doing right now. I suspect I could go on and on about this one, about the rivalry, about the history behind it — but we've been there and done that. The rivalry is great, but what's important right now is that we put our best foot forward and start to recapture some of our form.
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