It seems that every match now is going to be one of those "do or die" matches, the outcome of the season apparently resting on our ability to grab three points at the expense of our opponents. That view is perhaps overly simplistic, but there is a ring of truth to it: To reach our vast potential, we must walk into every match looking for a win. Truth be told, our home form is not so bad — particularly if we're to compare it to our away form.
But we'll be coming up against a Philadelphia side that's been boosted by the transfer window and that's starting to look a significantly better side than that which they were in our fixture at their place, which ended in a 1-1 draw.
Do we have particularly much to be worried about? We're struck by injury and other absences, but the side we'll be able to wheel out is not nearly as bad as the absences would seem.
We'll have Nick in goal, and his form is as consistent as it is strong. At the back, we'll have Chris Schuler alongside Jamison Olave — a pairing that I think works very, very well. On the wings, we'll have two of Robbie Russell, Tony Beltran, and Blake Wagner — not so bad, really, is it? In the middle, we'll have Kyle Beckerman, hopefully a returning Ned Grabavoy, one Andy Williams, and our burgeoning youngster, Luis Gil. Up front, we'll likely see Fabian Espindola and Paulo Jr. — I can't complain about that side we'll have.
Is that a side that threatens to be run over by Philadelphia? Not really. It's a competitive side, but the bench will be looking a bit dry. At most, it seems we'll be able to sit six players on it — that, I think, is not very encouraging, but if that's going to be the story of our season, we may as well work our hindquarters off. There is no other way to push past the bad luck, bad timing, and bad decisions than through hard work, and I'm sure Jason Kreis will be pushing that aspect of things quite heavily.
Right, I could ramble some more, but I'll leave you with a lineup prediction:
Rimando
Russell - Olave - Schuler - Beltran
Beckerman - Grabavoy - Williams - Gil
Paulo Jr. - Espindola
Let's get out there and tear the Union apart.
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