A happy independence day to you all, but what I must say will be unnerving to some — though perhaps not you, patriots though you may be. We must, tonight, quash the revolution. Or the Revolution. Something like that.
Anyhow, with that half-baked pun out of the way, a brief match preview is in order. On the injury front, there have been a few advancements: Fabian Espindola is looking fit enough to play some part, though not a 90-minute part, and we may see a bit of him — from off the bench, if it's entirely necessary, I imagine. Chris Wingert is potentially in the mix, but continued absence from him and his spotty hamstring would not be a surprise. Alvaro Saborio is likely to play, but he is still carrying a slight knock from Gold Cup action. If he repeats his feats of last week, any gambling on him will be seen as a positive.
Of the several injured, those three are the most likely to appear. Paulo Jr. has, apparently, suffered another setback in his quest for fitness, and Arturo Alvarez is still probably a few weeks away. There are no injury updates aside from those I'm aware of, and certainly none others the league are aware of since Friday. If there are, they probably should tell the league fast, lest they get slapped with a huge fine for not reporting that a player's injured. (Yes, it's kind of ridiculous.)
New England are sitting as one of the worst teams in the league at current, so if we're to negotiate this one properly we'll have to look out for two things, neither of which are apparently goals, of which they've scored only 13 in their 17 matches: Revenge motivation and a lack of motivation on our end. I can't obviously guarantee either will be present, but, you know, the squad should be on the lookout.
In other news, Nick Rimando was named the best American keeper in the MLS (http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/article/2011/07/04/best-xi-top-american-players-mls) which, frankly, was obvious. Kyle Beckerman was named in the XI, as well, but Nat Borchers — half of the best center back pairing in the MLS — was left out. You can vote his absence as undeserved in the MLS poll, though, and I suppose that's a small thing to smile about.
So, a very tentative starting XI:
Rimando
Russell / Olave / Borchers / Beltran
Beckerman / Johnson / Grabavoy / Warner
Saborio / Alexandre
Don't be surprised if that's a bit wrong.
Come on you Claret and Cobalt!
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