We’ve got that match today that we should have played when the visits of those oil-rich barons from Manchester scuppered our plans: Real Salt Lake at Vancouver. It’s not exactly a glory draw, and barring some miracle points-deductions across the league to everyone but Vancouver, they don’t exactly have much to play for (save for pride, of course).
I hear they’re looking to “take advantage” of us by looking to disrupt our possession. Ho-hum, that’s what they all say, isn’t it? We shouldn’t be letting anyone “take advantage” of us at this point in our season, let alone arguably the worst team in Major League Soccer (not worst franchise, mind, though I don’t really have much opinion on that). What’ll it take to win, then?
Well, if they want to disrupt our possession, I suppose we’ll just have to continually keep possession. I’m not talking any 55-45 stuff here, I’m thinking 60-40 or even 65-35 (the Barcelona-esque 70-30 would probably be too much to ask), then we just let them run after us and try to do that disruption thing. It could be a bit like a cartoon cat-and-mouse chase if we do it right, and as we probably remember from Tom and Jerry, it’s better to be the chased than the chaser, I think. Or was that Itchy and Scratchy? I suppose the moral remains the same either way, and if we look at goals as horrendous (cartoon! cartoon!) injuries (you know, the being-smashed-by-a-giant-weight sort,) then perhaps the metaphor carries.
Let’s see — what else is there to know? The match is being played at the newly renovated BC Place, which could be sort of neat. I see, judging from those official tweets, that the display hangs awfully low, so unless they raise it up (that’s possible), I’d expect to see one or two clearances smash against that thing. Probably from Nat Borchers.
We also know that they play on turf. I get the turf argument, really, but I don’t find myself focusing on it, so if you think it’ll affect my lineup, just yell at me in the comments. Or, you know, in person, if you’re that bored.
We’ll also be missing a few men: Through injury, Tony Beltran (who’s started running again! Hooray!), Kyle Reynish, Nelson Gonzalez; through international duty, Kyle Beckerman (also through suspension, that hothead! I kid, I kid.), Will Johnson, Jean Alexandre, Alvaro Saborio; through suspension, Fabian Espindola (he really can be a hothead, so I’m not much kidding about that one.)
Anyhow, here’s my predicted lineup:
Rimando
Russell - Boooooorlaaaaaaaveeeee - Wingert
Grabavoy
Warner - Gil - Williams
Paulo Jr. - Arnoux
OK, well, I have no clue if any of this is correct, as Jason hasn’t given too many hints recently. I’ve opted for Collen on the right and Andy on the left, and I’d imagine that would mean Luis Gil would drop a little deeper to help with the possession game. Further, I’d expect that with Wingert and Russell as full backs, we might have a good chance to maintain possession, though we may have to worry about a high line. Additionally, I have no clue if Cody Arnoux even traveled. I hope he did, as I’d like to see more of him. Paulo Jr. should get a start, and we’ll certainly see some time from Javier late on, I’d bet. We may also get a chance to see someone like Chris Agorsor, supposing he’s actually match-fit.
We’ll see.
Come on you Claret and Cobalt!
Comments