Away - 06/14 Jersey

[SoupInNYC]

Time to start thinking about our roster for this one. Some tough decisions. There are guys who will be missing or just coming back from international duty. There are guys we may want to rest since we are playing Seattle three days later. Finally, we are limited to five international players.

International Duty
Camargo, Matarrita, Wallace and Awuah have been called in for games on June 13 (day before this game), so they are almost certainly out.
Chanot and Herrera will be playing a game overseas the prior weekend, so they are probably out.

Injury
Shelton and Pirlo are questionable at best.

Roster
This leaves us with the following, with international players in italics.

Striker: Villa, Okoli
Winger: Harrison, TMac, Lewis
Mids: Minimax, Ring, Lopez, Stertzer
FBs: Sweat, Allen, Gomez
CBs: Callens, Brillant, White
GKs: Johnson, Johansen, Rawls

That is 18 players, including 5 internationals. There are 3 goalkeepers.

I'm going to guess some newer guys will get a run-out, but there will still be a few regulars in there. Taking a shot at this:

Lewis--------Okoli----Harrison
---------Maxi------TMac-------
---------------Lopez-------------
Gomez-Callens-Brillant-Allen
-------------Johansen----------

White has seen a few light knocks lately, I think he's a good candidate to keep on the bench for this. I do think Allen and Gomez are the fullbacks, not confident on which side each lines up on.

I think Lewis for sure gets a start. Will be interesting to see what PV decides to do w/Villa and Harrison. I don't see anyone replacing Maxi, unless PV decides to have TMac as a winger and try Harrison there, then maybe we see Maxi rest. I think TMac and Lopez both start. Feel pretty confident as well on Callens and Brillant in the back.

 

[Gotham Gator]

Good stuff.

When thinking about starters, I try and remember that we will have Matarrita, Wallace, Herrera and Chanot back starting the next game. So, we can give the usual replacements for those guys 90 minutes this time knowing that they will only be subs against Seattle.

I also think we will see Johansen get a shot at starting to give him real minutes ahead of the Gold Cup, when Johnson might be out.



This lineup only has 4 guys starting who will start 3 days later against Seattle. I am a little nervous about having both Ring and Maxi in there, but at least one will get subbed out. I think Villa comes on if we need to chase a result. I think Lewis gets in for Jack early in the 2nd half.

I've been assuming that Chanot and Hererra (weekend game) and Pirlo and Shelton (injury) will not play. Since our 18 includes 3 goalies, it is possible Shelton will be in for Rawls or Johnson, but wouldn't play absent an emergency. The other 3 are internationals and putting one of them in the 18 would displace another, game-ready international.

 

[LionNYC]

Really thought prices on the resale market would go down as game day approached but it looks like things are holding steady. StubHub has been around $30 (minus fees) as the minimum to get in the door.

I've been looking through both StubHub and SeatGeek. A lot of the tickets for sales are in larger bulks. For example, Row 1 of certain sections, it's 10 tickets available. This reflects that these tickets are not being sold by persons but rather the site itself or a bot or organization.

 

[Kjbert]

This would be a nice game to have Pirlo back. I don't expect it to happen

 

[Jon]

I've been looking through both StubHub and SeatGeek. A lot of the tickets for sales are in larger bulks. For example, Row 1 of certain sections, it's 10 tickets available. This reflects that these tickets are not being sold by persons but rather the site itself or a bot or organization.

So you plan on waiting? Day of or before?

 

[LionNYC]

So you plan on waiting? Day of or before?

I already bought tickets. But there will definitely be a whole lot of tickets left and I don't see prices going up, so it's only flat or down.

 

[The Toe]

I'm starting to not worry about Maxi and Ring ever going double-duty when it comes to games in a week. Didn't Maxi just boss 7 games in 20-some days? With 10+ days off, he and Ring should be good to go for a double game week, especially with a nice week's rest before our (technically second) NJ game.

 

[JJJSMAC]

Good stuff.

When thinking about starters, I try and remember that we will have Matarrita, Wallace, Herrera and Chanot back starting the next game. So, we can give the usual replacements for those guys 90 minutes this time knowing that they will only be subs against Seattle.

I also think we will see Johansen get a shot at starting to give him real minutes ahead of the Gold Cup, when Johnson might be out.

View attachment 7120

This lineup only has 4 guys starting who will start 3 days later against Seattle. I am a little nervous about having both Ring and Maxi in there, but at least one will get subbed out. I think Villa comes on if we need to chase a result. I think Lewis gets in for Jack early in the 2nd half.

I've been assuming that Chanot and Hererra (weekend game) and Pirlo and Shelton (injury) will not play. Since our 18 includes 3 goalies, it is possible Shelton will be in for Rawls or Johnson, but wouldn't play absent an emergency. The other 3 are internationals and putting one of them in the 18 would displace another, game-ready international.

Would put Lewis in place of Jack and Carmargo and Awuah for Ring and Maxi. Keep starters fresh for Saturday and we will score 5.

 

[Ulrich]

Would put Lewis in place of Jack and Carmargo and Awuah for Ring and Maxi. Keep starters fresh for Saturday and we will score 5.

Are you mad? Seriously? I guarantee the Red Bull's will be playing their starters and they may be having a shitty season but they'll get up for us. We'd lose the game with the number of guys everybody is suggesting resting, and not just lose but get embarrassed.

We play our first team in this match to win the match, and we worry about Saturday afterwards. Seattle is flying 5+ hours cross country after playing a blood & guts game against Portland. Our starters can take them with the advantage of being at home. Half of our team is used to double game weeks in Europe anyway, so we shouldn't be babying them for this week with RB as the opponent.

 

[Ulrich]

Just in case anybody forgot what happened in the Royal Salt Lake

 

[JJJSMAC]

Are you mad? Seriously? I guarantee the Red Bull's will be playing their starters and they may be having a shitty season but they'll get up for us. We'd lose the game with the number of guys everybody is suggesting resting, and not just lose but get embarrassed.

We play our first team in this match to win the match, and we worry about Saturday afterwards. Seattle is flying 5+ hours cross country after playing a blood & guts game against Portland. Our starters can take them with the advantage of being at home. Half of our team is used to double game weeks in Europe anyway, so we shouldn't be babying them for this week with RB as the opponent.

This game means nothing. Bragging rights for USOC isn't worth foregoing a totally fresh team for Seattle. Also, why show NYRB anything that could help them prepare for a game that actually matters? I honestly don't understand why anyone cares about this game. Remember the preseason game against NYRB? That would be my starters.

 

[Ulrich]

This game means nothing. Bragging rights for USOC isn't worth foregoing a totally fresh team for Seattle. Also, why show NYRB anything that could help them prepare for a game that actually matters? I honestly don't understand why anyone cares about this game. Remember the preseason game against NYRB? That would be my starters.

No, sorry, you're madly insane. The Cup is important in that it's silverware with a payout bonus. More importantly, it's against RB, and we've taken such a beating from them that for purely psychological reasons we cannot let them beat up on us just to save our players for Saturday against a non-conference opponent. Don't get me wrong, I want to beat Seattle, but I'm not selling out a match on Wednesday hoping for a win Saturday - what will happen if we punt Wednesday and then lose Saturday with a rested full team? It could happen and we'd have wasted a chance at the Cup for no reason.

No, we take our chance in each game with our best players on the pitch.

 

[JJJSMAC]

No, sorry, you're madly insane. The Cup is important in that it's silverware with a payout bonus. More importantly, it's against RB, and we've taken such a beating from them that for purely psychological reasons we cannot let them beat up on us just to save our players for Saturday against a non-conference opponent. Don't get me wrong, I want to beat Seattle, but I'm not selling out a match on Wednesday hoping for a win Saturday - what will happen if we punt Wednesday and then lose Saturday with a rested full team? It could happen and we'd have wasted a chance at the Cup for no reason.

No, we take our chance in each game with our best players on the pitch.

Respect your opinion but finishing in the top two in the East is the only thing that matters to me. Using your logic, we could also lose to RB with our starters and then lose to Seattle. What if someone gets hurt? Why take the chance? At the end of the regular season no one will give a shit what we did in the USOC.

 

[gbservis]

No, sorry, you're madly insane. The Cup is important in that it's silverware with a payout bonus. More importantly, it's against RB, and we've taken such a beating from them that for purely psychological reasons we cannot let them beat up on us just to save our players for Saturday against a non-conference opponent. Don't get me wrong, I want to beat Seattle, but I'm not selling out a match on Wednesday hoping for a win Saturday - what will happen if we punt Wednesday and then lose Saturday with a rested full team? It could happen and we'd have wasted a chance at the Cup for no reason.

No, we take our chance in each game with our best players on the pitch.

Beating RB in an US Open cup game, tiny moral victory. Winning the MLS cup before RB who had a 20+ year head start, game over. At full strength we have a shot this year, why do anything to risk it. We win the MLS cup and everything that's happened including 0-5 is dead. Open cup is fun, but only the MLS cup puts a star on the jersey. I'm with JJJSMAC send out the B team all that matters this year is MLS. We can start worrying about peripheral tournaments when we have the needed depth provided by a fully functioning academy.

 

[Ulrich]

Geez.... win 4 games and we have silverware.

We can qualify for the playoffs as the #6 seed. We've made it through the toughest part of the season, carrying injuries, missing our MF cog to youth WC, and we're still in 3rd in the East, with games left against the teams in front of us. Finishing as one of the top two teams in the east does not guarantee anything as we saw last year the lower seeds did better across the board. With half a season to go, an injury could happen in any game, so worrying about a Cup game is a straw man. We aren't going to win or lose MLS cup based solely on the Seattle game.

If next Wednesday's match was a friendly, I'd say play the bench, but it's a real match with ramifications. Having the desire to win a championship starts by having the desire to win every time the team steps on the field and the club doesn't seem to have that mindset yet. It's starts by not throwing away matches.

 

[JJJSMAC]

Geez.... win 4 games and we have silverware.

We can qualify for the playoffs as the #6 seed. We've made it through the toughest part of the season, carrying injuries, missing our MF cog to youth WC, and we're still in 3rd in the East, with games left against the teams in front of us. Finishing as one of the top two teams in the east does not guarantee anything as we saw last year the lower seeds did better across the board. With half a season to go, an injury could happen in any game, so worrying about a Cup game is a straw man. We aren't going to win or lose MLS cup based solely on the Seattle game.

If next Wednesday's match was a friendly, I'd say play the bench, but it's a real match with ramifications. Having the desire to win a championship starts by having the desire to win every time the team steps on the field and the club doesn't seem to have that mindset yet. It's starts by not throwing away matches.

Like we threw away RSL? Do you honestly want to play a win or go home road game in the playoffs?

 

[Ulrich]

Like we threw away RSL? Do you honestly want to play a win or go home road game in the playoffs?

What? We lost RSL because we didn't play to win that game. We put out a sub-par lineup and lost. It's the same sort of lineup you're suggesting above.

Or

We can play our starter in both games and make sure we have the most quality on the field.

 

[Seven]

I want to win this game. Play as many starters as we can. As Gotham Gator pointed out, we are naturally going to be missing starters due to the international break. So the team is already going to be a little weaker. But there is 11 days rest before this game, and the team really doesn't have to travel. Maxi and Ring have shown themselves to be Energizer Bunnies and should be fine. There is also a huge drop off between them and potential replacements. Villa showed he can handle short rest, but feel like it's more likely he comes off the bench, since Ugo can do a serviceable job when he has a competent midfield behind him. But, I think PV will be hesitant to replace all 3 of the front line, so I think if Villa starts on the bench, Harrison will be starting.

Also, maybe something to think about. Seattle plays on Tuesday night. Does who they send out affect who we send out on Wednesday night? If they play their starters on Tuesday, will it make PV more comfortable playing our starters?

 

[Ulrich]

I want to win this game. Play as many starters as we can. As Gotham Gator pointed out, we are naturally going to be missing starters due to the international break. So the team is already going to be a little weaker. But there is 11 days rest before this game, and the team really doesn't have to travel. Maxi and Ring have shown themselves to be Energizer Bunnies and should be fine. There is also a huge drop off between them and potential replacements. Villa showed he can handle short rest, but feel like it's more likely he comes off the bench, since Ugo can do a serviceable job when he has a competent midfield behind him. But, I think PV will be hesitant to replace all 3 of the front line, so I think if Villa starts on the bench, Harrison will be starting.

Also, maybe something to think about. Seattle plays on Tuesday night. Does who they send out affect who we send out on Wednesday night? If they play their starters on Tuesday, will it make PV more comfortable playing our starters?

Cannot imagine Seattle doesn't play their starters against Portland. They hate each other and their matchups make ours with RB look weak in comparison.

 

[danger]

Seattle will be without Dempsey and Morris in the Open Cup (and Portland without Nagbe) because of the two national team games before yes? But I assume both Dempsey and Morris will be available for our match