Right, it's the single match of the season where we get to make these puns, so let's get on with it, shall we: It's time for the royal Claret and Cobalt to quash the Revolution, to find three points against a side out to make a difference — or, you know, something like that.
But now that I've got that over with, let's talk about the match. We've got to be looking at this as a wholly and truly winnable match, and looking at the form of the Revs, it shouldn't be so far off from reality. Of course, (insert tired cliche about anyone beating anyone.) Eight points from nine matches surely isn't good enough, and while we saw Toronto nearly pick up points against us, this one should be a little more assured.
Can we keep the reform to a minimum and pick up three points? I'm sure of it. Though we've yet to find our true form — like some Jekyllian transformative act, no doubt — and we've yet to light things up, there's got to be a concrete feeling that we're close to it. If our strikers are to click, our midfield's got to click, and if our midfielders are to click, our defense simply must click. I think it has, and our midfield is just about there. The strikers are perhaps the next piece of the puzzle: Will they make the right runs? Will they shoot with power, run with pace, score with impunity? We will, I think, find out.
Who might we see? We've had a week off, so I'd not anticipate any great changes. We very much have a first-choice lineup we can roll out — and as we've not done it yet, it'll be important that we get it done at some point. We're nearly a third of the way through the season already — a distressing thought — and we still haven't rolled out our definite starting XI. Tonight is, I think, the night. There seem to be no injuries to speak of, and that's sure to help our effort.
At the back, our starting five players should be as follows: Rimando, Beltran, Borchers, Olave, Wingert. It's hard to see past them. I know Schuler's coming around well, but he's got the battle of a lifetime to get past Borchers in Kreis's contention. There's little doubting this.
In the midfield, a diamond of Beckerman, Johnson, Grabavoy and Morales should do the trick. Grabavoy, if not for injury, would undoubtedly have scored a goal or two by now, such was his early season form; Johnson's looking back to his old self after injury; Beckerman — well, we can only say so much about him before recognizing that he's just a player we could about in glowing terms all day, and while I love doing that, we perhaps all know by now. The only remaining piece of the puzzle, then, is Javier Morales, who is looking like he's still the creative, inspirational playmaker he was before that injury one year ago.
Up front, Espindola and Saborio will be looking to get on the scoresheet after some minor struggles in the last few matches. I'd be far from surprised if the two of them netted a bundle of them and we looked more like the free-scoring side we know we can be. Let's not leave this one tight, shall we?
Right, a short one today, as I'm off to a graduation ceremony. This also means that I'll not be at the match tonight, which brings me some grief — especially as the last match I missed for the purposes of graduation (my own, that time) saw the downfall of Javier Morales at the hands of Ch*vas.
Right, then. Let's get on with it.
Come on you Claret and Cobalt!
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