We’ve been hitting our stride in recent weeks, but two unfortunate absences mean the side must exercise a degree of caution — and creativity — to continue their recent form and claim Columbus Crew as the latest victim of a drubbing.
Luis Gil has traveled home from the Milk Cup in Northern Ireland and could make an appearance (more on that later), while Chris Schuler will be making a Claret and Cobalt re-appearance. Schuler looks to be a good player, but we’ve only seen him in unfortunate circumstances — you know, injuries, red cards, and the like — so the sight of him, while it’s typically reassuring, is not entirely welcome.
At the back, I’d imagine Robbie Russell will start to provide a bit more defensive balance, while this would push Tony Beltran to the left. He typically connects well with players on the left, and a variety of passing options open when he’s out there. How good has little Tony been recently? He’s really made himself impossible to drop, hasn’t he?
In the middle, I imagine, barring any problems, we’ll see Kyle Beckerman, Will Johnson and Ned Grabavoy in their very effective three-man midfield, but the man in the hole is a bit less certain. Perhaps we’ll see Arturo Alvarez; he’s a man that has only just returned to full fitness, and starting a match could be in the cards. This would leave Andy Williams as an effective impact sub — but it could, I imagine, be the other way around. It gives Kreis a bit of flexibility and the ability to keep his cards close to his chest, and that’s quite nice.
Up front, the Gil-Espindola combination has been tried and not entirely unsuccessful, and while it’s certainly not our first choice of pairings, but I do think it could be an effective one. More about Gil below.
So, just a few hours until the match — the Crew pipped us for three points when last we met in June, but that may have just been a response to our 4-1 CONCACAF Champions League win over the side.
Come on you Claret and Cobalt!
Predicted Lineup
Rimando
Russell - Schuler - Borchers - Beltran
Beckerman - Johnson - Grabavoy - Alvarez
Gil - Espindola
Luis Gil, legend in the making
Luis Gil, our youngest first-teamer, is making himself into a bit of an RSL legend. He, at the Milk Cup with the U.S. Under-18s, is on his way to Salt Lake — forgoing an opportunity to grab third place with his national team — so that he can play with his club team, with our team in a match that won’t garner glory, a match that has no third-place trophy attached to it. No, instead of sticking it out in Nothern Ireland, he’s on his way home to make an appearance in Claret and Cobalt.
Nobody would blame young Luis if he wanted to stay with his national team. It’s a goal for many, many players — even being called up for the Under-18s is enough to make other players forget any other responsibilities. So when Luis Gil decided to come home, he made a big decision, and it’s one that our fans should be very proud of. He has a big future ahead of him, and a big part of me hopes he remains with the club for a long time. The club and, indeed, the league and the U.S. as a whole, have much to prove in the development of youth prospects. The boy deserves the chance to fulfill his potential, but whether that can happen here — and not just at RSL, but in the U.S. — remains to be seen.
Diving, or something like it
If you’ve not yet read about the furor around the Saborio dive, you’re missing much heated reaction (a good thing, to be sure — supporter passion is essential) but you’re not missing too much in terms of well-reasoned argumentation. For example, if you read comments from the MLS site, you’ll run into plenty of ‘BAN THE DIVERS!’ and the like. You know, I understand the frustration around diving, and I’d never claim it was a good thing, but it’s hardly the most pressing concern facing the MLS.
Every week, you can find a terrible, horrendous tackle that threatens to end a player’s career. Every week, you can find players acting like spoiled children, throwing their toys from the pram when something goes wrong, crowding and threatening the referee. To be sure, there are problems facing the MLS that must be cut out, and yes, diving is not a positive act for the sport or the player, but you know what? I’d rather see a million (a million!) dives that end in red cards for the wrong player than I would see a single player have their career threatened by a leg-breaking tackle.
Clearly, that’s a false dichotomy. You can cut out the both. But it serves to illustrate a point: Diving is not the end of the sport, it’s not the end of the league, and it’s certainly not the end of anyone’s life or career.
On a bit of a tangent, there is a bit of a problem with the league tackling the problem of diving with the vigor they’ve displayed. The public is already convinced soccer is full of “floppers” (I despise the term!) and “fakers” — and certainly diving isn’t so much a problem in the U.S. as in other leagues — but by parading about Saborio and other players who have dived, the image will only be further tarnished. This public name and shame operation on players like Saborio will only help convince Americans of one of two things: 1. Soccer is actually full of diving, or 2. Foreign players dive more than American players. Neither of those statements is true, but the public perspective the MLS is furthering will lead to people believing one or both.
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