Tuesday, May 3, 2011

No Rest For The Weary

Colorado has to bounce back quickly from last Saturday's disappointment. Tomorrow the Rapids are back at it, this time on the road in Houston to face the Dynamo. The Dynamo, especially in Houston, has been a bit of a nemesis for Colorado and they'll be looking to break this 4 game winless streak against a team that beat DC 4-1 at home on Friday. Kickoff tomorrow is at 6:30pm and the game will be on Altitude. No official Class VI watch party, but Pid Army will be at the Highland Tavern.

Injury Report:
OUT: FW Macoumba Kandji (L knee ACL tear)
QUESTIONABLE: DF Eddie Ababio (R hamstring strain); FW Quincy Amarikwa (L ankle strain); FW Conor Casey (L hamstring strain)
PROBABLE: FW Caleb Folan (R quadriceps strain); GK Matt Pickens (R groin strain); DF Marvell Wynne (R hamstring strain)

Disciplinary Report:
SUSPENDED: MF Brian Mullan (9 games)
SUSPENDED AFTER 2 MORE CAUTIONS: FW Conor Casey

The official injury report hasn't been updated since last Friday. Gary Smith has said that Amarikwa, Folan, Thompson, and Wynne will all be available though. Casey, unfortunately, is still out. Houston had 3 players listed as doubtful or out on the last official injury report. Figuring out the lineup for this one is going to be tough, but my best guess:

Pickens
Kimura - Moor - Wynne - Wallace
Thompson - Mastroeni - Larentowicz - Smith
Cummings - Folan

I think Smith has seen Wallace get burned a couple of times but at Marshall's age the quick turnaround is probably not in his favor. Nyassi has looked better coming off the bench than starting, so I think Thompson will get the start.

Key To Look For: Cummings and his partner have to be on the same page and involved in the game. We haven't seen that for 4 games and not surprisingly we've only scored once in those 4 games. If that doesn't change then it won't matter what the rest of the team does, we won't win.

Prediction: 1-1 draw, goal from Larentowicz. I don't think Cummings and Casey's replacement (whomever it ends up being) will be in sync yet, but they'll do enough to open a long shot for Ginger Ninja. Houston is looking fairly dangerous lately and given our issues playing in Texas I don't see us keeping them off the board. A draw would be a good result for us.

1 comment:

jayd8888 said...

Trying Thompson out on that corner? I like it. It looked like Nyassi has lead feet and not quite enough speed to make the turn. I wonder if any of the deeper strikers like Amarikwa can play the wing. My hope is that the Rapids show DESIRE again, they cannot continue to donate points due to Mullan-gate.