Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Rapids Attempt To Raid New York For A Point

On May 25th, 1778 British-led forces raided the Rhode Island towns of Bristol and Warren. They took prisoners and supplies before withdrawing. On May 25th, 2011 the British-led Rapids will try to raid another Northeast town, this time Harrison, NJ. They hope to take points and confidence with them when they withdraw.

It won't be easy though, as the injury report keeps growing and the amount of rest keeps lessening. Game time tomorrow is 6pm MDT and the game will be on Altitude. A small group of supporters will be watching the game at the Streets of London.

Injury Report:
OUT: FW Macoumba Kandji (L knee ACL tear)
DOUBTFUL: FW Omar Cummings (R ankle sprain); FW Caleb Folan (R groin strain)
QUESTIONABLE: MF Jamie Smith (L calf strain)
PROBABLE: FW Quincy Amarikwa (L ankle sprain); FW Conor Casey (L hamstring strain); GK Matt Pickens (R groin strain)

Disciplinary Report:
SUSPENDED: MF Brian Mullan (5 games)
SUSPENDED AFTER 2 MORE CAUTIONS: FW Conor Casey; DF Drew Moor; DF Marvell Wynne

Jamie Smith's addition tot he injury report is not what we needed right now. That's now 7 forwards or midfielders that are either on the injury report or suspended. NY only has 3 players questionable or worse, but one is Rafa Marquez so that's a bit of a help. My guess at an ugly lineup:

Pickens
Wynne- Moor- Marshall - Wallace
Kimura- Mastroeni - Larentowicz - Nyassi
Casey - Amarikwa

I think Smith will stick with the lineup he used on Sunday, with Nyassi filling in for the injured Jamie Smith. I think Akpan is a better start based on Amarikwa's play, but Smith seems to like Quincy. Its almost a guarantee that the first two subs will be Akpan and Thompson.

Key To Look For: Attacking pressure. Can the Rapids mount any sort of an attack or will it be a shooting gallery for NY all night? The only chance Colorado has to get any points out of this game is to keep possession and keep NY at least somewhat concerned about defending.

Prediction: 1-0 loss. Both teams are coming off weekend games with another game next weekend so neither team will be able to go 100%. The fact that we'll be lucky to have more than 3 attacking players on the pitch at once leads me to believe we'll get shutout again. NY is much better than Toronto, so I expect our defense will crack at least once.

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