Thursday, September 6, 2012

What's Happened To C+C Goal Factory?

Full game recap coming, but a post-game discussion got me to do some research.  Namely people were asking why Pareja seemed to be unwilling to play Casey and Cummings at the same time.  I wondered how much of that was by choice and how much was due to injury so I looked it up.

Only 9 times this season have they both been Probable on the injury report or better, and in each of those games at least one of them was listed as Probable, so they've never been completely healthy  (Casey has been on the injury report every game this season).

In those 9 games:

4/28 - Chivas: Casey makes his first appearance of the season as a last minute sub for Omar (fans there will remember Class VI screaming at Rapids players to knock the ball out so Casey could be subbed in before the final whistle)

5/2 - @NE: Casey was left in Colorado due to the turf in New England

5/6 - @Dallas: Cummings started but subbed out injured after 14 minutes, Casey subbed in at halftime

6/20 - San Jose: Casey was subbed off for Cummings in the 67th minute

6/30 - Portland: Casey & Cummings start and play 73/74 minutes

7/4 - Vancouver: Casey & Cummings start, Cummings subs off in the 61st

7/7 - @Seattle: Casey starts and goes 67 before Edu subs in, at the same time Cummings subs in for Smith

7/14 - Dallas: Cummings & Casey start and play the full game

7/18 - @Toronto: Casey & Cummings start, Cummings goes 72 minutes

So on 4/28, 5/2, and 5/6 Casey was still recovering from his Achilles injury and understandably didn't start, by the time he got serious minutes Cummings was injured.

On 6/20 Cummings was coming back from injury and only played 23 minutes, you could make a case that Casey could/should have been left in to play with him.

On 7/7 the team was playing its 3rd game in a week, on turf, and both players were probable. While playing both of them at once was possible, without knowing their injury and fitness status I can't fault Pareja for not playing them together.

When playing together Casey has both of his goals and 1 of his assists on Omar's only goal or assist when playing together.

So maybe you fault Pareja for not leaving Casey in on 6/20, a game we lost 2-1 on a Freeman own goal in the 83rd and a PK in the 92rd minute.  Colorado was up 1-0 at home when the Casey/Cummings sub happened.

I find it hard to make a claim that Pareja is resisting playing them together given these numbers though.  When they've been (reasonably) healthy, Pareja has played them together.

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