Saturday, March 19, 2016

Battle Of The Eagles

Talon vs. Edson.  Either way RapidMan is still better

Colorado makes the first of many East Coast trips this weekend as we're in the nation's capital facing DC United.  Its also our only appearance on ESPN this season.  We're hitting DC at a weak moment so maybe that will favor us but Gashi's suspension will hurt.  Game time tomorrow is 3pm on ESPN2.  No official watch party but the Southside Bar & Kitchen on Colfax always has a group watching the game.

Player Availability:
OUT: GL John Berner (hand); D Sean St. Ledger (knee injury)
SUSPENDED: M Jermaine Jones (through 4/13); F Shkelzen Gashi
UNAVAILABLE: D Joseph Greenspan (Navy duty)

Other than Gashi its what was expected.  DC has 4 players out, including their first and second string keepers, and 2 other questionable.  Form FSL player Espindola is one of those questionable players, I'll be happy if we don't have to see him.

Starting XI Prediction:

The real question marks are the outside backs and Gashi's replacement.  My bet is Solihnac over Serna for the latter, though I'd prefer the other way around.  At outside back its going to largely depend on who's healthy but the fact that Miller got called up for the U-23s leads me to believe he's ready to play.  Williams had a great game last week so I'm hopeful he gets the start over Burch or Hairston.

Prediction: 1-0 win, goal by K.Doyle.  I'm going out on a bit of a limb here but DC has not been great this year and they're hurting.  With the lousy weather predicted this won't be pretty soccer but I think the Rapids can take advantage and get out of town with 3, though I wouldn't be shocked by a draw.

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