ESPN2's MLS Primetime Thursday Match-up
Real Salt Lake vs. FC Dallas
Rice-Eccles Stadium
In this one, Dallas has all the injury problems as Kenny Cooper is out for two months with a broken tibia and Ramon Nunez might have to miss the game due to a nagging groin strain. The defense is intact though as a bunch of excuse me, but mediocre, defensive players have begun to mold together forming a tight-knit group that has served the Hoops well as of late. Real Salt Lake should be ready to go as Alecko Eskandarian tries to settle down with the winless franchise and Freddy Adu tries to jumpstart his game. Dallas will most likely have Toja attacking again with Pablo Ricchetti in the holding midfield position, and much to RSL's dismay, I think we'll see it work once again. Abe Thompson might not be THE answer to Kenny Cooper's absence but he certainly is a damn good temporary fix.
PREDICTION: FC Dallas are propelled once again by the organization of Juan Carlos Toja and Dominic Oduro's speed troubles the slow RSL defense, Esky bags a goal though in a 2-1 Hoop win
English Premiership News:
Controversial and somewhat annoying Joey Barton (if he was on the Revolution, he would punched Joey Franchino to) has joined Newcastle as the replacement for Scott Parker who opted for West Ham United.
Israeli defender Tal Ben-Haim, a somewhat hot transfer target in the Premiership, has joined Chelsea on free transfer. This seems a little mediocre for the Blues - a kind of Khalid Boulahrouz move (which hasn't panned out yet). We'll see - he has done real well for the Bolton Wanderers.
CONCACAF Gold Cup:
The United States will play Panama in the quarterfinals of the Gold Cup. Panama was third in Group C after Mexico needed a late goal from Carlos Salcido to push them through the group. In other action - Honduras dispatched of Cuba 5-0. Panama's a pretty tough squad and they'll be tough to get by.
The quarterfinals look like this:
| 16.06.2007 | S1 : Canada - Guatemala | 1 p.m. | Te | - : - | Boston, Foxboro |
| 16.06.2007 | S2 : USA - Panama | 4 p.m. | Uni | - : - | Boston, Foxboro |
| 17.06.2007 | S3 : Mexico - Costa Rica | 2 p.m. | Uni | - : - | Houston |
| 17.06.2007 | S4 : Honduras - Guadalupe | 5 p.m. | Te | - : - | Houston |
If the US wins, they'll take on the winner of Canada-Guatemala. Mexico has a hard play-off opener against Costa Rica - I feel another upset a-brewin'.
I will have much more tonight as I sit down to the delights of FCD/RSL. I love Thursday Primetime.
3 comments:
I think Dallas looked plenty dangerous against LA without Ruiz and Cooper. Granted it was at home but if Toja can have another nice game it could be tough for RSL to stop Thompson and Odoru from not getting some good chances. Toja seems to do a good job of quickly moving the ball into the attack. And remember last year at RES was the game where Abe Thompson scored late, late in injury time. Will it be a repeat with RSL seemingly having another tie at home only for Abe to steal all 3 points for FCD?
I'm really starting to think that it should be an official grammatical error to put RSL and win in the same sentence.
it's a shame really - that whole game i sat there knowing that somehow RSL was gonna find some way to lose it. sure enough, they didn't disappoint. defensive miscue, oduro score.
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