Big Wednesday

RSL travels to Chicago to take on the Fire and the US plays Panama in a revenge match in Houston. It could prove to be a very happy or disappointing day. RSL is in a position of needing to figure things out. US is in the semifinals of the Gold Cup, enough said. It's a big Wednesday.

US v PanamaThe US has the perfect opportunity tonight to extract revenge on their group stage lost to Panama. In a match that will truly have much more meaning on it, they can have the last word. The key will be to keep the attacking mentality the Yanks had against Jamaica and not falling victim to the chaos that Panama will want to impose yet again. Panama is without possibly there best player in Perez. While this hurts their attack greatly, it doesn't diminish it. They will still do their best to throw numbers and, more importantly, big bodies forward in an attempt to disrupt our back-line. The Yanks have to be mentally and physically composed and ready to spring the counter when Panama over exerts themselves.

Against Jamaica Bradley made a quite shocking adjustment to the starting lineup. Dropping Donovan - for fitness issues - and only playing with one forward would sound like a disaster to many. For the Yanks, though, it proved to be the key to success. The biggest factor in this new 4-5-1 lineup is that it gives Clint Dempsey the freedom to move forward more. Instead of having to recover down the wing, he is allowed to be a bit more 'lazy' on defense and play a larger role in our attack. I think this is probably the best formation for the US, especially once we get Holden back off injury.

There are questions of fitness and yellow card peril that have some suggesting a rotation to the starting XI. If this were the last group stage game I would fully agree. It's not, though. It's the semifinals. You can't take anyone lightly in the knockout phases. Even if they are a team much lower in skill and quality than you. Just ask Spain in the Confed Cup of 2009. Because of this, I hope Bradley puts out his best XI. This means those that are not fit get put on the bench (nobody is invincible, see Donovan) but there won't be anybody on the bench because of yellow card peril or because they might fatigue after the 70th or 80th minute. Subs can be made at that point. What I expect us to see is this:

GK: Howard
- Guy has to be big for us again. We will likely call on him early. It seems to be the US way of getting a game started.

LB: Lichaj
- The kid has been quite fun to watch this tournament. He is still very young and raw, but is developing by the minute.

CB: Boca
- The captain has to be sure to keep the gap between him and Goodson to a minimal. The two have a tendency to get stretched apart.

CB: Goodson
- Pushing him forward on set pieces will be key. He has a goal against Panama already this tournament, why not make it two.

RB: Dolo
- Best player of the US this tournament, hands down. Consistent and solid. Can't ask for much more.

LM: Kljestan
- While I would rather see Bedoya in, I understand the rotation for Donovan on the right side. This means Kljestan gets another shot, hope he takes it well like he did against Jamaica.

CM: Bradley
- He is showing fatigue late in games, but he has to be out there. His work rate is incredible and his heart is second to none.

CM: Jones
- Being on yellow card peril will be scary to say the least. He has to start, though. I trust Edu, but with how Jones is playing you can't bench him.

RM: Donovan
- Hopefully he comes out with something to prove in this match. Bedoya showed that some youth can fill his shoes just fine right now.

CAM: Dempsey
- When Dempsey is pissed, he is our best player. Someone slap him or something.

FW: Agudelo
- With Jozy likely done for awhile, Juan has to step it up. He showed, much like Kljestan and Bedoya, that some youthful tenacity can go a long way. Lets hope he keeps it up.

Prediction:
US 3 - Panama 1
- Dempsey, Donovan, and Agudelo with the goals.


RSL @ ChicagoRSL goes to the windy city today in a regular season match-up. Given the recent form of both of these teams, this could be quite the ugly game to watch. Neither are playing top soccer and both have been struggling to find the net consistently. For RSL, I think it's time for a change of formation. The loss of Javi has stung this team quite severely, that goes without saying. One thing that is starting to really show, though, is that Javi made our system work. Without him in there, we simply don't have that creative attacking mid to open up the passing lanes and work some magic. Andy, Warner, Ned, etc. have all failed in their attempts to even sort of fill the shoes of Javi. Because of this, I think it's time to see a bit of change in the way this team approaches the game.

After watching the US game vs Jamaica, all I could think is that something like that needs to be done with RSL. In fact, I came to the conclusion that what was done there is exactly what needs to be done for RSL. A shift from a 4-4-2 to a 4-5-1 (that operates as a 4-2-3-1) would work wonders, I think, for this team. Our diamond has been figured out AND it has been seriously damaged. Stop forcing the issue, Kreis, and make a change.

To do this, I think these players would be best fitted (for today's match) to take the pitch:

GK: Rimando
LB: Beltran (rest Wingerts hammy)
CB: Schuler (Olave needs rest)
CB: Borchers (anchor)
RB: Russell
LM: Gonzalez
CM: Beckerman
CM: Grabavoy
RM: Gil
CAM: Johnson
FW: Espindola

Load the field with midfielders and try to win the ball higher into the Chicago attack. This would also allow Johnson the ability to get forward and allow Beckerman some more freedom as well. Warner and Andy need to find the bench as they have both been pretty terrible lately. Gonzalez should be given one last shot. I know his fitness is terrible, but what the guy does for 60 minutes nobody else seems capable of doing.

I doubt we see it, and thus I doubt we see RSL win let alone score. With the (bogus) suspension of Alexandre, it's going to be really interesting to see who Kreis starts up top. Does he give the new guy, Yura 2.0, the start or does he force Alvarez to start shortly after his departure from El Salvador. Either way, if Kreis sticks to the diamond for this one, it's going to be a low scoring, ugly loss.

Prediction:
RSL 0 - Chicago 1
- Oduro with the goal.

I would love to be wrong, but the way we have been playing lately suggests nothing else.

FORZA REAL
COME ON YOU YANKS

Cheers,

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