Friday, September 11, 2009

Finishing the Road Trip

The Wizards finish their 3 games in 8 days East Coast road trip tomorrow in New York where they take on the Red Bulls. Over the course of this season, the Red Bulls have been the worst team in the league, for a long time flirting with being the worst ever. Since Juan Carlos Osorio resigned though, the Red Bulls are 2-0 under Richie Williams (aka ABMOD). They defeated both Dallas and Columbus at home in the past few weeks before having last weekend off.

Kansas City will be without two players for tomorrow night's game, as Matt Besler picked up his fifth yellow of the season, and Chance Myers was red carded. My thought the Jack Jewsbury was suspended as well were not true, as he'd earned a good behavior bonus last time he'd gotten his fourth card, so Jewsbury is available. With the Wizards playing their 3rd game in 8 days, you would think there would be a couple switches, KC had many good chances against DC, but couldn't finish. Will be interesting to see if anyone gets a break, although I think we'll see a very similar linneup to the DC game.
Hartman
Watson - Conrad - Hohlbein - Harrington
Hirsig
Gomez - Jewsbury - Lopez
Arnaud - Wolff

Key Match Up - Jimmy Conrad vs Juan Pablo Angel - The two have a mutual respect for each other, as Conrad has called Angel the best striker in the league multiple times, while Angel has called Conrad the best defender. Angel has played well against the Wizards, scoring 6 career goals in his 2 plus seasons with the Red Bulls.

PREDICTION - The Red Bulls are rested, while the Wizards are playing their 3rd game in 8 days. I have a feeling this isn't going to be a pretty game with both teams near the bottom of the league. Still, both teams hold slim playoff hopes so both teams will be needing the win if they want to play on. Unfortunately with Red Bulls recent form, and KC apparently returning to the poor scoring ways. Combine that with the fact that the Wizards haven't won in New York since the 2000 season, a span of 12 games and I'm not too confident in this game.

KC - 0
NYRB - 2 (Angel x2)

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