Tuesday, November 01, 2011

Take Care of Business

Sporting KC are back to business with a quick turnaround as they take on the Colorado Rapids in the second leg of their Eastern Conference semifinal series at LIVESTRONG Sporting Park tomorrow. It'll be interesting to see how Colorado comes out for this game. Three players that started the game in Colorado are now done for the season, Drew Moor, Caleb Folan, and Kosuke Kimura all left the game with injuries. Combine that with the loss of Pablo Mastroeni, Conor Casey, and Jamie Smith, and the Rapids are facing a pretty big injury crisis before the second leg.

KC remains healthy, the only concern for KC could be watching out for Teal Bunbury and him potentially getting a second yellow and missing the conference finals. With his decent run of form lately that could be a big blow for KC. Other than that the only concern is whether you start Omar Bravo, who was on the bench for the game in Colorado. I'm not sure you start him, I think you have him on the bench again if you need him and to get him some minutes in the second half to get him some match play before a potential conference final match up.

Nielsen
Myers - Collin - Besler - Sinovic
Zusi - Cesar - Espinoza
Kamara - Bunbury - Sapong

Number to Remember - 4 - That's the number of year's it's been since KC's 2007 win over Chivas in the Western Conference semifinals, the last time that KC won a playoff series. Time to end that streak.

Key Match Up - Matt Besler vs Omar Cummings - Colorado is going to have to come at KC heavily to get into this series. The focal point of that attack is likely to be Cummings. Keeping him contained will go a long way towards ending Colorado's playoff run.

PREDICTION - KC is definitely the favor going into this game after winning the away leg on Sunday. But Colorado is a dangerous team. More so because of their injuries. It's the wounded animal backed into the corner. Colorado is going to be desperate and really don't have anything to lose which could be a pain for KC. Stopping Colorado early, in the first 20-30 minutes are going to be key. If KC can keep what is likely to be early pressure contained, KC should be able to take down the Rapids. If KC can grab a goal during that time, the series will be over.

SKC - 1 (Kamara)
COL - 0
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4 comments:

  1. sickboy196511/01/2011 10:42:00 PM

    I see zero reason to play Bunbury and/or Bravo. Put in Saad & let him run circles around the Rapids all night..he played at Michigan, he'll feel right at home in tomorrow's forcast!

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  2. Stevi11/02/2011 06:41:00 AM

    As aggressive as the game on Sunday was, and seeing that Colorado has nothing to lose, I agree that keeping Bravo off the field is a good idea, unless he's absolutely needed. Colorado is going to be out for blood, and Bravo makes too tempting a target.

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  3. Kevin11/02/2011 07:56:00 AM

    The other factor will be the rain, the ball will be slick and can just slip into bad spots. We need to go out and score quick and then let the party start, 3-0 up at home would be be huge! I say move CJ in to the middle and let Davy start out on the wing and keep Teal and Omar on the bench. 11 hours and counting!!!!!!

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  4. aletheist11/02/2011 09:11:00 AM

    I am with Kevin. There is no reason to risk Bunbury getting another yellow card or Bravo aggravating his groin injury. Give Arnaud the start and the captain's armband for what could be the last time.

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