The campaign begins tomorrow night with DC United visiting Jamaica's Harbour View FC (HVFC) in the CONCACAF Champions' Cup. Harbour View is in 5th place in the Jamaican National Premier League overall standings, but are not showing as well currently as they sit 8th in the Round III of play (what does that mean? wiki wiki knows all). For HVFC striker Fabian Taylor, who is second in goals scored in the Jamaican league with 10, this will be his first game back from injury. However, Harbour View will be missing captain and central defender Christopher Harvey who is suspended because of a red card during the Caribbean Club Championships last year.
DC United will be playing their first competitive match in more than 4 months. Everyone will be healthy except Ben Olsen who would be playing on the right wing. DCUMD examines the right wing options of Quaranta, McTavish and Mediate and gives the safe start to Domenic Mediate. I agree with his analysis, so with Goff's unofficial travel roster, our starting 11 should look like this:
Wells
Namoff--Martinez--Peralta--Burch
Simms
Mediate------------------------Fred
Gallardo
Moreno----Emilio
I expect DC to come out and play their possession game without shying away from putting pressure on Harbour View's defense. Our offensive style should be a bit different with everything going through new playmaker, Marcelo Gallardo. I am looking for Clyde Simms to be strong in the middle to stop the speedy and fit Jamaicans from attacking up the middle. I am also very interested to see the play between Gallardo and Simms both on defense and in attack. Speculation (paragraph 9,10) says that the Harbour View game plan will be a counterattacking 4-5-1 but the coach says (paragraph 4,5) they will play a 4-4-2 and go for the win at home. Either way, DC should be able to put pressure on the HVFC defense and frustrate their attack enough to come back to RFK with a 2 goal lead in the series.
One thing DCU will not be able to win is the cheerleader competition.
Where to watch: FSC (Wed. Mar. 12 Harbour View (JAM) v D.C. United (USA) 8:00 p.m.)
Other previews: Quarter Volley, DCenters, Poplar Point Perspective, Harbour View FC
Hope and Dreams
1. Burchie Bomb
2. Multiple assists from Gallardo.
3. Clean, but very hard tackles from Los Gonzalos.
4. Emilio continues in his CONCACAF-goal-scoring ways.
Learn more about Harbor View:
Wikipedia: "Harbour View Football Club (nickname: Stars of the East) is a Jamaican football team, that currently plays in the Jamaican National Premier League."
Official Website: "Like David, minnows, Harbour View FC, the 2007 Caribbean Club Champions, will have to be very tactical in the first leg of the 2008 CONCACAF Champions Cup game at the Harbour View stadium on Wednesday if they are to travel to the RFK Stadium on March 18 with a good chance at slaying the giant D.C. United, and moving on to the semi-finals."
No comments:
Post a Comment