Thursday, April 19, 2007

Thursday Night Soccer - New England v Columbus preview

New England Revolution (1-1-0) vs. Columbus Crew (0-0-2)
TV: ESPN2
7:00pm ET

There might not be a pre-game show but there will still be two good hours of soccer. The Revolution rediscovered their offense this past weekend while the Crew has yet to find net. On paper, this should be a walk for the Revs, but something tells me the Columbus will not just role over.

Columbus's defense is looking better and goalkeeper Andy Gruenebaum is making smart saves. This alone will prove more a challenge then what NE saw against Toronto on Saturday. Now the question for the Crew is can they get the offense clicking?

Andy Herron and Jason Garey threatened a number of times against Real put they just could not reach that final reward and facing a backline with Avery John and Jay Heaps is not going to make that much easier. They will need to snag balls in midfield and slam NE with numbers. If they can keep Shalrie Joseph playing deep, they will caught off a big pathway to Twellman and Dorman, thus open up their own offensive chances.

I have little doubt that the Crew will be able to do this for stretches over the fist hour, but I just don't think they have the fitness to make it last. They were able to contain Reyna during their first match but that was because he wasn't getting much help. With the Revolution, they will not be so lucky.

Predicitons:
Me: NE 2-1 CC
Wife: NE 1-0 CC

By the way, it's a shame there is not a pre-game show this week as that would be a great opportunity to introduce Guillermo Barros Schelotto to the American public.

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