Midday News and Pre Game: Rochester Rhinos vs DC United (UPDATED)

By: jon | June 30th, 2008

Boy, I sure am posty today! I’ve got some roster news and an Open Cup game to preview for you, so take a few minutes from calling back clients, or in my case, filing, and read.

- Confirmation on the earlier injury news, with Goff confirming that Santino Quaranta is out 2-3 weeks. But that’s not all. Jaime Moreno tweaked his groin muscle, and will not be available for selection. Big deal, you say. We’re playing a USL team, how could we not win, you say.
Well, it’s been a little bit since we’ve won the cup. Try…1996. Yeah. You were a lot thinner then.

- DC has signed Craig Thompson. Who’s Craig Thompson, you ask? A good question, if ever there was one. Craig has played for DC in two reserve matches, and has yet to score. He played in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (Praise be to Google) and scored 18 goals in 22 games last season. He plays right midfield, which is an area we’ll need some depth in the upcoming weeks. He’s taking the spot of the retired Jeff Curtin.

As I said above, DC have performed very poorly in Open Cup play in the last few years. Last year, Harrisburg (Yes, the Mighty Fighting Harrisbergians) swept DC out in their first match. This year, DC comes up against a team who is last place in their division, and missing Steve Guppy (DCU alum) due to a red card in a prior match. DC is coming off a physically taxing victory on Sunday, with injured starters. The team I’d like to see start the match would be…

Doe—-Emilio (1st half, sub with Stratford in M)
Burch—-Simms—–Gallardo (Cordiero subs)—–Kirk (Olsen?)
Zaher——–Martinez——McTavish——Namoff
Wells
Radio: WFED (1050 AM) and WACA (1540 AM, Spanish)
I think that lineup would score a few goals, and likely not give up too many. Maybe give Fred minutes if he’s feeling up to it. Doing this lineup, it becomes clear how few reserves we have in defense. Hopefully, this is remedied before Superliga, or our backline will be run down for the second half of the MLS season and playoffs.

Prediction: DC 3, Rochester 0.

Thoughts?

Update: Here are some links for you to peruse this morning..
Goffster’s preview.
The Examiner’s focus.
The Express.
And this editorial about Sunday’s game.