Match day #13 Preview

So the Fire take on the Revolution later on this evening in an Eastern Conference showdown and a rivalry that actually is not made up. For years New England had the Fire's number in the playoffs especially up until a couple years ago. Yeah that's right, about the time that this team stopped making the playoffs.

New England has actually surprised me this as I thought with the announcement that long time coach Steve Nichol was being let go for inexperienced and former Rev Jay Heaps. When I heard the announcement I thought that New England fans were going to be in for a world of hurt this season, but the fact of the matter is that even with a first year coach they have been playing better as of late. New England has a full injury list but should be able to field some quality players such as Benny Feilhaber, Sharlie Joseph, and newcomer Saer Sene. Sene has proven to be the goal scorer that the Revs have needed, so far scoring 7 goals in 11 games. The Fire defense have a tough night a head of them and mental mistakes like what happened on Tuesday against the Bucks and Saturday against the Crew cannot happen.

I see Frank sticking with almost the same lineup as he has used all season long. Johnson in goal, a 4 man back line of Gargan, Anibaba, Berry, Segagares as Gibbs is still out until the end of the season, Kinney still has the worst luck of any player, and Friedrich gets ready to make his return on 17th. In the mid field I see the usual Pardo and Pause as DM, Nyarko on the left, Grazzini in the middle, with Pappa away on national team duty I would love to see Paladini or Bone get the start on the right. I never want to see Robayo ever grace the field in Fire red again after his crap displays on Tuesday and Saturday. That means a 2 man front which I would love to see Oduro and Barrouch up top. Good news this week is that Rolfe is ready to go but in a limited capacity. I can see him coming off the bench in the second half and seeing limited action due to the weather conditions and the fact that the game is being held on field turf.

This is a tricky game to call as both teams are just in a state of mediocrity to sub par performing right now. I'll go with a 1-1 tie tonight as both sides get some chances but the majority of the game will be a rough battle in the middle.