Saturday, July 20, 2013

Predictions: Crew (H) v Revs

The New England Revs are in Columbus today to take on the Crew. Kickoff is at 7:30 PM Eastern. Weather: Hot, in the high 80s and storms in the area.

GAME NOTES
-CLB: Looking to jump Revs in standings (7th to 6th)
-CLB: Possible Viana might rejoin starting lineup
-CLB: 2 of 3 to start? Trapp, Warzycha, Sanchez
-NER: Loss on Wed (2:1) after being up 1 to Rapids
-NER: Have had good results vs. common opponents
-NER: 10 Shutouts in 19 games

PREDICTIONS
(In no particular order this week, for most accurate outlets; see last prediction post)

1. GOAL.COM-> CREW
Zac Lee Rigg is on the job today, his one line summary leans away from the Revs; "After a midweek loss to the Rapids in Colorado, the Revs travel to Columbus, where they haven't won since 2009." Looks like five people have votes in the Readers Predictions portion. Draw / Revs are favored there.

2. MLSSOCCER.COM-> CREW
Mixed results this week from the 'pick 'em' team. Matt Doyle is still the front runner there (as he has been all season). He likes the Crew, same as two others. One pick Draw, two for Revs. Signals evenly matched affair.

3. WV HOOLIGAN-> CREW
Drew Epperley doesn't think to highly of this match, from an entertainment perspective, "This one seems like a low-scoring snooze fest". Does have Crew pulling it out 1:0 in the end, however.

4. WINDRAWWIN.COM-> DRAW
Interesting call out; 6 games since a Crew draw, but it isn't that unusual for Robert Warzycha coached Crew over the past 2 years (two such streaks last year). Large Stake is on a 1:1 draw, the 'your votes' section likes that as well: 43% Draw, 28s for both teams.

5. BET365.COM-> CREW
Good reason for the heavy play on a draw for this one as Crew get FAV (evens) and draw is at 12/5 (Revs 11/4).

6. ADAM JARDY, COLUMBUS DISPATCH-> EVEN
Mentions that Crew have altered offensive tactics but are about to "face arguably its toughest challenge of the season against a stingy New England".

7. HOME TEAM-> CREW

8. TABLE POSITION-> NEW ENGLAND

MY THOUGHTS
CREW, SINCE 3 WKS AGO
Teams coming off two week breaks in the middle of summer have been looking sluggish. Verses the Crew we've seen it with Montreal a few weeks ago and Portland two weeks ago.

The Crew were busy over the past two weeks with a couple reserve games and a friendly with Wigan Athletic but their main main was not with the team for any of it, Federico Higuain.

From the looks of things, the general consensus is that this will be a close game with slight advantage to the home side. I want to lean sort of the way Epperley does in that this has potential to be a low wattage affair but I hesitate to say that. Why?

The Columbus Crew are toying around in a new formation with the senior team, a 4-3-3. Fans had probably seen it on reserve games for about a year and a half but it's made it's way up. I think, with this change comes risk.

Dominic Oduro said some unintentionally scary things in the Columbus Dispatch today about this formation; "The whole idea is any time someone is out of place you take their position." GAH!

That is scary because the Crew don't have the proper players to play that, I mean... it sounds like Total Football but with a bottom half MLS team.

What this does is open this game up to perhaps look like what happened when the Colorado Rapids visited earlier this year. The Crew were all over the place, taking shots, high pressure. Rapids got two good looks and that's all it took.

Should be a good one. Possible summer storms, Crew fans...

Keep an eye on the skies, travelers.

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