Friday, October 27, 2006

A Heaping Bowl of Pessimism

Friends, here are a Starting XI-ful of reasons why the roller-coaster Red Bulls' season will end at DCU this Sunday. (6pm, ESPN2)...

XI: The only playoff series win in Metro history was clinched on the road at Dallas (Mathis scored two to beat the Burn on 9/20/00). The Metros have been eliminated by DC United twice, in 1996 and in 2004.

X: The Red Bulls have a single road win this season, a 2-0 decision July 19th at Columbus. DC is a little better than the Crew.

IX: That win at Columbus was one of only two matches this season that RBNY won by more than one goal (the other was the 6-0 shellacking of RSL on August 26th).

VIII: DC had a +9 goal differential at RFK this season, NY had a -7 on the road.

VII: DC's two active leading scorers (Gomez, Moreno) had 25 tallies between them this season, NY's (Guevara, Stammler!) had 13.

VI: DC's Bobby Boswell just appeared in Cosmo. NY's Seth Stammler just appeared in Maxim. (Advantage NY, methinks).

V: DC has never lost a playoff series or championship game to a team not named the Chicago Fire.

IV: DC did not give their best effort of the season last week in NJ and still won. They'll be even tougher with a large home crowd behind them.

III: The NY Coaching Staff is chock full of former DC players and coaches: Arena, Harkes, Williams, and Agoos. The only United player with NY experience is Jaime Moreno, who spent one disappointing season in the Swamp.

II: NY needs a win. The Red Bulls had 9 in 32 matches this season. DC only needs a tie. United got at least a tie in 25 of 32 games this season.

I: DC is a club with Supporters Shields, MLS Cups, US Open Cups, InterAmerican Cups, etc. etc.. NY has that La Manga Cup from a few years' back. Hmm.

Prediction: DC 2, NY 1: DC wins series, 3-1 on aggregate.

Here are your soccer television selections for the weekend, times ET. Don't forget to change your clocks (and the batteries in your smoke alarms) on Saturday night before you hit the sack. Have a great weekend.

Saturday, October 28th:
9:30am: GER: Bayern Munich-Eintracht Frankfurt, GOL
10:00am: ENG: Liverpool-Aston Villa, FSC
12noon: ENG: Newcastle-Charlton, FSC
12noon: ITA: Udinese-Roma, GOL
2:15pm: ENG: Watford-Tottenham, FSC
2:30pm: ITA: AC Milan-Inter Milan, GOL
4:30pm: ESP: Gimnastic-Real Madrid, GOL
6:30pm: BRA: Fluminese-Gremio, GOL
7:30pm: MLS: New England-Chicago, DK, FSC, HDNet
8:00pm: MEX: Chivas-Atlas, TELEF
8:30pm: MLS: FC Dallas-Colorado, DK
8:30pm: COL: Millonarios-Bucramanga, GOL
10:00pm: MEX: Necaxa-Tigres, GALA
12mid: MEX: Monterrey-Veracruz, GALA

Sunday, October 29th
9:00am: ITA: Lazio-Reggina, FSC
9:00am: ITA: Fiorentina-Palermo, FSC
11:00pm: ENG: West Ham-Blackburn, FSC
11:00pm: GER: Stuttgart-Schalke, GOL
1:00pm: ITA: Cagliari-Sampdoria, FSC
1:00pm: MEX: UNAM-Morelia, UNI
3:00pm: ARG: Indpendiente-River Plate, FSC
3:00pm: ESP: Atletico Madrid-Real Zaragoza, GOL
5:00pm: GUA: Municipal-Comunicaciones, GOL
6:00pm: MLS: DC United-New York, ESPN2
7:00pm: COL: Quindio-Atletico Nacional, GOL
8:00pm: MLS: Houston-Chivas USA, DK, FSC, HDNet

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