July 15, 2009
Neither team is at full strength with Brent Sancho and Darren Tilley serving red card suspensions for the Rhinos and Nevio Pizzolitto serving a red card suspension for Montreal.
On top of that, midfielder Patrick Leduc (foot) and defenders Cédric Joqueviel (thigh) and Zanzan (thigh) did not make the trip for the Impact.
And I'm expecting Sandro Grande won't be in Rochester tonight, either.
The Rhinos are also missing Ty Harden who has been called back by the Colorado Rapids who face Club America in a friendly tonight. Harden came on as a stoppage time substitute versus FC Dallas over the weekend.
While the Rhinos won't say whether Scott Vallow or Tim Melia will start in net, we do know that Billy Andracki will be running the show with Tilley and Sancho suspended. I loved Billy's quotes yesterday that if he had to coach a game, he's glad it's against the Impact given the strong ribalry over the years.
It's too bad Jason Perry couldn't be his assistant for the night.....
The day after The Beckham Experiment went on sale....
- TIAS.com has part II of the Grant Wahl interview up today.
- Speaking of Grant Wahl, check out his Twitter feed to see the little back and forth he had with David Beckham today. I hope he was joking or else his professionalism rants are becoming a bigger joke by the second if he wasn't.
- Advantage Played isn't pulling any punches when it comes to Beckham.
- Michael Lewis thinks that the book and Beckham's return add some extra spice to tomorrow's LA-NY match.
- Nick Green has his take on the book.
- The NY Times soccer blog has some takes on Beckham and his claims of being committed to LA and MLS.
- Even the Wall Street Journal Online is talking about it!
News & Notes:
- Kenney Bertz was named to the USL 1st Division Team of the Week and Tim Melia got robbed! Puerto Rico was fresher on Friday night than Sunday and Melia had more saves than Gilstrap.
- It looks like Danny Szetela is headed back to MLS and could land with DC United. I hope he isn't in their lineup on Tuesday!
- Who knew Romario was a deadbeat dad?
- If you want to make the roadtrip to Azteca, tickets go on sale this weekend. If you want to watch the game on TV, it's going to be on Telemundo (ie no ESPN ). If you don't like that news, you might want to sign this petition. I have!
- DeRo is out and Blanco is in for the MLS All-Stars.
- I wonder what MLS team is looking at adding Pavel Nedved?
- Bob Bradley's roster selection for Saturday's Gold Cup Quarterfinal versus Panama appears to be made for him already.
- I can't say I disagree with this take from a Crew supporter. It can be rough just walking through the parking lot outside Ralph Wilson Stadium for visiting fans!
The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author, and not necessarily those of the Rochester Rhinos or SoccerSam.com. Feel free to send any comments or complaints to news@soccersam.com. James promises to read (but not to respond) to all of them.
