September 17, 2008
When the Rhinos close out the 2008 USL 1st Division Regular season at Miami FC tonight, all that is really on the line for Rochester is just playing for playoff seeding and the last place Blues are just playing out the string as they have no shot at the playoffs, even if they win their final two matches.
So it will be interesting to see how Darren Tilley and Zinho approach tonight's game.
Will Tim Melia see his first game action of the season for the Rhinos?
Will some of the regulars (Scott Palguta, Tiger Fitzpatrick, and Danny Earls) that didn't rest versus Carolina on Sunday, get their rest tonight?
Will Miami take out their frustration from a brutal two game western road trip (they lost 4-0 to Portland and 3-0 to Seattle) on the Rhinos in a physical manner?
Hopefully tonight's match is a really boring one and the Rhinos can get rested and healthy heading into a nice week plus before the first round of the playoffs!
News & Notes:
- WPS.com points out that Washington is the only team that didn't get a player allocated to them yesterday that has a gold medal from the Beijing Olympics. But, I doubt the Freedom will complain with getting Abby Wambach and Cat Whitehill who would have been on that team had they not gotten injured.
- Group play in the CONCACAF Champions League startedup last night with the Puerto Rico Islanders winning and DC United losing. I wonder if the DC result will mean another round of articles flying around the internet about how MLS teams need to take competitions like this more seriously?
- Ottawa Senators owner Eugene Melnyk is trying to land one of the 2011 MLS Expansion teams. Ottawa may not have strong a history as say Montreal or Vancouver when it comes to pro soccer. But, MLS has shown time and time again that it is all about the money when it comes to landing a team and Melnyk has plenty of that.
- One of the jewels of the NY Red Bulls Youth Academy has signed abroad as Johnny Exantus is now with Royal Racing FC.I wonder if they got a transfer fee that will pay for the addition of Mac Kandji?
- Speaking of youth academies, Glenn Davis has a piece on the Houston Dynamo Acadeny.
- Toronto FC is once againtalking about getting a Designated Player. Thierry Henry just benched, right?
- Former FC Dallas head coach Steve Morrow is back with the club that made him famous as the International Partnerships - Performance Supervisor.
- This Is American Soccer.com has the final installment in the five part series on Clint Dempsey. I hope Adam has something like that up his sleeve, perhaps about Landon Donovan or Michael Bradley......
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.
