Steven Goff has an article in today’s Washington Post in which he says Coach Peter Nowak forced Moreno to take a much needed break. Its about damn time…
So following last Sunday’s loss in Chicago and Monday’s scheduled day off, Coach Peter Nowak excused Moreno from two days of practice and told him he didn’t want to see him again until Thursday’s training session.
“It’s one of those times where mentally I needed it,” Moreno said yesterday. “I’ve been off my game. I haven’t been myself. I’ve been thinking about it and now I can see things differently. I’m glad I’ve found that peace and now everything will change.”
Why do I have to be the voice of reason? Aren’t these people paid to do this stuff? I’ve been clamoring for MONTHS that Moreno needed a break. He is clearly exhausted both physically and mentally. He’s been running around with tendonitis which he will prbably just have to put up with for the rest of the season.
The article also goes onto say the Esky has been out due to an injured knee and hamstring. He says it was bothering him and he tried to play through it. Which explains why he looked like crap before finally hitting the bench.
So what does that mean for the game tonite against Red Bull New York? Well RBNY is absolutely atrocious. And we’ve had their number for a long time now (just like Chicago has ours). BUT, good ‘ol Bruce Arena and company are no slouches and I’m sure they’ll have their team ready to play. And if they’ve paid attention at all to our recent form, they will know the recipe to beat us is just congest the midfield and look to counter with speed over the top. I just don’t know if they have the players to execute that scheme, but players like Guevara and Djorkaef are dangerous nonetheless.
From our perspective, I see the defense being pretty solid, even with Namoff and Gros out due to red card ejections on ridiculously bad calls. Prideaux steps in for Namoff, and Deroux in for Gros. Goff has Moreno and Freddy starting up top. Freddy is getting acclimated to the forward role pretty well (altho I still think its not his best position) and will play better against the much less physical defense of RBNY. Moreno is still the key, however, and we go as he goes. If the few days off of rest didn’t help, I would like to see the new guy Ssejjemba come on and play with Freddy. He is the type of player (direct, striker) that can anticipate and be in position for those passes from Freddy and Gomez. Maybe even Donnet. Jaime when helathy and fit works well with that type of player. Problem is… he’s neither right now.