Look-Ahead: Real Salt Lake v. Crew (+ Consideration for Miglioranzi)

By: Jeff | April 13th, 2007

After considerable research on the subject (LINK and LINK), and after taking an impulsive stab at a prediction, I’m ready to lay down some better-considered thoughts regarding the Columbus Crew’s second game of the 2007 season. On Saturday, they’ll walk onto the field-turf in Real Salt Lake’s (RSL) Rice Eccles Stadium for an early crack at turning last weekend’s promise into the first roll of momentum. Here’s a look at some details:

Why the Crew May Lose - They could stand a sharper opening half this weekend, especially with Jeff Cunningham, a man who knows how to finish a dang sight better than “Journeyman” John Wolyniec, prowling for chances. In fact, a generally more skilled attack will rush the Crew defense than Red Bull’s bunch of hard-tacklers and fragile midfield generals (ha! no, wait; I take that back; heal well, Claudio). The turf (it is turf, right?) may pose a problem as well by causing Columbus passes to fly faster and bounce higher, which will hamper possession, but the last thing they want to do is defend for 75-90 minutes.

Why the Crew May Win - As it turns out, the Crew won both games at Salt Lake last season - kinda nuts when you think about their overall 2006; that also points to a conclusion that the Crew is comfortable on that turf. Because the three goals scored came via last year’s rightly-maligned offense, the apparent improvement in the current squad’s attack only promotes a deeper sense of confidence. The extent to which RSL’s offense has improved isn’t yet clear, but Columbus’ defense did stand up well last weekend and seems to have done as much throughout the preseason. In other words, the Crew look fairly solid from front to back, with only the ‘keeper prompting questions of solidity.

What Will Happen - So long as you promise not to tell the other site (hit the third link above, read the first pick, and you’ll see the need for secrecy), I feel comfortable making a “homer” kind of call in this space. I came pretty close over on my site, with the Crew’s 2006 performance serving as the pivot, but the “Spidey-sense” suspicion that Cunningham will score tipped the final call toward a tie; the thing is, I can see the Crew scoring once, but more than that seemed like a stretch. For all that, RSL’s defense gets ridiculed for a reason, so I’m envisioning a 2-1 road-win for the Crew. We’ll see how that pans out.

I’ll keep an eye out for a preview from the Real Salt Lake Offside for purposes of comparing notes - and now I have it. Here’s how things look from the RSL perspective. Nice work, Senor Rose. If you’re too lazy to hit the link, I’ll just tell you: Ian (his first name), predicted a mirror-image result: a 2-1 win for RSL. Now, if we’re both wrong, we’ll have to figure out some form of punishment…and, without verification, I’m not about to revive a favorite from my betting past: losers drink 40 oz. of heated malt liquor (seriously, it’s worse than you could possibly imagine). I’ll keep working on it…

In other Crew news, Stephani Miglioranzi picked up a puff piece on MLSnet.com today, one that accdidentally answers the proposal I floated in a post yesterday about how the Crew should make space for Guillermo Schelotto: specifically, I dubbed Miglioranzi the compromised-groin fat that ought to be trimmed. What has me reconsidering is what the MLSnet.com article says about where and how Miglioranzi plays; as I’m reading it, he sounds like a player similar to Ned Grabavoy - maybe even Duncan Oughton or Danny O’Rourke. Given what Oughton means to the Crew, he’s not an option; given I think they’d be silly to trade Grabavoy, O’Rourke suddenly becomes a possibility.

Whatever happens, I still prefer trading/waiving a player to demoting a player to a developmental paycheck. And, of the players I keep putting on the block, I think I’d go with O’Rourke at this point.