Lord Blackadder - Liverpool is one thing, well, two, but what about tomorrow night?
Indeed, big night for the Crew tomorrow...
One thing that I find to be ridiculous about the Open Cup Final is that it is not played at a neutral ground - we have to play Seattle in their home stadium - which, by the way, is a plastic pitch, not appropriate for a final IMO.
Columbus are not playing well at the moment, we just drew 0-0 at home on the weekend against San Jose, a game we should have won. We have more strikers than ever now, with Renteria, Lenhart, Garey and Mendoza all healthy and available (not to mention Schelotto, who plays as a second striker) and yet we just can't find the back of the net anymore. Key center back Chad Marshall is again available, as is longtime injury absentee winger Robbie Rogers, but I'm not sure where those two players (critical to our success in '08) are going to be in terms of match fitness. With Kansas City's loss at the weekend we are officially in the playoffs, still second in the East and still in the running for three major trophies (we need a win in Trinidad & Tobago to advance to the Champions League quarterfinals), but the squad are off form and will need to really pick things up tomorrow in Seattle. We need a big game from everyone but the strikers in particular need to have a big performance.
Despite losing Freddy Ljungberg, Seattle are playing really well right now, and they will attack us in the final. We are going to have to hope that we keep it tight defensively and maximize our chances against the ageing but still excellent Seattle keeper.