Pig War 2010

The last time Great Britain and the U.S. fought it was over the San Juan Islands north of Seattle in what's commonly referred to as the Pig War. A Sounder is a group of wild pigs. Tomorrow the Rapids, led by a British coach, play the Sounders, led by a top candidate for the next U.S. National Team coach, in Seattle. Con incidence? Game time on Sunday is at 8:30pm MDT and the game is on FOX Soccer Channel. As many readers know, Seattle is my home town, in fact on the map at left I grew up right where "WHIDBEY" is written. Still no split loyalties on this one, Rapids till I die!

Injury Report:

OUT: MF Ciaran O'Brien (L hip sprain); FW Ross Schunk (R ACL tear);

PROBABLE: DF Julien Baudet (L knee strain)

Discipline Report:

TWO CAUTIONS FROM SUSPENSION: Conor Casey, Omar Cummings, Pablo Mastroeni

Seattle has 6 players on their injury report, so they're a bit beat up. I don't expect Julian Baudet to jump right back into the starting XI, but I could see him coming off the bench. My guess on the starting lineup:

Pickens

Kimura - Wynne - Moor - Earls

Larentowicz - Pablo

Cummings - Ballouchy - Smith

Casey

Palguta was a disaster last week, so I'm assuming Earls will get his starting spot back. I'd like to see Lopez start in place of Ballouchy, but I don't think Gary Smith is ready to make that move..

Key To Look For: Can we play for 90 minutes? The last two games we've played for about 20, and managed to get a loss and a draw. Seattle is weak enough that we can win this game on the road, if we show up to play for the full time.

Prediction: 1-1 draw, goal by Conor Casey. Honestly the way the team's been playing I think I'm being optimistic predicting a draw, but Seattle really isn't a good team right now. If we have any hope of making the playoffs we need to get at least a point out of this game.