Preseason Friendlies Recap

3 days, 2 games, lots of lineups.  Lets get to it.

Saturday it was the Ventura County Fusion, a USL Division II (formerly known as the PDL) team for two 30-minute halves.  We went with this group for the full 60 minutes:

Howard

Rosenberry - Sjoberg - Smith - Serna

Price

Acosta - Feilhaber

Mezquida

Rubio - Shinyashiki

This group went to town on the lower competition, as you would expect.  Mezquida scored in the first 30 seconds, after 23 minutes the team was up 4-0 with both Mezquida and Rubio having a brace, and in the 51st minute Shinyashiki got on the board to finish the scoring at 5-0.  Good to see the team doing what it should do against a lower-league team, but beyond that there's not much to take from this.

This afternoon the Rapids faced Toronto in a 75 minute game (45 minute first half, 30 minute second).  Things didn't go as well.  Our starting XI:was the same as Saturday

Howard

Rosenberry - Sjoberg - Smith - Serna

Price

Acosta - Feilhaber

Mezquida

Rubio - Shinyashiki

Toronto scored inside the first 10 minutes and the Rapids didn't mount much of an attack in the first half.  At halftime the Rapids made a number of subs:

Howard

Rosenberry - Sjoberg - Anderson (Academy) - Serna

Price

Bassett - Feilhaber

Mezquida

Rubio - Shinyashiki

Blomberg subbed in for Feilhaber later in the half.  This group did better, creating a number of chances, but not scoring.  Toronto got a second before the end of the game.

No need to panic yet, but 3 games in and our offense has only shown up against the lower-league side.  It would be good to get some goals when we play the Galaxy.

One thing I think we can take from the first 3 games is that we have a really good idea who the starting XI will be on March 2nd, assuming everyone is healthy.  The starting lineup in these games is pretty much it, except that Kamara will clearly start over Shinyashiki and I'm almost certain Ford will start over Sjoberg.  The only unsettled spot I think is left back.  Vines has been injured and if I had to bet money on the starter I'd put it on him, but the fact that Serna is getting time there over Wynne is interesting.  It could mean that they've settled on Wynne as the starter already, or it could be that Wynne may not get much time at all this season.  That's the one battle that bears more examination.