I'd run out the same line up and same sub pattern with hopefully the third one being Jozy instead of Mullins or (hopefully) Omar to hold the fort late.
Don't mess with what's working.
2019
Patriots win the Super Bowl, as the road team.
Blues beat the Bruins 3/4 times away, including Game 7 in Boston to win the Cup.
Raptors beat the Warriors 3/3 times away, including Game 6 in Golden State to win the Larry OB.
Nationals win the WS in 7 games, all road victories.
Both MLS Conf Finals, road wins.
I mean, that's kind of cool....
It wasn't working very well last night though. We were incredibly fortunate to advance. We capitalized on the only 2 chances we generated.
With another week and a half to recuperate, I would definitely start Gonzalez. With Jozy, we'll have to wait and see where he's at.
I would agree with this analysis.
I think you start Gonzalez. To be fair, Ciman has impressed me over the last few games. For the most part, gone seems the out to lunch sprawling tackles (though he did one just before the penalty last night). But he has been a stay at home, more conservative defender for the most part, and that pass to Benezet was wonderful. But I would take the stability of Gonzalez, which also should allow Bradley to roam upfield a bit more, and even Mavinga as well.
With respect to Altidore, I bet he is 50/50 even with another week and a bit. But if he can go, I think you start him. I liked the Mullins sub last night, because it allowed Pozuelo to drop back and try to influence the play more. Pozuelo is great in many ways, but he is not strong on the ball, can't do hold up play and if he holds on too long, he often gets pushed off by a defender. So with Altidore's strength up front, you have a Route 1 channel, and Pozuelo can drop back into what is a more natural (and effective) position for him.
I might also start Laryea. I think it has worked very well to have Auro do the first half and then Laryea come in later, but it takes up a substitution. When Mavinga went down with what looked like an arm injury last night, I got a little scared as we had used up all our subs. I think we need to take it to Seattle and get an early goal, so having Laryea running down the wing earlier in the game, sounds like the right approach.
Now it is obvious that my years of armchair coaching far outweigh the skill and experience of the TFC coaching team, so they should obviously just do as I say :-)
To be honest, they don't think like that about their win and 2017 at all. They know how they won & why they lost. They are cool with it.
To both them and us, this is all just part of the journey.
*******
Which raises another point.
Our team defined itself by that 2017 win...and then redefined itself in 2018, negatively, by the pain of the CCL near miss.
I think our team has finally put that past them and redefined itself as
fkn team fkn works
No matter what happens in this game, TFC are here again - a fkn team that fkn works
Agreed with ManUtd4ever and GerMc.
One thing to keep in mind that was evident in the Atlanta game is that when the opposition can cut off channels to Pozuelo is when he seems poor up front.
That's different from the DC United and NYCE games where Pozuelo was able to play a key role because there were channels to get him the ball.
I expect the Seattle game to be more like the Atlanta game, so having a tall target man like Jozy up front would be a positive because Pozuelo can't do the hold up role. I'd play Jozy, if fit, which means Pozuelo plays out wide or Vanney switches from 4-3-3.
Having Jozy beasting his way around the box will open things up for Pozuelo just it did for Seba. Gives them more space to operate and do their thing. The uncertainty of Jozy playing or not will be a the forefront of the 10 days. Will be interesting to see how the Reds play it, guess it will come down to what they know from the scan he had earlier this week.
Remember The Man, The Legend, The Goal 5-12-07 and All That #9 Left On The Pitch, Thanks For The Memories !!!
First 10 minutes were horrendous for Ciman last night... up until Westberg made the PK save it looked as though it was going to be a very dour evening for us at the stadium. From our view you could see in super detail how different the ball bounces on that pitch, and how well trained the Atlanta players are tuned to it. They were pouncing on our defence like vultures. Thankfully the boys adjusted and were able to stem the flow after that. We also stopped making suicide lateral passes in the back. A nerve racking one and very fortunate to come out with the W!
For anyone close to the Buffalo airport, you can use FlyFrontier (which is Denver based). Flights are about $115 USD Buffalo to Seattle one way.
I just used them to fly to Portland. It's a low cost airline that does the trick.
Here's a link via the TFC subreddit - https://i.redd.it/fzcm99ii8wv31.jpg
The only change I'd make would be Gonzalez for Ciman. I'd also like to start Altidore, but that's on Vanney to know if he can make it through at least 60 minutes or not. If not Bring on Altidore in the 55th minute or earlier if we are down or tied. Bring Lareya and Deleon shortly after. But if Altidore is good to go, any chance we go back to a 4-4-2? I mean we won a championship with the 4-4-2... just saying.
------Benezet-Altidore
Osorio-Pozuelo-Bradley
----------Delgado
Morrow-Mavinga-Gonzalez-Auro
His passing is good but those boneheaded moments are in every game. He just didn’t get burned with them in the last couple and got lucky. I would rather have Gonzalez as a lower risk option plus we get much better aerial presence. Ciman should always be backup to a fit Gonzalez in my opinion. Only takes the one boneheaded moment to burn us in a tight game. Yeah Bradley I am looking at you too. Bradley is good for one poor turnover per game. Hope he gets it out of the way early this time. This will be a win ugly match. I can’t see it getting too open.