Add to these games a June 30 US Cup game vs. the Minnesota Thunder up in Minnesota (will we ever play a US Cup game at home?) and a 4th of July MLS game vs. the Houston Dynamo. All in all a busy schedule for KC who, according to Mike Kuhn from Down by the line will be missing Davy Arnaud and Roger Espinoza who have been called up for US and Honduras National Team duties for the Gold Cup and Scotsman Kevin Souter due to injury.

I’m on the fence with the Superliga since we are getting the Mexican teams just starting preseason (Atlas started on June 3rd) and they don’t seem to be taking this too seriously (A few days back Mike also reported that Atlas is bringing a B-Team for the match to give their younger players, hungry for a position with the first team, a shot with this game.), but at the same time I think that it gives our team some national/international exposure and some of the Reserve might get a chance to shine (that is why I hate seeing Espinoza leave since he would have surely played SL and US Cup, while I think he most likely will be on the bench during the Gold Cup; hopefully I’m wrong). Still, like I said before, if we do make it to the SL finals, there is some good money involved so that’s always a plus.

On a side note, I really hope KC takes the US Cup seriously and that Portland beats Seattle so that we can finally host another US CUP down (it’s been a while since the Colorado game in Shawnee Mission). Winning the US Cup would give us an automatic berth in the Concacaf Champions League which is clearly more important than the Superliga.

Back to the Atlas game, with Arnaud and Espinoza out I expect to see either Kurt Morsink or Graham Zusi (not impressed by him yet) on the field and maybe Abe Thompson in for Lopez so that the man can get some rest. Still, because of the 5 games in 2 weeks and having 3 players less, Onalfo will have to carefully manage the lineups. Saddly if there is one game that will have a majority of the Reserves on the field it probably will be the US Cup game due to its proximity to the Houston game.

Sunday’s game is going to be tricky. Atlas coach Ricardo Lavolpe is a sly fox with many years of coaching (including stints with the Mexico NT) and young players sometimes are not phased by the fact that it’s a preseason game and will actually care since they are fighting for a roster spot. This will be a tough game for KC.

I see this as the starting 11 against Atlas:

————–Hartman——————
Watson—Hohlbein—Conrad/McKenzie—Besler

Jewsbury—Hirsig—Morsink(Zusi)—Gomez

Wolff—Lopez(Thompson)

Final score: KC 2- ATL 0

P.S. At least one red card per team.

By the way, those of you, who like me cannot go to STL, you can either watch the game online on www.SuperLiga2009.com or on Telefutura which is on some of the cable and satellite Spanish packages. US Cup games will also be available online at their site, but more on that next week.

Also, thanks to Alan, blogger for the offside.com’s Atlas page for providing the list of players that are going to Saint Louis. You can find the list here:

http://atlas.theoffside.com/team-news/superliga-2009-player-list.html#comment-366

Best of luck to those of you going to STL.

The big story this weekend, as the Crew try to sweep the season series, is if the Crew will be able to overcome the international absences of Alejandro Moreno (Venezuela), Duncan Oughton (New Zealand) and Frankie Hejduk (USNT) for this game at Community America Ballpark. KC on the other hand is only missing Roger Espinoza (Honduras) who came in at the end of the LA game and provided an assist in KC’s only goal.

I anticipate a tough match for KC, that gets Josh Wolff and Santiago Hirsig back after their suspensions last week. Keving Souter and Michel Harrington will again be on the bench after a pretty bad game vs. LA (to Harrington’s credit although his game was very bad and his passing was horrendous, but he at least tried to get involved in the game instead of hiding on the left side of the fields and being a non factor like Souter was).

Jack Jewsbury will move back to A-Mid where he has done fairly well the last few weeks (except for the LA game where he was D-Mid) and Arnaud and Gomez will be on the wings rotating sides and moving up at times letting Lopez fall back to the the left wing for periods of the game.

I am a bit worried about the Crew’s speed and the fact that Emmanuel Ekpo will give Lance Watson a lot of trouble. Also, forwards Steven Lenhart (if he starts for Moreno) and Pat Noonan could be problematic for the KC defense due to their physical play. On the upside for KC, Will Hesmer is still out which means that the unreliable Andy Gruenebaum will be manning the goal for the Crew. Although the Crew are missing 3 players, I think that Hejduk’s leadership is going to be sorely missed by C-bus and will also be a factor in a scrappy game like this one.

Since KC didn’t lose (very important fact when talking about Curt Onalfo teams) and with the return of Wolff and Hirsig, Curt Onalfo, true to form, will most likely use a lineup similar to the one against Chivas USA 2 weeks ago (except for Espinoza)

Hartman
Watson-Holhbein-Conrad-Besler
Gomez-Jewsbury-Hirsig-Arnaud
Wolff-Lopez

If that is the lineup my guess for subs will be Harrington, Zusi, and Thompson; probably in that order. I also anticipate that Crew goal will come through the right side of the KC defense. (I’m going to start keeping tally of my score predictions as well as the subs and the side of the defense that gives up the goal.)

I see a very physical game where there will be a quite a few yellows but where KC will manage to score twice and edge the Crew. By the way, another great game for Keving Hartman.

Final Score KC 2 – Crew 1