Grab the Parkas, Kids: It’s the Home Opener!

According to the venerable WNYC, the weather on Sunday is supposed to be such that we only see “every 20 years or so.” At the moment the forecast is for 50 MPH winds, combined with up to six inches of precipitation, in the form of rain and/or snow. Yikes. Never fear, though, the game will go on: In their new weekly pregame email, RBNY assures us that “The match on April 15th vs. FC Dallas will be played as scheduled, rain or shine.” Because, hell, if baseball players can stand outside in the snow, we’ll be damned if we’re going to cancel the game for a little Nor’easter. (Of course, none of this is mentioned on the team website, where they’re still manfully trying to sell tickets to the apocalypse match.)

On the pitch, meanwhile, the primary issue is the one everyone feared /assumed would crop up eventually: Reyna’s health. As Chris mentioned yesterday, he’s still struggling with the leg injury he picked up last weekend when a torpedo by the name of Dane Richards smashed into his leg. Though Claudio early in the week suggested it would just take a few days for him to return to full fitness, the reality of the situation has turned out to be slightly different. Sigh. While Chris’ info suggests Reyna will start, Ives Galarcep feels the odds are 50-50 that Reyna will be left on the bench. Ives’ feeling is that the old man won’t risk playing on a leg that’s not fully healed (despite being the only selling point in RBNY’s current advertising scheme), so it’s likely to be a game-time decision.

Assuming Reyna can go (ha ha), the starting lineup is likely to be the same as it was last weekend in Columbus, though we can certainly expect to see Clint Mathis feature at some point in the match. If Reyna can’t go, I’d love to see Mathis dropped into the midfield and attacking from there, leaving Dema behind to hold down the fort. Obviously Cletus will do much less work for others than Reyna does but, hell, we need goals. Until Angel (please, please, please) shows up, why not give it a shot? I mean, we brought the man in to score, right? Seeing as how we’ve not done that in our last two home openers, it’d be nice to change things up a little right about now.

For their part, Dallas will be tired and, if we’re lucky, horribly bruised and mentally scarred after their draw with LA on Thursday. The short rest will undoubtedly affect their legs to some degree but this early in the season, it’s unlikely anyone will be so fatigued they’ll fall apart late. Dammit.

I’m going to try to watch the game online though, based on the fine-print problems Laurie encountered with MLSnet’s video earlier week, I’m not hopeful. Enjoy it, those of you who are heading out. Or, at the very least, try to survive.

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Category: CURRENT ROSTER, Claudio Reyna, Red Bulls, Team News