What a season on the way . . .

The East is going to be a dog fight. I said if the Revs beat Houston last weekend then they'd be Supporters' Shield winners, but it's not as obvious as I once thought. While we have every possibility of being 11-1-2 very soon, we could be facing a 12-1-2 Red Bulls team immediately after that. The way JP Angel looked (and that was bored with the ease of the game, and phenomenal) and the rest of the NY attacking options fit together, the Revs certainly have a large task in front of them. Still, the easy schedule for NER coming up combined with Red Bull playing 6 of their next 7 on the road means it should be very conceivable to have at least gained some sort of a lead in the East. However, Bob Bradley is trying to take away that possibility. Here's what I see in the Gold Cup time:

------Cristman----Noonan-------

------------Dorman--------------

--Khano-------------------Wells--

--------Ginger----Shalrie---------

-----Riley---Hernandez----Heaps-----

------------Reis---------------------

This lineup assumes Avery's absence with T&T. The problem right now lies in that right midfield spot since Wells is listed as questionable for this weekend. If his injury continues to be a problem, the options aren't looking very good. So far I've come up with one . . . Noonan at RM, Khano at forward, and Franchino at left. I guess option #2 would be Riley playing on the right at mid, and possibly a return for Marshall Leonard at left back. I think Noonan and Cristman will be very successful together if Noons can get his mojo back. We'll see . . . Khano will definitely have to step up as well though and get some good crosses in. It's going to be an interesting time. Another problem will clearly be depth. The only substitute options the Revs have seen so far are on the defensive side of the ball with Franchino and Flood. Willie Sims and Bryan Byrne may be called upon to try to spark some offense, but their results are very much unknown. I think a lot of Revs fans may soon be wishing Cancela was around still . . .

Which brings me to another thing to discuss: the TFC/RSL trade. This seems to be very bad for both teams, but we'll let this weekend sort it out. As far as I see it, Toronto's forward role should be someone to play off Dichio. Cunningham plays of no one. He is the ideal solo striker, and can't do nearly as well as Alecko with Big Dan. Combine that with the fact that Alecko was already a fan favorite with his own blog on the team's website, and I have absolutely no idea what Mo is doing. Sending a first round pick also seems a bit strange. TFC . . . just when things were looking better . . . And for RSL, Alecko can't do it alone. Cunningham was the perfect fit. Alecko is fast, cagey, and pesky, but he's not a guy who can create his own goals out of thin air like Cunningham could. He needs a second forward and RSL doesn't have one. Even if Salt Lake can somehow wrestle Shalrie away from the Revs, he's not going to aid in the goal scoring process and Alecko is going to be starved for attention. On the subject of Shalrie, I just can't see it happening since I doubt he'd want to go to a loser. Just get him a contract . . .

Lastly, I'm very excited for the Gold Cup. It'll definitely be a challenge this time around once we get out of the group stage. All I ask is that Twellman gets a chance . . .