Fecteau: Prepare For Fallout
Bench depth by both clubs will be tested after a short turnaround from U.S. Open Cup competition Wednesday night
Portland Press Herald’s Steve Craig asked about possible squad rotation for Spokane and Hearts head coach Bobby Murphy stated that they are going to have to rotate the squad against the Spokane Velocity.
“When you’re a small club, you can only fight a war on so many fronts,” Murphy said. “We felt it was really important to put our best available group out in front of the home crowd and try to move forward in the cup, and then we’d deal with the fallout when it came to Spokane.”
Prepare for fallout.
Both Spokane and Portland played U.S. Open Cup matches on Wednesday night and both went to extra time. The Hearts of course with their Round 2 thriller win against Hartford Athletic. Spokane with its extra time loss on an own goal to the MLS Next Pro side Tacoma Defiance.
But there’s good news for the Hearts. Masashi Wada arrived in Maine Tuesday night before the Cup match against Hartford Athletic. An understandable glassy eyed Wada could be seen waving to the fans prior to match kick off and being led around the grounds by Khalid Hersi making some introductions.
“Saturday”, Bobby Murphy stated very matter-of-factly when asked when we would realistically see Masashi Wada on the pitch for the Hearts.
“We’re bringing him with us to Spokane,” Murphy said. “He’s got a uniform with his number and name on it. We’ll see how he feels after being dragged three time zones in the other direction. He’s been desperate to get here.”
By my rough calculation Wada has logged some 9,500 miles in flight since Tuesday to get to the Spokane match on Saturday. As much fans would love to see Wada in the starting lineup, it’s difficult to think he’s going to be up for a full 90 minutes.
Let’s predict the starting XI against Spokane.
Predicted Starting XI
After a stellar goalkeeper performance by Hunter Morse in the cup match, I think Bobby Murphy stays with the hot hand knowing there could be pressure expected on his net minder.
I think we’ll see Quinones, Vinburg, Wright, Camacho across the backline. Messer has got to get some rest after running endlessly for three straight matches. Shandon Wright hasn’t seen a lot of playing time this year, and I think he’ll get the start next to Vinburg, who will lead the backline.
In the midfield we’ll see Langlois in his familiar No. 6 role, Mikey Lopez will be the No.8 and Riley will take over Ollie Wright’s role in the No.10 spot.
The forward line will be Evan Southern taking over right-wing duties from Walter Varela, Jake Keegan will get his first start of the year, alongside young Titus Washington who was subbed off in the 75th minute of last match.
Tonight, will be a bench depth test for both clubs. Can the weary Hearts get it done on the road? Tune in tonight at 9 PM on ESPN+ to find out.
Check out the latest live Post-Match Pulse episode by the makers of From The Forest, To The Tide after the magical Round 2 Cupset over Hartford Athletic. From The Forest, To The Tide is part of The Blazing Musket family.