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The Cosmos head to Texas on Saturday, for what should be a preview of next weekend's NASL semifinal. For the second year in a row, they'll be taking on their first postseason opponent in the same venue as they played a meaningless regular season finale. The contest will be streamed on ESPN3 as well as NASL Live,which will be the case for next week's fixture as well.
The lack of importance in the standings doesn't make this game entirely meaningless though, as both sides will certainly be working on things in advance of the upcoming playoffs. Realistically, both sides are expecting to be playing for a title in two weeks, so they'l likely be tinkering tonight with that goal in mind.
For Cosmos' forward Hans Denissen, tonight will have some personal importance as well. It's the first time that Denissen has been fit enough to play at his old stomping grounds, and I'm sure he'd love to put on a show in his first game back in San Antonio if he makes it off Savarese's bench. In addition, is future is probably largely in doubt after an injury-riddled season and the signing of Real Madrid legend, Raul.
With that in mind, here's the lineup that coach Gio Savarese has decided to use this evening:
Here is our starting XI for the final match of the Fall Season! Kickoff v. @SAScorpions at 8:30pm ET. #RallytoRepeat pic.twitter.com/lSstiKbLSj
— New York Cosmos (@NYCosmos) November 1, 2014
The Scorpions will line up as follows:
SCORPIONS FIRST XI AND BENCH: #SASvNYC #Fight4Fall pic.twitter.com/ZiYeStp5X7
— SA Scorpions (@SAScorpions) November 1, 2014
Since the result really doesn't matter all that much tonight, let's just hope for a good showing, and no injuries or red cards.