Toronto FC vs. Chivas USA - Apr. 22nd 2009

[Gian-Luca]

What Serioux says makes sense - at 4 or 5 years older than Harmse and much more experience at that position there should be an experience advantage to using Velez. The trade-off is that Harmse has more speed and Velez is still more prone to the incredible gaffe than Harmse is - at least IMO. It will be interesting to see what happens with Carver gone now - Cummins said after the last game that they only sat Harmse to give him some rest with 3 games in 7 days, which is fair enough, but I suspect we will see Velez remain in there for now.

[BearcatSA]

quote:Originally posted by Gian-Luca

What Serioux says makes sense - at 4 or 5 years older than Harmse and much more experience at that position there should be an experience advantage to using Velez. The trade-off is that Harmse has more speed and Velez is still more prone to the incredible gaffe than Harmse is - at least IMO. It will be interesting to see what happens with Carver gone now - Cummins said after the last game that they only sat Harmse to give him some rest with 3 games in 7 days, which is fair enough, but I suspect we will see Velez remain in there for now.

Regardless of Serioux's opinions and Velez's recent performance, the Puerto Rico international still has to string together some consistent, steady efforts to prove to me and others that he's the fulltime foil for Serioux and not just a stopgap until another option arrives.

When I heard Cummins say that they were resting Harmse my initial reaction was to take that statement with a grain of salt, but since then I have thought about it and it's quite possible he might have had some niggly symptoms that could potentially have mushroomed into something worse (i.e. tight hamstrings, tender groin), we don't know, so I am more willing to take that on face value. Though I rag on him alot as regular starter material because of his limitations, I still see him as an important squad guy who could serve as a decent utility player for a number spots (CB, FB, mid) when the dog days of summer arrive, sort of filling the Pozniak role from year one. And successful teams need guys like that who'll jump in as and when needed to fill the breach, and I hope he embraces that role. If he ends up starting in the Amway...er Nutrilite Cup and makes key contributions against the Whitecaps and the Impact, then that's bonus.