There was a cartoon in the New Yorker back in 1993, long before the joke would have made any sense, in which a dog at a computer terminal tells a canine companion, "On the Internet, nobody knows you're a dog." In the 18 intervening years, we've come to learn that you can fairly effectively replace "dog" with pretty much anything. In this case, on the Internet, no one knows I'm a tactical dunce.
Whoops. Cover blown. Full disclosure and all that. Nonetheless, I present to you my projected lineup for Friday night's World Cup qualification opener not from any position of authority or expertise, but rather to start a dialogue. A debate. Heck, the title of this post is a question. So, help me answer it.
[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
Anyway, here's my shot in the dark:
DeRosario -- Jackson
Simpson -- de Guzman -- Hutchinson -- Johnson
Klukowski --- McKenna --- Hainault --- Peters
Hirschfeld
This is essentially who I perceive to be the starting 11 out of this group, in a configuration that could change slightly (or massively). Yes, it goes against the psuedo 4-3-3 that coach Stephen Hart has been utilizing as of late, but lacking all of the regular target men (Rob Friend, Ali Gerba, and even the red-hot Olivier Occean), methinks we could see an up-front pairing of DeRo and Jacko. Hasn't really been tried before, but hey, only one way to find out if it'll work, right?
Hirschfeld gets the nod over Borjan based simply on experience. Yes, everyone's falling over themselves to anoint Borjan as the saviour, but I've got a suspicion that Hart will "dance with the one that brung him", as it were, at least for the opening game or two. But this one could come down to a coin flip, really.
Maybe I'm unfairly favouring youth over experience (and placing less emphasis on current playing time) by including Jaime Peters over Ante Jazic. So there's a chance we'll see the 35-year-old King of Donair alumnus in the starting 11. Given that David Edgar only got onto the side as a member of the taxi squad, I'm guessing he won't be going 90 minutes, as much as some supporters may want him to.
Given that Hart is going to be cautious with Atiba Hutchinson, it wouldn't be shocking to see him leave the game prior to full-time, have DeRo drop back a bit and bring either Iain Hume or Tosaint Ricketts into the fray as an offensive super-sub.
So what do you think? Does it make vague sense? Am I so far off the mark that it hurts? Who do you see lining up in red on Friday evening? Add your thoughts below.
.