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The Lineup and Tactics for 2000
by Buzz

As long as Dave Dir is the coach of the Burn, and he will be for a while, the Burn will play a 3-5-2.

The Burn has made several moves this offseason, but the majority of last years starters return.  Unless there is an injury, here is what we can expect to see in the early part of the season.

Dade is at right back because Brandon Pollard is still rehabbing his broken leg. 

Dave Dir has indicated several times that he wants another impact player at the back.  Who he would replace is a good question, as the back three of Pollard, Farrer and Zarco played well together last season.  So at some point this season look for the arrival of a big time Defender.  Ricardo Iribarren may be signed for now, but he is not the kind of player Dir was talking about.  Dir is looking for someone the quality of Luis Kubik of Chicago.  Best bet is Farrer is the odd man out in this scenario.  In fact if this stopper is found Farrer could go to right back with Zarco returning to the midfield, perhaps for Eck. 

By the way, this spot for another international is due to Oscar Pareja's impending green card.  In fact, if Daniv eventually gets a card too, the Burn will be down to two internationals.

Developments over the season...

1. Dir's 1st goal for the season is to end the dependence of Santel or Daniv on the left, since both are really right sided players.  To that end the Burn drafted a couple of left sided players, most notably Antonio Martinez.   While he is not ready to start now, Dir thinks he will be ready soon, possibly 1/3 of way into the season.

2. Ariel Graziani will be gone for something like 10 games, so there will be a three way battle between Aleksey Korol, Bobby Rhine, and Paul Broome to play up top with Jason Kreis.  Earlier in the year it will be Bobby Rhine due to his experience, but Korol will be hard to keep out of the lineup.  Unfortunately for Paul Broome he is a bit of a "tweener" like Jason Kreis and might actually see more playing time subbing for Kreis, Pareja, or a wing player then filling in for Graziani.

3. Lazo Alavanja will begin to get more playing time.   Dir thinks of him in a role similar to Deering or possibly Eck, but not in Pareja's spot.  Which leaves the team a little thin at the withdrawn striker/offensive mid spot.  The obvious solution is for Kreis to drop back into the hole or for Deering to move forward, neither of these two solutions is ideal however.  The player we picked up from Chicago in the waiver draft, Rincon, could also be an option, but little is known about him right now...

So What...

All this could make for a different lineup by the end of the season.  Perhaps something like this...

Here is the Depth Chart now...

The Burn also have three college protected players in Seth Marks, Angel Rivillo, and Steve Bernal who are finishing the school year.