Nov. 5, 2008 GETTING HIS MESSAGE ACROSS Osorio: Rojas deserved to be benched
Juan Carlos Osorio on Jorge Rojas and his teammates: "There are no automatic choices in this team. . . . My message for everybody is that you need to earn your spot." Linda Cuttone/Sports Vue Images
By Michael Lewis
BigAppleSoccer.com Editor
Red Bulls coach Juan Carlos Osorio won't name a starting lineup for the second leg of his team's total goals playoff series with the Houston Dynamo until Saturday.
But his starting lineup decisions can't be as startling as last week, when he surprisingly benched playmaking midfielder and Venezeulan captain Jorge Rojas and Argentine defensive midfielder Juan Pietravallo.
He said he was sending them, particularly Rojas, a message.
"That's exactly what it is," Osorio said. "There are no automatic choices in this team. Probably there is one or two. . . .. For the time being, my message for everybody is that you need to earn your spot.
"They also know my take on that kind of situation. They also know that I am not afraid to play the guys who I think deserved the chance. Rotating the team is part of my thing that I believe in. Basically what happened on Saturday, it paid off for us."
Osorio said Rojas and company will be considered for a starting spot Sunday.
"They are all in the mix," he said. "The one thing is. you never know with injuries. Yesterday in training, it was a hard training session, one of the guys got hurt, hopefully he will be ready to go. But we'll see what happens with having the day off and coming back on Thursday. We'll try different starting lineups and by Saturday we will decide who is starting."
That guy was midfielder Dane Richards, whom Osorio said was nicked up in a collision with back-up goalkeeper Terry Boss and is expected to train today. Neither player trained with the team on Tuesday.
Jorge could not be reached for comment at Tuesday's practice because an interpreter could not be found. The team had Wednesday off.
