Well, this should be about the easiest road trip of the season for the team. Should be two wins, if not easy wins. I notice that neither game is being webcast...is regular radio covering? Yeah, sure.

Why do you think Cincinnati will be a "easy win"? They've been playing some pretty good soccer recently.

So squeaking by Charlotte & beating Indiana equate to playing good soccer? My - my, haven't we lowered the bar a little bit?

Maybe the bar has been lowered to limbo levels, but a win is a win is a win. . .

I hope that the Pats can have a good weekend on the road. Just heard that Ahmed Figueroa might not be making the trip, he picked up an injury in practice this week. Also, the Pats have Jose Diaz listed on the roster but he has yet to sign with them. Are they being a little optimistic about this player? Heard that he has offers from Rochester and Syracuse on the table and is waiting to make a decision. Good luck this weekend guys.

Diaz was the Patriots' draft pick if memory serves, so if Rochester and Syracuse want him they may have to pay for him.

Figueroa's injury shouldn't hurt too much -- frankly Javier Carrasco has been a step better at that same spot in relief of Ahmed, who has also received two yellow cards in two matches. Carrasco hasn't played more than a half of soccer, though, so I don't know about his conditioning. The coaches do like both of these guys, and Figueroa had a much better second match against Minnesota.

It should be an interesting road trip. I think we'll see if the Pats have improved based on this trip as they've never really done well on the road. They were 2-0 vs. Cincy last season and 1-1 vs. the Blast, winning at home, losing on the road.

It'll also be interesting to hear how Fred Estrada does in goal against his old team in Cincy. Hopefully he feels he has something to prove.

As for radio -- nada.

I believe El Paso lost to Minnesota 1-0 at home, Cincinnati lost to them 1-0 in Minnesota. Sounds like the teams maybe more even than you think. I'll go with Cincinnati 2-0.

How about these reasons?

1. Took Virginia Beach to the limit...game would have gone to OT except for Washington's goal in the last 10 seconds

2. Beat Charlotte 1-0...controlled 80% of the game, Charlotte did not have very many chances to score

3. Whupped Indiana...I know, they're not that great, but a win is a win

4. Nearly tied Minnesota in the last 15 minutes of the game

I would say they are playing pretty good...considering just about everyone everywhere (including the league) has predicted them to be horrible, which isn't the case.

El Paso was ahead 2-nil when Minnesota scored a late goal in the second match - that'a a bonafide credible A-League win - both the Cincy wins are equivalent to pre-season scrimmage wins against some college teams IMO.

I predict an El-Paso sweep over Indy & Cincy this weekend.

I don't think anybody thought the team would be horrible, at least at the start of the season. In 2002, the Riverhawks were 3-1 to start the season, and were 7-8 on July 20 before going 1-12 for the rest of the season. Over the last four games of 2002, they gave up a total of 20 goals. If there any reason to believe the situation this year is any different than last year?

I think the Riverhawks are dangerous at the beginning of the season when the players feel they have something to prove. But if the situation degrades like it did last year, another collapse over the last half of the season is certainly a possibility. But I certainly wouldn't want to play them early in the year. I think teams still have to take them seriously, at least for now.