This is a common feature you'll see as we go forward. I'll quickly sum up all of the week's action and toss out a few thoughts on where everyone stands in the league. Some games will get more coverage than others depending on how much I get to watch and how closely, and how much extra I care about the teams involved.
Game Reports
New York and Chicago was the most anticipated game of the week, featuring 5 designated players, two of whom were making their MLS debuts, and national HD coverage on ESPN2. The game ended 0-0, but hopefully that didn't turn off the casual fan as the overall soccer was a great display of skill not usually seen in an MLS game. Castillo went 30 minutes, Henry went 45 minutes, Marquez went about 60, and Ljungberg and JPA made it all 90. Hopefully Henry, Marquez and JPA will be ready to go this Wednesday at home against TFC. The word is that Henry came out with a strained groin, but he doesn't think it's going to be a big deal.
Philadelphia lost two games this week, first 2-1 at home against Columbus and then 3-1 on the road at FC Dallas. The obvious problem is either that they need more Danny Mwanga, or that they had to play two of the best teams in the league over a span of 5 days. I'm going with MORE MWANGA!! Watch out for FC Dallas if Jeff Cunningham gets going though. They are already a very good team, but adding his scoring touch to Ferreira, Brek Shea and Atiba Harris would be brutal.
Toronto FC beat Chivas USA 2-1 at home. Chad Barrett kept up his good run of form with what turned out to be the game winning goal. Maicon looked great again and seems to be fitting in very well with the team. Justin Braun had a number of good chances for Chivas, but he couldn't find the net this game.
Seattle and Houston closed out the weekend. Seattle won 2-0 with Montero providing a goal and an assist. Alvaro Fernandez got the other goal, scoring his second goal in his second appearance. That's 2 goals in 67 total minutes played, quite the ratio so far! I know it's early in his career there, but judging by how he interacted with his teammates after the goal I think he's going be a great locker room presence on top of his talent. That's certainly an upgrade over Ljungberg.
Colorado beat San Jose 1-0 at home on a howler of a mistake from Jon Busch.
Coach Ben Olsen wasn't enough to keep DC from continuing their losing ways, as they went down 1-0 to New England in Boston. It's hard to turn away from this team right now, kinda like a car wreck on the interstate.
Real Salt Lake quickly answered an early Kansas City goal by Kei Kamara with a tally from Robbie Findley in the 33rd minute. That was all the scoring though, and the game ended tied 1-1.
Random Thoughts
Sean Johnson was easily MOTM for Chicago. A very athletic 21 year old got introduced to MLS this past week by facing the two scariest attacks in the league, LA and NY. While you would understand a rookie making some costly mistakes against these skilled veteran attacks, Johnson actually performed very well. He's been up against 41 shots, 13 of them on goal, and has only given up 2 goal with one of them on a penalty.
I made some predictions early in the season and it's time to forget about one of them. I'm officially willing to give up on my O'Brian White getting 7 goals prediction. The guy couldn't get on the field consistently early in the season and then Toronto brought in Maicon and Mista so there's little to no chance he even has the opportunity to start banging in goals.
Fredy Montero is playing on another level right now. A goal or assist in his last 9 games, and 8 goals and 9 assists on the year. In a year that looked like it would be the Donovan/Buddle show, Montero and Sebastien Le Toux have made themselves serious contenders for MVP.
New England and Morelia will meet next month for the Superliga finals. Houston put up a good fight in the first half, but couldn't convert on their chances. Still, come September 1st, "gogogo MLS!!"
MLS, fix the scripts on your freaking scores page (http://www.mlssoccer.com/scores/Aug-02-2010). You have a very "cool" website but it takes forever to load everything. Function > Form.
I heard a story on the local sports radio here in Seattle, about an instance where Freddie L upgraded to first class on a flight, instead of staying with the rest of the team.
ReplyDeleteThat's the kind of thing I'm talking about. While he's a great player on the pitch when he's motivated you could see that he was wearing on the team at the beginning of this season.
ReplyDeleteWho knows what it was exactly, they seemed to part on classy enough terms, but Seattle has clearly been a better team since he left.