In their favor, Mamba Chisoni returns from Zimbabwe for tonight’s game. Against that, though, defender Scot Thompson’s away in England trying out with the Coventry FC team that visited earlier in the season (friggin' thieves) and forward Alan Gordon was called back up to the LA Galaxy for their current run of games (I can testify to this one; he came on late as a sub against the Houston Dynamo).
What’s it all mean? I can’t fake optimism. I’d be surprised many times over to read word of a Portland win in tomorrow’s press. Between their form (11 games without a win) and the last live performance I saw first-hand (versus Minnesota) something bordering on chronic ails this bunch (or is it just the Chronic?). With the Mariners still very much alive in the playoffs and with Portland looking more like a spoiler, odds point toward a win for the visitors.
P.S. I’d love to be wrong.
In other news...
Sure DC United tied Real Madrid in front of a record-breaking crowd in Seattle last night, but that’s nothing to the big, big news:
Real Salt Lake spanked the trousers right off of the Colorado Rapids - in Colorado, no less, where the Rapids tend to outlast the opposition. The 4-1 whuppin’ both flustered the visitors and set RSL forward Jeff Cunningham on the top of this season’s race for top goal-scorer.
For those seeking a little more simple pleasure in this win, here's one more report.
I happened to catch the last 30 minutes of last night’s other Western Conference contest: the LA Galaxy’s 1-0 win over the Houston Dynamo. Apart from congratulating new-fella Santino Quaranta for making a stellar first impression, Houston walked away with a little plug of injustice between their cheek and gums. While I caught Brad Davis' wunder-rocket that, tragically, smacked against the crossbar and Eddie Robinson’s justly disallowed goal, the post-game highlights showed a parade of blown chances for Houston and great saves by LA’s Kevin Hartman. It wasn’t quite one-way traffic; it’s more like LA’s goal was “Portland” and the field was the Sunset Highway round about 9 a.m. on Thursday.
And, yes, DC United tied mighty, mighty Real Madrid in Seattle last night, with each side scoring a goal. Very cool result, even if it doesn’t mean anything. It sounds like Alecko Eskandarian scored a tidy equalizer (should be able to see it here) for the Yanqui side and that DC put in a great effort overall. Of all the write-ups, the Washington Post’s Steve Goff put the reader closest to the action. But another article contained the best of the many quotes provided by Freddy Adu:
""We wanted to prove American soccer is not a joke. We wanted to go out there and tell all you guys who diss American soccer that you can just forget about it."
Wonderful. One can almost see the chip from here...
All for now.
Wait. Yeah. The New England Revolution played the Kansas City Wizards to a scoreless draw. The less said about this one, the better.
At least I got one prediction right...
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