Goals, DC, Columbus, Kreis: Week 5 Q & A...

...in which I ask the questions and you provide the answers...if you're so inclined. Or we can just leave 'em hanging till Major League Soccer's (MLS) teams and front office provide answers. Anyway, as part of the ongoing effort of organizing the commentary in this space, I’m trying on a “talking points” feature after each weekend - just a list of questions, reactions to results, happenings, etc. from the previous weekend’s games. Naturally, I won’t mention, let alone think about, every issue and angle. As such, I’m encouraging anyone with the time and web-access to drop in a point that occurs to him or her. Enjoy.

To begin, there’s the goal of the week to sort out and, thanks, as always to Climbing the Ladder, the list of candidates appears below. Personally, I’m hung up between Dwayne DeRosario’s bomb against Colorado and Chris Brown’s late (tarnished?) equalizer against Red Bull.



Moving on....

- What will become of RSL? (On an obviously related note, I’m less interested in the flipside to that question - e.g. what did this weekend’s draw mean to Red Bull New York? I can’t say why.) I mention this less because of that gutsy draw, but because I like what I’m reading from Jason Kreis in terms of tactics, not to mention what I’m seeing in terms of Luis Tejada-terminating moxie. He's got guts, but is guts enough?

- Are 1-0 games going one way or the other and a bunch of goalless draws all there is for Columbus this year? The problems with scoring are evident enough, but, as Steve Davis mused in his column (and as I mused elsewhere), what was the foul heavy response? Aggression provides an equalizer against skill, of sorts anyway. (Again, if you’re wondering about the flipside to this, it’s fair to note that, as part of my ongoing campaign to ignore/dismiss the Kansas City Wizards, I’m continuing my effort to pin their success on failures in the opposition. As such, I’m viewing this week’s win over Columbus through the Crew’s problems with scoring and, possibly, frustration arising from that.)

- Will there be fallout to the ugly, ugly knock Houston defender Eddie Robinson laid on Colorado’s Roberto Brown? (Due to stupid, stupid beer) I forgot the unappetizing sequence that featured Robinson laying out Brown and ended with two yellow cards to Colorado players - Pablo Mastroeni for dissent and Brown for retaliating shortly thereafter. A bad sequence for the ref all-round.

- Is DC United on the road to recovery? Put another way, did DC beat Chivas USA or did Chivas just lose to Houston? Are they even on the road to recovery or did Chivas flatter them due to lousy, firing-offense quality coaching, bang-up ‘keeping from Troy Perkins, or did they just catch Chivas in a misfiring transition?

All for now. Hopefully, future editions will come earlier and read better.

No comments: