Ah, my first Harry Potter headline...(cough..cough...nerd!...cough).
Last night’s MLS Primetime match-up suggested at least one thing about the Eastern Conference race: the New England Revolution holds the better hand. Add a win on Saturday/Sunday (forgive the vagueness; I’m forcing myself to go on memory) against DC United and the Revs look a lot like the early favorite for the Eastern title.
Good Lord...do we have to endure another Houston Dynamo/New England MLS Cup. Ugh...chasing that chilling vision of the future from my head...gimme a minute...
Like it or not, the Revs looked good and solid last night (and I’m OK with that). Even if one believes (as I do) that the visiting Kansas City Wizards had the better of the first half, the Revs’ back-three-plus-Matt-Reis limited them to long-range shots on goal; a corner or four or five got the ball in the area, but there wasn’t a lot of penetration. More impressive, though, was the reappearance of New England’s oft-forgotten “passing game”: for the first time in a while, the Revs managed the ball well and with some measure of patience.
But it was the inability of the Wizards to defend as high as they normally do, particularly as the game went on, that defined this game; Shalrie Joseph picking up the ball, turning unimpeded, and abruptly keying the Revs from defense to offense serves as the relevant image. ESPN’s on-air crew noted another piece: the frequency with which either Steve Ralston or Khano Smith enjoyed wide-open spaces on either flank. By the end of the game, “Here come the Revolution” sounded every minute or so, speaking to the siege of KC’s defensive third.
The Wizards, however, retained the aspect of a valid challenger: the Revs held only a one-goal lead for most the game and, in spite of their general attacking advantage, they didn’t put produce that many clear-cut chances. In the earlier part of the game, KC bunkered New England in their end; that’s something, even if they couldn’t break them down. By the second half, the Revs - led by Michael Parkhurst and Jeff Larentowicz - either disrupted the majority of chances before the second pass, or forced defenders to charge far upfield in search of new openings, but the Wizards had enough chances - not to mention one near-miss I mistook for a goal - to pick up a result. They’re good enough for the post-season, no question - unless they don’t keep their heads.
And so it goes: the Revs continue as a contender thanks to the combination of being hard to beat while possessing the personnel to capitalize on a few openings. A great example of this comes in the person of Ralston: at the tail end of one of his worst games I can recall, he plays a perfect ball to Adam Christman, Revs score, game over. At their best, the Revs are just lethal like that.
Some other more specific, yet random observations:
- Michael Parkhurst really does kick ass. So smart, so unflappable, so capable...more on this later.
- I’m finally getting Jeff Larentowicz: even if he’s a little limited going the other way, he’s a fairly capable destroyer.
- That KC was limited to outside shots wouldn’t have mattered so much if more of them looked like Jack Jewsbury’s slicing shot, the one time I thought the Wizards had actually scored. Unfortunately, most the Wizards’ shots went stratospheric.
- What has happened to Carlos Marinelli? He’s like a magician whose deck of cards spilled out of his sleeve. Here I thought he was going to be huge for the Wizards. He may yet, of course, but the Revs sure as hell had him figured.
- Eddie Johnson, Eddie Johnson, Eddie Johnson...what the hell to think, right? Early in the game, he pops the ball to an opening and lashes a quality shot past Avery John; the rest of the game, he gets stood up and....that’s it. He either dropped the ball miles back to a KC defender, or got the ball picked off in making the attempt. Makes one think it’s too easy to get into his head and frustrate him. Johnson needs to correct that.
- Speaking of forwards, Pat Noonan: dang, I like that cat. I like the subtle difference to his game, that little thing that sets him apart from other strikers. Now that he's fit again, I'd really like to see him in the National Team pool to see whether his schtick works in the Bigs.
- When Khano Smith is on, he’s pretty damned fun to watch. I’m tempted to call that 70-yard breakout run, which ended with a great shot on goal and a solid save by KC ‘keep Kevin Hartman as the game’s turning point.
- Speaking of Hartman, LA was friggin’ dumb to let him go. He played a great one last night. Near as I can tell, he gifts the opposition about two goals per season, but is otherwise remains one of the league’s best.
Showing posts with label Eddie Johnson. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Eddie Johnson. Show all posts
EJ Love
If you're an American soccer fan, odds are you've voiced some level of frustration with Kansas City Wizards' forward Eddie Johnson's occasional struggles to be all he can be.
But if you can read this story without pulling for the guy, well, you have no heart. Or you might be Satan. After reading this, I'm to the point where I'd keep fielding him for the U.S. Nats till something better comes along....and I'm not seeing that happening any time soon.
But if you can read this story without pulling for the guy, well, you have no heart. Or you might be Satan. After reading this, I'm to the point where I'd keep fielding him for the U.S. Nats till something better comes along....and I'm not seeing that happening any time soon.
Top 5, 07.11: Lalas Responds*; Great v. Good; Johnson Flying Away?
* To be clear, LA Galaxy GM did not, in any way, respond directly to anything written in this space...I think he only goes after the Brits...
- May as well lead with Alexi: Mark Ziegler spent some time with both Lalas and LA head coach, Frank Yallop - though probably not in the same room. Ziegler got some quotes that might explain the apparent spazzing in LA to the outside world:
Thanks, Alexi. We'll take that under advisement out here....still looks like spazzing....
- Speaking of LA, Jay Hutcherson of USSoccerplayers.com had a thing or two to say about how he views LA thus far (can't link to anything but the general address for Hutcherson's blog...still waiting on permalinks for the site's blogs):
This is what the Alexi-era has wrought. A good thing?
- OK, one more LA thing, then I'll leave it alone. Someone, anyone, please for the love of a god who supports things good and decent and doesn't take live puppies for sacrifice, please tell me that the logo that Mike H posted on My Soccer Blog is not the Galaxy's new, official logo. That is more than "a little Star Trek-inspired." That is a sign they'll be sporting 90s-themed body suits by 2010.
- A line written by Ken Pendleton in his celebration of Adu hits on something massive:
This same notion has been rattling around my head for a while now and I'd take it one step farther: the simple pass is always there, or nearly always at least, plain as day to everyone in the stands; but, as much as it means to winning, the aesthetic side matters too. I mean, we watch the game to see players do these things; they're paid to play because they can do those things and that's why we pay to watch professional athletes. This stuff is huge.
On a related point, I move that we start referring to Adu simply as "Adu." I don't care whether you think he deserves it or not; we're free to crown our icons on our own terms. Who's with me! Huzzah!!
- Crap...rambling...sorry. This last one's quick: MLS Underground reported a rumor that England's Derby County (that's the right name, isn't it?) wants to sign Kansas City's Eddie Johnson. They can have him. Maybe it'll help...but I'd recommend strongly against holding your breath.
- May as well lead with Alexi: Mark Ziegler spent some time with both Lalas and LA head coach, Frank Yallop - though probably not in the same room. Ziegler got some quotes that might explain the apparent spazzing in LA to the outside world:
“'There is the conventional wisdom that you ride the storm out and let things settle, and certainly there's a time and place for that,' Lalas says. 'But we didn't think this was the time or place for that.'"
“'We wanted to identify players who we felt would enjoy and be able to perform in a high pressure situation,' Lalas says. 'It doesn't necessarily mean it's the best player. It's a very specific type of player we need. We need players who are strong mentally, who can withstand the pressure of playing with eyes of the world on them.'”
Thanks, Alexi. We'll take that under advisement out here....still looks like spazzing....
- Speaking of LA, Jay Hutcherson of USSoccerplayers.com had a thing or two to say about how he views LA thus far (can't link to anything but the general address for Hutcherson's blog...still waiting on permalinks for the site's blogs):
"It's odd watching a team in obvious transition. The Galaxy don't play as a unit. Half the team operates as if they have no clue what to expect, and this didn't suddenly happen - the result of too many trades and an off night in Virginia."
"Maybe this is the step too far, or at least too soon, turning the Galaxy into the touring version of the Cosmos revisited minus the depth. How does this team plus added superstar concentrate on league and exhibition schedules when they can't keep it together for 90 minutes?"
This is what the Alexi-era has wrought. A good thing?
- OK, one more LA thing, then I'll leave it alone. Someone, anyone, please for the love of a god who supports things good and decent and doesn't take live puppies for sacrifice, please tell me that the logo that Mike H posted on My Soccer Blog is not the Galaxy's new, official logo. That is more than "a little Star Trek-inspired." That is a sign they'll be sporting 90s-themed body suits by 2010.
- A line written by Ken Pendleton in his celebration of Adu hits on something massive:
"Moments of inspiration are often what separates the winners from the losers at the highest level. Good tactics and hard work are not always enough. You have to have players who can do something unorthodox or unexpected, like Adu did to set up the winning goal against Brazil. He received the ball from a throw-in with his back to the goal and two defenders closing in. Most coaches would have instructed their players to make the simple pass back to the person who made the throw-in (Zizzo), or to try to win a corner by knocking the ball off one of the markers, but Adu opened up the Brazilian defense because he had the audacity to try to beat both markers by playing keepie-uppie."
This same notion has been rattling around my head for a while now and I'd take it one step farther: the simple pass is always there, or nearly always at least, plain as day to everyone in the stands; but, as much as it means to winning, the aesthetic side matters too. I mean, we watch the game to see players do these things; they're paid to play because they can do those things and that's why we pay to watch professional athletes. This stuff is huge.
On a related point, I move that we start referring to Adu simply as "Adu." I don't care whether you think he deserves it or not; we're free to crown our icons on our own terms. Who's with me! Huzzah!!
- Crap...rambling...sorry. This last one's quick: MLS Underground reported a rumor that England's Derby County (that's the right name, isn't it?) wants to sign Kansas City's Eddie Johnson. They can have him. Maybe it'll help...but I'd recommend strongly against holding your breath.
U.S. Men: 2/3 a Good Team
To begin with full disclosure, I didn’t see a second of the U.S. loss to Paraguay; I haven’t even seen highlights. I have, by now, read three items on the game and, by my reckoning, the several consistent themes on which they agree tell me enough of what I need to know. Before getting into this whole spiel, here are the links:
Maryland Tolik (a reader’s comment, so go to the bottom of the post)
Jen Chang (on ESPN)
Jeff Carlisle (on ESPN)
And, now, to business: I come not to praise the U.S. Men’s National Team (Yanquis), but to bury them...and I mean that in precisely the same way Marc Antony did.
We all know we lost, with much of the blame for that going to the limitations of the American forward. To quote a favorite line (Bull Durham again - sorry) forwards Taylor Twellman and Eddie Johnson sometimes give them impression that they couldn’t hit water if they fell out of a fucking boat. Against opposition higher in quality than a Norwegian B-team, our current first-choice forwards have played with the vision and sharpness of near-sighted klutzes on multiple occasions.
On defense, a former strength when coupled with a “gritty” (read “thuggishly disruptive”) central midfield, we’re still fiddling with the dial in search of the right combination. For example, the consensus view seems to hold that Bradley needs to call off his love affair with Jonathan Bornstein; Oguchi Onyewu no longer looks the savior; judging by the Kansas City’s Wizards’ defensive record, Jimmy Conrad is slipping against Major League Soccer (MLS) forwards; the reality is, recently-fielded combinations of Yanqui defenses labored to contain teams like Guatemala, Panama, and Canada - never mind Argentina.
In midfield, we have mastered work-rate and fundamental technical skills - think competent passing and trapping...you may laugh, but I remember the days when this vital piece was lacking. Once in a blue moon, Benny Feilhaber or Clint Dempsey manages the killer pass, or Justin Mapp darts through seams in the opposing defense, but with nothing like the consistency the international game demands. Moments of inspiration aside, however, we still haven’t grasped tactical fundamentals like possession play and managing the game - and that conceptual failing only returns us to relying on energy and those odd moments where our players’ feet kiss the ball just so.
But for all that, reports from the last two games generally agree that, 1) we played world-power Argentina tolerably well for 60 minutes, and, 2) we essentially went toe-to-toe with Paraguay on every level but finishing and the more refined aspects of the game. On top of that, we not only won the Gold Cup, but now enter our regional tournament - not to mention World Cup qualifying - as an automatic favorite.
If you told me that the above would pertain after France 1998 - hell, after the 1990s, period - I would have wept with joy. And how long ago is 1998? Nine years, people.
Heading into - and out of - the 2006 World Cup so much was written about the elevated expectations under which Yanqui teams now operate. There’s so much talk still about how labored our steps toward world-power status have been, along with prescriptions for what can ease that climb; crowning a rising player as The Anointed One who will provide the vital leg-up comes up all too often...with the advisability - no, the necessity - of sending said player to Europe’s proving grounds rarely far behind. The reality, though, is that it’s going to take more than one player to lift us to the top of the heap - a team of such players is needed - and no matter how many go to Europe and how soon.
The real question is why so many fans expect so much - and so soon. For every advantage we enjoy - a population of 300 million, for instance, against relevant rivals who have only 80 million - a commensurate downside exists: those 80 million live in a country where soccer is the most popular sport, whereas we have at least three sports competing for, and still winning, the scramble for athletes. The hard reality is, we’re in, at best, late adolescence as a soccer-playing country. We are developing - quickly even - but expecting any American squad to beat a big alpha-male team like Argentina at this stage in our development leaps from enthusiasm to delusion. Reasonable as it is to point out that we have beat Argentina further down that developmental curve, that confuses a great day with a great life; it’s not so different, really, from assuming that finding a $100 bill lying on the ground one morning means you’ll find one everyday.
A comment just came in (on that same post as Maryland Tolik’s) by Gareth Sleger, who hopes Bob Bradley won’t use sending a b-squad as an excuse for our Copa performance. While I think he’s correct on that, I also don’t believe we have anything to excuse. We sent the team we sent, they’ve lost, but proudly. More important, we learned a thing or two (e.g. axe Bornstein; send our forwards to the Wizard of Oz, Johnson for some courage and Twellman for that tool he hawks on TV, plus an allotment of several thousand hours to practice with it) and deepened our player pool in the process. That poor finishing looks something like the final hurdle constitutes a hell of a step up in my mind: having 1/3 the way to go beats the hell out of having more.
The key component to improving the Yanqui soccer program is, and always has been the same: time. And trends here are good: we’ve got players entering the national team pool at a younger age and further along in their personal/technical development. Again, tell me we’d be here nine years ago and I would French kiss the nearest available human being regardless of age, gender, and physical beauty (though one can hope the stars line up). Assuming the developmental infrastructure doesn’t collapse and that the numbers generally grow - as they seem to be doing - we’ll get there...even at forward.
Maryland Tolik (a reader’s comment, so go to the bottom of the post)
Jen Chang (on ESPN)
Jeff Carlisle (on ESPN)
And, now, to business: I come not to praise the U.S. Men’s National Team (Yanquis), but to bury them...and I mean that in precisely the same way Marc Antony did.
We all know we lost, with much of the blame for that going to the limitations of the American forward. To quote a favorite line (Bull Durham again - sorry) forwards Taylor Twellman and Eddie Johnson sometimes give them impression that they couldn’t hit water if they fell out of a fucking boat. Against opposition higher in quality than a Norwegian B-team, our current first-choice forwards have played with the vision and sharpness of near-sighted klutzes on multiple occasions.
On defense, a former strength when coupled with a “gritty” (read “thuggishly disruptive”) central midfield, we’re still fiddling with the dial in search of the right combination. For example, the consensus view seems to hold that Bradley needs to call off his love affair with Jonathan Bornstein; Oguchi Onyewu no longer looks the savior; judging by the Kansas City’s Wizards’ defensive record, Jimmy Conrad is slipping against Major League Soccer (MLS) forwards; the reality is, recently-fielded combinations of Yanqui defenses labored to contain teams like Guatemala, Panama, and Canada - never mind Argentina.
In midfield, we have mastered work-rate and fundamental technical skills - think competent passing and trapping...you may laugh, but I remember the days when this vital piece was lacking. Once in a blue moon, Benny Feilhaber or Clint Dempsey manages the killer pass, or Justin Mapp darts through seams in the opposing defense, but with nothing like the consistency the international game demands. Moments of inspiration aside, however, we still haven’t grasped tactical fundamentals like possession play and managing the game - and that conceptual failing only returns us to relying on energy and those odd moments where our players’ feet kiss the ball just so.
But for all that, reports from the last two games generally agree that, 1) we played world-power Argentina tolerably well for 60 minutes, and, 2) we essentially went toe-to-toe with Paraguay on every level but finishing and the more refined aspects of the game. On top of that, we not only won the Gold Cup, but now enter our regional tournament - not to mention World Cup qualifying - as an automatic favorite.
If you told me that the above would pertain after France 1998 - hell, after the 1990s, period - I would have wept with joy. And how long ago is 1998? Nine years, people.
Heading into - and out of - the 2006 World Cup so much was written about the elevated expectations under which Yanqui teams now operate. There’s so much talk still about how labored our steps toward world-power status have been, along with prescriptions for what can ease that climb; crowning a rising player as The Anointed One who will provide the vital leg-up comes up all too often...with the advisability - no, the necessity - of sending said player to Europe’s proving grounds rarely far behind. The reality, though, is that it’s going to take more than one player to lift us to the top of the heap - a team of such players is needed - and no matter how many go to Europe and how soon.
The real question is why so many fans expect so much - and so soon. For every advantage we enjoy - a population of 300 million, for instance, against relevant rivals who have only 80 million - a commensurate downside exists: those 80 million live in a country where soccer is the most popular sport, whereas we have at least three sports competing for, and still winning, the scramble for athletes. The hard reality is, we’re in, at best, late adolescence as a soccer-playing country. We are developing - quickly even - but expecting any American squad to beat a big alpha-male team like Argentina at this stage in our development leaps from enthusiasm to delusion. Reasonable as it is to point out that we have beat Argentina further down that developmental curve, that confuses a great day with a great life; it’s not so different, really, from assuming that finding a $100 bill lying on the ground one morning means you’ll find one everyday.
A comment just came in (on that same post as Maryland Tolik’s) by Gareth Sleger, who hopes Bob Bradley won’t use sending a b-squad as an excuse for our Copa performance. While I think he’s correct on that, I also don’t believe we have anything to excuse. We sent the team we sent, they’ve lost, but proudly. More important, we learned a thing or two (e.g. axe Bornstein; send our forwards to the Wizard of Oz, Johnson for some courage and Twellman for that tool he hawks on TV, plus an allotment of several thousand hours to practice with it) and deepened our player pool in the process. That poor finishing looks something like the final hurdle constitutes a hell of a step up in my mind: having 1/3 the way to go beats the hell out of having more.
The key component to improving the Yanqui soccer program is, and always has been the same: time. And trends here are good: we’ve got players entering the national team pool at a younger age and further along in their personal/technical development. Again, tell me we’d be here nine years ago and I would French kiss the nearest available human being regardless of age, gender, and physical beauty (though one can hope the stars line up). Assuming the developmental infrastructure doesn’t collapse and that the numbers generally grow - as they seem to be doing - we’ll get there...even at forward.
Week 4: Power Rankings & Picks Tally
Memo to myself: STOP making picks based on wishes. Holy shit, did I manage a terrible week: I went 1-for-6 on the action Saturday through Monday and that punch to the gut drags my record for the year to 10-18. It was a wacky week, sure, but not that wacky.
Before turning to the power rankings, let’s look at some interesting talking points from Week 3. In no particular order:
- I’m not buying the Eddie Johnson “rebirth” tale just yet, a point I elaborate on in the Week 4 wrap I sent over to Write On Sports. When Johnson makes the grade against competition tougher than DC and Toronto, I’ll hop on the bandwagon, for both Johnson and KC - but not till then. For what it’s worth, the same piece after the link reviews the week’s action.
- The “feature” concept I almost used for that piece was a concern that the (safe, sometimes stiflingly dull) style of play working so well for the Chicago Fire and Red Bull New York may tilt the rest of the league to imitation; I shied away from doing so because the data are too thin to back that assertion so early in the season. But, call this a trend to watch - and pray it doesn’t happen. We’ll all be fortunate if time doesn’t stop outright when these two teams meet.
- As nearly everyone mentioned, the atmosphere at BMO Field looked pretty swell. Better still, word is the fans applauded their team after the game. Shitting on the home side has its place - though I’m partial to disgusted silence myself - and I understand why it’s done, but I just can’t feature getting mad to the point where I’ll boo the home team. It’s just not that important to me. I go to the game and pay of my own free will and, when the team I’m watching sucks, chances are I know this going in.
- If there’s one bright spot for Toronto, it’s that teams will become increasingly apprehensive about playing them the longer their goals and wins drought continues. Apprehension breeds anxiety, which breeds mistakes, which breeds goals and losses: that’s how I’m seeing the subtle panic that will afflict each successive team that faces TFC: who wants to go down in the books as being the first team on which TFC scored, never mind beat? What happens when that edge evaporates? I don’t know...though I don’t think it will help Toronto (who, incidentally, fascinate me).
Right, moving on now to the power rankings...
Last week’s ranking appears in parentheses immediately after this week’s ranking. So’s as to not misrepresent my judgment as entirely first-hand, the following key shows the distance of my observations: “@” means I watched a given team’s most recent performance in its entirety; “$” means I caught it through Quick Kicks, which provides extended highlights; “&” means I watched only the rump highlights available through MLSnet.com.
On with it now, fer reals - with the caveat that rankings five through ten are essentially one big, mashed toss-up - e.g. the same results, or even totally different ones, could have been achieved by spitting wads of paper at target, with the same approximate validity.
1. (2) Red Bull New York (& + final 10 min. v. FC Dallas)
Let the record show I surmounted the mental block and joined the herd in Week 4: Red Bull looks like the best team in MLS right now. It was their final 10 minutes against FC Dallas last Thursday that tipped the balance - such an assured killing of a game.
2. (1) Chicago Fire (@ - with some regret)
I hate this team right now. It’s not due to rivalry, the arrival of Blanco, etc. It’s that they’re relentlessly dull to watch. But, damn, are they looking strong and seriously hard to break down. Still, can’t wait for Blanco - or anything to spare me from Chad Barrett.
3. (5) New England Revolution (&)
As y’all know, this is more or less my team (more later), which makes placing them so high stink of a jinx. But they’re also getting the job done and, based on what I saw, they came awfully close to not having the one “L” that weighs down their record. Taylor Twellman, in particular, is looking very good, but that same stingy defense is there as well.
4. (4) Colorado Rapids (@ - in big snippets)
What can I say? Colorado is one of this year’s crushes. Their defense - which gave very little to RSL on Monday - makes the case for high placement; but their offense, which looks better than recent years, justifies their place at the top of the West.
5. (11) Los Angeles Galaxy (@)
This week’s big movers and they earned the jump with the precision of their attack against Chivas. Even when they gave up a lot possession, a few stray shots, even a goal, they looked bizarrely safe and confident. I’ll eat anything people feel like mailing me if they miss the post-season this year.
6. (8) Columbus Crew ($)
Last weekend’s defensive performance against DC convinced me that their second-rate breakdowns against the Revs were an aberration. As such, the Crew has half a strong team. By the power of Grabavoy, I think their offense will come on line at some point - and then they’ll justify my crush...not to mention this ranking.
7. (9) Kansas City Wizards ($ and a bit of @)
Records count for something, right? With these guys standing third in the stronger Eastern Conference, they’re likely nothing to sniff at - and their lone loss came against a team I rate pretty highly. Still, I’ll need to see more, and against teams better than Toronto, before moving them up the rankings.
8. (6) Houston Dynamo (@)
Here, reputation counts for something. Frankly, Houston looks like crap. They know it and their fans should as well; how else can one characterize one goal in four games? They’ve got good players who look like they’re misfiring. Another team that needs to show something before they stop heading south.
9. (3) Chivas USA (@)
The week’s biggest drop comes courtesy of two factors: the way they seemed to come unglued against LA and the “Amado” issue. It will take less for them to convince, but there’s a look of insecurity about this bunch.
10. (7) FC Dallas (& + &)
The harshest call this week and it grows from one thing: I don’t trust their defense. Yeah, they performed well enough against both Red Bull and New England and, according to what I’ve read, faced a lot of pressure thanks problems with Dallas’ possession. The point is, this defense appears unable to hold up when the offense misfires, so that’s a problem.
11. (10) DC United ($)
These guys reek of uncertainty. Yeah, they’ve got the horses, but they’re clearly spooked. But till these guys find some kind of confidence, they’re doomed.
12. (12) Toronto FC ($ and a bit of @)
I resisted the temptation to bump these guys above DC on the strength of their unflappable and vocal home support; it goes back to that thing about the horses. They’re combative at the least and, from what I saw, came pretty close to scoring their first. They look to be headed in the right direction, but have a hell of long walk ahead.
13. (12) Real Salt Lake (@ in big snippets)
It’s not that they looked all that awful, but - JESUS! - these guys could write a book on how to lose a game.
Finally, the standings...here's the official version if you want to check me.
Eastern Conference:
1. Red Bull New York: 10 pts. (3-0-1: 5 GF, 0 GA, +5; home, 2-0-0; away, 1-0-1)
2. Chicago Fire: 10 pts. (3-0-1: 5 GF, 2 GA, +3; home, 2-0-0; away, 1-0-1)
3. Kansas City Wiz: 9 pts. (3-1-0: 9 GF, 4 GA, +5; home, 1-0-0; away, 2-1-0)
4. New England Revs: 7 pts. (2-1-1: 7 GF, 3 GA, +4; home, 1-0-0; away, 1-1-1)
5. Columbus Crew: 6 pts. (1-0-3: 3 GF, 2 GA, +1; home, 1-0-2; away, 0-0-1)
6. DC United: 0 pts. (0-3-0: 3 GF, 7 GA, -4; home, 0-1-0; away, 0-2-0)
7. Toronto FC: 0 pts. (0-4-0: 0 GF, 10 GA, -10; home, 0-1-0; away, 0-3-0)
Western Conference
1. Colorado Rapids: 7 pts. (2-1-1: 6 GF, 5 GA, +1; home 1-0-1; away, 1-1-0)
2. FC Dallas: 7 pts. (2-3-1: 7 GF, 9 GA, -2; home, 1-2-0; away, 1-1-1)
3. Chivas USA: 6 pts. (2-2-0: 7 GF, 4 GA; +3; home, 2-0-0; away, 0-2-0)
4. Los Angeles Galaxy: 4 pts. (1-1-1: 4 GF, 3 GA, +1; home, 1-1-0; away, 0-0-1)
5. Houston Dynamo: 4 pts. (1-2-1: 1 GF, 1 GA, -1; home, 1-1-1; away, 0-1-0)
6. Real Salt Lake: 2 pts. (0-2-2: 2 GF, 8 GA, -6; home, 0-1-2; away, 0-1-0)
Before turning to the power rankings, let’s look at some interesting talking points from Week 3. In no particular order:
- I’m not buying the Eddie Johnson “rebirth” tale just yet, a point I elaborate on in the Week 4 wrap I sent over to Write On Sports. When Johnson makes the grade against competition tougher than DC and Toronto, I’ll hop on the bandwagon, for both Johnson and KC - but not till then. For what it’s worth, the same piece after the link reviews the week’s action.
- The “feature” concept I almost used for that piece was a concern that the (safe, sometimes stiflingly dull) style of play working so well for the Chicago Fire and Red Bull New York may tilt the rest of the league to imitation; I shied away from doing so because the data are too thin to back that assertion so early in the season. But, call this a trend to watch - and pray it doesn’t happen. We’ll all be fortunate if time doesn’t stop outright when these two teams meet.
- As nearly everyone mentioned, the atmosphere at BMO Field looked pretty swell. Better still, word is the fans applauded their team after the game. Shitting on the home side has its place - though I’m partial to disgusted silence myself - and I understand why it’s done, but I just can’t feature getting mad to the point where I’ll boo the home team. It’s just not that important to me. I go to the game and pay of my own free will and, when the team I’m watching sucks, chances are I know this going in.
- If there’s one bright spot for Toronto, it’s that teams will become increasingly apprehensive about playing them the longer their goals and wins drought continues. Apprehension breeds anxiety, which breeds mistakes, which breeds goals and losses: that’s how I’m seeing the subtle panic that will afflict each successive team that faces TFC: who wants to go down in the books as being the first team on which TFC scored, never mind beat? What happens when that edge evaporates? I don’t know...though I don’t think it will help Toronto (who, incidentally, fascinate me).
Right, moving on now to the power rankings...
Last week’s ranking appears in parentheses immediately after this week’s ranking. So’s as to not misrepresent my judgment as entirely first-hand, the following key shows the distance of my observations: “@” means I watched a given team’s most recent performance in its entirety; “$” means I caught it through Quick Kicks, which provides extended highlights; “&” means I watched only the rump highlights available through MLSnet.com.
On with it now, fer reals - with the caveat that rankings five through ten are essentially one big, mashed toss-up - e.g. the same results, or even totally different ones, could have been achieved by spitting wads of paper at target, with the same approximate validity.
1. (2) Red Bull New York (& + final 10 min. v. FC Dallas)
Let the record show I surmounted the mental block and joined the herd in Week 4: Red Bull looks like the best team in MLS right now. It was their final 10 minutes against FC Dallas last Thursday that tipped the balance - such an assured killing of a game.
2. (1) Chicago Fire (@ - with some regret)
I hate this team right now. It’s not due to rivalry, the arrival of Blanco, etc. It’s that they’re relentlessly dull to watch. But, damn, are they looking strong and seriously hard to break down. Still, can’t wait for Blanco - or anything to spare me from Chad Barrett.
3. (5) New England Revolution (&)
As y’all know, this is more or less my team (more later), which makes placing them so high stink of a jinx. But they’re also getting the job done and, based on what I saw, they came awfully close to not having the one “L” that weighs down their record. Taylor Twellman, in particular, is looking very good, but that same stingy defense is there as well.
4. (4) Colorado Rapids (@ - in big snippets)
What can I say? Colorado is one of this year’s crushes. Their defense - which gave very little to RSL on Monday - makes the case for high placement; but their offense, which looks better than recent years, justifies their place at the top of the West.
5. (11) Los Angeles Galaxy (@)
This week’s big movers and they earned the jump with the precision of their attack against Chivas. Even when they gave up a lot possession, a few stray shots, even a goal, they looked bizarrely safe and confident. I’ll eat anything people feel like mailing me if they miss the post-season this year.
6. (8) Columbus Crew ($)
Last weekend’s defensive performance against DC convinced me that their second-rate breakdowns against the Revs were an aberration. As such, the Crew has half a strong team. By the power of Grabavoy, I think their offense will come on line at some point - and then they’ll justify my crush...not to mention this ranking.
7. (9) Kansas City Wizards ($ and a bit of @)
Records count for something, right? With these guys standing third in the stronger Eastern Conference, they’re likely nothing to sniff at - and their lone loss came against a team I rate pretty highly. Still, I’ll need to see more, and against teams better than Toronto, before moving them up the rankings.
8. (6) Houston Dynamo (@)
Here, reputation counts for something. Frankly, Houston looks like crap. They know it and their fans should as well; how else can one characterize one goal in four games? They’ve got good players who look like they’re misfiring. Another team that needs to show something before they stop heading south.
9. (3) Chivas USA (@)
The week’s biggest drop comes courtesy of two factors: the way they seemed to come unglued against LA and the “Amado” issue. It will take less for them to convince, but there’s a look of insecurity about this bunch.
10. (7) FC Dallas (& + &)
The harshest call this week and it grows from one thing: I don’t trust their defense. Yeah, they performed well enough against both Red Bull and New England and, according to what I’ve read, faced a lot of pressure thanks problems with Dallas’ possession. The point is, this defense appears unable to hold up when the offense misfires, so that’s a problem.
11. (10) DC United ($)
These guys reek of uncertainty. Yeah, they’ve got the horses, but they’re clearly spooked. But till these guys find some kind of confidence, they’re doomed.
12. (12) Toronto FC ($ and a bit of @)
I resisted the temptation to bump these guys above DC on the strength of their unflappable and vocal home support; it goes back to that thing about the horses. They’re combative at the least and, from what I saw, came pretty close to scoring their first. They look to be headed in the right direction, but have a hell of long walk ahead.
13. (12) Real Salt Lake (@ in big snippets)
It’s not that they looked all that awful, but - JESUS! - these guys could write a book on how to lose a game.
Finally, the standings...here's the official version if you want to check me.
Eastern Conference:
1. Red Bull New York: 10 pts. (3-0-1: 5 GF, 0 GA, +5; home, 2-0-0; away, 1-0-1)
2. Chicago Fire: 10 pts. (3-0-1: 5 GF, 2 GA, +3; home, 2-0-0; away, 1-0-1)
3. Kansas City Wiz: 9 pts. (3-1-0: 9 GF, 4 GA, +5; home, 1-0-0; away, 2-1-0)
4. New England Revs: 7 pts. (2-1-1: 7 GF, 3 GA, +4; home, 1-0-0; away, 1-1-1)
5. Columbus Crew: 6 pts. (1-0-3: 3 GF, 2 GA, +1; home, 1-0-2; away, 0-0-1)
6. DC United: 0 pts. (0-3-0: 3 GF, 7 GA, -4; home, 0-1-0; away, 0-2-0)
7. Toronto FC: 0 pts. (0-4-0: 0 GF, 10 GA, -10; home, 0-1-0; away, 0-3-0)
Western Conference
1. Colorado Rapids: 7 pts. (2-1-1: 6 GF, 5 GA, +1; home 1-0-1; away, 1-1-0)
2. FC Dallas: 7 pts. (2-3-1: 7 GF, 9 GA, -2; home, 1-2-0; away, 1-1-1)
3. Chivas USA: 6 pts. (2-2-0: 7 GF, 4 GA; +3; home, 2-0-0; away, 0-2-0)
4. Los Angeles Galaxy: 4 pts. (1-1-1: 4 GF, 3 GA, +1; home, 1-1-0; away, 0-0-1)
5. Houston Dynamo: 4 pts. (1-2-1: 1 GF, 1 GA, -1; home, 1-1-1; away, 0-1-0)
6. Real Salt Lake: 2 pts. (0-2-2: 2 GF, 8 GA, -6; home, 0-1-2; away, 0-1-0)
KC 3 - 0 TFC: Some Thoughts
Between my time-zone of choice (PST) and Major League Soccer's game-bookers, I caught this one in pieces; I still have yet to see Eddie Johnson's opening goal (whoops! till now...thanks quick kicks!). Here are some brief observations based on what I saw, starting with the Toronto FC side of things:
- Dude, Toronto FC is in for one long motherfucker of a year. Till this team improves defensively, it might be advisable to place an asterisk next to these wins and keep a separate ledger for the goals they allow.
- On the same subject, Toronto glumly demonstrated last night that simply packing 10 players behind the ball - as they appeared to be doing after KC's first goal - isn't sufficient; they still have to be organized.
- On the other end, Alecko Eskandarian came close enough that I believe Toronto capable of scoring - and almost expect that will happen this weekend. If it doesn't, holy crap...I don't know if I can watch this team. Too painful...
- Speaking of bright spots for Toronto, Carl Robinson doesn't look half bad. He's no All-Star at this point, but he's showing signs.
- Think of what the recent trades must feel like for Marvell Wynne and Kevin Goldthwaite - and this goes double for Wynne, who left the team everyone's talking about right now. The only comparable experience that comes to me would be getting picked early when the captains divvy up teams - y'know, like they used to do in gym class or on the playground - only to be shipped to the crappy side to help for the sake of closer balance.
From the KC side:
- I have read, and have probably written as well, that Eddie Johnson should concentrate on getting back to form with a club team before he gets a shot with the national team again; based on the past two performances I saw, EJ is making progress.
- And a big part of that, last night at least, came courtesy of Carlos Marinelli. He delivers a pretty good ball and looks like a good find for the Wizards.
- Hartman showed on at least one occasion the importance of having a good 'keeper; his near-post stop on one of Eskandarian's attempts was impressive.
- Sadly, though, the jury has to stay out on this Wizards team - and probably through the weekend. Given not just last night, but Toronto's season as a whole, betting on the Canadian team to win seems like a brave call.
(########)
- Dude, Toronto FC is in for one long motherfucker of a year. Till this team improves defensively, it might be advisable to place an asterisk next to these wins and keep a separate ledger for the goals they allow.
- On the same subject, Toronto glumly demonstrated last night that simply packing 10 players behind the ball - as they appeared to be doing after KC's first goal - isn't sufficient; they still have to be organized.
- On the other end, Alecko Eskandarian came close enough that I believe Toronto capable of scoring - and almost expect that will happen this weekend. If it doesn't, holy crap...I don't know if I can watch this team. Too painful...
- Speaking of bright spots for Toronto, Carl Robinson doesn't look half bad. He's no All-Star at this point, but he's showing signs.
- Think of what the recent trades must feel like for Marvell Wynne and Kevin Goldthwaite - and this goes double for Wynne, who left the team everyone's talking about right now. The only comparable experience that comes to me would be getting picked early when the captains divvy up teams - y'know, like they used to do in gym class or on the playground - only to be shipped to the crappy side to help for the sake of closer balance.
From the KC side:
- I have read, and have probably written as well, that Eddie Johnson should concentrate on getting back to form with a club team before he gets a shot with the national team again; based on the past two performances I saw, EJ is making progress.
- And a big part of that, last night at least, came courtesy of Carlos Marinelli. He delivers a pretty good ball and looks like a good find for the Wizards.
- Hartman showed on at least one occasion the importance of having a good 'keeper; his near-post stop on one of Eskandarian's attempts was impressive.
- Sadly, though, the jury has to stay out on this Wizards team - and probably through the weekend. Given not just last night, but Toronto's season as a whole, betting on the Canadian team to win seems like a brave call.
(########)
DC's Defense - Is It Mental?
Since last Saturday's excruciating loss to the Kansas City Wizards much has been made of DC United's defensive problems - a recent article in the Washington Times which discusses formations, trades, and the like, is the only the trigger for what's on my mind. Here's that:
I don't think DC's problems are formation or personnel, and I mean the latter both literally and explicitly. By that I mean they have players capable of defending and defending well - remember all those 1-0 wins DC's defense gutted out last May and June? - but, for whatever reason, they're not up to it any more.
I read in another space that Eddie Johnson is talking to a sports shrink. Maybe that's what a guy like Facundo Erpen needs (he types after dubbing him a "full-time liability" earlier in the week).
Whatever DC does, they'll want to do soon. And the problems are unquestionably there. But maybe a little mental conditioning will provide a quicker path to success than finding new players or trying new formations. Just a thought.
(#########)
I don't think DC's problems are formation or personnel, and I mean the latter both literally and explicitly. By that I mean they have players capable of defending and defending well - remember all those 1-0 wins DC's defense gutted out last May and June? - but, for whatever reason, they're not up to it any more.
I read in another space that Eddie Johnson is talking to a sports shrink. Maybe that's what a guy like Facundo Erpen needs (he types after dubbing him a "full-time liability" earlier in the week).
Whatever DC does, they'll want to do soon. And the problems are unquestionably there. But maybe a little mental conditioning will provide a quicker path to success than finding new players or trying new formations. Just a thought.
(#########)
MLS Week 2: What I Saw + Power Rankings
Just to keep current on my predictive powers, the guesses I posted Friday translated into a 3-3 result for the weekend, which takes my total to 6-7 on the season. Hey, I'll take it.
Moving on, now, to two things I know for sure:
- MLSLIVE.tv is fucking killer. It’s like the TiVo I can’t afford, but with a few more glitches. Sure my feed crapped out last night just before Chicago’s equalizer versus Colorado, but it was solid up till then and worked very well through some other games. But it also allowed me to skip and jump through the snooze-fest that was Columbus v. Real Salt Lake.
- If you don’t care about the knowing the score going in (I did, but now I know), forget the highlights you can find on the Video/Audio tab on MLSnet.com. Go straight to the Quick Kicks site. There, you’ll get better, more thorough highlights, you can expand the screen, pick and choose as opposed to watching the entire reel, etc. etc.
Seriously, MLS has worked friggin’ miracles in terms of making video content available online. If you demand more, you’ve either totally forgotten what things looked like just five years ago, or you’re just impossible to please...and thank God I’m not married to you because it wouldn’t end well.
Seeing as they’re all the rage, I’m joining the power rankings herd; this being my first edition, there are no previous weeks to track; and I’m going heavily on current form (with DC United standing as the exception). You’ll notice some entries are longer than others, which is a function of how much of my thinking came from direct observation. To be clear on how closely I observed the action, notes marked with a "@" come from games I watched (more or less) whole; "$" means I watched the “Quick Kicks” highlights, while "&" means I saw the rump highlights that come through the Video/Audio tab. Finally, for the record, I haven't read a stitch of anyone else's work in making this list...I love comparing notes, but want it to be an honest enterprise from my end.
Here goes:
1. Houston Dynamo ($): There’s a stink of luck about this team, but, like their famous win last year against DC United - the one that featured Ching’s “wunder-bike” - Houston seemed to give up a lot of ground to Chivas before scrapping for the winner. And a team can build a championship on that....God knows we shouldn’t have to watch it, but... Also, I can’t say when it happened in the game, but I would have sent off Eddie Robinson for one foul. Can’t wait for the next chapter in this series.
2. Colorado Rapids (@): What can I say? I’m starting to think these guys are fer real. How different might Sunday’s game have been? One Roberto Brown tackle - and it was pretty bad - and this intriguing game sputtered to the wrong kind of chess match. Boring, boring, boring. For all that, the Rapids showed some promising signs: good patience, good movement, fairly intelligent passing; teams are not going to get a lot through the Rapids center - they play hard there and foul a bit harder. One other note: I learned a couple things about Herculez Gomez against Chicago: 1) like the announcer said, that guy really needs to work on his left foot - he’ll be quite effective if he can deliver a cross from the line; he’s looking like a steal right now, what with being tied with Cunningham and Taylor Twellman at the top of the scorer’s chart (any others?). And, if you haven’t seen Gomez’ goal, that’s your goal of the week.
3. Chivas USA ($): One half the participants in what looked like the clear game of the week, Chivas looked to have seriously threatened Houston’s goal throughout the game. Perhaps the fact that the Quick Kicks highlight reel once read Chivas USA 1, Houston Dynamo 0 says something about how close Chivas came, not to mention how often. Still, they lost and on a good goal from Brian Ching. All in all, though, if Chicago is the semi-stretch I got right in preseason, early indications tell me that Chivas might be the one I got most wrong.
4. New England Revolution ($): Twellman took both his goals so very well, didn’t he? Even if Toronto’s (anonymous for me) defender totally blew the marking on T-n-T’s second goal, putting that away as he did still took some doing given how deep he was. Good as Twellman was, the happier signs came with the supporting cast: Steve Ralston looked three years younger than he is; Dorman buzzes around to nice effect, Adam Cristman showed some sharpness in setting up Twellman’s first and drawing the penalty, and, call me a sucker, but I think I see something fairly special in Wells Thompson; did the Nicol draft-day genius work again?
5. DC United(&): Holy ugly shit. Can we call Facundo Erpen a full-time liability now? Judging by the way his teammates glared at him after that first goal, I’m thinking the thought crossed their minds. The funny thing: Joshua Gros, one of the guys who looked to be shooting the sharpest daggers Erpen’s way, his stumble produced Kansas City’s second. Put another way, this was a painful, team collapse. So what’s going on with DC? They pulled themselves back in - and Luciano Emilio’s goal was a peach, especially the way he controlled the ball in; Christian Gomez’ struck me as fluky - only to repeat the two-goal collapse in the second half. Who’d a-thunk the overwhelming preseason favorites would start 0-2-0? And this one was at home and after resting up. I’m still pegging them high - maybe higher than I ought - but one more loss and the crisis in confidence becomes a straight-up crisis. And they’ll drop a mile on this chart at least.
6. Whoopin’ and Hollerin’ in KC (&): Eddie Johnson: Player of the Week. I never thought I’d write that phrase again, but I don’t know how one avoids it - not unless Twellman gets it (and he’s probably in with a shout for Goal of the Week too). It was very hard to judge this game from the puny highlights alone, but this was an interesting win - and I suspect it was less comprehensive than it looked on the scoreboard. Still, Kansas City + a reborn Johnson spells trouble for the rest of the league. This is a bit of a soft ranking for them; can’t wait for their next game.
7. Chicago Fire (@): These guys deserve the lion’s share of the blame for rendering Sunday’s contest borderline unwatchable - and I couldn’t fast-forward through this one, ‘cause I caught it live. The quality of their equalizer - Rolfe, I think, to Barrett, who managed a tidy, five-hole finish on Bouna Coundoul - somewhat made up for the tedium that came before...but only somewhat. They labored to very little effect to that point and turned in the most undeserving result I’ve seen so far this year - though I have to confess I didn’t see their win against the Revs. I’m thinking I pegged this team correctly in my preview.
8. Red Bull New York (&): Anyone else tempted to chalk up this win to Clint Mathis? No? Didn’t think so. Still, good to see the man in position to score the kind of tap-in amateurs like to do on the pool table: slam that fucker home, right? Frankly, I never thought I’d name three Red Bulls as having scored goals in one game unless one of them was an own goal. The opening header, which I assume came from Josmer Altidore (couldn’t rightly say; as I said, I haven't read a thing) stood as the peach of the bunch, though Dave Van Den Bergh’s clean-up goal looked all right as well. For all that, I’m not really surprised they beat up on Dallas, a team that must be dead-tired this morning.
9. FC Dallas (&): The nightmare of being on the wrong side of a 3-0 scoreline aside, I’m guessing Dallas is pleased to have four points from nine on this devilish opening road trip. At least they looked all right against LA, right? Well, so long as you stress the “all right,” that is. Put another way, I’m not surprised a team knocked three goals past FCD; I’m just surprised it was Red Bull. That defense remains too serious a concern to ignore.
10. Columbus Crew (@): Watching the Crew work the ball out of defense and through the midfield is pretty impressive. Schmid has his side playing quite well all things considered: the whole team moves off the ball well, the players get their heads up and, generally, make smart passes. This holds up to the top of the opposition’s penalty area then...then...I’m not quite sure what happens, but I know it bears a strong resemblance to nothing. Swear to God, these guys are a quality striker away, but that’s a major hurdle at this point. Based on the first two games of the season, Jason Garey ain’t it. In fact, he was pretty awful on Saturday, but the team played some clever balls in - especially Grabavoy. But a win feels farther away this week than it did last.
11. LA Galaxy (@): I made more extended observations on LA (and Dallas for that matter) after the Thursday night game. If these guys’ defense doesn’t hold together, they’re in for a LONG season with the way their offense is playing.
12. Real Salt Lake (@): How lonely did Jeff Cunningham and Mehdi Ballouchy look versus Columbus? I counted at least two occasions where his teammates sent Cunningham the ball deep in Columbus’ half and, for the life of me, they left him there to score on his own; the support never came or it came late. Apart from him, only Ballouchy looked active or effective. Having missed the line-ups, I wasn’t sure Freddy Adu was out there till a good distance into the game. At least RSL’s defense looked better - though, given Columbus’ final third offense, it didn’t take much.
13. Toronto FC ($): Consciously or not - and I think it’s the latter - these guys seem built on a dangerous premise: having their offense score more than their leaky defense lets in. This works for Brazil, but with Toronto’s offensive output relying on long-range bombs from Alecko Eskandarian and Edson Buddle stumbling into the penalty area, it’s clearly time for Plan B - which really, really ought to include playing 8 guys in front of their goal till they get the defense sorted out. Will these guys be Chivas ’05 bad? I don’t think it’s beyond the realm of possibility.
Moving on, now, to two things I know for sure:
- MLSLIVE.tv is fucking killer. It’s like the TiVo I can’t afford, but with a few more glitches. Sure my feed crapped out last night just before Chicago’s equalizer versus Colorado, but it was solid up till then and worked very well through some other games. But it also allowed me to skip and jump through the snooze-fest that was Columbus v. Real Salt Lake.
- If you don’t care about the knowing the score going in (I did, but now I know), forget the highlights you can find on the Video/Audio tab on MLSnet.com. Go straight to the Quick Kicks site. There, you’ll get better, more thorough highlights, you can expand the screen, pick and choose as opposed to watching the entire reel, etc. etc.
Seriously, MLS has worked friggin’ miracles in terms of making video content available online. If you demand more, you’ve either totally forgotten what things looked like just five years ago, or you’re just impossible to please...and thank God I’m not married to you because it wouldn’t end well.
Seeing as they’re all the rage, I’m joining the power rankings herd; this being my first edition, there are no previous weeks to track; and I’m going heavily on current form (with DC United standing as the exception). You’ll notice some entries are longer than others, which is a function of how much of my thinking came from direct observation. To be clear on how closely I observed the action, notes marked with a "@" come from games I watched (more or less) whole; "$" means I watched the “Quick Kicks” highlights, while "&" means I saw the rump highlights that come through the Video/Audio tab. Finally, for the record, I haven't read a stitch of anyone else's work in making this list...I love comparing notes, but want it to be an honest enterprise from my end.
Here goes:
1. Houston Dynamo ($): There’s a stink of luck about this team, but, like their famous win last year against DC United - the one that featured Ching’s “wunder-bike” - Houston seemed to give up a lot of ground to Chivas before scrapping for the winner. And a team can build a championship on that....God knows we shouldn’t have to watch it, but... Also, I can’t say when it happened in the game, but I would have sent off Eddie Robinson for one foul. Can’t wait for the next chapter in this series.
2. Colorado Rapids (@): What can I say? I’m starting to think these guys are fer real. How different might Sunday’s game have been? One Roberto Brown tackle - and it was pretty bad - and this intriguing game sputtered to the wrong kind of chess match. Boring, boring, boring. For all that, the Rapids showed some promising signs: good patience, good movement, fairly intelligent passing; teams are not going to get a lot through the Rapids center - they play hard there and foul a bit harder. One other note: I learned a couple things about Herculez Gomez against Chicago: 1) like the announcer said, that guy really needs to work on his left foot - he’ll be quite effective if he can deliver a cross from the line; he’s looking like a steal right now, what with being tied with Cunningham and Taylor Twellman at the top of the scorer’s chart (any others?). And, if you haven’t seen Gomez’ goal, that’s your goal of the week.
3. Chivas USA ($): One half the participants in what looked like the clear game of the week, Chivas looked to have seriously threatened Houston’s goal throughout the game. Perhaps the fact that the Quick Kicks highlight reel once read Chivas USA 1, Houston Dynamo 0 says something about how close Chivas came, not to mention how often. Still, they lost and on a good goal from Brian Ching. All in all, though, if Chicago is the semi-stretch I got right in preseason, early indications tell me that Chivas might be the one I got most wrong.
4. New England Revolution ($): Twellman took both his goals so very well, didn’t he? Even if Toronto’s (anonymous for me) defender totally blew the marking on T-n-T’s second goal, putting that away as he did still took some doing given how deep he was. Good as Twellman was, the happier signs came with the supporting cast: Steve Ralston looked three years younger than he is; Dorman buzzes around to nice effect, Adam Cristman showed some sharpness in setting up Twellman’s first and drawing the penalty, and, call me a sucker, but I think I see something fairly special in Wells Thompson; did the Nicol draft-day genius work again?
5. DC United(&): Holy ugly shit. Can we call Facundo Erpen a full-time liability now? Judging by the way his teammates glared at him after that first goal, I’m thinking the thought crossed their minds. The funny thing: Joshua Gros, one of the guys who looked to be shooting the sharpest daggers Erpen’s way, his stumble produced Kansas City’s second. Put another way, this was a painful, team collapse. So what’s going on with DC? They pulled themselves back in - and Luciano Emilio’s goal was a peach, especially the way he controlled the ball in; Christian Gomez’ struck me as fluky - only to repeat the two-goal collapse in the second half. Who’d a-thunk the overwhelming preseason favorites would start 0-2-0? And this one was at home and after resting up. I’m still pegging them high - maybe higher than I ought - but one more loss and the crisis in confidence becomes a straight-up crisis. And they’ll drop a mile on this chart at least.
6. Whoopin’ and Hollerin’ in KC (&): Eddie Johnson: Player of the Week. I never thought I’d write that phrase again, but I don’t know how one avoids it - not unless Twellman gets it (and he’s probably in with a shout for Goal of the Week too). It was very hard to judge this game from the puny highlights alone, but this was an interesting win - and I suspect it was less comprehensive than it looked on the scoreboard. Still, Kansas City + a reborn Johnson spells trouble for the rest of the league. This is a bit of a soft ranking for them; can’t wait for their next game.
7. Chicago Fire (@): These guys deserve the lion’s share of the blame for rendering Sunday’s contest borderline unwatchable - and I couldn’t fast-forward through this one, ‘cause I caught it live. The quality of their equalizer - Rolfe, I think, to Barrett, who managed a tidy, five-hole finish on Bouna Coundoul - somewhat made up for the tedium that came before...but only somewhat. They labored to very little effect to that point and turned in the most undeserving result I’ve seen so far this year - though I have to confess I didn’t see their win against the Revs. I’m thinking I pegged this team correctly in my preview.
8. Red Bull New York (&): Anyone else tempted to chalk up this win to Clint Mathis? No? Didn’t think so. Still, good to see the man in position to score the kind of tap-in amateurs like to do on the pool table: slam that fucker home, right? Frankly, I never thought I’d name three Red Bulls as having scored goals in one game unless one of them was an own goal. The opening header, which I assume came from Josmer Altidore (couldn’t rightly say; as I said, I haven't read a thing) stood as the peach of the bunch, though Dave Van Den Bergh’s clean-up goal looked all right as well. For all that, I’m not really surprised they beat up on Dallas, a team that must be dead-tired this morning.
9. FC Dallas (&): The nightmare of being on the wrong side of a 3-0 scoreline aside, I’m guessing Dallas is pleased to have four points from nine on this devilish opening road trip. At least they looked all right against LA, right? Well, so long as you stress the “all right,” that is. Put another way, I’m not surprised a team knocked three goals past FCD; I’m just surprised it was Red Bull. That defense remains too serious a concern to ignore.
10. Columbus Crew (@): Watching the Crew work the ball out of defense and through the midfield is pretty impressive. Schmid has his side playing quite well all things considered: the whole team moves off the ball well, the players get their heads up and, generally, make smart passes. This holds up to the top of the opposition’s penalty area then...then...I’m not quite sure what happens, but I know it bears a strong resemblance to nothing. Swear to God, these guys are a quality striker away, but that’s a major hurdle at this point. Based on the first two games of the season, Jason Garey ain’t it. In fact, he was pretty awful on Saturday, but the team played some clever balls in - especially Grabavoy. But a win feels farther away this week than it did last.
11. LA Galaxy (@): I made more extended observations on LA (and Dallas for that matter) after the Thursday night game. If these guys’ defense doesn’t hold together, they’re in for a LONG season with the way their offense is playing.
12. Real Salt Lake (@): How lonely did Jeff Cunningham and Mehdi Ballouchy look versus Columbus? I counted at least two occasions where his teammates sent Cunningham the ball deep in Columbus’ half and, for the life of me, they left him there to score on his own; the support never came or it came late. Apart from him, only Ballouchy looked active or effective. Having missed the line-ups, I wasn’t sure Freddy Adu was out there till a good distance into the game. At least RSL’s defense looked better - though, given Columbus’ final third offense, it didn’t take much.
13. Toronto FC ($): Consciously or not - and I think it’s the latter - these guys seem built on a dangerous premise: having their offense score more than their leaky defense lets in. This works for Brazil, but with Toronto’s offensive output relying on long-range bombs from Alecko Eskandarian and Edson Buddle stumbling into the penalty area, it’s clearly time for Plan B - which really, really ought to include playing 8 guys in front of their goal till they get the defense sorted out. Will these guys be Chivas ’05 bad? I don’t think it’s beyond the realm of possibility.
Kansas City Wizards: 2007 Season Preview
Past
MLSnet.com: 2006 Season Wrap
MLSnet.com: Big Questions after '06
My Thoughts on the Wizards’ '06 (Know my biases)
Present
2006-07 Off-Season Changes
Soccer New England’s Ins & Outs - again, Hartman’s about the end of it...
Kansas City Wizards’ roster from MLSnet.com
And now, the Future...
Key Men
Nick Garcia - Gotcha! Thought I was going to say Jimmy Conrad, didn’t you? Important as Conrad is to the team, the thing to remember is what happened - or allegedly happened (see year-end review) - when guys like Conrad left for World Cup duty: the Wizards started sucking and rarely stopped for the rest of the summer. Conrad will be gone again in 2007, for one month at least, which means the players who stick around - especially a veteran like Garcia - will have to hold things and keep the record rolling while they’re away.
Kevin Hartman - When you’re the only high-profile trade to come to a team - and in a high-profile position no less - the spotlight just kind of finds you. While I never thought Bo Oshiniyi was a bad ‘keeper, I feel comfortable calling Hartman an upgrade. His off-moments do come, but they’re rare enough for him to retain middle-to-high upside. Coming in as a “star” may help him to a leadership role, which, again, could help while guys like Conrad are away.
Eddie Johnson - A telling moment came early in last Sunday’s U.S. v. Ecuador game: a teammate (Dempsey, I think) sent Johnson on a run to the right corner of the Ecuadorian defense; Johnson, in trying to collect the ball, spazzed causing the ball to bounce around between his legs; momentum and any possible play died on the spot. The thing is, this kid’s confidence is shot. If he can find anyway to play remotely as advertised, the Wizards will immediately improve. Things are to a point where I can’t see that happening...fortunately for the Wizards, they’ve got a competent, and improving, back-up in Scott Sealy (who, incidentally, must be pissed when he thinks about what his under-performing colleague makes).
Jose Burciaga Jr. - Amazingly, this left-back was “Mr. Offense” for Kansas City last year. While many of his eight goals came on PKs, his eight assists, by definition, did not. Burciaga counts among the most under-noticed players in MLS, but that doesn’t do anything to his production; he’d be an asset on any team.
Additional Assets
To be honest, I’m at a loss to name one. They seem to have plenty of talent, but something keeps it from coming out...perhaps too much fluoride in KC? Not that that won’t stop me from trying below...
Wait, I've got one: Settled Ownership - It must be nice to enter a season without thinking you'll be gone the following year.
Liabilities
The Same Mix Mystery - Why a team that missed the playoffs two seasons running made so few changes to their roster I’ll never know. As good as the Wizards look on paper, surely the time will come when a shake-up needs to happen. It’s entirely possible that should have come last year and that the resignation of long-time coach Bob Gansler only started a necessary house-cleaning. The folks who run the Wizards apparently disagreed. We’ll see how that works for them. Suffice to say, I filed this where I did for a reason.
Unknowns
Really Feeling the Draft - To use a favorite term, the Wizards’ roster is a veritable “who’s that?” of names. I’ve heard snippets about guys like Yura Movsisyan, Ryan Pore, and Will John, but there’s a good-sized parade of anonymity that follows: Michael Harrington, Tyson Wahl, Ryan Raybould, Willy Guadarrama, A. J. Godbolt, Lance Watson, Aaron Hohlbein, Edson Elcock, and Michael Kraus. Assuming I didn’t miss anyone, those links should contain as much happy puff as the league has on these guys. But, painful as it is to say, it's a safer bet to wait on one of these guys to come good as it is to wait on Eddie Johnson's brain to settle down.
Prospects - Using Gambling Analogies
The Wizards’ front-office mentality matches that of a poker player who has sucked eggs all night, but who refuses to draw for an inside straight. Sometimes changing one’s luck requires long-shot risks. Johnson’s mammoth contract, which was undeniably a long-shot risk, is undoubtedly a factor here - and how can they unload that thing? - but the lack of off-season action really makes me wonder about this team’s chances.
I think they miss the playoffs for year number three, though there’s also room for the “starvation theory” - e.g. competitive hunger carries them over the psychic barrier that has made their late, regular seasons look like the mirror image of New England’s late surges. Still, what passes for my instincts tells me they miss out - again.
USMNT: The Games, Some Scouting, One Observation
As nearly everyone who could find this site through Bloglines or Soccer Blogs knows, the U.S. Men's National Team (screw "USMNT"; let's call 'em...the "Yanquis") has a pair of games coming up over the next week: Ecuador on Sunday (and damned early....mimosas?) and Guatemala on Wednesday (won't catch this one; bookended between much, much more alluring CONCACAF Champions' Cup games; drool....).
But, for people who don't follow the game (soccer) or this site (title is up top) regularly, I sent a preview of both games to the good people at Write On Sports. It's nothing fancy, but it gives the reader a few names and implies the crucial thing: if you can only watch one of these games, make it the Ecuador game.
Regarding the Guatemala game, this one is likely to tell us only one of two things: 1) that we're still better than most teams in our region and that's only a question of degree on a given day; 2) in the event of a win or a draw, that the Yanquis had a bad day. Anything else we learn - whether we score, or totally fail to score - will carry an asterisk to signify that this was Guatemala, after all. I'm not belittling the Guatemalans for sport, or mocking them; I'm merely saying the reason the Yanquis haven't lost to them since 1988 matches the reason why Liechtenstein freaks friggin' out when they draw, say, the Republic Ireland. There are simply expectations.
Ecuador, on the other hand, promises to be educational. In writing the item for Write On I did a bit of digging on Ecuador, something to refresh my impressions on the team. That digging, which mainly happened on Wikipedia, reminded me of Ecuador's 2006: they made the Round of 16 (where they lost to England) in Germany by beating Poland and Costa Rica. In qualifying for the 2002 World Cup, they topped Brazil in the CONMEBOL marathon. The team they're sending featured a name or two people may recall: Carlos Tenorio, who bagged two goals last summer; Ulises de la Cruz, from Aston Villa and now Reading. I want to pretend I remember more of these guys, but I don't.
What I do remember, though, is that Ecuador looked something solid last summer. Till they hit the hosts (Germany) and England lulled them to sleep in the second round, they looked impressive back-to-front. Their game against a familiar foe, Costa Rica, saw them beat that team by a score the Yanquis attain on a good day.
Based on that, they ought to provide a decent measuring stick for the Yanqui team in terms of where both the trialists (one in particular) and the regulars are. Looking forward to this one...Guatemala...not so much.
I'll close with the observation. Look at the list of forwards called up for these two games:
Where do all these guys earn their paycheck? Does that tell us anything, either about the players themselves or about Yanqui forwards in general? Is there a problem? If so, is there an answer?
For now, I'm willing to say there isn't a problem problem. Like any sane person, I'd rather see the forwards leading my side drawing love from Real Madrid, Barcelona, Manchester United, and so on. But I also take comfort from the fact that Yanqui teams usually field competent defenders and defensive midfielders. And the fact that American teams know how to defend well enough means that forwards playing in our league at least have some educational work in figuring out how to beat them.
So it could be better, but it could also be worse. We're learning at least.
But, for people who don't follow the game (soccer) or this site (title is up top) regularly, I sent a preview of both games to the good people at Write On Sports. It's nothing fancy, but it gives the reader a few names and implies the crucial thing: if you can only watch one of these games, make it the Ecuador game.
Regarding the Guatemala game, this one is likely to tell us only one of two things: 1) that we're still better than most teams in our region and that's only a question of degree on a given day; 2) in the event of a win or a draw, that the Yanquis had a bad day. Anything else we learn - whether we score, or totally fail to score - will carry an asterisk to signify that this was Guatemala, after all. I'm not belittling the Guatemalans for sport, or mocking them; I'm merely saying the reason the Yanquis haven't lost to them since 1988 matches the reason why Liechtenstein freaks friggin' out when they draw, say, the Republic Ireland. There are simply expectations.
Ecuador, on the other hand, promises to be educational. In writing the item for Write On I did a bit of digging on Ecuador, something to refresh my impressions on the team. That digging, which mainly happened on Wikipedia, reminded me of Ecuador's 2006: they made the Round of 16 (where they lost to England) in Germany by beating Poland and Costa Rica. In qualifying for the 2002 World Cup, they topped Brazil in the CONMEBOL marathon. The team they're sending featured a name or two people may recall: Carlos Tenorio, who bagged two goals last summer; Ulises de la Cruz, from Aston Villa and now Reading. I want to pretend I remember more of these guys, but I don't.
What I do remember, though, is that Ecuador looked something solid last summer. Till they hit the hosts (Germany) and England lulled them to sleep in the second round, they looked impressive back-to-front. Their game against a familiar foe, Costa Rica, saw them beat that team by a score the Yanquis attain on a good day.
Based on that, they ought to provide a decent measuring stick for the Yanqui team in terms of where both the trialists (one in particular) and the regulars are. Looking forward to this one...Guatemala...not so much.
I'll close with the observation. Look at the list of forwards called up for these two games:
Brian Ching (Houston Dynamo), Kenny Cooper (FC Dallas), Landon Donovan (Los Angeles Galaxy), Eddie Johnson (Kansas City Wizards), Chris Rolfe (Chicago Fire), Taylor Twellman (New England Revolution)
Where do all these guys earn their paycheck? Does that tell us anything, either about the players themselves or about Yanqui forwards in general? Is there a problem? If so, is there an answer?
For now, I'm willing to say there isn't a problem problem. Like any sane person, I'd rather see the forwards leading my side drawing love from Real Madrid, Barcelona, Manchester United, and so on. But I also take comfort from the fact that Yanqui teams usually field competent defenders and defensive midfielders. And the fact that American teams know how to defend well enough means that forwards playing in our league at least have some educational work in figuring out how to beat them.
So it could be better, but it could also be worse. We're learning at least.
USMNT: Bradley Puts Out the Call
As promised, U.S. Men's National Team (USMNT) coach Bob Bradley announced call-ups to training camp today. You can wade through the kiss-ass, blah, blah, blah release posted on ussoccer.com or work with the shorter, tidier version showing on USSoccerplayers.com, but they'll both tell you the same thing, right?
Since this will no doubt occupy many of us till the games themselves, let's do the like/dislike thing quick and dirty:
Dislikes
Kasey Keller - I write this as one who, on one of the most aggravating day of the past 365, smiled broadly after accidentally discovering Kasey Keller Boulevard in Yelm, Washington: Keller is a great 'keeper, but it's time to let go. I would have rather seen Marcus Hahnemann.
Brian Ching - He's recovering from injury; leave him be. There will be time later.
Dubious, but Neutral (yeah, this is cheating)
Eddie Johnson - When does this guy run out of chances? I'm OK with him being there, but...dang...
Likes
New Blood - While I'm almost certainly the only person even remotely associated with the U.S. soccer community who did not pitch a mini-tent about Jay DeMerit's call-up, I'm glad to see he's his shot. Ditto with guys like Frank Simek and Benny Feilhaber. I don't know anything about either first-hand (I've seen DeMerit a couple times now) and look forward to learning more.
Michael Bradley - I'm glad Coach Bob didn't quail before perceived and real "coach's son" taunts. If Bradley's not good enough, we'll all see it. But he deserves a chance to prove it.
All in all, I'm happy with what we've got. The Ecuador game ought to be worth a gander; Guatemala, probably not so much. Still, beats the hell out of last fall when there was nothing, doesn't it?
(#########)
Since this will no doubt occupy many of us till the games themselves, let's do the like/dislike thing quick and dirty:
Dislikes
Kasey Keller - I write this as one who, on one of the most aggravating day of the past 365, smiled broadly after accidentally discovering Kasey Keller Boulevard in Yelm, Washington: Keller is a great 'keeper, but it's time to let go. I would have rather seen Marcus Hahnemann.
Brian Ching - He's recovering from injury; leave him be. There will be time later.
Dubious, but Neutral (yeah, this is cheating)
Eddie Johnson - When does this guy run out of chances? I'm OK with him being there, but...dang...
Likes
New Blood - While I'm almost certainly the only person even remotely associated with the U.S. soccer community who did not pitch a mini-tent about Jay DeMerit's call-up, I'm glad to see he's his shot. Ditto with guys like Frank Simek and Benny Feilhaber. I don't know anything about either first-hand (I've seen DeMerit a couple times now) and look forward to learning more.
Michael Bradley - I'm glad Coach Bob didn't quail before perceived and real "coach's son" taunts. If Bradley's not good enough, we'll all see it. But he deserves a chance to prove it.
All in all, I'm happy with what we've got. The Ecuador game ought to be worth a gander; Guatemala, probably not so much. Still, beats the hell out of last fall when there was nothing, doesn't it?
(#########)
Canales on EJ; Me on EJ
A look at the date on Andrea Canales' Soccer365.com feature on Eddie "EJ" Johnson tells me I'm only a few days late on this one. The thrust of her article, which gets reinforced by a kind of refrain, is that, poorly as things have gone for EJ over the past two years, he's young.
And that's a fair point. It's undeniable that Johnson hasn't looked like much, and for some time now, but, barring severe injury, it's simply not possible to be "past it" at the age of 22. Psychologically? Well, that's something else.
Still, I stand by what I wrote immediately after the Denmark friendly: Johnson needs to show us - that is the fans, the coaches, his teammates - something before he gets back into the U.S. Men's picture. At this point, he doesn't belong there. He's got a season ahead of him with the Kansas City Wizards, so here's to hoping he makes good on it. If he can pull it (back) together, I can think of worse forward pairings than Scott Sealy and a fit and effective EJ.
So, go on EJ, make us all proud - and make us eat crow, dammit.
(#########)
And that's a fair point. It's undeniable that Johnson hasn't looked like much, and for some time now, but, barring severe injury, it's simply not possible to be "past it" at the age of 22. Psychologically? Well, that's something else.
Still, I stand by what I wrote immediately after the Denmark friendly: Johnson needs to show us - that is the fans, the coaches, his teammates - something before he gets back into the U.S. Men's picture. At this point, he doesn't belong there. He's got a season ahead of him with the Kansas City Wizards, so here's to hoping he makes good on it. If he can pull it (back) together, I can think of worse forward pairings than Scott Sealy and a fit and effective EJ.
So, go on EJ, make us all proud - and make us eat crow, dammit.
(#########)
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