May 9, 2008 by f4denz.

So I have already predicted a 2-1 RSL win in this match, now let’s go over the reasons why.

RSL Offense

Only once this season has RSL failed to score in a match (0-1 loss at TFC), and last week they scored 6 goals in two matches (4 against San Jose in the LHUSOC, and 2 against LA). Kenny “Dr. Goal” Deuchar finally appears to be finding his touch in MLS as he had one goal against LA on a great header, and another goal in the match stolen by the horrible offside call, and then add in the offensive prowess of Fabian Espindola who in recent weeks has looked very good. In the midfield Javier Morales and Kyle Beckerman have proven they can work together to provide good chances for the forwards, and Dema Kovalenko has proven to be a great pick up as no one works harder than Dema attacking every ball he can. Andy gets the start, according to the game guide, Andy Williams will be in the starting 11. Andy has always been exciting, sometimes in good ways and every once in a while in a absolutely puzzling way RSL has nine goals in their first six matches, last season it took eleven matches for RSL to get that many goals, what a great improvement.

RSL defense is still looking for their form

If you remove the 4 goals given up against DC United, RSL has played decent defense all year, some great shots by great players have beaten them, but they would have beaten anyone. Blanco in stoppage time on opening day, Beckham on a superb shot from 35 yards out, and a free kick that never should have counted, but the recent line up with Olave and Borchers in the middle kept Landycakes out of the scoring summary last week. The goal keeping of Nik Rimando has been solid, beaten most often on set pieces where the wall has failed.

Jason stands up for his team

I have seen it many times in other sports, the coach steps up and says what is on the mind of the players and fans, and takes a bullet for his team. In baseball and basketball, you very often see a team rally when their coach is kicked out of a match, knowing that your coach is willing to stand up for you is enough to give you just enough of an edge to get a win.

Dallas’ one trick pony

Finally Kenny Cooper is healthy and living up to the hype, he has four goals in six matches, and the problem is that he is half of the scoring for Dallas, so if you shut down Kenny, you really reduce the Hoop’s offense. Can the big guys on the RSL back line take Kenny out of the game like they did last week with Donovan? I think they can, Kenny counts on his size to get him the advantage at 6′3″ that works against a lot of team, but Olave is also 6′3″ and Borchers is 6′2″, so the size advantage that Kenny gets most weeks, is nowhere to be found against RSL.

A new history

Last years matches between these two teams were all tight matches, a 2-2 draw at RES (a goal in stoppage time by the departed Ruiz), a 2-1 loss at Pizza Hut Park (a Dallas goal in the 82^nd minute), and the rubber match was a 1-0 win for Dallas at RES (yup a stoppage time goal). With every match decided in the last 10 minutes last year, I would not leave my seat early this year, but RSL has only given up one meaningful goal in the last 10 minutes in their six matches this year. I expect that RSL will keep their focus this week and a win will follow for RSL 2-1 over FC Dallas.

Game Guide

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May 9, 2008 by f4denz.

Dynamo still winless

Listen the problem with the Dynamo is easy to see they are not scoring, the only team in MLS with fewer goals than Houston’s 5 is expansion side San Jose (2). You can get ties without scoring, but you can’t get wins, in fact all 5 of the Dynamo goals come in ties (3-3 with Dallas, and 2-2 with the Galaxy) and when Houston holds a team scoreless, they don’t get the win, both of those games are ties as well (0-0 against Chivas & KC).

The Rapids have other issues but have scored in all but one of their six matches this season, they were shut out at home by San Jose. Colorado ended their two game losing streak last weekend beating Eastern Conference DC United 2-0, but they still have a number of injuries that are impacting their performance. Petke, Hughes, DiRaimondo, Casey, and Colaluca all are either out or nursing injuries, but despite the injuries, and earlier in the season they had even more injuries than this, Colorado sit at the top of the Western Conference with 9 points and a 3-3 record.

Well this one is tough to pick, but I can’t believe that Houston will lose at home this weekend, and Colorado has been very solid, so I am going to take the easy way out on this one, 1-1 draw. Game Guide

The Crew Rules

Well so far this season no team has been better than the Columbus Crew (who would have thought it?), and now they get to come to the west coast to face off with expansion side San Jose. San Jose has had moments this year when they looked less like an expansion team and more like a contender, they looked good against FC Dallas last weekend in their 0-0 draw, and they beat the west leading Rapids in Denver. But then again last week they played their LHUSOC qualifying match and got drubbed 4-0 by RSL in Salt Lake City. The Crew are just too solid this season, so this one is easy to pick 3-1 Crew. Game Guide

Red Bulls vs. Golden Balls

So will this game live up to the hype of last seasons match in New York? It was last August that fans really got their first look at Golden Balls in the 5-4 that say both Jozy and Juan Pablo get two goals each, and Beck’s got two assists in a match played before 65,000 plus fans. Well this year Jozy has 2 goals in the four matches he has played in, Juan Pablo has yet to score and has only one assist in three matches, and New York is 2-1-2 with 8 points in five matches, their strength is simple, it is defense the Red Bulls have only given up 4 goals in their five matches this season.

The other side of this match up is the high scoring (13 goals) LA Galaxy with Golden Balls Beckham (3 goals, 4 assists) and Golden Boot leader Landon Donovan (8 goals, 3 assists), this high scoring offense has not however lead to a stellar season so far for LA, they are 2-2-2 with 8 points in their six matches. Last week they let in two early goals (their defense has given up as many goals 13, as their offense has scored), but Beckham was able to score twice to get a 2-2 draw in a controversial match in Salt Lake City against RSL. But no Kevin Scott to officiate their match this weekend, so I think the Red Bulls defense will play tough, but give up a couple goals. I also think that Juan Pablo Angel will get his first goal of the season, these two teams go into the match with the same number of points, and I think they will leave the same way, a 2-2 draw. Game Guide

Two teams looking for an identity

New England has a 3-3-1 record with a ton of injuries (Twellman, Parkhurst, Albright, Ralston, Larentowics, Nyassi) all have been out or injured for a majority of the season, the only consistent thing with the Revolution is nothing, they open their season beating the Dynamo 3-0, they then lose to the Fire 4-0, then they beat KC 3-1, then they lose to the Rapids 1-0, tie against NY, beat Dallas 1-0, and then lose again to Chicago 3-0. So one would expect them to either win or tie this weekend.

Chivas has been an interesting story as well, last years Western Conference winner has only five points in six matches this year, in part due to a defense that has given up 13 goals in 6 matches (tied for worst in the MLS with their Home Depot Center roommates LA Galaxy). Last weekend was the first time Guzan got a clean sheet, in a 0-0 draw against the cellar dwelling Dynamo. Can the goat’s find their form at home against the Revolution? I doubt it, Revolution 3 – Chivas 1. Game Guide (coming soon)

F*C* Dallas vs. Real Salt Lake

I am picking RSL 2-1 over the Hoop’s, my preview coming later today.

Fire take 1^st for now

In a match that was very one sided, DC United never really figured out how to slow down or stop the Chicago Fire. The first half saw United try but the Fire defense was up to the task, DC had a number of chances but failed to get many of them to pose a real threat only two of their 10 shots were on goal. The achilles heel of DC United this season has been their defense, and in the 38^th minute a crossed ball was headed down in the box to a wide open Justin Mapp, he had no problem putting it into the back of the net. The second half DC United played with little energy and after they went down 2-0 on a Blanco goal (yup another one of those super goals-watch the highlights), they seemed to simply stop caring and, because their bench is thin, bringing in players like Doe, Strafford, and Kirk had little impact on the overall play. The final score was 2-0.
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