MLS Week 11 Preview
June 6, 2008 by f4denz.
Well the MLS season is over one third of the way through, and some things simply don’t make sense to most fans: Columbus is one of the best teams in the league and DC United sit as one of the worst. Landycakes is the early leader in the golden boot along with Kenny Cooper, last years stars Angel (who just got his second goal this season) and Emillio last years winner has scored only 3 goals as United has struggled early in the season. What will happen as teams enter the middle third of the season, well last night we saw the struggling Red Bulls pull off a 1-0 win against Chivas, perhaps Jozy heading to Spain will allow the rest of the team to focus on MLS. This weekend has some exciting match ups:
F*C* Dallas @ Revolution
A Friday night match up at Gillette stadium will be without a couple key players on each side, New England is still dealing with the nagging injury to Taylor Twellman, and for this match they will be without one of the bright stars of the season so far as Kenny Mansally is with his national team (Gambia) as they start their World Cup qualifying. Dallas is dealing with some injuries as Sala, McCarty, and Wagenfuhr are all unlikely to see action tonight.
New England has only one loss in their last 7 matches (4-1-2) and Dallas has only one win in their last 7 (1-4-2), so this one is unlikely to see Dallas shake off their funk, but will New England be able to find a way to deal with what I think is one of the best forward duo’s in the league? Kenny Cooper has proven he has what it takes to be a goal scorer in MLS (when he is healthy) and Oduro has four goals in his last 4 matches, together they bring size and speed to the Dallas long ball attack. The problem for Dallas is that beyond those two there is little scoring power on their roster, only 5 of their 15 goals this season come from other players, and that allows teams to crowd the box and really eliminate or try to eliminate the threat from the Dallas duo.
Matt Reis has 4 clean sheets already this season and has a low 1.18 goals against average, and that will be enough to give New England the advantage in this one, as I think they will pull out a 1-0 victory in a match that I think will be more exciting than the final score would indicate.
Game Guide
Your team is a natural disaster
My favorite chant for the reformed San Jose Quakes is “your team is a natural disaster” because so far this season it has been so very true. In a disaster, you get the occasional bright spot as some hero does something, well heroic, like the San Jose defeat of Houston a couple weeks ago, but the overwhelming suffering and tragedy, like last weeks beat down by RSL 3-1, seem to be the more common reality. Now San Jose has to travel to face off with another team that has a great home record (4-1-0 for the Crew at home), but can San Jose turn the recent events in Columbus (see commissioner Garber’s statement here) to get the Crew and their fans more focused on what is happening in the stands and take advantage of it on the pitch? I doubt it, the Crew have a solid team and the Quakes are still without Kei Kamara, and Ivan Guerrero both on international duty, and injuries to Jay Ayres, Philippe, Garcia and Glinton will slow down the league’s worst offensive unit.
Columbus is looking to rebound after a stunning 0-2 defeat at the hands of Chivas last weekend and their first home loss of the season two weeks ago at the hands of New England. Columbus has not scored a goal in their last 3 matches so either Robbie Rogers (5 goals) or Alejandro Moreno (4 goals) will need to step up and work with Schelotto (5 assists) to get the Crew attack back in form. To be honest there is no better team to face in the league to get off a slump or offensive drought against as RSL showed last weekend. I have to believe the Crew will win this one 2-0 and get the attention back on their performance on the pitch.
Game Guide
OK time for work, so I will do the rest of my reviews later this afternoon, but here are the rest of the available game guides:
Houston vs. Toronto
Galaxy vs. Rapids
Fire vs. United
Back to the action
Can TFC stay hot on the road?
So after playing 6 of their last 7 matches on their home pitch and doing very well (4-1-2) and in five of those matches they kept their opponents from scoring, while in those 7 matches they scored 9 goals and only gave up 4, but this weekend they are on the road. Houston has finally found their form, after going 6 weeks without a win, in week 7 they got their first win and since then they have only lost once (3-1-1 ) in their last five matches. Houston is coming off a trip to DC to face United that was abandoned after 16 minutes due to bad weather.
Houston will be missing a couple key pieces of their team, Eddie Robinson is on a red card suspension, and Wade Barrett is likely to miss a match with an injury. While the Red’s will also be without a number of players, Maurice Edu and Amado Guevara are both gone for international duty, and Danny Dichio is questionable with an injury. So neither team will at full strength, and both teams are fairly evenly matched, both have scored 13 goals, and while Houston’s defense has given up a few more goals 15 to Toronto’s 12, five of Houston’s goals were scored on backup keeper Tony Caig.
The Dynamo have not lost at home this season (2-0-2) and TFC have only one win on the road (1-3-0), so I expect that TFC will struggle and Houston will be able to take advantage of a team missing some players, this one ends 2-1 with Houston continuing their unbeaten at home streak.
Game Guide
Battle for the top of the West
So with Chivas and Dallas losing their matches, the winner of this match will be at least tied for first in the Western Conference. The Galaxy will be trying to get revenge for a 4-0 defeat on opening day when these two faced off at Colorado, but they will be without Landycakes who will be on national team duty. Colorado is going to be hurting as well, gone are Bouna Coundoul, and Pablo Mastroeni both with their national teams, also our are Mike Petke, Justin Hughes, and John DiRaimondo with injuries.
These teams have met 23 times at the Home Depot Center, and LA holds a distinctive edge with 17 wins, two ties, and four loses, and with Beck’s back from his tour with the English national team it could be a very long night for Colorado. Colorado have been very hot and cold they are 5-5 this season with no draws, and only one time getting the same result in two straight matches (a 2 game losing streak). LA has the highest scoring offense in MLS, but they also have the second worst defense, so this one should be exciting and have some decent scoring. I am going to pick the Galaxy to win this one 3-1, as Colorado continues their streak of wins or losses.
Game Guide
Best vs. Worst
So Chicago has the leagues best defense, they have only given up six goals all season, and DC United has the worst defense having given up 22 goals so far this season (last year they only gave up 34 all season). While United have done slightly better in the last couple weeks with a win, a tie, and the Wednesday match that was abandoned, but prior to that they lost 6 of 7, with only a home win against RSL against six loses. Chicago’s two loses this season have both come at home, but one was a lost to Houston who has found their form of late. The downside for Chicago is even with a win against United, they will still trail New England even if they get the 3 points, as the Revolution beat Dallas on Friday night.
Chicago is one of few teams in MLS action this weekend not missing major pieces of their team due to injury or national team duty, United are not so lucky, as they are still without Ben Olsen and Jeff Carroll, both who are out with injury. DC is also missing Francis Doe who is on national team duty, but Gallardo is back healthy. It will be interesting to see the midfield match up between DP’s, one Blanco has been red hot with 4 goals and 5 assists in 9 matches and having played every minute in those matches. On the other hand is Gallardo, who in 9 matches has 3 goals and 0 assists, and has 760 minutes in those matches. I don’t think that DC United will be able to score against the Fire’s defense and Jon Busch will get his 5th clean sheet of the season, as the Fire win this one 2-0.
Game Guide
The RSL vs. KC preview will be up Saturday morning, until then I am back
OFF MY SOAPBOX