April 27, 2008 by f4denz.

So I will get to the RSL vs. DCU match a bit later, I want to watch it again and see if I am still as angry and disappointed after seeing it again. So let’s start with the match of the weekend.

SuperClasico

Wow talk about a match that had it all, it looked like a typical match up of the LA based teams 1-1 at the half with goals by Landycakes and Sasha, but all that changed in minute 59 and the remainder of the match was equal to the hype of the LA Galaxy in preseason. The Galaxy showed that when their attack is in form, that you better have a very solid defense or it will get out of hand in a hurry. It started with Landy’s second goal of the night and then just 3 minutes later in the 62^nd Razov answered to tie it at 2-2, things then clamed down and it looked like a typical MLS match would go to the record book as a draw, but then the Galaxy simply exploded and put 3 more goals into the back of the net in a span of just over 8 minutes. Alan Gordon put one in, then Donovan got his hat trick a minute later, and then in the 84^th minute was the exact attack that the Galaxy had been hoping for when they brought Beckham to MLS, a three player attack with the ball going from Beckham to Landycakes in the box, but without a real shot he puts the ball at the feet of Gordon who closes out the scoring. Chivas didn’t look horrible, but LA did look that much better and finished their attacks. After each of Galaxy goals, Chivas did attack and try to quickly counter and twice their shots were within a foot of goal but, a foot the wrong way meant that the Galaxy put this one away 5-2.

Toronto wins again

If anyone had been talking about Toronto having 3 wins in their first five matches, when they only had six wins in all of 2007, you would have thought they were crazy. But, Toronto has changed, the players they have brought in since week two have made a huge impact, we saw it last week as Robert got the game winner on a set piece, and this week both Toronto goals were scored by Amado Guevara. While KC remains a point above TFC in the table, there is no question that in this match TFC was the better team.

The Crew keep on working

I am not sure if it is magic, or if the team with a workman as their logo is simply working harder than anyone else, but as week 5 comes to an end, the Crew are the best team in MLS with 4 wins and only one loss. They have beat Chivas, Houston, DC United, and TFC, their only loss has come on the road against the Red Bulls, their 12 points are enough to give them a two point cushion over New England, KC, and Chicago. This win came with a little bit of controversy, as the Dynamo blow it on a set piece and an offside call pull a goal off the scoreboard in the 13^th minute, as the issues continue for the former MLS champions. Houston has struggled to score goals and if you take away their 3 goals against Dallas, they have only scored two goals in their other four matches. It sure had some strange moments like the scrum on the goal line as Columbus kept the ball out of their own goal in minute 35, talk about strange. Both teams had a good number of scoring chances in the match, but goals were far and few between in this match, with only one goal a 22^nd minute shot by Alejandro Moreno making the difference as the Crew win 1-0.

The matches that no one saw

So the MLS in their attempt to do something, no clue what have allowed matches to be exclusive to HDNET (which holds about 10% of the cable HD market- which is about 1% of all actual HD programming) so I can offer nothing more than a score line for the Fire vs. Rapids 2-1 (play by play – from MLS website). Slightly better than not being able to see the HDNET exclusives is having to watch a horrible quality signal on Telefutura (what will they do when they have to broadcast in digital?), I actually enjoy the Spanish commentary, despite knowing very little Spanish, but the picture quality is so bad that even the graphics look horrible. I was able to see enough to know that the Earthquakes held their own against the Red Bulls, as both teams really did seem to be balanced on the pitch. Of course had New York been able to play injured Juan Pablo Angel, it most likely would have been a different matter, but injuries happen and the result is that both teams struggled for offensive chances. 78 scoreless minutes were broken by a PK, and then as the clock was winding down a goal from Jozy in the 94^th minute to end the match at 2-0 for the Red Bulls.

Week 5 is over and the East appears dominant

This week saw 5 matches of East vs. West and in every single one of them the East got a win, the only team from the West to win was the LA Galaxy, who faced fellow Western Conference side Chivas. FC Dallas the best team in the West would be in 6^th place in the East, and no team in the West has more than two wins in the first 5 weeks of the season. It is still early in the season but this weekends results showed that as of week 5 in the MLS, the East is simply dominating the West, and the worst team in the East is DC United, the team that ended 2007 by winning the supporter’s shield for best record in the league. It could be a long spring and summer for all the teams of the Western Conference unless something changes. The next time there will be 5 matches between the East and West on one weekend will be the end of June, let’s hope it is not a clean sweep again.   Just a final note, my predictions were right in 4 matches, and an exact score pick in the 2-0 New York win over San Jose.

OFF MY SOAPBOX

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April 21, 2008 by f4denz.

Expectations met and missed in week 4

So let’s review, who expected that Houston defending two time MLS champions would be the only team in MLS without a win in the first four weeks? Who would have expected that Dallas would be the only team without a defeat, and that every team but them would have at least one loss within the first four weeks of league play? Would you have picked KC and Columbus as the top two teams in the East after week 4? Who would have expected that New England would have had to finish two of their first five matches with only 10 men on the pitch? Who would have picked that expansion team San Jose would pick up their first win in their third match of the season and on the road? Who would have guessed that at the end of week four that DC United would be in last place in the East with only 3 points. So many expectations at the beginning of the season, and in week four so many teams would already have missed their expectations and that a few teams (Toronto, Columbus, Dallas, and San Jose) would have probably exceeded their early season expectations.

RSL fail to live up to week 3

Let’s face it, many of us were expecting better on Saturday morning as RSL faced off with Toronto at BMO field, a draw or a win seemed like a given after RSL stepped up in week 3 against DC United and appeared to have solved their finishing woes. But this is not the same TFC as last year, some great pickups from around the globe have TFC looking a whole lot better in week four than they did in week two when DC United dropped them 4-1. It sure was not the same RSL squad that we saw at home against that same DC United, the looked flat in the first half (I think the worst 45 minutes they have played this year), and even when they stepped up the attack in the second half, they could not finish their chances and gave Toronto all 3 points as they picked up their second win in a row.

Revolution play better with 10 men

So one would expect that the 1-0 lead that the Red Bulls took into the second half of the match against New England looked great when Castro was given a red card in the 46^th minute and the Revolution went down to 10 men. Looks can be deceiving in MLS and the Red Bulls could not control the second half and allowed the Revolution to continue to attack and to be honest the Rev’s looked a lot better with 10 men than they had with a full squad. Only 10 minutes after going a man down New England tied the match at 1-1 and that is how it would end. The Red Bulls did lose Angel to injury in the first half, but they simply could not figure out how to take advantage of their man advantage, surely their expectation would have been to capture all 3 points at home. Another case of expectations missed.

Rapids fail to live up to their hype

So the early season surprise in the West has to be the Colorado Rapids, who were 2-1-0 going into what should have been an expected win at home against expansion team San Jose, but again expectation missed. Colorado has a bunch of players who had not seen a lot of MLS action before this season, most of them were the stars of last years reserve squad who were given chances due to a rash of preseason and early season injuries, all of whom have to be considered to have exceeded expectations in the first three weeks of the season. San Jose on the other hand has looked much better than expansion teams of the past few years, playing well against LA in their season opener despite losing 2-0, and continued to perform well against Chicago in a 1-0 loss. Unlike last years expansion side TFC who holds the record for longest time without a goal, San Jose put in two as they played at the Dick’s and looked to be a far superior side as Colorado looked very human in week four and could not score a goal. San Jose wins their first match in franchise history (for a second time) 2-0 over the Rapids.

Dynamo still without a victory

Saturday’s surprised wrapped up with a late match from the Home Depot Center, a place where the Dynamo have done very well since their move to Houston, but again expectations are not always met. Houston looked to be the better side and controlled the match better than their overpaid counterparts, and at the half Houston had a 1-0 lead on a goal from Brad Davis (his 19^th goal in his MLS career). But superstars finally lived up to expectations, well kinda, a pair of goals by Landon “princess” Donavan, and both with assists from Golden Balls himself. I expect that the second goal will be the winner in this weeks “goal of the week” contest. It wasn’t enough to get a win, but it was enough to keep Houston from getting their first win of the season. End result a 2-2 draw that neither team had to expect.

Fire vs. Wizards

Well I have to be honest I missed my expectations of being able to catch all the matches this weekend; I simply forgot this one as I was out running errands. I know the result was 1-0 with the Wizards taking over sole possession of first place in the Eastern Conference, surely more than meeting their expectations.

Dallas tops the West

Despite the match being fairly evenly played, Chivas could not finish their scoring chances and Dallas was able to including goals from Cooper (5^th minute) and Thompson (80^th minute). I did not expect much from Chivas this week, after a rough road loss to Columbus last weekend; they were missing two key pieces in Sasha Kljestan, and Francisco Mendoza. Dallas on the other hand looked good last week as they beat the Red Bulls, and this week’s victory on the road has to surpass their expectations.

OFF MY SOAPBOX

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April 8, 2008 by f4denz.

So after a double header at midweek in MLS, there were 4 matches on Saturday and one on Sunday this week. Did any team really build on week one results? Or are we still looking at a bunch of pretenders?

Will the real DC United please step up.

So week one they go to the minor league baseball park that is home to the Wiz and they look like a team that is confused on what game they are playing, then mid week they go to Pachuca and get beat bad. Then comes their first home match of the MLS season and they get the underhand softball that is TFC, sorry I am calling them like I see them and I know some will cry that Toronto only had 10 men after Harmse got carded in the 22^nd minute. The reality is that TFC played better with 10 men than they did with 11, they gave up two early goals and were on their heels for the first 20 minutes of the match and at least after the red card, they played better defense and even put one in the back of the net against DC. So on Saturday DC United comes to Salt Lake City, a place where they have had problems the last couple years, will RSL put their first mark in the win column, or will DC United show that they are a real contender for MLS Cup. Oh for my friends in Toronto, going in numbers to Columbus and shouting down their 100 fans is nothing, where were the Red Patch Boys at RFK? Sorry the best fans in MLS are in DC.

KC at the top of the table? Can the Rapids repeat?

OK it is only week two but KC is at the top of the table, with two wins and 5 goals for and 2 against, perhaps the real problem was two fold. Eddie Johnson is gone, and they are no longer putting their 5,000 fans in a stadium that holds almost 80,000, who knows but their new home is a converted baseball field and it looks funny on TV but KC is unbeaten at home. Colorado put up a good effort and look to be a much better team than they were last season, but two goals by Conrad and one by Sealy show that KC is going to be a tough place to play this year, can they keep it up on the road? Well they get more home matches before we will find out, they face New England on Wednesday night, and Houston comes to town on Saturday, before KC travels to Chicago on the 20^th. Wow how do you get 4 home matches to open a season?

Red Bulls=No Bull, and the Crew go blue

So after a delayed opening match against San Jose, the Red Bulls opened their 2008 MLS season at home against the Crew, who were on a high after beating TFC at their home opener. The Red Bulls came out will all pistons firing and put up two goals in under 10 minutes, and the rest of the match was simply protecting that lead, the Crew appeared to have lost of their luster as Hesmer now appears human on regular shots, but for the second straight week stopped a PK. Wunderkid of week one Adam Moffat, also appeared to be a normal MLS player after a great week one performance. The Red Bulls left one question after their opener, what is going on with Jozy? He was on the bench, appeared to be fit, but did not see any action. How lethal will their attack be when Jozy gets into the mix for the Red Bulls?

RSL gets bit by their past Chivas tops the west

Well last year RSL tried a couple of things, first they traded away the 2006 Golden Boot Jeff Cunningham for Alecko Eskandarian and moved Atiba Harris to D-mid, well neither of those things helped out Jason Kreis’ first season as coach, but in the off season both of those players moved to Chivas. On Saturday evening, it proved to be the nail in the RSL coffin as both of them put the ball past Nick Rimando and into the back of the net, with Atiba getting the game winner in a 3-1 Chivas victory. It is an improvement over RSL’s first match against Chivas last season, but not much, it was a physical match and RSL controlled much of the possession, but that doesn’t win matches and the fact that they blew too many shots, failed to take advantage of chances to get off shots, and Findley’s offsides calls simply proved that RSL has a long way to go. Chivas have shown themselves as the class of the Western Conference, and I believe they will only get better as the season moves on, what will happen in a couple months when Guzan moves on to Europe? Real on the other hand get a chance to face off against DC United, a team they have done very well against when they face them in Salt Lake City, but so far they have not shown that their improved team can improve on the results of last season.

Another Sunday Draw, in Spanish

So at least this week, I could actually see the players and almost see the ball, the action was fast and furious during the first of the Dallas vs. Houston battles of 2008, three goals in the first half. Two by Man U reject Kenny Cooper (nice to see him recover from the broken leg that kept him out almost all of 2007), and one by Franco Caraccio of Houston. The second half was another three goal half, with Dallas scoring one for themselves and one for Houston and Houston putting one in for themselves. An entertaining match, I love the passion of the Spanish announcers even if I only understand a couple words and phrases, I only wish they would offer English subtitles and find a way to broadcast a higher quality signal.

Matches to watch this week

The nice thing is we don’t have to wait until the weekend to watch matches again, this week offers a ton of chances to watch the beautiful game. You have the 2^nd legs of the CONCACAF Champions Cup with DC United hosting Pachuca, and Houston going to Costa Rica to face Deportivo Saprissa, you have the 2^nd leg of the UEFA Champions League Liverpool vs. Arsenal @ Anfield, and Fenerbahçe vs. Chelsea in London, Man U vs. Roma at Old Trafford, and Schalke face off against Barcelona in Spain. Even the Wednesday match with KC vs. New England is on Direct Kick, so there are no excuses to not spend some time watching football this week. I know my DVR will be getting a workout this week.

OFF MY SOAPBOX

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