America's Football 4.26.08: Issue #16: Dallas loses, and MLS Weekend Preview
Posted by Sean Garmer on 04.26.2008
We are into the fifth week of MLS, as the undefeated Hoops looked to take down the Revs. I also look at the standings and preview this weekend's games.
Welcome all; finally, it is here the MLS season has begun. The United States' premier league is back for its thirteenth season, and it is already given us things to talk about. The quest to win begins once again, and as all fourteen teams eye that prize, in the end only one will stand tall as MLS champion. With a lot more at stake than ever before, this will be the year that MLS will prove how far it has come. With SuperLiga and the new CONCACAF Champions League looming, as well as the US Open Cup, the fixture list comes fast and furious. Can the squads involved balance all of that? Or will they receive a tremendous burnout? All that and more is left to be shown in this season. I'm gonna try a new format, to have a column on Saturday with thoughts on the midweek game and a preview of the weekend action, then a wrap-up column on Tuesday with all the talk from the weekend. Well, all that is left is another edition of America's Football…
No Longer Undefeated
Coming into the game at Pizza Hut Park, Dallas was the only undefeated team left in what has been a crazy four weeks so far in MLS. New England has had to play all their games without their main goalscorer Taylor Twellman, and only one game with Steve Ralston, but have kept themselves in contention with some surprising play from guys like Sainey Nyassi, Kenny Mansally, Mauricio Castro, and Amaechi Igwe. The fact is the Revolution have had to play most of the season with subs, and as a result don't have much of a bench either. So because of that, Stevie Nicol decided to play a 4-4-2 to close down the space to the explosive Dallas attack, and that worked better than anyone imagined. The entire backline of course led by, last season's defensive player of the year, Michael Parkhurst, and the great veteran Jay Heaps kept Kenny Cooper and Arturo Alvarez in check. The youngster, Chase Hilgenbrick made his first start and looked decent, he got beat a lot on that right side though by Dax McCarty and later by Dominic Oduro, but to be fair almost everyone gets beat by Oduro's ridiculous pace. Cooper was outmuscled by Parkhurst to the ball all game, and Arturo just seemed to lack creation because he couldn't find space to work with. The place where the defensive move showed the most is that it interrupted Dallas's link up play, they couldn't get that one touch passing going at all, any time they went on the break they never seemed to be able to get it into the box because they would have to pass it back. I just felt it was necessary to show that Nicol did a great job in doing the best with what he had, and did something different. The one guy that was a force all night was Dax McCarty. He was up and down the field playing in defense and even going forward. Dallas looked better in defense, and it took a bit of outmuscling from Khano Smith (McCarty's only mistake) to get that goal that went past Sala. Dallas didn't have any chances until late on after they were a goal down and Steve Morrow made the right substitutions putting on two players with pace in Ricardinho and Oduro. Matt Reis stood tall and New England prevailed in a deserved win. The Revolution didn't have many chances, but the ones they did have, especially coming from the brilliant play of Shalrie Joesph, were a lot more dangerous. Big ups to Stevie Nicol and the players for playing a great game against a hot Dallas team.
Let's Look at the Standings
Eastern Conference
1) New England Revolution= 10 pts.
2) Kansas City Wizards= 10 pts.
3) Columbus Crew= 9 pts.
4) Chicago Fire= 7 pts.
5) Toronto FC= 6 pts.
6) New York Redbulls= 4 pts.
7) DC United= 3 pts.
Well I don't know if anyone would have predicted DC being all the way at the bottom there, but then again, this is why it is early in the season, this same thing happened last season too. DC brought in a lot of new players and they are going to need time to mesh with each other. They will pull through it eventually, especially because New England is going to be playing in some tournaments this year so this race for the East will get closer as time progresses. KC has shown that their new signings have paid dividends already and their defense has been very solid. Morsink and Jewsbury have been surprises for them as they have played a key part in their midfield.
Mainly this is showing the parody of the league. As Columbus, Chicago, and Toronto (with the new signings of Laurent Robert, Amado Guevara, in the midfield, and Ricketts up front,) have that East looking pretty tight. The Crew look dangerous with those four up front. With Schelotto and Moreno in sync with each other this early it might mean Columbus will actually be scoring all year. Blanco has Chicago motivated and Chad Barrett and Frankowski are scoring goals, and Jon Busch is the best goalie in the league at the moment.
New York has a game in hand so they may be a little higher if it wasn't for that, but Jozy Altidore scored a cracker in just his 2nd game and that's without Juan Pablo Angel. They still don't play very good defense and that might hurt them come season's end.
Western Conference
1) FC Dallas= 8 pts.
2) Colorado Rapids= 6 pts.
3) Real Salt Lake= 4 pts.
4) Chivas USA= 4 pts.
5) LA Galaxy= 4 pts.
6) San Jose Earthquakes=3 pts.
7) Houston Dynamo= 3 pts.
The champs are at the bottom, some of that is from fatigue and some of that is from injuries, but most of all it is lack of depth. I don't know that they will be making that huge win streak they did last year but they'll be in the playoffs. At least Franco Carracio is has scored a couple of goals already this year. It was quite an event for San Jose to get their first win. Ronnie O' Brien has really been a leader for them; and who knows maybe they will do a lot better than Toronto did last year. I'm sure they will still suffer from a severe lack of depth, but ya never know it is a long season.
The Galaxy have been on and off so far, but the brooding partnership between Donavan and Beckham is very evident, if these two can stay healthy we could see this squad in the playoffs.
Above them on the same amount of points is Real Salt Lake who have improved with all their signings with Kyle Beckerman and Espindola doing the damage with the service to Kenny Deuchar. The defense has improved slightly but through the long season they could mesh to be a better back line. Chivas has not had their whole squad together and that has hurt them so far, if they get most of them back from injury they should be able to make a big run into the playoffs.
Who would have thought Colorado be where they are. Some of the reserves have come up and played well, Getting Burciaga Jr. and Christian Gomez have really put them head and shoulders above what they were last season. Terry Cooke has been great with Gomez there it has allowed him the guy on the right to give service. They still need to figure out their situation up front, but right now their league position is pretty nice.
Of course seeing my team top of the table is wonderful, especially seeing Kenny Cooper scoring goals. Alvarez, Rocha, and McCarty all look great this year. Davino has had some time to get accustomed to the league and is playing tons better. Steve Morrow also seems to have settled on a formation and I think that will help them in the long run. They certainly are the most individually talented team in the league, if they continue to mesh, we could see them actually win a playoff game for once.
Weekend Games
The First Superclasico between LA Galaxy and Chivas is this weekend and that should be a dandy. No one will forget the tackle from Jesse Marsch on Beckham last year that caused a tussle. Sascha Kljestan has been immense for Chivas this year. Let's hope they can have the front tandem together for this one of Galindo and Razov. They'll also have Mendoza back too, but they've looked really shaky at the back with all those injuries. The Galaxy are a two man squad at the moment but with injuries to the Chivas back line it might be all that Landon and Becks need to score some goals. Regardless, I'll be watching on FSC Saturday Night.
KC travels up north to face the much stronger Toronto FC. That midfield has been solidified with Robert, Eric Roberts, Guevara, and Edu. Dichio is back and Ricketts is there to help too. KC have their own playmaker in Claudio Lopez who has been doing well for KC so far, but they rely on that solid back five and that will be the key here. Conrad, Wahl, Harrison, Hartman, and Myers have been great. It should be another solid game on the weekend.
Columbus has been surprisingly good this year at scoring goals, Houston's defense has been lacking the ability to stop them. I expect Columbus to continue their trend with an emerging Rogers, a hard working Adam Moffat, and Schelotto setting up the passes. Alejandro Moreno has been scoring goals early this year and that has been what's fueled this squad. Houston has shown signs of life, but they just looked tired and the defense has looked weak, that doesn't help against the Crew.
We have a rematch of a game that ended in a rout for Real Salt Lake as DC was resting players for the Champions Cup. Now that DC only has the league to worry about for a while they will be play the big names. However, DC have looked out of sync, with Gonzalo Peralta playing horrid defense and Emilio out of touch with his goalscoring. Gallardo has the ability along with Fred to get the team motivated but they seem lost with out their heart (Ben Olsen). RSL look to come in ready to fire again and who knows we could see another couple of goals for them.
Colorado pay a visit to Toyota Park and the home of Blanco, Mapp, and Barrett. Colorado has played well with less this season, but Chicago have really looked good in every game and I don't see any different here at home.
On Sunday, San Jose have a very winnable game against the Red Bulls. The defense is still bad, no Angel or Echeverry means it is all about Jozy. San Jose have some very capable center backs that could control him. Ronnie O' Brien will have time to provide service to Glinton and Kei Kamara, this one could provide another three points for the Earthquakes.
Alrighty, that is all for this week's column. Enjoy the games, and hopefully, I'll see you all on Tuesday.
