
Cooper steals the Le Toux show (and his name)
It was billed as the Sebastien Le Toux show - as the former favorite son of Philadelphia did the unthinkable in turning out for the enemy, New York. But despite playing his usual intelligent game, full of runs off the ball and neat touches, it wasn't Le Toux who stole the headlines at Red Bull Arena. Nor was it Thierry Henry - who had scored his first goal since April in midweek and who is inching back to his best.
Instead it was the third prong of New York's attack that did the damage, as Kenny Cooper (who looks uncannily like Le Toux) scored a brace to break clear of his own mini goalscoring drought. First he rose perfectly in the box to meet a perfectly place cross from the excellent Lade, just before half time. Then, in a second half that was mostly Philadelphia pressure, he pulled away from his marker at the near post, to head home a second.
Cooper has had his ups and downs this year - a blistering start to his partnership with Henry was derailed by the latter's injury. He kept scoring for a little after that, but has looked lost in recent games. His goals on Saturday announced his return - though afterwards members of the press could not resist asking "Seba" how he'd felt about scoring his brace. Cooper took it in good heart. Thierry Henry later claimed his two fellow strikers have taken to calling each other by the other's name. Perhaps that's what confused the Philadelphia defense as they failed to pick Cooper up.
From the off this was set up to be an open game. With Henry, Le Toux and Cooper all on the field and Martinez, Pajoy and McInerney starting for the Union, it seemed as if both coaches fancied their chances of outscoring their opponents, or making the most of the space they were afforded. As it turned out Philadelphia were not given a lot of space in the first half, as the Red Bulls closed down and harried at every opportunity (though they'll have been concerned by the loss of Barklage to injury after just quarter of an hour). Key to that was the industry of Le Toux and particularly Connor Lade, the rookie player whose energy and tenacity won praise from Henry in midweek, after his introduction changed the game against Chicago, and whose performance on Saturday prompted the Frenchman to say "I love the guy". Time and again Lade chased down opponents, often winning the ball on the second or third tackle - endearing himself to the New York crowd, who were chanting "You got Lade" at more than one dispossessed Philadelphia player.
Philadelphia pressed hard in the second half and the sub Hoppenot had a perfectly good goal called offside - but they could also have been punished by further chances for Le Toux and Cooper. The latter remains an enigma. A big player who now has 12 goals for the season, and who gave the lie to his reputation of being too nice when he tussled with Farfan and MacMath on the hour, but who sometimes seems to fade from games he should be dominating. He's a puzzle to his team mates too at times. As Henry said with a shrug afterwards, "What can you do? Kenny is Kenny." Except when he's Sebastien of course... GP
LA's Designated Players do it again
What a streak for the three biggest stars on the Galaxy. Coming into Saturday's SuperClasico against Chivas, on the back of an unbeaten run of three games and nine goals, Los Angeles were celebrating an unlikely goalscoring run from David Beckham, who amazingly had never scored in consecutive MLS games before, but now found himself on a run of four goals in his past three games.
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Beckham didn't get on the score sheet on Saturday night, but he did provide the opening assist to crack open the Chivas defense - a slide rule pass to split the defense and give Robbie Keane the chance to tuck the ball under Kennedy. In the second half it was Keane who turned provider as he slotted an equally well-weighted ball wide for one of Donovan's two goals (the other being a turn and shot in the six yard box, to poach a knockdown from a Beckham corner).
All night, the Galaxy broke at speed and in the second half in particular they seemed to cut the Chivas defense open at will, with their Designated trio of Donovan, Keane and Beckham at the heart of everything. As they played at high tempo they seemed to inspire those around them - even Juninho, last season's standout, who has been a shadow of his best this season, looked more like his familiar self - skipping through challenges and pushing the play forward.
Chivas got a goal of their own, but you suspect they would have settled for drawing a blank rather than losing the player who made the goal, to injury. Ryan Smith was at the heart of what Chivas did offer going forward, along with the similarly dangerous Bolanos. But just after his assist for the goal that made it 2-1, Smith went off with a hamstring injury - just as his continued progress looked to be one of the few bright spots for Chivas. He's a big loss to a side who sometimes lack inventiveness.
LA though, don't have time for players to grow into the team - the playoffs are an absolute minimum ambition for them and having conceded so many points to their rivals in the opening third of the season, they've needed their big name players to seize games by the scruff of the neck, and right now that's what they're doing. Whether it's because those players have no Olympics, International Camps or Euro 2012 concerns hanging over them any more, or whether they've just realized the margin for error has dwindled to zero, is unclear - but whatever LA are doing is working. They're now seven points clear in the last play-off spot (though Chivas, behind them, have three games in hand) and the teams above them will not be enjoying the thought of the defending champions entering the mix in this form. GP
Houston Dynamo have had a great week
Three games and nine points against Eastern rivals - capped with an emphatic revenge victory over Montreal Impact on Saturday night. This has been a good week for Houston.
Having derailed DC United's charge with a 4-0 victory last week, Houston closed the gap on Eastern leaders Sporting KC with a 2-1 victory on Wednesday night - two six-pointers and two good victories then, as they headed into Saturday's game versus Montreal.
Montreal, of course, had beaten the Dynamo 4-2 up in Canada, so in its own way, this had the makings of just as much of an edgy game as the two games against fellow Eastern leaders earlier in the week. In the event, Montreal's resistance was broken after just 7 minutes, when Mac Kandji finished off a move by Carr and Bruin, as the latest MLS side to experiment with 4-3-3 begin to reap the dividends of their new formation. Carr himself had two in midweek, while against Montreal, Bobby Boswell would add a header from a corner and Kandji would another with a great run and fierce shot.
Watching Kandji gallop forward for his spectacular second, it was a pleasure to watch him look like he's found his place in this Houston side and formation. Whether at New York, Colorado or recently, Houston, Kandji has never quite convinced as either part of a forward tandem or as a true wide man, but he does bring speed and strength to a Dynamo side that is already night and day in terms of movement compared to say, the stiff 4-4-2 that got rolled over by Montreal in June. His run from deep showed what Houston can do to sides on the counter, when he and Carr on the other flank are on song - and of course Bruin is now in double figures for the season at the head of the attacking three.
But with all the changes up front, let's not forget the big change at the back - Geoff Cameron's departure to Stoke will mean some ongoing reshuffling to keep the back line steady as a base for the more open strategy up front. For now, Bobby Boswell and Jermaine Taylor are holding down the center back positions, while Warren Creavalle has gone from playing college soccer 8 months ago, to anchoring the Dynamo midfield. Dominic Kinnear has the All Star week to hone those decisions before his side travel to Toronto next week, but Cameron turned the Dynamo's season round last year, and will be an undoubted loss.
After that Toronto game, it'll be back to Houston for the home leg of a series against New York that will be competed in Red Bull Arena the week afterwards. With RBA and Houston's new BBVA Stadium holding the last unbeaten records in the league, it's tempting to wonder if "somebody's 'O' has got to go" (to quote Michael Buffer) - though it's more likely we'll get a glimpse of the post-season credentials of yesterday's two big winners in the East. Sporting KC and DC United both dropped points yesterday, with Houston sliding past the latter into third, with the leaders now in sight and a couple more six pointers against the current top team NYRB, on the horizon. On this form, they'll fancy their chances... GP
Ben Olsen rewarded
What a difference a season makes. In 2011 D.C. United won just nine games. At the halfway point of this campaign they've already won ten. And despite their 1-0 defeat to a typically clinical Columbus side on Saturday, United fans will be delighted with their sides performances so far in 2012.
Head coach Ben Olsen has transformed the fortunes of DC, managing the side with the same passion he showed during his playing days with the capital club. The former US international marshaled DC for 11 seasons as a robust midfielder - for a side who have won three Supporters' Shields, Two MLS Cups, a US Open Cup and a CONCACAF Champions Cup – and he is working hard to bring the glory days and trophies back to RFK Stadium. With new investment coming from businessmen Jason Levien and Erick Thohir, after seeing DC's success on the field this year, exciting times are on the horizon for Olsen and the league's most successful franchise.
Olsen's coaching success this year – with DC's 10-7-3 record and the league's third best offense – was rewarded when he was named the MLS All-Star coach for the match against Chelsea at PPL Park on Wednesday night. He was given the honor after Peter Nowak was relieved of his duties with the Union, in the host city of Philadelphia.
So how has Olsen transformed his previously misfiring side into an offensive powerhouse, capable of beating anyone in the league on their day?
Olsen has made many shrewd acquisitions, such as veteran defender Robbie Russell, previously under-achieving Brazilian Maicon Santos - building on his masterstrokes at the back end of 2011 of bringing in Brandon MacDonald and the mercurial talent of Dwayne De Rosario as team captain. DC are growing more confident as the season continues, with youngsters Nick DeLeon, Bill Hamid, Andy Najar and Perry Kitchen growing in stature and blossoming as they get more games under their belts. Yet with other results conspiring against DC on Saturday they went from leading the East for much of the season, to fourth.
Top scorer and a key component of United's success in 2012, Chris Pontius, hopes Saturday's narrow loss to Columbus will act as a wake up a call:
"Hopefully guys didn't get complacent because you can see how fast things turn around in this league. We went from first to fourth in a week or so. There's no reason to have any cockiness, any complacency, we haven't made the playoffs in four years."
That much is true. But under Olsen's tutelage, DC United's playoff dream seems much more of a reality in 2012. JPW
Finally - the offense arrives in Dallas
Last week we spoke about FC Dallas' first victory in 13 attempts. We also spoke about attacking players returning and offering a new dimension going forward. That new dimension arrived in style against the Portland Timbers on Saturday, as FCD recorded a 5-0 victory.
Dallas lined up in an offense minded 4-2-3-1 formation with the trio of Carlos Rodriguez, Jackson and David Ferreira providing a constant threat behind Scott Sealy up top. In the past Dallas have created numerous chances but have been wasteful. Against a beleaguered Portland side they registered 14 shots, six of which were on target, five of which resulted in goals.
Attackers Blas Perez and Brek Shea were missing from Saturday's rout, the latter didn't feature following a verbal altercation with head coach Schellas Hyndman after being substituted in the loss to San Jose on Wednesday. However Dallas looked at ease offensively with Ferreira -- who recorded two assists after some wonderfully wizardry – pulling the strings in the middle and looking back to his menacing best. Jackson weighed in with a goal and two assists as Dallas surged into a 2-0 lead at half time, thanks to an own goal from Hanyer Mosquera and a pile driver from Andrew Jacobson.
Scott Sealy scored his first goal for almost four years, and his first of the season, while Ruban Luna scored late on to round off the scoring. In midweek, luck was not on FC Dallas' side as they fell to the Quakes 2-1 and missed a last minute penalty to grab a point. On Saturday lady luck was on their side, with an own goal and a deflected effort showcasing a change in fortunes, which Hyndman hopes will stay for the remainder of the year.
The 5-0 win equaled the largest winning margin this season and proved FC Dallas are well on the road to redemption, as they overtook Portland in the Western conference standings and moved off the foot of the table.
Meanwhile Portland are in a unfathomable rut, setting a new MLS record for goal-scoring futility on the road. It's now been 697 minutes since the Timbers last scored away from JELD-WEN Field. They have registered just two away wins since joining the league and have zero this season.
Interim head coach Gavin Wilkinson has a tough task on his hands trying to rejuvenate Portland after John Spencer's dismissal. His side conceded five goals for the second game in a row, and Wilkinson could not hide his disappointment:
I feel humiliated. I feel terrible for the organization. We talk about how great our fan support is. We had a group of fans that traveled tonight, and I apologize to them. And that's me and the organization apologizing. It's important that we readdress the situation. I don't think tactics lost us the game. It's not me isolating the players. I'm in it with them, so I'm very careful about what I say there. But we are embarrassed tonight. We found a way to lose the game, scored an own goal, and then dug a deeper hole and didn't track runners. You can't tactically allow for players to not track runners. They've got a job to do. It's up to us collectively to get the jobs done. But this is unacceptable, completely unacceptable.
JPW
