Tragedy strikes LA Galaxy
AJ DeLaGarza didn’t have to come forward. At least, nobody would have begrudged the long-time Galaxy defender for being less public than he was. Yet instead of descending into the heartache that’d befell him and his wife, the 26-year-old considered the good that could come from his family’s misfortune.
“[I]t’s important for me to help other families who are in need more than I am,” DeLaGarza told the team’s website last week, the first time he had spoken publically about his son’s impending arrival.
For four months, the DeLaGarzas had known: Luca, their first child, would be born with Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome, a congenital heart defect that rendered one ventricle too underdeveloped to supply enough blood to the rest of the body.
“Right now, he’s safe inside his mother,” DeLaGarza said, “but when he comes out, he’s going to have a hard time.”
On Thursday, Luca DeLaGarza passed away. He was seven days old.
The Galaxy organization rallied around the DeLaGarzas, promoting the #LucaKnowsHeart hashtag as a way to raise awareness of the condition. A website was created to help educate and raise funds, while beneath the club’s normal uniforms, DeLaGarza’s team-mates wore t-shirts featuring the cause’s symbol: a heart with a Christian cross above its left ventricle. When Omar Gonzalez scored the second goal against DC United last Wednesday, he immediately turned to his partner and pointed to his chest, where his raised uniform revealed the symbol, one that’s also tattooed on DeLaGarza’s wrist.
On Friday, with the Colorado Rapids visiting Carson, California, the tone was more subdued. The defiant hope that fueled the team’s previous games was replaced by grief, with black “Luca” armbands and a moment of silence taking the place of their absent defender. Through the weekend, those remembrances were replicated across MLS.
The Galaxy went on to beat Colorado 6-0, with the game’s muted significance confirmed in the first minute. Not even the earliest red card in the league’s history, shown to Rapids goalkeeper Joe Nasco after 33 seconds, could resume sports’ facade.
When Landon Donovan pointed to his armband after converting from the spot, the bigger picture came back into focus.
“We play a sport for a living that we tend to think is very important, and people get carried away with parts of it,” Donovan said, after Friday’s match. “We try to keep it all in perspective. Life is more important.”
Jones’ performance salt in Chicago’s wound
Were it written in a screenplay, a critic might call the gag too “on the nose”, yet in Sunday’s 60th minute at Gillette Stadium we had the perfect metaphor for Chicago’s failed pursuit of Jermanine Jones.
Turning on a pass out of New England’s defensive third, Jones, the aloof target of the Fire’s summer crush, left Lovel Palmer, Alex and Bakary Soumare to watch as a last-second connection came good for the Revolution. With a through ball that sent Charlie Davies in on goal, Jones created the winner in New England’s 2-1 triumph, the Revs’ fourth victory in a row.
As player after player failed to stop the US international, the need for Jones in Frank Yallop’s team was laid bare. Had the former Schalke man been in Fire red, Jose Goncalves’s pass out of the back may have never found its target. Whomever would be occupying Jones’s boots wouldn’t be allowed to turn upfield without a painful end. Even if a player were allowed to transition into attack, he would not have gotten far without the ranging midfielder tracking him down.
Yet instead of plying his trade for Chicago, Jones was making his second straight start for New England, one that included a slightly alerted role. Whereas on Wednesday against Kansas City he played as a lone holder in Jay Heaps’ customary 4-1-4-1, the Revs tweaked their setup on Sunday, deploying Jones in a double pivot. The obvious benefit: rather than being obligated to sit in front of the defense, Jones was liberated to use one of his prime virtues, his ability to cover ground, to have a greater influence.
Early, that virtue looked set to be overshadowed by a mistake, with Sanna Nyassi catching Jones on the ball ahead of a turnover that sent the Fire attacker on goal. But after the right upright proved forgiving, Jones’s night was left to be defined by the positives; namely, a performance that justified his large pay packet. Leading New England in touches (108), Jones handled everything between defense and attack, meeting every heightened expectation that accompanied his arrival.
For the Revolution, it was a proof of concept, albeit one that took a surprising form. Whereas it was assumed Jones would slot into a tried and true scheme, Heaps showed a willingness to build around his new talent. Unfortunately for Chicago, the end result highlighted what had slipped away.
Perfect timing for Saborio’s return
Real Salt Lake didn’t seem desperate to get Alvaro Saborio back, but given what transpired over the last two weeks, they should have been. In recent visits to Dallas and San Jose, RSL’s faced packed defence has been content to wait behind attacks looking for counters. With distributors like Javier Morales and Kyle Beckerman, RSL are normally capable of unlocking that staid approach, but in the absence of the franchise’s leading scorer, their creators weren’t playing off. One point from two games had left RSL losing ground at the top of the Western Conference.
This weekend in Utah, Saborio returned, making RSL’s bench three months after winning the World Cup’s broken metatarsal lottery. While he wasn’t brought on until the 76th minute, the Costa Rican international made an immediate return, running straight from the sidelines on to a Morales corner that became the night’s game winning goal.
It was a just turn for the home side, who saw a dominant opening hour go for naught when Michel’s 62nd-minute free-kick converted Dallas’s first shot on target. Though FCD went on to claim a greater hold on the match, they never again tested Nick Rimando, leaving RSL to take the match after Saborio’s timely return.
Along with the debut of Argentinian forward Sebastian Jaime, who looks ready restore versatility lost with Fabian Espindola’s departure, Real Salt Lake have gone from a hamstrung attack to one of the league’s deepest over the course of a weekend, a development that threatens to complicate an already intense Western Conference. While LA and Seattle have distinguished themselves as Cup contenders, RSL’s flaws were seeing them fall back. But if those flaws suddenly become a strength? Once again, the Claret and Cobalt become a team capable of making it out of the West.
The importance of Saborio, perhaps the most complete No9 in Major League Soccer, is hard to oversell. Add in Ecuadorian Joao Plata, due to return from international duty this week, and Jeff Cassar has his first-choice forwards back in the fold. Throw in Jaime to a bench that already includes Garcia and Robbie Findley, and RSL’s forward depth becomes unmatched.
Whether that trumps Seattle or LA remains to be seen, but player-for-player, it’s clear RSL’s new options will pose problems.
Sporting Kansas City forge new expectations
When do the defending champions lose the benefit of the doubt? Three straight finishes in the East’s top two suggest we should see a broader context in Sporting’s results, but with each weekend the question gains more relevance. How far do Peter Vermes’ team have to fall before we adjust our expectations?
For this weekend’s visit to Red Bull Arena, our expectations were a turnaround, yet within nine minutes of kickoff against New York Kansas City’s defense had failed again, with the increasingly fallible Matt Besler conceding a penalty. Amid debate as to whether Besler should have been sent off, Bradley Wright-Phillips converted from the spot.
By the end of the half, it looked as if Besler’s mistake would be an outlier, even though Lloyd Sam and Thierry Henry nearly doubled the lead in the first half-hour. Come intermission, Sporting were on the front foot, with only a few moments of inspired desperation allowing New York to preserve their lead into halftime.
Shortly after the break, while Sporting sought to consolidate momentum, Henry offered another reason for regret. With retirement assumed to be on the horizon, the Arsenal icon seems intent on forging a new series of highlights – perhaps his final farewells. In the 52nd minute, the 37-year-old offered another reason for fans to lament that impending departure.
Sporting responded quickly, Dom Dwyer converting from close range two minutes later, but the imposing play that oppressed New York just before halftime never returned. Though Saturday’s game was an improvement, that improvement wasn’t enough to prevent a 2-1 loss, giving Kansas City their first four-game losing streak since 2011.
That was the last year in which Sporting failed to make the postseason, and while a repeat of that failure is beyond reason, 11 conceded in four games demands an explanation. Yet when we look at Sporting’s squad, the causality is not hard to find. Jimmy Neilsen has been missed in goal, right-back Chance Myers has been lost to injury, and holder Oriol Rosell was sold to Sporting Lisbon. Add in downturns from Besler, Aurélien Collin, and left-back Seth Sinovic, and Sporting’s entire back six has diminished from 2013.
Besler and Collin are Best XI talents. Peter Vermes should expect them to return to form. Elsewhere, though, Sporting’s changed. Perhaps we should have adjusted our expectations long ago.
DC weathers East’s BC Place problem
If you relied on the table and form, East-leading DC United looked like a decent bet to take three points from Vancouver, particularly considering all the indicators working against the Whitecaps: a 321-minute scoreless drought; a 3-0 home loss to Portland last week; a summer swoon that left the Whitecaps with one win since 5 July. While Ben Olsen’s team had spent the summer in a defiant push to the top of their conference, Vancouver had dropped out of the West’s top five.
The one thing Vancouver had in its favor: the East’s history at BC Place. In 20 trips to British Columbia since the Whitecaps joined MLS, Eastern Conference teams had only won twice, with Vancouver claiming full points 14 times. (The Whitecaps are 14-8-18 at home against the West, all-time.) This season, only Montreal had come west and gotten a result.
Saturday’s first 30 minutes highlighted the possible problem. On the league’s hardest and fastest surface (an artificial one), United needed time to adjust, a phenomenon we also saw during visits from New York, Houstonand Sporting Kansas City. Only the Impact, who play spring games on the Olympic Stadium’s synthetic field, were spared a nervous coming-up period.
But whereas the Red Bulls, Dynamo, and Sporting all fell behind within the first 35 minutes, DC managed to weather the storm. Be it through professional fouls (Perry Kitchen, within minutes of kickoff), early cards (Bobby Boswell), or fortune (poor finishes by the Whitecaps’ Darren Mattocks and Kendall Waston), United reached the half-hour on even footing, by which time they had made their adjustments. Over the game’s middle hour, DC matched their opponents shot-for-shot (6-6), eventually earning the East’s second 0-0 in Vancouver this season.
Given the divergent directions of the two teams, that result can be seen as a letdown for DC, particularly in light of Vancouver’s 411-minute scoreless run. History, however, says BC Place plays by different rules. Be it the outlying surface or another reason, Eastern Conference teams have never had success in Vancouver. One point may have been DC’s best case scenario.
