1. Can the Galaxy cope with a makeshift defense?
“Ravaged by injury.” It’s a sportswriting cliché, but it could be applied liberally to several MLS teams slogging through a brutal August-September schedule, none more so than Los Angeles. Playing yet another midweek fixture this past Wednesday, in Montreal, they were forced to try out a three-man defense to cover the loss of Todd Dunivant, injured in the spectacular 6-0 victory over the Colorado Rapids last weekend.
It didn’t work.
LA conceded two goals to the Impact in the first half, with Leonardo seemingly out of his element on the left in a defense marshalled by Omar Gonzalez in the center and with Dan Gargan on the right. Though the Galaxy were able to nick a point with a 2-2 draw via goals from Gyasi Zardes and Alan Gordon, the team realized it wasn’t working. Robbie Keane acknowledged as much after the match, telling reporters:
You could see we didn’t have the personnel to play there, so when we went back to the original 4-4-2, then we got back into the game. It was obvious to see.
Which raises the question: how will LA cope on Sunday when they take on their struggling California rivals, the San Jose Earthquakes? Particularly with star creator Landon Donovan out on a yellow card suspension and several defenders still recovering from recent knocks? Bruce Arena’s team are a point behind Seattle in the race for first in the West and are unbeaten five. The last thing they need is to concede more goals against beatable opponents.
2. Can the Red Bulls keep their momentum going?
Though not without controversy, the New York Red Bulls scored a palpable hit in their Atlantic Cup victory over bitter rivals DC United on Wednesday, a game which saw DCU’s stellar playmaker, Fabian Espindola, sent off for what appeared to be a routine challenge in the 32nd minute. Though United keeper Bill Hamid kept New York at bay for much of the game, a late goal from Lloyd Sam gave the Red Bulls a 1-0 win.
The Red Bulls have won four of their last six, in their push for the upper half in the East. The victory over DCU, however, was their first back-to-back win since April. This weekend they visit PPL Park to face the Philadelphia Union, who should be motivated by the prospect of 40 points and and an opportunity to get on the right side of the red line.
New York, as with seemingly half the teams in MLS, will need to win to keep pace with their mid-table rivals. Yet as Dave Caldwell pointed out earlier this week in the Wall Street Journal, a playoff push would also go a long way to solidifying NYRB’s hold on the New York soccer market ahead of the arrival of New York City FC next season. Sam said after the match that the current stretch is “money time”; it could be for NYRB in more ways than one.
3. A must-win for Sporting KC? Sort of…
It can be tempting for the writer of MLS previews to point to almost every match in the final third of the season as “must-win”, particularly with both conferences tightly packed in the middle and with teams hitting or falling out of form. At some point, however, the exhortation becomes meaningless, particularly as the points gap between top and bottom is small enough that whole halves of either conference could invert between now and the end of October.
The easy thing, for example, would be to point to Sporting Kansas City’s four consecutive losses, note their fixture with dead-last-in-the-West Chivas USA at the StubHub Center this Saturday, and write that SKC “must win”. Yet despite dropping 12 points in four matches and conceding 11 goals in the process, Sporting are still second in the East, still five points back from DCU, still three points ahead of their nearest challengers, the Revs, still with a six-point cushion in the playoff race. SKC have yet to face real consequences for their losing streak.
This may be frustrating for the neutral supporter – more on that below – but for head coach Peter Vermes, whose team are still recovering from the losses to injury early on in the season of key defenders Chance Myers and Ike Opara, it offers a reprieve.
“I’m still not worried,” Vermes stressed to reporters after last weekend’s 2-1 loss to the Red Bulls. No doubt that has a lot to do with his faith in his team, particularly up front where Dom Dwyer continues to impress, but credit should also go to the failure of other teams in the East to take decisive advantage of SKC’s struggles.
4. Seattle to take sound hold of the Shield?
Perhaps it’s a sign of confidence. Ahead of the first-placed Sounders’ key match against Real Salt Lake, some Seattle media outlets seems more interested in pitch improvements at CenturyLink Field and the prospect of traffic delays than the Main Event on Friday night.
The Sounders have good reason to feel a sense of calm heading into the match, despite clinging to a single-point lead over the Galaxy. They enjoyed midweek off, and their match against RSL comes alongside rumours that Obafemi Martins, who scored twice in the 4-2 win over Chivas USA last weekend, is set to sign a contract extension which will keep him in Seattle until 2017.
They will hope the rest will be enough to prepare them for a difficult match. Even away from home RSL present a major threat, particularly with the return of Alvaro Saborio, whose last-minute winner against prospective Western dark horses FC Dallas earned a goal of the week nomination from MLS. Saborio will join Joao Plata, returning from his international call-up with Ecuador after assisting on their fourth goal against Bolivia, and Sebastian Jaime, who signed in late August.
Seattle will need to put in a convincing performance and then regroup ahead of their Tuesday US Open Cup final against Philadelphia, which marks the start of a protracted road trip against tough opponents in New York and Dallas. It’s a brutal home stretch for the Sounders, but a win against Jeff Cassar’s full-strength side would be a major weight off their shoulders.
5. Is MLS too forgiving?
Sporting KC are in second in the East, and a win against a Chivas USA this weekend could see them cut the lead of DC United to two points. A victory for Toronto FC in Chicago would see the beleaguered Canadian club possibly sneak back above the playoff line, though a win for the home side could see Chicago back in the mix for a last-gasp run for the postseason. In the West, a Colorado win against the the Portland Timbers would give a major boost to coach Pablo Mastroeni’s hopes for November football.
This all looks like fairly dramatic stuff, but there’s more to this picture than meets the eye. SKC have lost four games in a row. Toronto have won twice in their last 12. Chicago have won only five matches all season. Colorado have lost seven consecutive games. All except SKC have win records below .500 and negative goal differentials.
As we head into the home stretch, it’s worth asking: at one point do the perpetual playoff hopes offered by MLS to teams with dismal records begin to offer diminishing returns? When does it start to dilute the excitement? What does it say about the league (or at least the East) that SKC can remain in the mix for first place despite losing four in a row? Or that Colorado can drop seven straight and still remain just outside the red line in the West?
Perhaps the addition of more franchises will lessen this feeling in future seasons, but for now game day provides a little too much of a muchness in MLS.
