Was Petke right to gamble away the CCL?
Coach Mike Petke’s “reserve-team” strategy for New York’s midweek CCL matches has ended the way skeptical fans expected it would – with the Red Bulls out of the competition. On Wednesday, New York drew with FAS 0-0, in a game in which Saër Sène sent a potential game-winning penalty shot to the moon. With the Impact on nine points in the same group, the Red Bulls are out.
Though some may see Petke’s decision to send out bench players as a knock to the CCL, the reality is that despite a recent run of form in MLS, New York are only three points above the red line with five games to play. Not only that, but this weekend they will travel to California to play the LA Galaxy, a team in first place in the West who enjoy a 10-3-1 home record this season. The margins are razor thin.
The Red Bulls have a few reasons to hope for more than a point against the Galaxy, however. Tactically, Thierry Henry has spoken of Petke’s shift to a 4-2-3-1 and how it has helped stabilize the Red Bulls’ defense. But even that change can’t account for the spectacular run of form of Bradley Wright-Phillips, who has scored 24 goals (three against the Seattle Sounders last weekend) this season and has his eye on breaking the single-season scoring record in MLS.
Wright-Phillips’ form and health will need to continue well past this weekend. After LA, New York will enjoy a four-game homestand beginning with two of their Eastern playoff rivals, Toronto FC and the Columbus Crew. Petke has gambled away the CCL on New York’s MLS fortunes. We’ll see whether it has paid off this weekend.
Stakes are high for Sporting KC and Revs
Earlier this week, I wrote that as the Eastern Conference gets more densely packed in the middle, the playoff hopes of competing teams will rely more and more on large doses of luck, good or ill. New England have a golden opportunity this weekend to further tighten the vice, should they nab all three points away at Sporting KC Friday night – a victory for them would see SKC and the Revs tied on 45 points.
To do it, however, New England will need more luck than they enjoyed last weekend against the Columbus Crew. Despite their 1-0 loss, New England were as dynamic against the Crew as they had been in their previous five game win-streak, and the form of Lee Nguyen and Kelyn Rowe was just as impressive. While the Revs were out-possessed and outshot 14 to 11, Jay Heaps’ side managed to get six shots on target to the Crew’s four. The loss, in the end, came down to a spectacular Federico Higuaín free-kick. Such is football.
Meanwhile, Sporting KC have a lot going for them in a tough fixture ahead of the final phase of the regular season. After enjoying a weekend off, they handily defeated Real Esteli at home 3-0 with the normally out-of-sorts Claudio Bieler scoring a brace in the Concacaf Champions League. That and SKC’s earlier 4-0 destruction of the awful Chivas USA makes two consecutive wins for Peter Vermes following their four-game losing streak in MLS.
The Revs will want to restate their case as a dark horse for first in the East, while Sporting will hope to avoid getting dragged into an unexpected playoff dogfight late in the season. A potentially brilliant game for a Friday night.
Who’s accountable for Colorado’s rapid fall?
What happened to the Colorado Rapids? Up until their last win against (surprise!) Chivas USA way back on 25 July, they were a slightly above-average side in the West with more than enough reason to hope for a spot in the playoffs.
Since then, they have dropped eight of their nine games and been outscored 29-9. For much of that downward spiral, the Rapids somehow remained in pole position to move back above the red line. They had plenty of time to regroup and reorganize and try to find some of the chemistry which helped them in the first half of the season. Instead, with five games left they need a miracle to catch Vancouver or Portland in the battle for the last postseason spot.
The easy route would be to note the injuries to key defenders Drew Moore (torn ACL) and Shane O’Neill (right knee). But O’Neill has been back in the lineup for two games, in which Colorado shipped seven goals, five of them to RSL. One may start to wonder whether there may be an issue with the coach, Pablo Mastroeni, who is in his first year after retiring from MLS in 2013.
Mastroeni, perhaps unsurprisingly, feels otherwise:
I don’t think tactically we’re in bad shape; I don’t think technically the players are deficient. The mistakes that we’re making in games, to me, [are] individuals without any confidence and no-one on the field to pick them up and hold them accountable when those things are happening. So it keeps happening, because everyone’s so focused on what they need to do individually.
One might surmise that it is, in fact, part of Mastroeni’s job to pick his players up and hold them accountable. He’ll have a chance to do that against the San Jose Earthquakes this weekend, a team three points behind them in the table, without a win in nine matches and looking to next year with a new stadium nearing completion. If the Rapids can’t do it, Mastroeni may want to reconsider his list of excuses.
Curtin can return Union’s backing against DCU
In most professional leagues, there seems to be something slightly arbitrary about the “interim manager”. After all, long contracts don’t generally offer much protection to the poorly performing manager, as former Philadelphia Union coach John Hackworth discovered when after just under two years in the job he was relieved of his duties in early June. Since then, interim manager Jim Curtin has coached the Union to a 6-6-2 record in MLS and a US Open Cup final they lost in extra-time to Seattle. All football managers are, in effect, interim managers.
Nevertheless, Curtin didn’t hide his desire to get the job full-time, and patiently waited while Union chief executive Nick Sakiewicz floated a few possible permanent candidates. This week, news emerged that Curtin’s probationary period is over – he got the job. It couldn’t have come at a more crucial time for the Union, who visit RFK Stadium to play Ben Olsen’s DC United, a team clinging to first in the East.
The Union are on 38 points, two below Columbus Crew and the red line. Though they were the better side against Houston last weekend, Conor Casey was profligate and Sébastien le Toux looked off his game, though a back four manned in part by Carlos Valdez and Raymon Gaddis seemed secure. DC, meanwhile, will be desperate to use home advantage for a win after going 1-2-2.
A win for the Union will take some of the pressure off in their final four matches, in which they’ll face playoff rivals Columbus twice. It will also help reassure Sakiewicz he made the right decision.
Portland and Toronto meet in decider
Caleb Porter said of Portland’s match last week, “the team that won this game would be in the driver’s seat”. Greg Vanney remarked on Toronto FC’s home fixture against Chivas that “this was a must-win because this was a team that has been a little bit on the ropes”. The two head coaches now face each other at BMO Field in another game they can’t afford to lose.
The Timbers should feel confident after a 6-0 midweek win in the CCL against Alpha United, days after Diego Valeri impressed yet again with a goal and assist against the Caps in a 3-0 victory. Portland are above the red line in the Western Conference with a two-point cushion.
Toronto took the opportunity to crush a hopeless Chivas thanks to some good set-piece work and goals from Jackson, Luke Moore and Gilberto. It was TFC’s first win since August and it gave them a fighting chance at the postseason in a packed Eastern Conference, three points behind Columbus and the last playoff spot. Portland are their first real test in a difficult race to the finish.
Something has to give. Toronto have a game in hand and a victory could do double duty in reigniting fading hopes for a first playoff run while strengthening fan faith in Vanney and club GM Tim Bezbatchenko, who made the call in replacing Ryan Nelsen last month. For Porter, a win will put further distance between his team and Vancouver, while giving him a break ahead of a final four-game stretch that will include a home and away series against San Jose and matches against RSL and FC Dallas.
