Obama reminds SKC of better days
With only four games left in the regular season and six points separating them from first place in the East, Sporting Kansas City have a golden opportunity this Friday night to cut that deficit in half. They go to the RFK to face conference-leaders DC United, a team who put an inconsistent September behind them with a workmanlike 1-0 win over Philadelphia last weekend.
DCU should expect a few more fireworks against SKC – if their raucous meeting with the Revs last Friday is any indication, Sporting will provide entertainment for the neutrals. The question is whether they can finally get their defense and attack on the same page.
While SKC look fairly safe for a playoff berth, they have been plain bad in recent weeks, with five losses and one win. Though injuries have played a part, there will be few excuses should they fail to find a way to win at the RFK, particularly as Sporting will go on to play a beatable Chicago Fire and Philadelphia before finishing the year against the New York Red Bulls.
If Peter Vermes’ side were looking for inspiration after their 3-2 loss to title upstarts New England last Friday, they couldn’t have done better than their midweek visit to the White House. The team were honoured by President Barack Obama in a ceremony to celebrate their MLS Cup win, and it likely provided a much-needed reminder of recent glory. It will take far more than the scoring touch of Dom Dywer to come close to repeating their 2014 feat, however, and time is running out for Vermes to sort out a very inconsistent back line.
Defoe to return against the Galaxy?
Normally, this reviewer wouldn’t have given Toronto FC’s visit to the StubHub Center any further thought, except to presume the Galaxy were guaranteed three points to help their push for first place in the Western Conference and the 2014 Supporters Shield. After all, as Graham Parker pointed out this past week, LA have regularly made a meal of visiting teams from the East, scoring goals with aplomb. Moreover, their overall home record stands at an impressive 11-3-1. Though TFC have a game in hand in their last-gasp playoff battle, beating LA away is surely a bridge too far.
And yet … and yet … Toronto have a wild card in the shape of Jermain Defoe, a player who was rumoured to be forcing a move out of MLS in August, only to set the record straight upon his return to Canada. Despite his long absence with a groin injury, Defoe is still top scorer with 11 goals in 14 appearances. Coach Greg Vanney raised both eyebrows and his fans’ hopes recently when he told reporters “I anticipate [Defoe will] be available [against LA], yes.”
With the fourth-most goals against in the east, however, Toronto will face a strike force that includes the rampaging retiree Landon Donovan, Robbie Keane and the dynamic, speedy Gyasi Zardes. That creaky, shallow TFC defense, exposed in the early going against the Timbers last weekend, will need to find a way to overperform away from home – and hope the Galaxy have a very bad day at the office. A good game from Stephen Caldwell and the shaky though goal-sharp rookie Nick Hagglund may not be enough, but the presence of a sharp-again Defoe will help take some of the pressure off.
Eastern teams are like crabs in a bucket
This weekend, fans of the seven (give or take) clubs in the Eastern Conference battling for their playoff futures may want to clear their weekend schedules to watch a few other games. That’s because Match Day 31 could very well scramble the pecking order.
We’ve already touched on the title match on Friday. If SKC find a way to lose at the RFK, DC will be but guaranteed the Eastern title while Sporting will face the remote but real possibility of falling out of post-season contention altogether. Meanwhile, the Houston Dynamo travel to face the New York Red Bulls, and though the last time Houston made the trip to Harrison NY won 4-0, the Dynamo have a 3-2-1 record in their last six with Giles Barnes approaching Will Bruin’s scoring numbers for the season. A loss for NY will open up the final playoff spot to the three clubs just below the red line.
At the same time, New England face the Columbus Crew at Gillette Stadium. The Crew won their last two encounters, and should they earn a result against a team that is 7-1-2 in 10, they will be in the distant running for top spot in the East. It is all, in short, totally bananas, and I write this without knowing the result of Philadelphia’s Thursday match against Chicago, which could tie the Union on points with the Red Bulls.
It’s getting stuffy in there.
National calls could cause controversy
Jürgen Klinsmann looks set to announce his next 30-man USA roster this weekend. In all likelihood his mind is already made up, but the MLS program will nonetheless provide a good litmus test of the kind of young talent he has said he wants to try against Ecuador and Honduras on 10 and 14 October.
MLSsoccer.com’s Matthew Doyle has provided a realistic list of names to fill out the squad. Doyle points out that Klinsmann will be forced to respect the wishes of teams wanting to keep their best players fit for important matches – meaning players like Michael Bradley and Matt Besler likely won’t be called up – and it is incredible to think that any MLS club, in the crucial final weeks of a very tight playoff and title race, will send any of their best players.
Even so, there will be justified pride among Revs fans should MVP-fave Lee Nguyen wear a USA shirt next week, and no small amount of excitement among USA fans should Zardes do the same. After all, a better USA team has always been the telos of MLS, and there appears to be little consternation regarding fixture timing over which MLS has no control. Even so, it is hard to tell how club fans might react should Nguyen or DCU’s Maurice Edu, or the Crew’s Will Trapp, pick up an injury on international duty. It’s not the best timing for a club versus country debate …
Can New York and Chivas ignore distractions?
Sports Illustrated has had a banner month for MLS reporting: first Brian Straus’s 12 September report on a rumoured year-long hiatus for the Goats was
backed up by reporting from ESPNFC; then Grant Wahl published a story this past Wednesday reporting that marquee designated player Thierry Henry would almost certainly not renew his contract with the Red Bulls and that the team’s Austrian franchise owners were “losing interest”. MLS commissioner Don Garber has flatly denied sale rumours.
Though we should expect players and coaching staff to take such news professionally, it would be naïve to assume it won’t have any effect on the field. Despite Erick Torres and Felix Borja causing problems for league-leaders Seattle last week, Chivas have posted an abysmal record in their last 12 matches, conceding at least three goals in each of their last six. They have little to play for, beyond individuals using each game to prove their worth to the league. There is little reason to think they will pose Real Salt Lake too many problems on Sunday.
Meanwhile, 2013 Supporters Shield winners New York are fighting to stay in the playoff race, hoping Bradley Wright-Phillips can stay hot and break the MLS single season goal-scoring record. The last thing Mike Petke and the team will want to think about is the very future of the club under new owners, particularly with NYCFC taking a bite into the New York soccer market in 2015.
Though news of sales and so on undercuts the image of stability MLS often tries to project, it also has a direct affect on the men who actually play the football.
