DC United have chance to prove they deserve top spot in the East
As many predicted, with the departure of both Houston and Sporting Kansas City to the Western Conference there is something of a power vacuum in the East. Perhaps the best evidence so far of the competitive decline is DC United. Though currently in first place with 10 points – two ahead of the New York Red Bulls – the team this season has thus far looked underwhelming. Their three victories have all been slim 1-0 affairs, some more fortuitous than others, and their home and away series against Atlantic Cup rivals New York Red Bulls resulted in a loss and a 2-2 draw contested last weekend at RFK Stadium.
Nevertheless it seemed for a very short while in that match that Ben Olsen’s 2014 Eastern Conference champs were going to put in the first solid win, particularly after Perry Kitchen completed his brace in the 65th minute. Then two minutes later some set-piece laziness set in as Damien Perinelle headed in a Felipe corner. New York eventually secured a point when Lloyd Sam followed up on the rebound of a free kick.
This weekend DCU will welcome Owen Coyle’s Houston Dynamo, fresh off a 3-0 victory against the Montreal Impact that was perhaps a little less dazzling than the scoreline suggested despite some good attacking play from Ricardo Clarke and the kid Rob Lovejoy. With critical forward Fabian Espindola still out on suspension until 25 April, this will be a good opportunity for United to prove despite the conference’s relative weakness, they have a team worthy of first place.
Real Salt Lake and Vancouver Whitecaps to provide a glimpse of future mid-table battle?
Real Salt Lake will host the Vancouver Whitecaps this weekend at Rio Tinto, and while the result may not be particularly telling – really, are any in this league at this stage? – it may give us some idea of the relative trajectory of both clubs. Vancouver for their part are still first in the West despite dropping a 1-0 result to the San Jose Earthquake under lights this past Sunday at Avaya Stadium. In the process Pedro Morales received a red card suspension after kicking Adam Jahn in the gut, and that makes things slightly tricky for Carl Robinson’s Whitecaps, who have thus far heavily relied on the Chilean to provide a focal point in attack. This game should give us a good idea of Vancouver’s depth without him, and Robinson mentioned bringing on either Nicolas Mezquida or Mauro Rosales to fill in the gap.
As for Real Salt Lake, though undefeated so far this season, they have yet to show any reasonable consistency – they have a 3-3 draw with the Union, a pair of nil-nils to bookend the season so far, and a pair of decent wins against Toronto FC and San Jose. Whilst the team isn’t exactly wowing opposition defenses – five players have scored all six goals, including Jamison Olave and Luke Mulholland – their defensive record is impressive with only four goals conceded. It’s not exactly the immovable object meets the unstoppable force, but perhaps a revealing match for both clubs.
Orlando City face a Columbus Crew in need of points at home
Ironic only if it was the first time you’ve ever watched a football match, Orlando City’s biggest win of the season came in one of their least convincing performances. Somehow surviving a Portland Timbers side playing at home and eager to climb out of the Western Conference basement, the expansion team secured a 2-0 win off the back of a flukey, chested in goal from 20-year-old Cyle Larin and a retaken penalty shot from Kaka near the end of the match.
Even so, Adrian Heath’s City are still arguably the better of the two new sides in MLS this season, though the team may have yet to see the fallout from Pedro Ribeiro’s projected two-month absence following a hamstring injury against DCU earlier this month. Orlando will get a far sterner test of strength when it faces Gregg Berhalter’s experienced and nearly in-form Columbus Crew at Mapfre Stadium, a team returning from a two-game road stint with two points in tow. Though the Crew already have two losses this season, Kei Kamara’s form of late – he scored two against Vancouver a week and a half ago – suggests a dangerous player settling in well to his new digs.
Despite the challenge, an unlikely win could see City take first in a very winnable East. Not bad for the new guys in purple.
FC Dallas will try to right the ship against defensively vulnerable Toronto FC
A 3-1 loss against an otherwise struggling Portland Timbers a couple of weeks ago could have easily been explained away as a blip for the then first-in-the-West FC Dallas. That was at least until the team suffered a 4-0 defeat at home to the unfavored Colorado Rapids last Friday night. The first goal came two minutes in; before the Unimas announcers could finish winding their way through the opening line-ups, Dominique Badji managed to finish a floated cross to the right of Chris Seitz. Though not all goals are the result of poor defending, there was something ominous in FCD fullback Zach Loyd’s pylon-esque defensive display on the goal. Colorado, a team unable to score in their previous four matches, managed it three more times against Oscar Parejo’s side over the next 88 minutes.
No need to panic yet of course, but fans of the Texas club will want to see some improvement from Loyd and Walker Zimmerman when they face a defensively undeveloped squad with a five-star midfield in Toronto FC. TFC have yet to earn a point since picking up three against Vancouver on the first day of the season, though a gruelling away schedule is partly to blame. Toronto, with the likes of Sebastian Giovinco and Benoit Cheyrou, can score on the road though, with six goals so far this season; Dallas’ best chance will be for Fabian Castillo, Blas Perez and Tesho Akindele to score early and often.
Portland are due for a win (statistically speaking)
Despite the imminent returns of Diego Valeri (torn ACL) and Will Johnson (broken leg) to a Portland team which is dead last in the Western Conference with a single win to their credit, there is evidence that the Timbers are due, and not simply because of the otherwise impressive form of Fanendo Adi, Diego Chara and Dairon Asprilla, who all looked dangerous despite a 2-0 loss at home last weekend to Orlando City. There are statistical reasons as well.
For example Portland’s save percentage, a notoriously volatile number from game to game for any team, is sitting at an absurdly low 58.82%. Adam Larsen Kwarasey has had his issues in goal for the Timbers, not least conceding a dumb penalty which Kaka took twice last weekend, but he hasn’t exactly stuck out as a weak link. Opposition teams aren’t going to score at the same rate as the season progresses, and the Timbers may nick a few more of their own. Meanwhile Caleb Porter’s team are generally managing to take more shots than they concede. While that tends not to be as indicative of final table finish in MLS as it is in other leagues, it is certainly a healthy sign. Though away from home this weekend against New York City FC, aggrieved Timbers fans may not have to wait for the return of two of their most dangerous starters in Valeri and Johnson in a couple weeks’ time to see their team win.
