Just three weeks ago I wrote about the Colorado Rapids in this column. At that time Pablo Mastroeni’s side were slumped at the foot of the Western Conference having gone six games without a win. They were - as was headlined - on course for an all-time worst offensive season, with just 12 goals from 17 fixtures. Maybe Mastroeni pinned that piece up on the locker room wall?
Whatever the former US international midfielder has done, it has certainly worked. The Rapids have since won three back-to-back, lifting themselves off bottom place in the West and sparking an unlikely play-off charge. Eight points might be quite a sizeable deficit for Colorado to make up, but in their current form that gap could be bridged rather quickly. Where will the streak end?
Saturday’s road win over the Seattle Sounders was the most impressive of their three-strong run to date, given that Mastroeni had to make changes to the line-up that had worked so well against both the Vancouver Whitecaps and Real Salt Lake. With Kevin Doyle leading the line the Rapids have looked a side with purpose once again, and that was certainly applicable at CenturyLink Field.
The Republic of Ireland international netted the winner against Seattle, turning in a Man of the Match display as part of a front three. Doyle has proved the solution to the Rapids’ attacking issues, with Vicente Sanchez finding a natural partner to dovetail alongside down the right side. For so long this season Colorado struggled for an identity, but now - finally - they appear to have one as a well-balanced 4-3-3 outfit.
But it’s not just up front where the Rapids have found their groove. Not so long ago Mastroeni’s comments seemed somewhat forced and muddled, with his tactics also coming under scrutiny. But now the moustached 38-year-old is making sense, on and off the field. “For every positive in life, there’s a counter,” he mused ahead of the clash against Seattle, underlining the need for balance.
“The hardest thing in soccer is to strike that balance [between attacking and defending]. For me it’s finding that balance between good structure and allowing the guys to be in front of the goal with more numbers. A great defensive foundation provides the attacking players with enough confidence to express themselves.” And that approach indeed condenses the improvement his side has made over the past few weeks.
The likes of Sam Cronin and Drew Moor have stepped up to provide Colorado with the organisational leadership they were lacking. Against Seattle both players exerted influence through their presence rather than on-the-ball predominance, as Jared Watts took a grip of the dirty work at the back. In just three short weeks the Rapids have progressed further than anyone - including this writer - could have envisaged. GR
Steven Gerrard highlights Galaxy’s riches
In the week when the MLS players’ union published their biannual salary report, it wasn’t hard to guess that the Galaxy would be near the top. The acquisition of Giovani Dos Santos via the new league mechanism had given the first choice Galaxy team a formidable look on paper.
Even when you get past Keane, Gerrard, Gonzalez and Dos Santos, the so-called secondary tier of players that includes Zardes, Lletget, Penedo and Juninho, are much more than makeweights, but part of a critical mass that suggests the recipe for MLS success is transforming once again. That’s in line with Don Garber’s belief that these next two World Cup cycles are about improving the quality on the field after a wave of expansions and infrastructure projects took the focus over the past eight years.
Of course, all of this has to coalesce in games, and after 25 minutes of Friday night’s official MLS debut for Gerrard, you could have been forgiven for being skeptical – as Dom Kinnear’s largely unsung San Jose collective took the game to the Galaxy and scored two goals through a player more of the “reclamation project” than “designated” variety, Quincy Amarikwa.
Yet from the moment just before the half hour when Gerrard was caught by a stray elbow in the box for the first of two LA penalties, San Jose dropped back into the role of extras, as the Galaxy’s star players and supporting cast ran rampant. Moments after Keane converted that first penalty, Gerrard was sweeping home his first MLS goal after finding space in the box, and he later set up his Irish team-mate for what turned out to be the winner with a smartly worked training ground free kick.
Another Keane penalty gave him his second successive hat-trick (he’s clearly not ready to give up the star billing for LA having assumed David Beckham’s mantle) and the impressive Sebastian Lletget got in on the scoring too.
With Zardes, Gonzalez, and Penedo absent through Gold Cup play and Dos Santos still to arrive, this was another warning for the Galaxy’s opponents of just how formidable the defending champions continue to be as a team. San Jose came into the game knowing a result plus their clutch of games in hand could have made the Galaxy’s position above them in the standings very precarious, but left chastened by the effect of their rivals turning on the financial and technical afterburners. The Galaxy may still be poor on the road, but for the rest of MLS, contemplating the implications of their riches elsewhere, that’s scant consolation right now. GP
Does the All-Star roster reveal DC United’s strength or weakness?
Don Garber could invent a contrived new rule specifically designed for the LA Galaxy to sign Lionel Messi and still MLS fans wouldn’t throw as big a hissy fit as they do every single year over the All-Star roster. DC United are probably quite pleased that none of their players will risk injury or exhaustion in Colorado on 29 July, but like the spurned romantic who half-heartedly claims they were never interested anyway, the capital club could be forgiven for sulking.
Despite sitting atop the Eastern Conference - joint-top of the Supporters’ Shield standings - not one of their players has been selected in the All-Star squad to face Tottenham. For a team playing so well this season that does seem like something of a peculiar quirk, although Saturday’s defeat to FC Dallas did somewhat illustrate why Ben Olsen’s side are not considered, in a sense, ‘all-star.’
In Frisco, DC United gave it everything they had in intense and suffocating heat, matching Dallas in the middle of the pitch for much of the contest, only for Fabian Castillo to net a stoppage time winner for the Texans. It was a tough one for Olsen’s men to take, as their lack of edge in the final third meant they surrendered their lead in the Shield pursuit.
With a degree of star-power - football’s great intangible - however, DC United might have dealt the decisive blow before FC Dallas could. Under Olsen the capital club are a well-drilled, well-organised outfit with few big names or marquee players. But is that a strength or weakness? DC United are at the other end of the spectrum to the likes of Toronto FC (reliant on Sebastian Giovinco) or Orlando City (whose creativity seems to live and die with Kaka), yet in the close-fought games - like the one in Frisco - that could be a handicap.
DC United’s goal tally is spread across their team, with Chris Rolfe their top scorer on just six goals for the campaign. Chris Pontius - a starting striker - has scored two goals all year, although Olsen would argue that his side are stronger as a result of their shared goalscoring burden (11 different players have found the net for DCU this season). The problem comes when they need a dominant figure as the game-breaker.
And so the lack of DC representation on the All-Star team is reflective of their consistency as a team unit. Of course, if fit and healthy Bill Hamid most likely would have made the roster, but DC United - for all that they have enjoyed a successful 2015 - are a team without a frontman or a defining figure. Think of it this way: it probably won’t be a player in DC United colours on the front cover of FIFA 16. Against FC Dallas however, Olsen probably wished that he had such a star. GR
Matias Laba’s Cascadia Cup performance was about more than just his stunning strike
Even if you didn’t watch the match live, you’ve probably seen Matias Laba’s 25-yard drive for Vancouver against the Portland Timbers by now. A nailed-on Goal of the Week winner and one of the best efforts of 2015 so far, the Whitecaps midfielder’s arrowed shot has whizzed around social media even quicker than it found the corner of Adam Larsen Kwarasey’s net. The six-second duration of a Vine is long enough to capture Laba’s stunning strike - his first in MLS for Vancouver - but not the full prowess of the Argentinian’s performance however.
Cascadia Cup clashes rarely fails to live up to their billing, and this particular match at Providence Park was no exception to the rule. The Timbers and Vancouver contested an exhilarating end-to-end affair, with two goals, five bookings and two red cards shared between the two rivals. Laba’s goal might have secured only a point for the Whitecaps, but he was - in numerous ways - a deciding factor in the outcome of the game.
From a defensive perspective Laba was the best player on the pitch, making six tackles and five interceptions. But the Argentinian was extremely impressive in his use of the ball as well, making more passes (52) than anyone else on either team, averaging a pass completion rate of 79% too. His display was especially impressive given the quality of the Timbers’ midfield he was up against, with Will Johnson and Diego Chara among the best in MLS at controlling matches from the centre of the field.
While Carl Robinson’s side may fair slightly aggrieved not to have picked up three points, edging Portland in the number of shots on goal, a point prevented the Caps from stretching their losing slide to three games. Such is the proximity of the Western Conference, another defeat could have dropped Vancouver to the brink of dropping out of the play-off places. Instead, they remain in touch with the top.
Laba’s monster performance couldn’t have been better timed for the Whitecaps, with the loss of Kendall Watson, Pa Modou Kah out injured and Diego Rodriguez still not return to make a return leaving them desperately short-handed all over the pitch. Consequently, a lot more will be asked of Laba over the next few weeks - with another Cascadia Cup clash against Seattle coming up at the start of August.
The Caps coach was gushing in his praise of his goalscorer, describing the strike as “absolutely phenomenal. He can do it. I saw him score one for Toronto 18 months ago, so I know he can do it. He’s had 18 months here now, so that’s his goal tonight.” Robinson might not be able to count on many more 25-yard fizzers from a defensive lynchpin who is not exactly renowned for them, but on the basis of his display against Portland he can still count on a lot more. GR
There’s a Jason Kreis team in the New York area, but maybe not the one in the Bronx
A senior Red Bulls insider once told me that when Hans Backe was appointed as New York Red Bulls manager during that team’s spendthrift period, he asked if there was any chance that the $10m earmarked for the purchase of Thierry Henry could be spent on 10 $1m players instead and that he would guarantee a championship if it could. When told that that wasn’t how it worked he shrugged and said that given the choice of having Henry or not, he’d rather have him, even if it meant a lopsided team built round his talents.
That’s what Red Bull fans got for better or worse for the next few years, though ironically Henry spent most of his tenure pointedly admiring the team spirit and consistency of Jason Kreis’s Real Salt Lake, even as his presence structurally mitigated against it ever happening for his club.
This week, Don Garber named Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard as his commissioner’s picks for the All-Star game, before either had played in the league.
In fairness to Gerrard his International Champions Cup, US Open Cup and now MLS league appearance this week have seen him show up three times in a Galaxy jersey, to ever-increasing influence, but Lampard is yet to kick a ball for New York City FC.
You’d be tempted to say NYC FC could do with him, especially after they helped New England end their own wretched run of results with a 1-0 win at Gillette Stadium on Saturday night. But it’s not as simple as that – Lampard and Andrea Pirlo may make their debuts next week for NYC FC, but they’ll do so in a team that may be gradually beginning to get the best out of David Villa, but rarely look elastic enough to accommodate a variety of looks (let alone absorb the specific veteran skill set of Pirlo and Lampard).
And while Kreis may have had his midfield selection headache for next week inadvertently eased by Ned Grabavoy’s studs up straight red card on Saturday night, he could well be ambivalent about the “luxury problem” heading his way, regardless of how blessed he feels about the quality of the reinforcements.
New York City’s spending was laid out in pretty stark terms this week, and as yet it’s created more expectation than solutions. It’s reminiscent of the scenario once faced by Backe. It’s ironic to see that across the Hudson, the once free-spending Red Bulls are now the third lowest wage spenders in the league, and that while NYC FC were losing in New England Jesse Marsch’s modest Red Bulls were winning in Orlando thanks to goals from the likes of $60,000 per year Mike Grella.
The Red Bulls, without a representative at the All-Star game, currently look closer in spirit to the small market success story Kreis once built at Real Salt Lake, than the awkward NYC FC team currently lurching into place. From present vantage points Backe might appreciate the irony rather more than Kreis. GP
