Several key absences as the USA takes on the Netherlands
As if there wasn’t enough anger in America at Fifa in light of the events of the past 10 days or so – a span of time that feels more like a decade, whether you’re knee-deep in the endless jaw-dropping exposes or tired of the whole thing – now the world football governing body has deigned to designate this week for international matches. That means this weekend there will be several key absences, particularly among the American contingent with Friday’s friendly match between the USA and the Netherlands.
That means no Michael Bradley for Toronto FC, no Juan Agudelo for the New England Revolution, and no Brek Shea for Orlando City, among others. Though there will be the usual hemming and hawing about the Major League Soccer’s incongruity with the rest of the football calendar, the level of parity in both conferences right now mean this isn’t exactly a crucial time in MLS. Instead, nervous club supporters will be left praying their various stars will manage to avoid injury. So, the usual.
It’s almost as if the last three months never happened
In many other leagues, three months of football matches would start to give fans a rough idea of the good teams, the bad teams, the teams that plan to mount championship runs on the back of aesthetically dreadful soccer, the teams that will die on the hill of pretty-passing and non-stop pressing. We’re into June now in MLS however, and, save for DC United’s seven-point lead atop the Eastern Conference, there is almost nothing to distinguish top from bottom.
The latest round of midweek games has only further muddied the waters. The Philadelphia Union, once the laughing stock of the league under coach Jim Curtin, have won three of their last four matches. Their latest was a comprehensive 3-0 home victory over the Columbus Crew with goals from CJ Sapong and Sébastien Le Toux. The Crew, of course, were a once-exciting team defined by a resurgent Kei Kamara, but they haven’t posted a win in their last four games. Incredibly for the Union, a victory over the slumping New York City FC this weekend would see the Union move as high as third place in the East.
Meanwhile, the Montreal Impact overcame a string of injuries to defeat the Vancouver Whitecaps 2-1 with the unstoppable Ignacio Piatti scoring late, and they’ll have a chance to further turn heads against Columbus at Mapfre Stadium this weekend. And the Western Conference is no less of a mess with a mere nine points separating first from 9th place.
It’s as if the last three months never happened.
Toronto FC travels to DC United in hopes of staking claims to enter elite
Last week, Toronto FC put in a 3-1 victory over the San Jose Earthquakes that was so confident it almost had the air of routine. “We’ve done this before.” It was an illusion, of course. For one, Sebastian Giovinco, who provided two assists for the win, has been deservedly hailed as a one man machine for Toronto and his team’s welfare is surely tied to his own. Nevertheless, there is a sense that TFC’s rather rather expensive qualities are finally shining through with reasonable consistency (for MLS of course).
If you believe in “psychological boosts” and “big regular season wins”, however, then Toronto FC’s weekend trip to RFK to play the league leaders DC United is a doozy. DC United emerged victorious against the Chicago Fire in the midweek despite enduring a first half that would have sunk most teams, conceding a goal to David Accam two minutes after DCU keeper Andrew Dykstra saved Jeff Larentowicz’s tame spot kick. Instead, United rallied as Jairo Arrieta scored a second half brace.
The score finished 3-1, proving that Ben Olsen’s less visually appealing football is, for now, worthy of first overall in the league. Meanwhile Toronto, which aspires to football that is as attractive as it is effective, have an opportunity to defeat a heavy favourite and finally put the ghost of their disappointing home debut loss to the Houston Dynamo a month ago to rest.
High scoring Sporting KC host the defensively adept Seattle Sounders
What happens when the team with the most MLS goals scored this season plays the team with the fewest conceded?
Sporting Kansas City fans found out only two weeks ago when they visited the Seattle Sounders at CenturyLink field and battled to a 0-0 draw. Though SKC have been a goal scoring machine this season, scoring league-leading 21 goals in 13 matches including three four-goal games including two at home, historically, they haven’t fared nearly as well against the Sounders. While the sample is incredibly small, in all of their head-to-head matches the two teams have have never been separated by more than one goal, and have never scored more than two against one another.
Whether you believe that is set to change when the Sounders visit Sporting Park this weekend depends on whether you think the club’s scoring form will continue with Krisztian Nemeth out on international duty and Dom Dwyer still nursing an injury (Graham Zusi and defender Matt Besler were spared by Jurgen Klinsmann). Certainly there is a case with an in-form Benny Feilhaber in the side. He will have to break down a very sure Seattle defense without Brad Evans. Despite some high profile absences, it’s still this weekend’s marquee matchup.
LA Galaxy hope for revenge against the Whitecaps
Though not quite on the same scale of Toronto FC’s eight game road stretch which started their 2015 season, the Vancouver Whitecaps have already set off for a five-week sojourn for the duration of the Women’s World Cup in Canada. While the first game in a long trip against Montreal midweek was inauspicious, a 2-1 loss to a late goal, ‘Caps coach Carl Robinson was at least pleased by his team’s form.
“We played very well with the ball,” he explained afterward. “I can’t fault the performance, the way we played. I can fault the result because we didn’t win.” Lame managerial boilerplate aside, that form will come in handy for what will surely be the most vital, if not the most difficult, game of their extended trot, against the Galaxy in Carson California.
Los Angeles may have yet to fully resolve their early season issues but the final scorelines are at least now better reflection of the quality of the reigning MLS champs. Though their last match against the New England Revolution ended 2-2, Gyasi Zardes’ equalizer showed a brief flash of the club’s attacking verve, with Jose Villareal’s beautiful backheel finding the onrushing American. Last time around, in early April, LA lost to the Whitecaps 2-0 in a game that seemed to herald the rise of a newer and stronger Vancouver. Now, in June, the Galaxy have a chance to leapfrog the Caps into second place.
