Galaxy rescued in familiar fashion but familiar problems remain
The experiences of 2012 should always stand as warning against writing off any LA Galaxy team coached by Bruce Arena. That year, a tepid start from the defending champions looked set to slide LA into crisis, only for a summer rally to build a momentum that did not let up until the Galaxy swept to a back to back MLS Cup in their own stadium.
In the couple of seasons since, a slow start has come to be the norm for LA, so it was only in the past couple of weeks that many neutrals began looking at the Galaxy’s points thus far and noticing that it was only a little different from the total that was described as a crisis in 2012.
And once again the Galaxy are defending champions, though this is a different side from the team that won last year, and their problems may not be so easily fixed.
The most recent problem has been the absence, due to lingering injury, of Robbie Keane, whose finishing has been missed. Though it’s arguably just as significant for the team that they have also been missing his movement and intelligence and the space and options it buys for the players around him. Gyassi Zardes in particular made an exponential improvement in his own movement last year by running routes that at times looked like they were set down paint-by-numbers style by Keane.
And after last week’s humiliation in Orlando, the Galaxy were definitely under scrutiny this week – compounded of course by the stadium announcement by LAFC that promised to deliver a downtown LA stadium by 2018 (by a slightly generous definition of “downtown” admittedly, though hardly the Carson location that hosts the StubHub Center).
That distraction aside – and let it be noted the Galaxy viral marketers were immediately out in force fly-posting the proposed site of the LAFC stadium with posters that boasted of the incumbent team’s storied history – the prospect of facing Houston and an in-form and lively Giles Barnes was plenty enough to deal with this weekend for LA, so the return of Keane was a welcome relief.
So too was the familiar site of a late Alan Gordon goal, the ultimate difference between the sides, created by a typical turn and perfectly placed chip cross by Keane to find Gordon’s head.
Yet rather than suggesting service as usual, this was more of a welcome outcome to somewhat of a sobering encounter for the Galaxy, who were given plenty of problems in midfield by Barnes et al, in a reminder of the other great structural problem they’ve had this year. The pre-season departure of Marcelo Sarvas will not be adequately addressed until the arrival of Steven Gerrard, and even then the traditional designated player learning curve is likely to be in effect as the Englishman adjusts to his new team-mates and vice versa.
This week Keane spoke of Gerrard coming to LA to win things as that was the expectation in this town. Under the circumstance that can be read less as a pre-emptive defense of his former Liverpool team-mate’s level of motivation, and more of a note of encouragement to his future Galaxy team-mate that there won’t be much time posing on the welcome mat before he’s expected to carry his share of the heavy lifting. Once again, the Galaxy need to find some urgency in the summer. GP
No home comfort for Kreis
Last week it looked as if NYCFC had finally, finally, turned a corner, as their 10 men hauled in a 2-0 Chicago Fire lead to take a late point at Yankee Stadium.
And with Jason Kreis’s team on the road at his former Real Salt Lake home this week, NYC’s head coach might have dared to imagine that his side were ready to build some precious momentum at his old stomping ground, particularly with RSL looking far from the consistent force he’d left them as.
Instead, the broader momentum of this year, one that sees NYCFC continually losing ground as they try to run uphill, continued on Saturday night, as they fell behind in the opening half hour, for the eighth time this season, and never recovered.
It’ll be little consolation to Kreis that the goals that defeated his team came from two archetypal representatives of how he built his RSL sides – youth and a central axis made up of experienced veterans.
With 25 minutes gone, John Stertzer scored his first ever MLS goal since being picked by Kreis in his last ever draft for RSL in 2013 – part of the coach’s continuum of capturing and moulding young technical talent at his former club. And with four minutes of the second half gone, Alvaro Saborio, the Costa Rican spearhead of Kreis’s successful RSL teams, did what he does and delivered a second goal for the hosts and something of a gut punch to the evening’s honored guest.
We know the mitigating circumstances by now – and trying to build debut season chemistry in a team stretched unnaturally thin by injuries in its opening few months is a legitimate problem that can hardly be laid at Kreis’s door. But as the coach honestly admitted this week, the team’s habit of conceding early has left them chasing games, and even an RSL side on a rebuilding curve was never likely to give up a two-goal lead in the manner Chicago had.
Funnily enough Chicago, whose lack of ruthlessness in front of goal had allowed NYCFC back into the game last week, spent Friday night clawing back a 2-0 deficit of their own, with Jason Johnson hitting an equalizer deep into injury time.
Last week, Johnson’s miss at almost the same stage, kept New York within a goal and allowed Khiry Shelton to equalize seconds later – sparking local hopes that NYCFC were finally getting their share of luck after a tough start.
But as it turned out that was as good as it got for Kreis this week – left picking the bones out of another defeat on a day that started with smiles among familiar faces and ended with an inquest into familiar problems. GP
Jones still the midfield warrior New England Revolution need
As Wednesday’s 4-2 defeat to Sporting KC proved, central defence probably isn’t the position for Jermaine Jones. Before the midweek loss he had actually proved a sufficient enough deputy for the injured Jose Goncalves, but the US international was run ragged by the duo of Dom Dwyer and Krisztian Nemeth – effectively marking the end of Jay Heaps’ improvised, tactical compromise. And so against DC United Jones returned as the midfield warrior the New England Revolution need him to be.
Starting in his familiar – more comfortable – central position alongside Scott Caldwell, the 33-year-old could be credited with safeguarding a point for the Revolution, when such a result looked unlikely. DC United probably should have claimed all three for themselves - following the dismissal of both Chris Tierney and Lee Nguyen within six minutes of each other midway through the second half - but Jones turned in arguably his best display of the season (just days after his worst) to deny the capital club.
By moving Jones back into the centre of midfield Heaps opted for Andrew Farrell at the back, where the 23-year-old excelled. Normally something of a flaky performer, Farrell had shown little in his appearances at right-back to suggest he could fill in as a central defender, but against DC he was disciplined, positionally-sound and generally impressive next to the returning Goncalves. A harsh critic might point out that Farrell was partly at fault for Arrieta’s equaliser, but with the Revs down to nine men such a lapse was mostly the consequence of others’ mistakes, not his own.
Although New England may have expected more of a challenge, given the circumstance. Despite the two-man advantage Ben Olsen’s side was somewhat flat – even insipid – as they chased the game at 1-0 down in the final half hour. Jairo Arrieta grabbed an equaliser with 10 minutes to go, but that was with DC United’s first shot on goal – illustrating just how toothless their attack was in Foxborough and perhaps underlining just how important Fabian Espindola is.
Jones has only been at New England for nine months, and his stint up until this point must go down as a roaring success. But the midfielder must be afforded the freedom to roar as a central destroyer: blood spattered face, ripped shirt and all. With players like Lee Nguyen and Juan Agudelo missing through injury earlier in the season Jones was used as a creative stop-gap farther up the field, but with the Revs now close to full fitness there’s no need for him to play there any longer. His versatility makes him a natural back-up option all over the field, but the contrast of Jones’ last two performances must indicate to Heaps that the 33-year-old is the last player he should shift. GR
Sporting KC’s improvement comes from finding identity again
Sporting KC’s progress over the past few weeks has been incremental, but that any progress has been made at all is reason enough for Peter Vermes to raise a rare smile. Two wins and three draws from five games is hardly the form of a team storming into conference title contention – even if two of those draws have come on the road at DC United and Seattle – yet their improvement can be charted on the quality of those performances rather than the results.
The 2013 MLS Cup winners have at least a semblance of their old character as a team back. Once the most defensively resolute, relentless high-pressers in the league, the 4-4 draw against the Houston Dynamo suggested that Vermes’ side had lost what made them so good not so long ago. Injuries were of course a factor in that, but regardless Sporting KC appeared to be suffering something of an identity crisis.
Since then however, Sporting have won both home games they have played, also claiming points on the road at DC United and at the Seattle Sounders on Saturday night. The point picked up at CenturyLink Field was all the more impressive given the injuries endured by KC this season, with Vermes also losing Dwyer through neck soreness in the pre-game warm-up. The injury forced Vermes’ hand, with Nemeth moved up front as the lone striker in a switch that ultimately worked in the away side’s favour – with Seattle unable to break down Sporting’s packed midfield unit. In fact, it took the Sounders until the 82nd minute to fire off their first shot on goal. “That shows the level of concentration by our guys,” said Vermes afterwards. “This was a humungous point for us on the road, based on the situation we were in and are in with as many injuries as we have at the moment.”
Such central rigidity was in stark contrast to the harum-scarum performances turned in by Sporting earlier in the campaign, like the one against Houston or even the display against Philadelphia in early April, when the struggling Union shredded KC’s midfield almost at will. At no point did the Sounders cause Sporting such issues.
While a goalless draw against a decidedly short-handed Sporting KC side certainly cannot be heralded as a triumph, a sixth shutout in 11 games provides something of a silver-lining for Sigi Schmid. And with the Sounders drawing their first blank in five matches the result would seem to be little more than a mere blip in their tilt at the top of the Western Conference.
Now with some sense of defensive solidity returned to their play, Vermes must find a way to restore his side’s former attacking prowess. The point at Seattle might have been a “humungous” one but it was achieved by sitting deep, conceding 65% of possession to Seattle and plugging the gaps. This wasn’t the Sporting KC of old, but they are at least closer to the mark. GR
The East is tightening up as summer begins
Just a few weeks ago, the Eastern Conference was beginning to look like a two tier league, or at least one where the top four or five playoff places could already be sketched in. Even before last week’s games some of those distinctions still seemed pretty clear.
This is MLS though, and fast forward through a week in which New England have dropped seven points from three games, and where the Red Bulls and DC each ended up taking only a point from two, and the swing for the likes of Montreal and Philadelphia, with two wins each, seems even more pronounced.
Montreal, of course, barely played at the start of the season, as they concentrated on a Champions League tilt that took them to a surprise final appearance. At the time the talk was of the lowest ranked team in MLS flying the flag for the league, but in truth the Impact are already a much better team than the one that limped through the regular season last year, and while they rode their luck against Dallas in an eye-catching win this weekend, their habit of punishing errors has carried over from their CCL adventures.
Philadelphia meanwhile, scored an injury time winner against DC United last week to end a poor run, before getting their first ever win at Red Bull Arena on Sunday night. The Union needed their own share of luck in surviving two shots off the woodwork in the first half and some showboating by Mike Grella of all players, but took their limited chances admirably in the second to fashion the makings of an unlikely winning streak.
After the game Union coach Jim Curtin acknowledged that he’d told his players their season could go in one of two directions this week, and certainly rather than the Red Bulls becoming a team disappearing over the horizon, the one-time frontrunners now find themselves having won only one more time than a Philadelphia team whose fans carried a coffin saying “We Deserve Better” to last week’s game.
And with Montreal starting their run, Sebastian Giovinco scoring another spectacular goal to take Toronto past Portland, and Chicago finding confidence if not three points in coming back from 2-0 down against Columbus, Philadelphia couldn’t have timed their little burst better. The summer period of international absences, European friendlies, incoming designated player reshuffles (Lampard, Gerrard et al), often has the effect of muddying the picture in both conferences, and it can also be hard for a team to pick up meaningful momentum in that time, especially if they’re caught behind the pack (though last year’s New England example shows what’s possible for those that do). A few teams in the East may have a lot of work to do, but nobody’s pulling clear right now. GP
