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For reasons of sanity, I’ve decided to cut the “2 Games”
piece out of these weekly round-ups of Major League Soccer. “10 Things” are all
I have in me…and this is how it begins. (No, no, darling Barbara. I love you. I
would never leave…).
That doesn’t mean I didn’t watch the mandatory number of
games (I mean, someone’s watching, and failure to comply will result in a
report to proper authorities…right?) - I watched Columbus Crew SC draw 2-2 to
the visiting New England Revolution and the Los Angeles Galaxy coughing up two
goals and all three points at home against Atlanta United FC - but giving featured
games the paragraph or two I’ve given them eats a lot of time and, swear to
god, I think it chases traffic away. I mean, if somebody keeps telling me
something they wrote fts. two teams I don’t give a shit about, I’m not gonna read it.
I learned a thing or two, of course, and formed opinions,
even if not closely held ones - e.g., I rate New England the better team, especially
when both teams are gunning, and head coach Brad Friedel looks to have a good
head for subs (and good subs to use); Atlanta never once left the driver’s
seat, and a ton of that was down to Miguel Almiron (again), but I still somehow
got it in my head that the Galaxy will end 2018 in the Top 3 in the Western
Conference.
There’s more, lots more, pages upon pages of notes made on
highlights, boxscores, and even a couple from the comments to the recaps (a
guy posting as “Morningside Park” had some solid notes on New York v. Chicago.
I don’t touch on everything down below, and can’t, really, but these are 10 comments
on sights and sounds from MLS Week 8.
1) Toronto, and Houston v.
Toronto
Houston dropping five goals on Toronto wouldn’t shock you if, 1) you’ve watched Houston, who creates (and
misses) tons of chances, and 2) you’re aware of how hard TFC is pushing what
could be a now-doomed CCL campaign by resting starters (aka, anyone you've heard of). I haven’t seen many teams create chances
like Houston this season
2) Pedro Santos v. Cristian Penilla
I started picking up grumbles around Columbus’ Santos last
weekend, and Saturday’s draw really drew out the importance of having a guy you
brought in to make a difference (e.g., Penilla) actually make a difference. Now that the league has money spend, I'm sure it matters even more now than five years ago.
3) Miguel Parkhurst (Barco)
I kept that typo of Parkhurst’s first name to maintain the
parallel: of all Atlanta’s players, it’s possible I’m most impressed by
Parkhurst - and that’s with Almiron exceeding personal expectations…kid’s a
whippet out there, and all over. Ezequiel Barco, who, as I understand it, cost a lot, has yet
to figure out his role, or the club hasn’t given him the right one, but they’ve
got time to figure it out with Parkhurst (and a solid supporting cast) holding
things together.
4) Ashley Cole
Due to some comments he made about MLS, Cole came in with
plenty to prove; I don’t know how many people would have caught a buzz had he
flopped…but he didn’t. He just put his head down and did the work - he even
served as captain last weekend. Great late-life signing in the end.
5) Russell-Mania
He starred in the pummeling of the Whitecaps (hat-trick,
right? (yep!)), but Sporting KC looks like they’ve found something in Johnny
Russell. Man likes running at people, makes ‘em skittish. If SKC can keep
Daniel Salloi going, or anyone really, they’re a real threat this season.
6) The Undoing of Vancouver
Russell picked up an assist in the form of two straight red
cards in the same minute to Vancouver’s Yordy Reyna and Efrain Juarez. I
understand I’m a consistent outlier on refereeing (lenient, generally, and find
mistakes entertaining), but to interpret “hands-to-face” (what it looked like,
late Saturday, through one eye) that strictly/literally with the ‘Caps already
three goals down? Not all instances contact with the head are created equal,
that’s all. I’m against “3 strikes” rules in crime for the same reason…
7) A Team I Can’t Read
The San Jose Earthquakes inspired the comment, because I still
haven’t accepted that they might be their record. That has everything to do
with how closely they’re playing teams. Unlike most teams in MLS, I can’t get a
bead on what’s holding them up…
8) A 500-Lb. Man on a Seesaw
Because I’m obsessed with box scores, I’m noticing how outlandishly
unbalanced some games are for the first time. Wins almost always follow when
the numbers favor a team that much - of all the teams on the wrong side of the
equation, only Portland managed a win (wrote about it here), but if you check,
say, the yawning gap in the number of passes in SKC v. Vancouver, the unbridgeable divide in shooting accuracy and frequency between Montreal and LAFC (that’s with Ignacio Piatti scoring a hat-trick for Montreal, y’all), or ponder the mysteries of why
it took Real Salt Lake so long to get past the Colorado Rapids with numbers
that out of whack, it adds a wrinkle…to that stuff you're trying to sort out at several degrees of remove...
…same goes for how consistently Philly out-possesses teams.
Then again, if you watched Portland v. NYC, you’d know how a team can run up
passing numbers like that (761 fucking passes?!) without doing much with it.
9) Undefeated Dallas
Think it was the recap that noted how quietly Dallas is
pulling it together early this MLS season. That’s good for a guy like me, who
just…won’t rate Dallas in spite of the fact they’re the only undefeated team
left in the league and they’re defensive record so far? Fucking crazy. 3 goals
allowed. Oh, their fans are really defensive about attendance, so don’t mention
it in the comments.
10) Running the Rule on a New Player
When I saw Aleksandar Katai do a thing or two on a couple
highlight reels, I decided to watch Chicago to scout him a little more. And he
sucked that game; was invisible generally, and useless every time I saw him.
After more or less writing him off, he turns in a man-of-the-match performance
against the suddenly mysterious New York Red Bulls, and a damned strong candidate for goal of the week (and here are some more). Actually, if you
happened to watch Chicago smuggle three points out of New Jersey, you saw the
goal of the week and the save of the week (another candidate...wait, never mind; no video, but it's in here). Back to Katai, or even Barco, it takes time, more often than not. Penilla started strong, but not everyone can or does. Ah, but how much time do you give?
And, that’s it. If you read it, hope you found it valuable,
or at least entertaining (the image? anything?). I’ll close tonight with a
magnificent cliché I found in the comments to the recap of New York v. Chicago,
and I swear to GOD, I’ll never get tired of the incredible, empty elasticity of
one key word in this statement:
“We obviously still have no identity as a team, and we still
need a true CAM.”
I’ll leave it to you to pick out the word…
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