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| A video review of the incident.... |
With Week 6 (let the record show, I object to their
counting), I hope to put forward the semi-permanent version of this site’s
weekly review - if only to set/maintain expectations. Outside whoever it is the
Portland Timbers played (Orlando City SC, written up here, and heavily), I
watched two games this weekend, as usual - the Philadelphia Union’s 1-1 draw
against the San Jose Earthquakes, and FC Dallas last-gasp (and, per the
reputation) rather stunning 1-1 draw against the, to emphasize it, visiting
Colorado Rapids.
I’ve built a different understanding with MLS this season
than I have in several seasons past - and that has everything to do with MLS’s
home site not posting condensed games (guys: electrocute the interns to keep
them awake…we need this. And please send 20 virgins to madam’s chambers later; she needs their tears for her bath). That requires navigating a wider gap of
ignorance than I have before, and making the most of any scraps I can find…in
the limited time I to commit to this project (again, this came easier when it was
enjoyable). That means reading a lot of recaps, parsing box scores and
extrapolating from details in the highlight reels, on one hand, then putting in
extended video work to try to confirm trends, opinions, and whatever the hell
else pops into my head. This week, for instance, I went with two teams who
achieve certain surprising things that I can't sort out. In one corner you’ve
got the surprisingly sturdy Philadelphia Union, who just aren’t giving up much
in terms of goals, while in the other, you’ve got the mysterious, unfulfilled
expectations around FC Dallas….who should surely be able to beat the Colorado
Rapids in Dallas…and yet…
And, Jesus! I almost threw out some thoughts/topics to frame
Week 5, but that would just steal thoughts I need to round out the “10 Things”
list on which I’ll end this post, thereby robbing Peter to pay Paul, who must share
a joint bank account or something. (I mean, if you think about, if you robbed
Peter, didn’t get caught, but still paid Paul with it…well, things pretty much
worked out on your end. Right?) Anyway, I almost called this the weekend La
Fiesta del Parity, that really only held up across the two games I watched.
Starting with...and just understand that these are notes from a tourist.
Philadelphia Union 1-1 San Jose Earthquakes
It was the duel between San Jose’s (as yet unproved)
revamped attack and Philly’s remarkable defensive record (still just four goals
allowed in as many games) that drew me to this match. What I found, both here
and in Dallas v. Colorado (down below) were surprisingly open games, with both
teams allowing tons of vertical space on the field for just about anyone to
play in. That made sense of another pattern I’d seen in the numbers for both of
teams involved in this game: both like to possess the ball - Philly,
especially.
As the numbers show, Philly really did dominate this game on
the attack/possession side, and I credit the visibly superior “2” pairing for
Philadelphia (in the 4-2-3-1) of Haris Medunjanin and Alejandro Bedoya over the
“2” at the heart of San Jose’s 4-4-2, Florian Jungwirth and Anibal Godoy. Philly’s
deep midfielders generated chances even if they didn’t produce goals, while
Godoy and Jungwirth coughed up error after error any time they played anything
but rugby (i.e., lateral, slightly backward passes). Medunjanin, especially,
played slick, conductor-style stuff that guided Union attackers to the ‘Quakes’
vulnerable spots; it’s not on him that his teammates didn’t make the most of his
gifts. Borek Dockal, new to the league/team this season, benefited from that
quite a lot, if a little less so than Fabrice-Jean Picault, who, for my money,
looked the most dangerous for Philly; Dockal does, however, look like he could
goose a Philly attack that’s desperately in need. Jungwirth’s and Godoy’s
struggles notwithstanding, San Jose got decent upside from Magnus Eriksson, who
scored the ‘Quakes goal and who felt like a center of gravity for their attack.
I don’t remember much from the ‘Quakes attack after that, but San Jose looked
like it went defensive after the half by (perhaps) backing Jungwirth into a
5-man defensive line (or they decided, and somewhat sensibly, that Jungwirth
wasn’t hacking it at d-mid), but that only built a steeper beach for wave after
wave of Philadelphia attacks to pound on. After about 2 minutes’ worth of
pressure around the how mark, Bedoya scored the Union’s equalizer. I don’t know
whether Philly will be able to get a couple chances from half the openings they
make, as they did against San Jose - like, is that their normal? - but most
immovable of numbers says otherwise: with this goal, the
Union has scored only three goals this season. In other words, they have an offense to complement
their defense, and in all the wrong ways. Good structure overall, though, and Playing
Bedoya where he belongs (deep, as a box-to-box guy) no doubt helps Philly.
For all that, San Jose earned this draw. Their central back
pairing of Yefferson Quintana and Harold Cummings rarely broke down yesterday
and Nick Lima played a big, visible role in holding onto a point for his team.
Both of these rosters have talent, but the fact that neither team managed a
break-through this weekend says plenty. Until further notice, the basic script
doesn’t change for either team. I’d be very surprised to see anyone even in
each team’s fan-base who’s saying, “watch out for Philly this season,” or “watch
out for San Jose.”
FC Dallas 1-1 Colorado Rapids
Watching this game as a neutral, if one with a tortuously
earned understanding of this league, I’d be happier with what I saw in this
game as a Rapids fan than I would be as a Dallas fan. Again, both teams allowed
for an open game, but this might have been accidental for Colorado. Whether
they planned it this way, they really only pressured the first pass (i.e.,
between the opposition’s defense and midfield) and, once that line gets
breached, they collapse into a 7-8 player bunker spaced about 10 yards apart,
and with the deeper line in their own penalty area. That turned out to be pretty
damn impregnable when collapsed, and it took Dallas days to do it (if measuring
days in minutes; also, almost all the days in the context of a game). And that
has a lot to do with Dallas not looking good…pretty much anywhere on the field.
I have yet to see a ton of talk questioning Dallas’ talent, but I assume that
time will come after too many games of, say, only Roland Lamah standing out (and
I think Dallas has something legit between Lamah and Anton Nedyalkov on their
left). Mauro Diaz played nervy and, generally, I wonder if the Rapids’ didn’t
outplay Dallas. Dallas got their goal all the same, and with the player I
called “nervy” (and thought “constipated”) delivering the decisive pass. Whatever
you think of Dallas’ talent, it indisputably has a ceiling until further notice…and, man, am fond of that phrase tonight…
As for Colorado, they might be a different team this year
(and that’s not helping). Apart from their defense looking settled (and across
a couple iterations), having Jack Price and Johan Blomberg in midfield brings a
little more coherence to what they (generally) want to do (spread the field to
let guys like Dominique Badji, or even Edgar Castillo, get into space/isolation.
Speaking of…), and the team looks more effective as a whole, as a result, etc. Price,
especially, runs all over the top of the defensive third (or did against
Dallas), to keep shifting the point of attack. He looks like a good piece, and
maybe Colorado can do something, and this season too. That’s not
saying the will lay waste to all that’s before them, but they’ve picked up
solid results against Conference rivals over the past couple weeks...and one of them (this one) on the road.
I can’t (and won’t) pretend either of those games count as
inspiring and, moreover, I don’t think either game shifted the general calculus
for all the teams involved. I think Dallas had the most to lose reputationally,
and I think they did lose it; Colorado really did own them for large stretches
of that game and that goes against a couple scripts.
And, with the idea of scripts in mind, I want to wrap up
this post with “10 Things of Note” for the weekend just past. These will be
things I’ve noted in the rest of this week’s MLS games - that’s besides the two
discussed above and Portland’s…just bewildering loss to Orlando. And, so,
without further ado, and in no particular order….well, maybe except the order I
reviewed them in:
1) Game(s) of the Week
I haven’t devised a proper formula to decide this, but,
generally, I’m thinking an equation something like: trend confirmation X
entertainment = [score]. With that in mind, I’d call this a tie between New
England running all over Montreal (with the first assist to Saphir Taider for that red card) and Sporting Kansas City’s point-robbing raid to the Los Angeles
Galaxy; Colorado drawing Dallas gets honorable mention for exposing Dallas’
ongoing non-super-team-ness, and so does Real Salt Lake hanging on against the
Vancouver Whitecaps, because I have this thing about Vancouver sucking this
season that I really don’t want to let go of.
2) Columbus & LA- Robb’d, Deni’d, Abus’d
By most indications (video, statistical, etc.), both Columbus
and the Galaxy outplayed their opponents, but got utterly buggered (by Zac Steffen, in Columbus’ tragic case) and blinked (for about two, three minutes)
long enough for the game to fall apart (LA). Picking through the scraps makes a
game like this hard to read, but I’d hold stock on both teams for the time
being.
3) Julian Gressel & Atlanta
If I had to name the outstanding player for Atlanta so far,
I’d go with Gressel. I think I’ve watched Atlanta only once (look, I have a
deadline for that sidebar…I’ll explain later), but he keeps popping up in
highlights, just everywhere. He looks like a good box-to-box player based on
what I’ve seen of him, and, to speculate a little, I’d bet he gives Atlanta
good balance.
4) LAFC’s First Long Day at the Office
Gressel played a role in both goals that came before La
Deluge in Atlanta’s 5-0 romp over LAFC, but this was another game where the box score sent a signal. I wasn’t surprised by the possession and/or passing
total/accuracy numbers - Atlanta, based on what I know, doesn’t like to possess
the ball (they like to fly, baby, you dig?) - but LA taking more shots does
catch the eye (if badly…1 shot of 17 on goal? Damn…) This one strikes me as an
outlier, if more for LAFC than Atlanta - by which I mean Atlanta might do this
again, but I don’t think LAFC will let it happen again.
5) I Love It When a Revolution Comes Together?
I haven’t caught word of a New England Revolution bandwagon getting
rolling so far, so I’ll start one. Just…watch them. Diego Fagundez might have
kicked off a career season and Scott Caldwell looks the same. Their two
sometimes fitful forwards - Teal Bunbury and Juan Agudelo - have both scored
this season, so this could be something simple as a bunch of long-simmering
talent finally coming together. Their third goal looks like this team’s
potential at the end of a really kick-ass montage. Finally, seeing a defender scoring the first goal of his/her career is one of those rare perfect moments in sports.
6) Montreal, Fragil-ay
(I couldn’t find the accent aigu). Montreal is having a literally hit or miss season, as in they either win (twice) or they lose (that’s,
uh, three times now). I have always seen the Impact as a cunning club - think
the Ignacio Piatti thing - but there’s always been this defensive fire-wall
that held them up till the day’s individual brilliance did, or didn’t show up. This
outing was some kinda horrible; I can’t choose between the first and fourth goal allowed for Montreal's low point of the afternoon. To think this loss came right after consecutive
wins over last year’s MLS Cup participants…
7) Russell Sits on the Ice Cream Cone
(It’s a really old, deeply personal reference, but I can
think of nothing more humiliating than a Yeti sitting on my ice cream cone).
Montreal didn’t give up the most shameful goal of the weekend: the honor goes
to the Galaxy’s Daniel Steres and Ashley Cole, the two players SKC’s Johnny
Russell split right through the tenders (of their egos). That moment kind of
sums up LA’s Sunday afternoon: had the right people in the right place, only to
have two (count ‘em, two) defenders do everything but defend.
8) Jolly Gyasi!
I crap on Gyasi Zardes more readily than most, so it brings
me real joy to say that he’s lookin’ good over there in central Ohio. I’m only
catching Columbus here and there (two games, I think; swear to god, I’ll catch
it up), but Zardes has been all over every highlight reel of the season, and he
stood out even more than usual this past weekend.
9) SKC: How Are the Shields Holding?
They opened 2018 strong without question and, based on
everything I’ve seen, they’re good for their lead atop the Western Conference.
All the same, and before anyone takes the zeroes they posted over the last two
games at face value, just keep the fact that SKC has leaked a lot of goals this
season somewhere in the back of your mind. By the same token, please note that
LA took 22 shots at SKC, 10 of them on goal. 10. Tim Melia has the saves to
show for every one.
10) Bogey-Team v. Bogey-Team
I think the Vancouver Whitecaps will be that one-trick-pony
team that steals points this season. They’ll never play particularly well, or
attractively (barring new (please!) signings), but they’ll do something like,
say, find Brek Shea in space and, depending on the score at the time, that’ll be
either a goal you mock or rue. RSL’s even trickier, in that they actually try
to play (i.e., taking steps toward being high-percentage), but can only enjoy a
good day at the office when, say, Luis Silva (this weekend) or Jefferson
Savarino (past few weeks, but also this one) have put in a good shift. First of all, thank god
they beat Vancouver, because I want that team to change. As for RSL, it’s hard
to get too invested because I’ve seen them fall apart. And recently.
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