 |
| Call 'em the MLS 2010 Mascots. |
It passed without notice at the time, but Major League Soccer experienced a brief interregnum over the 2008-2010 seasons.
2008 appears normal at first glance – as noted in my write-up on that season, the Crew had a lien-free claim to the best team in MLS that season – but, unlike past champions (or even reliable runners-up like the mid-00s New England Revolution), they didn’t have the legs to return to an MLS Cup until years later. Before that, you had DC United running the 1990s (stalked for seasons by the Los Angeles Galaxy), the early 2000s boom-let for the Kansas City Wizards and, to a lesser extent, the Chicago Fire, followed by a half decade’s worth of dominance centered around the San Jose Earthquake/Houston Dynamo franchises (again, shadowed by New England). They didn’t tear up that script or anything – Columbus won a second Supporters’ Shield in 2009, after all – but there was a pan, and there was a flash in it.
2008 appears normal at first glance – as noted in my write-up on that season, the Crew had a lien-free claim to the best team in MLS that season – but, unlike past champions (or even reliable runners-up like the mid-00s New England Revolution), they didn’t have the legs to return to an MLS Cup until years later. Before that, you had DC United running the 1990s (stalked for seasons by the Los Angeles Galaxy), the early 2000s boom-let for the Kansas City Wizards and, to a lesser extent, the Chicago Fire, followed by a half decade’s worth of dominance centered around the San Jose Earthquake/Houston Dynamo franchises (again, shadowed by New England). They didn’t tear up that script or anything – Columbus won a second Supporters’ Shield in 2009, after all – but there was a pan, and there was a flash in it.
In terms of season-upon-season quality, RSL did much the same thing, and for much the same reason: they built a good, durable team of players with an excellent understanding of roles. On the other hand, RSL really had more ways to lose the 2009 MLS Cup than to win it, starting with qualifying dead last for the playoffs and, it bears noting, having to go through the same Columbus team in the first round (all of that covered in my write-up on the 2009 season). Again, it wasn’t so much that they had a bad team – they didn’t, as subsequent years showed – than they found a gap in the MLS space/time continuum where no teams succeeded in dominating the rest of the teams.
If those two years upended assumptions, 2010 simply paid them no mind. I mean, the Colorado Rapids won MLS Cup, fer crissakes. Wait, it gets weirder: they beat FC Dallas to do it.
Before getting into that, let’s take a quick tour of new developments. First, and arguably most important, the league and the players’ union argued over a collective bargaining agreement (“CBA”) right up to first kick. I don’t recall which CBA negotiation was the most bitter, but I’d imagine MLS still felt more fragile around this time. Seeing as that’s been superseded at least once by now (I think twice), I’ll leave it to real die-hards to read about what they agreed upon. (Top-line notes: it established the Re-Entry Draft (still no free agency), raised each team’s salary budget to $2.55 million (which feels like a comically impossible ceiling at this point), set the minimum salary at $40,000 (don’t give up those side-gigs, y’all!), and, I think this came later, allowed teams to sign as many as three designated players (which, I’m just gonna say it now, they should have called “The Ringer Rule”). More detailed notes on the latter:
“Teams can sign two Designated Players, up from one under the previous rules, and pay a ‘luxury tax’ of $250,000 for the right to sign a third Designated Player. The $250,000 would be distributed evenly to all MLS teams that have not signed a third Designated Player in the form of allocation money.”
Before moving on, I want to acknowledge what every thinking, breathing fan of MLS already knows: signing a DP does not reliably pay off. Now, to underline it, peruse this list of DPs for the 2010 season (well, all seasons; it takes a little poking around), and keep track of how many names you actually recall:
Chicago Fire: Nery Castillo and (2nd half of the season), Freddie Ljungberg
Columbus: Guillermo Barros Schelotto and Andres Mendoza
DC United: Branko Boskovic
Houston Dynamo: Luis Angel Landin
LA Galaxy: Beckham and Donovan
Red Bull New York: Juan Pablo Angel and, later, Thierry Henry and Rafa Marquez
San Jose Earthquakes: Geovanni
Seattle Sounders: Ljungberg (first half), then Alvaro Fernandez and Blaise Nkufo
Toronto FC: Julian de Guzman and Mista
FC Dallas had a DP as well – David Ferreira – but I left him out of that list, because he was one of the good ones (and you can see a little of what he did, here, on drunken-camera-guy cam). I’d say just…four, maybe five of the others really earned his esteemed title. Also, if you’re counting Beckham among that group, 2010 definitely doesn’t count: he played in all of seven games that season and I think his shaky start with MLS got lost down a memory hole. The Rapids, along with half the league, did not have a designated player. More later…
To wrap up the general stuff, a 16-team league allowed for the rare balanced season; every team played all the others home and away for what might have been the one and only time in MLS history. What else? The Philadelphia Union joined the league that year, Red Bulls Arena opened in Harrison, NJ (10 of MLS’s 16 teams now had a soccer-specific stadium)…oh, and Ben Olsen started his reign of suffocating aesthetic tyranny. Finally, MLS returned to a playoff qualification arrangement where just the top two teams of each conference qualified for the playoffs, followed by the four teams with the highest points total, regardless of conference. Dallas would have made the playoffs in 2010 regardless – they had a strong season that year. Colorado, on the other hand, would have watched Kansas City (7 fewer points) and Chicago (10 fewer) leapfrog over them…
…have I mentioned this was The Year Without an Eastern Conference?
I’ll get to Colorado (I will), but several things have to come before it. First, I want to talk about one team that failed to make the playoffs: the Houston Dynamo. To repeat a point (made…in the 2003 write-up), the ever-(slightly)-evolving San Jose/Houston team from 2001-2007 won four titles over that period, the last in ’07. Houston missed the playoffs in 2010, finishing 13 points under Colorado. Without delving into the details, calling that a swing-miss combo holds up because they had a healthy proportion of the same players, only Brian Ching missed major minutes (which could explain their mid-summer slump), and they signed a DP from Mexico - Landin. Sure, the “Mexican DP” thing is hardly fool-proof (e.g., Nery Castillo), but I can’t hold up the players from the 2007 roster to explain Houston’s success that season and then use many of those same players to explain the Dynamo’s failure in 2010. The short version, I wanted to confess to some weaknesses in the methodology before trying to explain MLS’s fabulous furry freak season.
As hinted at above, and like RSL the season before, Colorado finished second-to-last overall in the 2010 playoff race. I won’t pretend that a team that tripped into the playoffs had never won MLS Cup before either of those seasons either; see, LA in 2005 (and my bitter, bitter reflections on it). This time, with the help of the 2010 Form Guide, I want to kill one of MLS’s most famous myths before it gets rolling: nothing in the record indicates that Colorado “peaked at the right time.” Moreover, several teams with better records went into the playoffs hotter.
To continue preaching a personal gospel, I see the Form Guide as the source that tells the fewest lies. If you want to know what happened over a season without a lot of excuses, beard-tugging, bullshit and jerking off, the (Holy) Form Guide will get you closest. For instance (and I just learned this), you’ll spot a team whose record basically sketches the playoff line. For 2010, that team was (jesus, still that name?) the Kansas City Wizards, who traced a classic “never-got-going” progression. You see the other side of that with San Jose, who also could only string together two consecutive wins, but they clustered together enough good runs of form to make the MLS season’s second half. That’s generally proved to be the bar. Looking elsewhere, seeing those long, savage drags of red across DC’s and New England’s season should help you appreciate the way the league’s sole expansion team, Philly, righted the ship down the stretch. Maybe they placed 14th overall, but they had two established teams below them (DC and Chivas USA; they finished one point under the Revs).
Back to the Rapids (not yet; wait for it), and even Dallas, at least four teams hit the playoffs on a comparative up. The Galaxy got a massive assist from going undefeated over its first 12 games (and on a 10-0-2 record), but they won the Supporters’ Shield by recovering from a shaky summer to win five of their last seven games (the other two, notably, were losses). RSL, meanwhile, didn’t lose a game after the first game of the second half of the season (that’s Game 16 of a 30 game season); alternating wins and draws, as they did over their last 10 games, should have been good enough, especially for the all-time best defensive team in MLS. The Red Bulls, meanwhile, had a 6-2-2 over their last 10 and, by then, they had Thierry Henry in the mix. Finally, those assholes from Seattle pulled that “oh, wait, it’s the regular season” bullshit (but for the first time), flipping a 4-8-3 record over the first half of the season to a 10-2-3 in the second half. Motherfu…
Colorado wasn’t terrible at that point. They went 4-4-2 over their last 10 games. Decent, of course, but something south of “Joe-Mentum.” (I need to start making mugs for my worst references and sending them to anyone who gets them.) To flag a couple more interesting details, both Columbus and Dallas stumbled down the stretch. Columbus papered it over with a final game win, 3-1 at home over Philly, but Dallas lost its last two games. Both games happened on the road, and they’d had a draw at home before that…and against Colorado of all teams…but here’s the thing about that.
Dallas lost four games all season. Before those two losses at the end, FC Dallas went unbeaten from Game 10 to Game 27. True, it wasn’t perfect – I mean, no losses aside, they went 10-0-9, which suggests a certain lack of killer instinct – and, I actually remember this one, they remained in the Supporters’ Shield conversation until they coughed up eight points in their final three games. This may or may not have been the best all-time Dallas team - that’s something for a Dallas fan to declare, because they’ve had some good teams, fun ones even – but they were legit. Having learned about how many times defense killed good Dallas teams, I’m compelled to note just how good and available their spine remained throughout the season: Heath Pearce started 27, Daniel Hernandez (still solid, dammit) started 25, and they had strong up-and-comers like (the rather monstrous) George John (25 starts, just to mention) and Dax McCarty. That unit, with an assist from some friends, allowed just 28 goals in 2010, good for 4th best (tough competition, though). They had one of MLS’ all-time greats, Jeff Cunningham, running around and wrecking havoc at forward (well, 11g, 1a), with Ferreira both pulling the strings and chipping in amply (8g, 13a). In other words, Dallas was good that year…and I’m starting to wonder if goal-differential isn’t the single most important stat to track when handicapping any given team’s chances in the MLS playoffs. Colorado ended with a +12 in 2010, by the way, 4th best in the league. Again, I’m really starting to wonder how much that number predicts playoff success. Shit…
To finally go deeper on the Rapids, they rode to success on a very familiar formula: a strong and, crucially, stable spine built around Jeff Larentowicz (called in from New England) and long-time midfield anchor Pablo Mastroeni in central midfield (both players started 29 games over the regular season, and in MLS Cup). They had Matt Pickens in goal behind the ever-reliable (absent injury) Drew Moor and Marvell “Mr. Recovery” Wynne (seriously, players had to beat that guy three times in his prime). That backstop should have kept them in more games than it did during the regular, but the Rapids had the best thing a team could ask for going into the playoffs: one of the best, if not the best, forward tandems in MLS that season in Omar Cummings and Conor Casey. They combined just fine the season before (Casey, 16g, 1a; Cummings, 8g, 12a), but they kept rolling in 2010 and threw some wrinkles into the script to keep defenses guessing (Casey, 13g, 6a; Cummings, 14g, 3a). That they also got the only good year Scottish winger, Jamie Smith, had in MLS that season gave them another little edge ((1g, 8a; he got more assists in 2010 than he played games between 2012 and 2013). In fewer words, the stars aligned over Commerce City, Colorado – or, better, over Toronto, seeing that BMO Field hosted the 2010 final…related, wonder how much November in Ontario favored the Rapids?
It was a long, ultimately cruel final for Dallas (enjoy the highlights…though maybe not Dallas fans!). They fired the first shot straight from kickoff and went up 1-0 in the first half on a well-worked goal by Ferreira (that cross that fed it was tricky). They ended with twice as many shots on goal, but only as many goals as the Rapids. Casey (literally) bulldozed in Colorado’s equalizer (and from a sitting position) to send the game into extra time…which would see Macoumba Kandji nutmeg Jair Benitez and toe-poke a shot off George John’s inner thigh and into Dallas’ goal; Kandji tearing his ACL on the lunge made for an awkward goal celebration. John had a potential equalizer pawed away by Pickens at the death (Pickens made some big saves, but so did Dallas’ Kevin Hartman). Any way you cut it, that’s one hell of a way to lose.
And that’s the story of the 2010 MLS season, or a story anyway. For anyone interested in a shorter version, the Rapids marketing people pulled together a (very) mini-documentary featuring some interviews – one of them with Kandji, appropriately. And, to wrap up the way I always do, enjoy these little blurbs on what every team in the league did in 2010…and, yes, I do see a longer time horizon for these posts as the league grows.
Los Angeles Galaxy (18-7-5, 59 pts., 44gf, 26ga (+18); 1st in West, SS)
As noted above, Beckham was barely involved, but Edson Buddle lit it up (17g, 2 a) and Landon Donovan became an assist-machine (7g, 16a). For those who know the basics of league history, this Supporters’ Shield was as ominous as LA’s spine (e.g., Omar Gonzalez, Juninho, Todd Dunivant, A.J. DeLaGarza, Chris Birchall, Sean Franklin, etc.).
Real Salt Lake (15-4-11, 45 gf, 20ga (+25); 2nd in West)
This team kept coming together – both Javier Morales (7g, 9a) and Fabian Espindola (6g, 4a) improved – and they got bought a cutting edge for the attack by signing Alvaro Saborio (12g, 4a). Those guys ran wild in front of a sturdy bunch of players (e.g, Jamison Olave started 27, Nat Borchers all 30); Beckerman a shade low at 21 starts, but they could rotate so many for cover.
New York Red Bulls (15-9-6, 51 pts., 38 gf, 29 ga (+9), 1st in East)
The defensive numbers explain a lot (courtesy of Tim Ream, Carlos Mendes, Roy Miller, and, later, Rafa Marquez), and they had some steel/talent in Seth Stammler and Tony Tchani. Juan Pablo Angel had another solid season (13g, 4a), with assists by Dane Richards (5g, 3a) and Joel Lindpere (3g, 6a).
FC Dallas (12-4-14, 50 pts., 42gf, 28ga (+14); 3rd in West)
Covered above.
Columbus Crew (14-8-8, 50 pts., 40gf, 34ga (+6); 2nd in East)
Steve Lenhart improved a bit (6g, 2a) and Emilio Renteria kept threatening greatness (5g, 1a), but they continued to lean on Schelotto for production, with slowly diminishing returns (9g, 8a). They had stability – Chad Marshall was back to 20+, Andy Iro played a bunch (24 starts), and Carroll returned (27 starts), so it was a Decent team, just…
Seattle Sounders (14-10-6, 48 pts., 39 gf, 35 ga (+4); 4th in West)
Big seasons for Montero (10g, 10a) and Zakuani (10g, 6a), and it’s Blaise Nkufo and feeding on scraps from there; defense was good, but not league elite; still riding Tyrone Marshall, Leo Gonzalez, and, later, Jeff Parke in defense.
Colorado Rapids (12-8-10, 46 pts., 44gf, 32ga (+12); 5th in West)
Covered above.
San Jose Earthquakes (13-10-7, 46 pts., 34gf, 33ga (+1); 6th in West)
The first year of the Wondo fans know and [fill in the blank] (18g, 1a) and, look, there’s Ike Opara! Bobby Convey returned from England and racked up the assists (10, I think) with a further assist from Ryan Johnson (1g, 8a). Jason Hernandez career prime starts here.
Before getting into that, let’s take a quick tour of new developments. First, and arguably most important, the league and the players’ union argued over a collective bargaining agreement (“CBA”) right up to first kick. I don’t recall which CBA negotiation was the most bitter, but I’d imagine MLS still felt more fragile around this time. Seeing as that’s been superseded at least once by now (I think twice), I’ll leave it to real die-hards to read about what they agreed upon. (Top-line notes: it established the Re-Entry Draft (still no free agency), raised each team’s salary budget to $2.55 million (which feels like a comically impossible ceiling at this point), set the minimum salary at $40,000 (don’t give up those side-gigs, y’all!), and, I think this came later, allowed teams to sign as many as three designated players (which, I’m just gonna say it now, they should have called “The Ringer Rule”). More detailed notes on the latter:
“Teams can sign two Designated Players, up from one under the previous rules, and pay a ‘luxury tax’ of $250,000 for the right to sign a third Designated Player. The $250,000 would be distributed evenly to all MLS teams that have not signed a third Designated Player in the form of allocation money.”
Before moving on, I want to acknowledge what every thinking, breathing fan of MLS already knows: signing a DP does not reliably pay off. Now, to underline it, peruse this list of DPs for the 2010 season (well, all seasons; it takes a little poking around), and keep track of how many names you actually recall:
Chicago Fire: Nery Castillo and (2nd half of the season), Freddie Ljungberg
Columbus: Guillermo Barros Schelotto and Andres Mendoza
DC United: Branko Boskovic
Houston Dynamo: Luis Angel Landin
LA Galaxy: Beckham and Donovan
Red Bull New York: Juan Pablo Angel and, later, Thierry Henry and Rafa Marquez
San Jose Earthquakes: Geovanni
Seattle Sounders: Ljungberg (first half), then Alvaro Fernandez and Blaise Nkufo
Toronto FC: Julian de Guzman and Mista
FC Dallas had a DP as well – David Ferreira – but I left him out of that list, because he was one of the good ones (and you can see a little of what he did, here, on drunken-camera-guy cam). I’d say just…four, maybe five of the others really earned his esteemed title. Also, if you’re counting Beckham among that group, 2010 definitely doesn’t count: he played in all of seven games that season and I think his shaky start with MLS got lost down a memory hole. The Rapids, along with half the league, did not have a designated player. More later…
To wrap up the general stuff, a 16-team league allowed for the rare balanced season; every team played all the others home and away for what might have been the one and only time in MLS history. What else? The Philadelphia Union joined the league that year, Red Bulls Arena opened in Harrison, NJ (10 of MLS’s 16 teams now had a soccer-specific stadium)…oh, and Ben Olsen started his reign of suffocating aesthetic tyranny. Finally, MLS returned to a playoff qualification arrangement where just the top two teams of each conference qualified for the playoffs, followed by the four teams with the highest points total, regardless of conference. Dallas would have made the playoffs in 2010 regardless – they had a strong season that year. Colorado, on the other hand, would have watched Kansas City (7 fewer points) and Chicago (10 fewer) leapfrog over them…
…have I mentioned this was The Year Without an Eastern Conference?
I’ll get to Colorado (I will), but several things have to come before it. First, I want to talk about one team that failed to make the playoffs: the Houston Dynamo. To repeat a point (made…in the 2003 write-up), the ever-(slightly)-evolving San Jose/Houston team from 2001-2007 won four titles over that period, the last in ’07. Houston missed the playoffs in 2010, finishing 13 points under Colorado. Without delving into the details, calling that a swing-miss combo holds up because they had a healthy proportion of the same players, only Brian Ching missed major minutes (which could explain their mid-summer slump), and they signed a DP from Mexico - Landin. Sure, the “Mexican DP” thing is hardly fool-proof (e.g., Nery Castillo), but I can’t hold up the players from the 2007 roster to explain Houston’s success that season and then use many of those same players to explain the Dynamo’s failure in 2010. The short version, I wanted to confess to some weaknesses in the methodology before trying to explain MLS’s fabulous furry freak season.
As hinted at above, and like RSL the season before, Colorado finished second-to-last overall in the 2010 playoff race. I won’t pretend that a team that tripped into the playoffs had never won MLS Cup before either of those seasons either; see, LA in 2005 (and my bitter, bitter reflections on it). This time, with the help of the 2010 Form Guide, I want to kill one of MLS’s most famous myths before it gets rolling: nothing in the record indicates that Colorado “peaked at the right time.” Moreover, several teams with better records went into the playoffs hotter.
To continue preaching a personal gospel, I see the Form Guide as the source that tells the fewest lies. If you want to know what happened over a season without a lot of excuses, beard-tugging, bullshit and jerking off, the (Holy) Form Guide will get you closest. For instance (and I just learned this), you’ll spot a team whose record basically sketches the playoff line. For 2010, that team was (jesus, still that name?) the Kansas City Wizards, who traced a classic “never-got-going” progression. You see the other side of that with San Jose, who also could only string together two consecutive wins, but they clustered together enough good runs of form to make the MLS season’s second half. That’s generally proved to be the bar. Looking elsewhere, seeing those long, savage drags of red across DC’s and New England’s season should help you appreciate the way the league’s sole expansion team, Philly, righted the ship down the stretch. Maybe they placed 14th overall, but they had two established teams below them (DC and Chivas USA; they finished one point under the Revs).
Back to the Rapids (not yet; wait for it), and even Dallas, at least four teams hit the playoffs on a comparative up. The Galaxy got a massive assist from going undefeated over its first 12 games (and on a 10-0-2 record), but they won the Supporters’ Shield by recovering from a shaky summer to win five of their last seven games (the other two, notably, were losses). RSL, meanwhile, didn’t lose a game after the first game of the second half of the season (that’s Game 16 of a 30 game season); alternating wins and draws, as they did over their last 10 games, should have been good enough, especially for the all-time best defensive team in MLS. The Red Bulls, meanwhile, had a 6-2-2 over their last 10 and, by then, they had Thierry Henry in the mix. Finally, those assholes from Seattle pulled that “oh, wait, it’s the regular season” bullshit (but for the first time), flipping a 4-8-3 record over the first half of the season to a 10-2-3 in the second half. Motherfu…
Colorado wasn’t terrible at that point. They went 4-4-2 over their last 10 games. Decent, of course, but something south of “Joe-Mentum.” (I need to start making mugs for my worst references and sending them to anyone who gets them.) To flag a couple more interesting details, both Columbus and Dallas stumbled down the stretch. Columbus papered it over with a final game win, 3-1 at home over Philly, but Dallas lost its last two games. Both games happened on the road, and they’d had a draw at home before that…and against Colorado of all teams…but here’s the thing about that.
Dallas lost four games all season. Before those two losses at the end, FC Dallas went unbeaten from Game 10 to Game 27. True, it wasn’t perfect – I mean, no losses aside, they went 10-0-9, which suggests a certain lack of killer instinct – and, I actually remember this one, they remained in the Supporters’ Shield conversation until they coughed up eight points in their final three games. This may or may not have been the best all-time Dallas team - that’s something for a Dallas fan to declare, because they’ve had some good teams, fun ones even – but they were legit. Having learned about how many times defense killed good Dallas teams, I’m compelled to note just how good and available their spine remained throughout the season: Heath Pearce started 27, Daniel Hernandez (still solid, dammit) started 25, and they had strong up-and-comers like (the rather monstrous) George John (25 starts, just to mention) and Dax McCarty. That unit, with an assist from some friends, allowed just 28 goals in 2010, good for 4th best (tough competition, though). They had one of MLS’ all-time greats, Jeff Cunningham, running around and wrecking havoc at forward (well, 11g, 1a), with Ferreira both pulling the strings and chipping in amply (8g, 13a). In other words, Dallas was good that year…and I’m starting to wonder if goal-differential isn’t the single most important stat to track when handicapping any given team’s chances in the MLS playoffs. Colorado ended with a +12 in 2010, by the way, 4th best in the league. Again, I’m really starting to wonder how much that number predicts playoff success. Shit…
To finally go deeper on the Rapids, they rode to success on a very familiar formula: a strong and, crucially, stable spine built around Jeff Larentowicz (called in from New England) and long-time midfield anchor Pablo Mastroeni in central midfield (both players started 29 games over the regular season, and in MLS Cup). They had Matt Pickens in goal behind the ever-reliable (absent injury) Drew Moor and Marvell “Mr. Recovery” Wynne (seriously, players had to beat that guy three times in his prime). That backstop should have kept them in more games than it did during the regular, but the Rapids had the best thing a team could ask for going into the playoffs: one of the best, if not the best, forward tandems in MLS that season in Omar Cummings and Conor Casey. They combined just fine the season before (Casey, 16g, 1a; Cummings, 8g, 12a), but they kept rolling in 2010 and threw some wrinkles into the script to keep defenses guessing (Casey, 13g, 6a; Cummings, 14g, 3a). That they also got the only good year Scottish winger, Jamie Smith, had in MLS that season gave them another little edge ((1g, 8a; he got more assists in 2010 than he played games between 2012 and 2013). In fewer words, the stars aligned over Commerce City, Colorado – or, better, over Toronto, seeing that BMO Field hosted the 2010 final…related, wonder how much November in Ontario favored the Rapids?
It was a long, ultimately cruel final for Dallas (enjoy the highlights…though maybe not Dallas fans!). They fired the first shot straight from kickoff and went up 1-0 in the first half on a well-worked goal by Ferreira (that cross that fed it was tricky). They ended with twice as many shots on goal, but only as many goals as the Rapids. Casey (literally) bulldozed in Colorado’s equalizer (and from a sitting position) to send the game into extra time…which would see Macoumba Kandji nutmeg Jair Benitez and toe-poke a shot off George John’s inner thigh and into Dallas’ goal; Kandji tearing his ACL on the lunge made for an awkward goal celebration. John had a potential equalizer pawed away by Pickens at the death (Pickens made some big saves, but so did Dallas’ Kevin Hartman). Any way you cut it, that’s one hell of a way to lose.
And that’s the story of the 2010 MLS season, or a story anyway. For anyone interested in a shorter version, the Rapids marketing people pulled together a (very) mini-documentary featuring some interviews – one of them with Kandji, appropriately. And, to wrap up the way I always do, enjoy these little blurbs on what every team in the league did in 2010…and, yes, I do see a longer time horizon for these posts as the league grows.
Los Angeles Galaxy (18-7-5, 59 pts., 44gf, 26ga (+18); 1st in West, SS)
As noted above, Beckham was barely involved, but Edson Buddle lit it up (17g, 2 a) and Landon Donovan became an assist-machine (7g, 16a). For those who know the basics of league history, this Supporters’ Shield was as ominous as LA’s spine (e.g., Omar Gonzalez, Juninho, Todd Dunivant, A.J. DeLaGarza, Chris Birchall, Sean Franklin, etc.).
Real Salt Lake (15-4-11, 45 gf, 20ga (+25); 2nd in West)
This team kept coming together – both Javier Morales (7g, 9a) and Fabian Espindola (6g, 4a) improved – and they got bought a cutting edge for the attack by signing Alvaro Saborio (12g, 4a). Those guys ran wild in front of a sturdy bunch of players (e.g, Jamison Olave started 27, Nat Borchers all 30); Beckerman a shade low at 21 starts, but they could rotate so many for cover.
New York Red Bulls (15-9-6, 51 pts., 38 gf, 29 ga (+9), 1st in East)
The defensive numbers explain a lot (courtesy of Tim Ream, Carlos Mendes, Roy Miller, and, later, Rafa Marquez), and they had some steel/talent in Seth Stammler and Tony Tchani. Juan Pablo Angel had another solid season (13g, 4a), with assists by Dane Richards (5g, 3a) and Joel Lindpere (3g, 6a).
FC Dallas (12-4-14, 50 pts., 42gf, 28ga (+14); 3rd in West)
Covered above.
Columbus Crew (14-8-8, 50 pts., 40gf, 34ga (+6); 2nd in East)
Steve Lenhart improved a bit (6g, 2a) and Emilio Renteria kept threatening greatness (5g, 1a), but they continued to lean on Schelotto for production, with slowly diminishing returns (9g, 8a). They had stability – Chad Marshall was back to 20+, Andy Iro played a bunch (24 starts), and Carroll returned (27 starts), so it was a Decent team, just…
Seattle Sounders (14-10-6, 48 pts., 39 gf, 35 ga (+4); 4th in West)
Big seasons for Montero (10g, 10a) and Zakuani (10g, 6a), and it’s Blaise Nkufo and feeding on scraps from there; defense was good, but not league elite; still riding Tyrone Marshall, Leo Gonzalez, and, later, Jeff Parke in defense.
Colorado Rapids (12-8-10, 46 pts., 44gf, 32ga (+12); 5th in West)
Covered above.
San Jose Earthquakes (13-10-7, 46 pts., 34gf, 33ga (+1); 6th in West)
The first year of the Wondo fans know and [fill in the blank] (18g, 1a) and, look, there’s Ike Opara! Bobby Convey returned from England and racked up the assists (10, I think) with a further assist from Ryan Johnson (1g, 8a). Jason Hernandez career prime starts here.
PLAYOFF LINE
Kansas City Wizards (11-13-6, 39 pts., 36gf, 35ga (+1), 3rd in East)
Kei Kamara’s first big season (10g, 6a), with support from Arnaud (6g, 3a) and Teal Bunbury (5g, 2a), and they had a decent assist-man in Ryan Smith (3g, 7a). For those in need of a farewell, this was probably Josh Wolff’s last decent season. Jimmy Conrad returned from injury (26 starts) and Roger Espinoza started his time in Kansas City.
Chicago Fire (9-12-9, 36 pts., 37gf, 38 ga (-1); 4th in East)
The attack was pretty feeble (lead by Marco Pappa (7g, 5a), Brian McBride (6g, 3a) and Baggio Husidic (5g, 3a), but they had good assist guys in Freddie Ljungberg (2g, 7a) and Patrick Nyarko (1g, 10a). C.J. Brown and Conde created a reasonably stable, but, outside Logan Pause, they didn’t have much oomph in the midfield.
Toronto FC (9-13-8, 35 pts., 33gf, 41ga (-8); 5th in East)
Dwayne DeRosario delivered (15g, 3a) and Chad Barrett backed him up (7g, 2a), but the rest of the team was MLS stuck at MLS 1.5 (e.g., Nick LaBrocca is a warm body, not a starter). The defensive shape, especially, wasn’t there.
Houston Dynamo (9-15-6, 33 pts., 40 gf, 49ga (-9), 7th in West)
Mostly covered above, but Brad Davis deserves a shout for another good season (5g, 12a).
New England Revolution (9-16-5, 32 pts., 32gf, 50ga (-18); 6th in East)
Only Shalrie Joseph remained from the glory years, but he captained team a team of the damned. Under Mike Burns…
Philadelphia Union (8-15-7, 31 pts., 35gf, 49ga (-14); 7th in East)
Sebastian Le Toux was a beast (14g, 11a) and, what? Danny Mwanga had a solid year (7g, 4a)? lejandro Moreno did his thing (2g, 7a), but it’s mostly committee work from there. The defense stayed healthy and they had some names in it (e.g., Danny Califf), but they struggled, no question. Also, no real midfield.
Chivas USA (8-18-4, 28 pts., 31gf, 45ga (-14); 8th in West)
They lost Sacha Kljestan (and didn’t really replace him), while the Chivas mothership lost interest.
DC United (6-20-4, 22 pts., 21gf, 47ga (-26); 8th in East)
Road-kill in paper form. One look at that roster and you know it’s toast. They called in Andy Najar as a savior, which worked out about as well as you’d expect (5g, 1a).
And that’s it for 2010. See all y’all for 2011! (Hoping to post that Sunday!
Kei Kamara’s first big season (10g, 6a), with support from Arnaud (6g, 3a) and Teal Bunbury (5g, 2a), and they had a decent assist-man in Ryan Smith (3g, 7a). For those in need of a farewell, this was probably Josh Wolff’s last decent season. Jimmy Conrad returned from injury (26 starts) and Roger Espinoza started his time in Kansas City.
Chicago Fire (9-12-9, 36 pts., 37gf, 38 ga (-1); 4th in East)
The attack was pretty feeble (lead by Marco Pappa (7g, 5a), Brian McBride (6g, 3a) and Baggio Husidic (5g, 3a), but they had good assist guys in Freddie Ljungberg (2g, 7a) and Patrick Nyarko (1g, 10a). C.J. Brown and Conde created a reasonably stable, but, outside Logan Pause, they didn’t have much oomph in the midfield.
Toronto FC (9-13-8, 35 pts., 33gf, 41ga (-8); 5th in East)
Dwayne DeRosario delivered (15g, 3a) and Chad Barrett backed him up (7g, 2a), but the rest of the team was MLS stuck at MLS 1.5 (e.g., Nick LaBrocca is a warm body, not a starter). The defensive shape, especially, wasn’t there.
Houston Dynamo (9-15-6, 33 pts., 40 gf, 49ga (-9), 7th in West)
Mostly covered above, but Brad Davis deserves a shout for another good season (5g, 12a).
New England Revolution (9-16-5, 32 pts., 32gf, 50ga (-18); 6th in East)
Only Shalrie Joseph remained from the glory years, but he captained team a team of the damned. Under Mike Burns…
Philadelphia Union (8-15-7, 31 pts., 35gf, 49ga (-14); 7th in East)
Sebastian Le Toux was a beast (14g, 11a) and, what? Danny Mwanga had a solid year (7g, 4a)? lejandro Moreno did his thing (2g, 7a), but it’s mostly committee work from there. The defense stayed healthy and they had some names in it (e.g., Danny Califf), but they struggled, no question. Also, no real midfield.
Chivas USA (8-18-4, 28 pts., 31gf, 45ga (-14); 8th in West)
They lost Sacha Kljestan (and didn’t really replace him), while the Chivas mothership lost interest.
DC United (6-20-4, 22 pts., 21gf, 47ga (-26); 8th in East)
Road-kill in paper form. One look at that roster and you know it’s toast. They called in Andy Najar as a savior, which worked out about as well as you’d expect (5g, 1a).
And that’s it for 2010. See all y’all for 2011! (Hoping to post that Sunday!
I was expecting more mascot talk
ReplyDeleteI am spectacularly ignorant when it comes to mascots. Related, is Timbers Joey a hype man or a mascot?
ReplyDelete