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| More of this energy, please. |
As hinted it...maybe on twitter, maybe just in my head, I’m thinning out these review posts – and mostly on the grounds that not a lot of people read them. The biggest change will be a switch from writing long blurbs about featured games – with the accompanying pain of marching through nearly all of them - to just writing a narrative that puts the prior weekend’s action in context. And categories. I can’t get enough of those goddamn things. Like popcorn that tastes like jalapeno...
To summarize/judge MLS Week 6 as a whole...it wasn’t the best. Too many ties, too much slouching toward the mid-table, too little rising, shining, showing God your glory, glory, and so on. All the ties involves crap teams and most of the blowouts saw crap teams on the logical end of that equation. It could have used a little more pizazz, basically. Not unlike the one match that will continue to feature at the top of each and every one of these reviews – any game involving FC Cincinnati. On with the show, this is it....
FC Cincinnati 1-0 Inter Miami CF: I Mean, It Was Good. No, It Was Good....
So...do the dots on The Mothership’s xG charts represent the shots on goal? For what it’s worth, I did count 10 dots in Miami’s slowly rising line and noticed how it nudged them one step ahead of a FC Cincy in the second half – at least until they very end when the host’s late chances could have well and truly sealed the game and padded the final score.
Then again, wouldn’t that have misrepresented the game just a touch?
I’d argue a goal-less draw would have provided a fairer result for a Miami team that often gave a little better than they got. A team gets what it earns, of course – and the visitors and/or Phil Neville (or an ill-advised on-field adjustment) did hand Cincy the game winner by having DeAndre Yedlin and Josef Martinez guard Yerson Mosquera at the near post – but Miami did a handful of things better than Cincinnati on the day, most of them following from winning the lion’s share of the 50/50 balls. Going the other way, Miami’s passing map tells another story with its mullet shape – i.e., thick and luxuriantly connected at the back but thinned out up front.
That, in a nutshell, is what makes the final result fair: Cincy defended very well, they didn’t give Miami many clear looks, and Roman Celentano cleaned up the rest – for instance, a shot that a largely locked-out Josef Martinez didn’t hit hard enough to rattle anyone. The only time I recall seeing Celentano really beat was the bomb Franco Negri bounced off the crossbar from the depths of Miami’s attacking third (which I imagine has to be somewhere in the highlights). For all times the visitors set up a siege just beyond the top of Cincinnati’s 18, they rarely broke through the lines, which limited them to half-looks – a reality that, for me, begs the question of why Neville doesn’t consider starting the young Shanyder Borgelin until their regular big-‘n’-bulky, Leo Campana, can tie on his starting boots.
Miami still managed some moments – particularly a couple chances where they strained Cincy’s shape up the middle by playing balls out, then back in to runners (including Martinez) up the gut – just not enough to where I, or anyone but the most partisan fans could or should argue they deserved better than a draw. It’ll be interesting to see where Miami goes from here, because they do have some good pieces, e.g., Drake Callendar in goal, Sergii Kryvstov in central defense, plus my personal stand-out from yesterday, Nicolas Steffanelli, a slippery little shit if I’ve ever seen one. All that talent doesn’t look up to the job at the moment, not with Miami scoring just two goals (both against Chicago Fire FC) over their past four games. If you can’t start putting the ball around, near or in the net...well, are you really good?
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As for Cincy, they’re getting it done – and, hey, still undefeated in 2023 – but it seems more grind than glory so far. That’s not always a bad thing – could they do otherwise, for instance, against the Seattle Sounders and on the road against Nashville? – but they didn’t bring the same energy to this game as they did to the two others. The composure was better in both of those, the stick-into-iveness felt more present and impressive along with a general sense of refusing to get beat. Meanwhile, at the other end of the field, the attack didn’t exactly roll downstream and I’m left wondering how many of their shots on goal came from an impatient Brenner firing hopefully from range instead of considering and/or inviting better options. Brandon Vazquez struggled to find the game again – something that can’t be helping – and Luciano Acosta didn’t do quite enough to steer him toward it. Call it a collective performance that didn’t fall as far as flat, but still lacked a little fizz. No one was really to blame for that, but there’s still one player I want flag.
With Obinna Nwobodo out gimpy, Marco Angulo stepped in. He started strong, even added a little something you don’t always see in Nwobodo’s game – e.g., line-breaking passes forward – but he also seemed more focused on the field ahead of him instead of the space behind him. Worse, instead of growing into the game, Angulo slipped slowly out of it with a succession of loose passes, none of them as sloppy as the one that almost handed Miami a penalty kick when he tried to make amends for his mistake by scything down Miami’s Rodolfo Pizarro. The ref took what felt like an hour to reverse his call (again, the official position of this site is that VAR isn’t remotely worth the fun it sucks out of every game it takes over), but he (or, rather, the remote guy) ultimately got to the right call...but that still poses the what if of what would have happened had Miami scored?
I’m guessing the game would still have ended in a draw, but, for all the very real success of their past five games, FC Cincinnati’s 3-0-2 run has come with either thin or non-existent margins – i.e., a couple draws and a trio of 1-0 wins. If there’s a concern about FC Cincinnati’s 2023 so far, it comes with the possibility that they’re only getting amped for the bigger opponents, but getting cocky when they play the kids who used to be their peers in the past.
And, now, the rest of it...
I’ve divided Week 6’s results into three categories that, gods willing, will hold to the end of 2023 (what can I say, except branding’s a bitch). Those are:
Games of Consequence – results I expected that still matter to the eternal, bloated playoff race
Games of Interest – results that surprise me, even a little, that also mean a little something
Eh...So What? – Expect heavy overlap with games I skipped
It’s the usual shpiel from here – I embed a link to The Mothership’s match center in every final score and note how much time I spent on an given game in brackets at the end of each match up; if I watched chunks of it, I list either the half or the specific minutes I watched; “Glance” means I watched the highlights and took a look at the box score; and I don’t think “Skipped” requires an explanation. With that, let's flesh out the loose thoughts from the top of the post.
Games of Consequence
Columbus Crew SC 4-0 Real Salt Lake [Glance]
Los Angeles Galaxy 1-2 Seattle Sounders [Glance]
FC Cincinnati 1-0 Inter Miami CF [See above]
St. Louis CITY FC 0-1 Minnesota United FC [Skipped]
Vancouver Whitecaps 5-0 Club de Foot Montreal [Glance]
Columbus’ perfect home record rests on a foundation of beating the league strugglers, but who can complain when they beat ‘em that well? Aidan Morris got a brace, but I’d point to his 2nd goal for anyone interested in how Columbus won this game. I feel compelled to add they won it more than honestly – the xG ended at 3.7 to 0.6 – but this had a lot to do with beating an RSL team that, in my book, has a real shout at league worst. A very terrible Montreal equipe may have something to say about that, especially after a game that saw part of the team give up – consciously or not – on multiple plays. It all went downhill after Rudy Camacho ate a red card at the 23rd minute, but it didn’t have to hit terminal velocity. To their credit, the ‘Caps lit it up through largely unknown players like Simon Becher (who dished a clean assist and bagged a pair of tidy center forward’s goals) and Ali Ahmed, who chipped in a goal and assist of his own. That said, and before anyone gets too excited, this was Vancouver’s first win of 2023. That’s on top of further evidence that Montreal...just kind of sucks. It’s as if they rushed out to get Hernan Losada without thinking it through....
As for the rest, of course Seattle beat the Galaxy, but I will note two things: 1) LA generated a lot of half-chances (28, eight on goal), but they only really made Stefan Frei work for two saves, and 2) the best way to explain this game is to compare/contrast Seattle’s first, uber-tidy goal to LA’s...attempted shot minutes earlier. Oh, and for anyone not paying attention, Jordan Morris has eight goals already and Leo Chu leads MLS with five assists. The funny thing, the Galaxy didn’t look awful, just worse...which matters to a fair number of teams in the West. Cincy v Miami got plenty of copy above, which leaves just Minnesota’s impressive road win against St. Louis. Personally, I call this more significant from the Loons’ side – who are playing a very credible season, by the way...and with all their wins on the road (huh.) – but, bluntly, Minnesota has bored the shit out of me for about a year (I miss the Kevin Molino days), so I couldn’t bring myself to even glance at what was one of MLS Week 6’s biggest results. Seriously, every space taken above the playoff line is one another Western Conference can’t fill. I can’t think of many other teams who have beat expectations like they have.
Games of Interest
Orlando City SC 0-2 Nashville SC [Minutes 18-35, 58-80]
New England Revolution 1-1 New York City FC [2nd Half]
Atlanta United FC 1-0 Red Bull New York [Glance]
FC Dallas 1-1 Portland Timbers [Full, somewhat happy match report]
San Jose Earthquakes 2-1 Houston Dynamo FC [1-15, 30-45+; 55-70]
Gods help me, I watched nearly every one of these. For me, the pick of the bunch when it comes to saying, “well, would you look at that,” goes to Nashville’s win over Orlando. First things first, MLS Week 5 saw people ask whether Orlando had shaken off the rust; MLS Week 6 had them asking, was that just playing Philly? The (Florida-based) Lions reverted to their long, unfortunate tradition of fussing over the ball instead of using it. In so many words, all Nashville had to do was score and what did Orlando do but hand them/Fafa Picault an assist with a poorly-set highline. Orlando has quality players – a couple of them league elite (e.g., Robin Jansson and Pedro Gallese) – but that ongoing...mushiness. They need something, it’s just hard to say what. Bottom line, I’d buy Nashville stock before Orlando’s for the foreseeable future.
After that, I’d call Atlanta’s win bigger in context – they have four wins already, at least two against teams they probably would have lost to in 2022 (e.g., v POR and RBNY) – but they created the better chances per the highlights and steered the Red Bulls to shots from range (Frankie Amaya) or silly angles (Cristian Casseres, Jr.). They have a lot of taking-care-of-business wins so far...unlike the Red Bulls, who still don’t appear to have fixed what ails them. Something similar applies to the Revs – who also have four wins, as well as one blowout loss (LAFC for the Revs, Columbus for Atlanta) – but something about the Revs feels more complete to me. When the gang’s all there, they’re balanced, basically, while I see Atlanta as a work in progress. Now, what’s that leave...?
As for San Jose and Houston, what can I say except that I’ve developed a slight obsession about both teams. Something tells me these are the teams Portland will be duking it out with this year – and everything that means, e.g., they’ll be fighting at the middle of the ladder, not the top rungs. Worse, I think both these teams have decent systems and reasonable talent – e.g., Cristian Espinoza, Jeremy Ebobisse, plus a decent supporting cast and that chip-on-the-shoulder eagerness that comes with feeling a little less-than and passed-by for San Jose and, for Houston, a better overall set-up in 2023. I’m not sure how “there” either team really is at this point, but 1) San Jose looked good for the win, while Houston mostly held on (and punched back), and 2) I don’t Portland as a better team than either of them right now. As for Dallas, my overarching thought is that it’s games and/or results like this that keep folks from rating ‘em.
The point is, all these are middling teams, even the ones with history (NYCFC) and aspirations (New England). Maybe one or two of them breaks out – and that would be its own story – but I expect to see them brawling in the mezzanine through the end of the season.
Eh...So What?
Philadelphia Union 0-0 Sporting Kansas City [Fuck me, I’ll have to sit through this bullshit later]
Colorado Rapids 0-0 Los Angeles FC [Skipped]
Chicago Fire FC 0-0 DC United [Skipped]
Toronto FC 2-2 Charlotte FC [Skipped]
Briefly, Philly struggling officially stopped being interesting this week, call me if/when they recover and, my god, SKC. Next, good for you, Colorado! And I don’t think anyone cares when Chicago ties DC or Toronto draws Charlotte; with the exception of Toronto, who has just a nose over, all those teams are under the playoff line and don’t have great prospects on top of it.
And that’s a wrap. This does, in fact, take less time, so I’m hoping to get in a little more game time next week. Fingers crossed...and eyes blurred.
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