MLS Week in Review – Round 15 - 24th Minute

The fifteenth round of MLS wrapped up on night Saturday with a pair of high-profile Western Conference matches. Though a truncated fixture list with World Cup Qualifiers strewn about - a lone midweek fixture and four on Saturday – the league provided more than enough entertainment for the average fan.

Sixteen goals, including a stunning free-kick and one from the spot, were scored through the five matches leading to no away wins and a pair of draws. Fourteen yellow cards were shown with zero reds – despite a debutant referee in New England (who did quite well).

Off the field the shock parting of ways between San Jose and long-time coach Frank Yallop, by mutual agreement, as though there was any other way to frame it, mere months removed from winning the Supporter’s Shield, shocked both onlookers and players alike, prompting many to wonder if there was something deeper in play.

Though still very early in the season, table watching provides some interesting viewing. Dallas’ once seemingly insurmountable lead in the West has slow evaporated with Salt Lake drawing within a single point – with two more games played. Seattle, once banished to the foot of the conference, has battled their way into fourth place.

New England missed a chance to nip Philadelphia for the fifth spot in the East, while DC drew within two of Toronto at the bottom, to set up a basement battle this upcoming weekend.

Before the results, the goal of the round.[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]

Though few, comparatively speaking, there were some gems: Daniel Paladini’s free-kick in Chicago, after talking red-hot Mike Magee off the attempt with the declaration that it was “from my spot”, was devastating; Salt Lake’s impressive young Colombian, Olmes Garcia, contributed a pair of well-taken finishes to win and then wrap up a victory over rivals Los Angeles; Vancouver’s Camilo evidenced his strong aerial ability with a pair of headers in a losing effort against Seattle, while Lamar Neagle’s late winner after some fine passing made sure that Servando Carrasco’s confidently taken penalty kick counted in the end.

But the award goes to Diego Valeri’s thumping effort to open the scoring in Chicago.

Much has been made of Portland’s high-pressing, multi-passing system under the tutelage of Caleb Porter, but good teams show flexibility in attack; the ability to take advantage of the opportunities the opponent allows.

Milos Kocic, much-loved former Toronto keeper, got the start in place Donovan Ricketts - on international duty with Jamaica. While with TFC, his distribution was questionable, but he began the play with a long and accurate boot up-field.

Frederic Piquionne, who has quietly – if a four-goal outburst in the Open Cup can be considered quiet - made himself a very useful squad member, won the header and flicked it forward towards Valeri.

With two defenders in front of him and three tracking back, it appeared as though the chance of doing damage was minimal, but Valeri is not one to be daunted by odds. He cleverly cut back onto his right-foot and hesitated just enough to open up a possible trajectory to goal.

His snapped effort, between the twin towers of Bakary Soumare and Jalil Anibaba, left Sean Johnson no chance as it struck the inside of the left-post and spun into the Chicago goal.

Inch-perfect.

Results in Brief

Philadelphia 3 – Columbus 0

Wednesday night’s lone match pitted the Union against a depleted Crew and only one side really bothered to show up. Three goals in a six-minute span midway through the first half was all that Philadelphia required en route to a thumping of their Eastern Conference foes.

Defensive midfielder, Brian Carroll, in his eleventh season, has recently been on a scoring tear – after scoring only six through his first decade in the league.

He netted the late winner against Ocean City in the cup last round and followed that up with the opener. After intercepting a Marcos Sanchez pass in midfield, he cut onto his right-foot and lashed a hopeful attempt from nearly 40 yards. Crew centre-back Eric Gehrig attempted to block the shot, but succeeded only in redirecting it and handcuffing Andy Gruenebaum in goal, who could only watch, flat-footed, as the ball rolled past him to his left.

Carroll then turned provider, flicking a right-sided out-swinging Sebastien Le Toux corner kick from the near-post to Sheanon Williams for an acrobatic scissor-esque side-volley at the back-post.

Conor Casey then got on the end of another dangerous Le Toux service, after pressure from Jack McInerney and Le Toux had forced a turnover by the Columbus defense, with a near-post header from a right-sided cross.

League-leading scorer McInerney was held off the score-sheet, despite several chances to add to his tally, but Le Toux, remaking himself into quite the provider, has taken over the top spot in assists, surpassing Graham Zusi with his fifth and sixth helpers of the season.

John Hackworth, who praised his side’s work in a woeful performance against Toronto, will feel vindicated with the strong display – and full points - at home. Columbus’ Robert Warzycha, in the midst of an injury crisis without leaders Chad Marshall and Eddie Gaven, will take a hold hard look at this side, mentioning that changes may be in the offing.

New England 0 – DC 0

When the hottest offense in the league meets the league’s most woeful defense, surely there will be goals – or so one may have thought.

The Revolution entered on a three-game winning streak – four if one counts the cup - having outscored the opposition nine-nil (14-1 with the cup victory included).

But DC, who has a penchant for conceding early, weathered that first-half pressure and even mustered a few chances of their own, in a hard-fought score-less draw.

United keeper Bill Hamid was called upon to make several key saves and Perry Kitchen missed a glorious headed chance in the final stages, but coach, Ben Olsen, will be proud of the fight his side displayed in a tricky away match against a club brimming with confidence.

Though mired in a club record twelve-match winless run, DC has taken points from two of their last four matches in MLS; shoots of green emerging from the dung of their season perhaps.

Rev’s boss, Jay Heaps, took time to credit his opponent for a hard-fought game – the margins between success and failure in MLS can be razor thin, as Heaps well-knows, given his experience last season where New England regularly fell to single-goal losses.

This season, however, they have eliminated those mistakes – nine clean-sheets – and carry a near-four hundred minute shut-out streak into their next league fixture.

Chicago 2 – Portland 2

Portland returned from a bye week and started brightly, striking the woodwork three times in the first four minutes of the match, including two within seconds of each other in the opening moments of play.

They would have to wait until Valeri’s screamer in the 33rd minute to reap the advantages of their free-flowing attack. That pairing of Valeri and Piquionne proved fruitful once more when the former played the latter down the right and the French striker was allowed to turn back inside and lay off to a late-arriving Ben Zemanski for a low right-footed blast from above the arc.

Portland, who usually concede first – they have allowed nine of their fourteen goals against in the opening half hour – only to storm back, saw the opposite occur this night.

Mike Magee capitalized on a dreadful mistake from Timbers keeper, Kocic, who fumbled the ball as he slid out to corral a threaded Alex ball to the recently-acquired striker, who duly finished when the bumble fell perfectly at his feet with an open goal ahead.

The Fire then won a late free-kick slightly left of centre and a yard or two above the box. Magee looked set to take, but Paladini talked him off and hit an early right-footed curler that caught Kocic flat-footed, still organizing his wall, and nestled sweetly into the top left corner of the goal to tie the match at twos.

Porter’s Portland extend their unbeaten run to twelve matches, while learning an important lesson about not letting up despite a two-goal advantage – it is the most dangerous score-line after all – but they will be disappointed with a seventh draw through that run that has limited their ability to collect points and take advantage of their good form.

Frank Klopas’ side, with the additions of Magee – three goals through his first three appearances, all competitions – and Bakary Soumare, look a different prospect as they slowly claw their way back into the playoff picture in the East.

Salt Lake 3 – Los Angeles 1

A rematch of the 2009 MLS Cup Final, a match that began one of the more enduring non-regional rivalries in the league, provided some fireworks as the first of a pair of headline Western Conference tilts to round out Saturday evening.

Khari Stephenson, after striking the post from a free-kick earlier, opened the scoring in the 44th minute with a low right-footed drive that snuck past young Galaxy keeper, Brian Rowe, in for the maligned Carlo Cudicini, at the left-post after Robbie Findley had played in from the left.

Rowe could be forgiven, as Stephenson took his chance quickly and it found its way through the legs of Javier Morales, leaving the keeper little time to react once he finally saw it.

Landon Donovan leveled humourously two minutes later. In first-half stoppage-time, a long ball from left-back Greg Cochrane sailed over Nat Borchers, Donovan’s header, placed back into the surging midfield, struck Borchers and fell nicely to the still finding his feet attacker, who duly lashed a right-footer low across Nick Rimando to the left-side of the goal – it was his third since returning from sabbatical.

Level at half-time, second-half substitute, Olmes Garcia, who replaced Findley after an hour, proved decisive late on. In the 84th he got on the end of a Morales clipped ball into the middle with a header, of sorts - Kyle Beckerman collected the ball and broke to the left, laying off to Morales, Garcia went up for the ball, but appeared to make contact more with his back than head, helping it on to the far-side of the goal for what proved to be the winner.

Garcia then added some insurance in the 92nd after Devon Sandoval settled a ball on the left, played in-field to Morales who slipped the Colombian in alone down the right – he slotted his finish tidily through the legs of the keeper.

Bruce Arena’s LA, who have crisscrossed the continent in recent weeks, have lost six of their last eight matches and have now conceded eleven goals after the 76-minute mark, surpassing Toronto for most late-allowances.

Jason Kreis’ Salt Lake, heading in the complete opposite direction, continue their strong run, unbeaten in four, having won five of their last seven.

Seattle 3 – Vancouver 2

A Cascadia Cup match rounded out the fixture list, with Seattle welcoming Vancouver to a fully-open CenturyLink Field, complete with overlaid grass above their standard turf – in preparation for an upcoming national team match.

54 000 + were in attendance to witness an entertaining back-and-forth affair, with the sides exchanging leads before a decisive injury and a young man’s mistake opened the door for a comeback.

Seattle’s Andy Rose began the scoring in the ninth minute, slipping into a pocket of space down the right vacated by the up-field press of Johnny Leveron, where he was found by Lamar Neagle for a right-footed finish across the keeper.

Camilo responded within a minute, after some great play on the right by Russell Teibert and YP Lee. The left-back played a ball towards the end-line, where Teibert just reached it in time to fling a cross to the back-post for the Brazilian to win in the air, heading down and back against the grain into the right-side of goal.

Teibert played provider again sixteen minutes on, from a set-piece this time, sending a deep free-kick towards the left-post area, where Camilo expertly hurled himself to the ground to get on the end of it, directing his header once more past the keeper to the right.

Stalwart centre-back, Andy O’Brien, pulled up lame on a tackle shortly after the hour mark, prompting the inclusion of young full-back, Greg Klazura. Soon after Klazura misread the flight of a ball, allowing Neagle goal-side and rashly lunged into the attacker to concede the game-tying attempt from the spot – Servando Carrasco converted it well.

The Sounders ratcheted up the pressure and the Whitecaps broke in the final ten minutes of regulation. Carrasco, after good spell of possession, threaded a ball down the right, which Obafemi Martins let run across him before breezing past Leveron towards the goal-line. The ageless Nigerian squared a low goal-mouth cross that was turned in by the in-form Neagle – his fourth goal in the last eight matches.

Sigi Schmid’s red-hot Sounders, despite an embarrassing loss in Los Angeles and falling out of the Open Cup at the first time of asking, are surging, having won six of their last eight matches. Martin Rennie’s Vancouver could not back up their first road win of the season with another and remain winless all-time in Cascadia Cup matches.

CanCon

As usual the extended look at the Canadian contributions will be up tomorrow (Tuesday) midday – despite the limited action there is plenty to discuss, Russell Teibert’s pair of assists, Kyle Porter continuing to show well in DC – with Dwayne De Rosario back on the bench – and a more advanced Will Johnson for Portland.

Overheard

In his post-match interview Jason Kreis made a joke, strange given how monotone he often is in those things. General Manager, Garth Lagerway, made some comments about having not played the best opposition yet this season and when asked about those statements, Kreis had a laugh at his friend’s expense, saying that sort of wrong is what one gets when they talk to Garth.

Yallop’s dismissal came as a shock to most, including Chris Wondolowski, who spoke for the group in describing himself as speechless and gutted. Strange days; first El Chelis, then Frank, who is next?

See It Live

Conor Casey’s displayed a little plumber’s butt after scoring his goal and sliding towards goal – sorry, had to be pointed out, while McInerney, the golden boy of American soccer, missed three glorious chances – tough to tell which was more shocking.

A minor case of folks in the video truck getting ahead of themselves, when they tried to use the fancy zoomed insert technology to show some eye contact between the free-kick taker, Teibert and the recipient, Camilo, only to mistake Leveron for the Brazilian and track a run that never came. Oops.

Upcoming Fixtures

Tuesday sees another round of World Cup Qualification with Mexico hosting Costa Rica, Honduras Jamaica, and the US Panama.

Wednesday provides the eight matches of the Fourth Round of the US Open Cup including some especially juicy ones: a Texas Derby with Dallas hosting Houston, New England welcoming New York, Chicago and Columbus are not the best of friends, while DC entertain Philadelphia for the third straight season in the cup – these ones get pretty feisty.

Another shortened schedule next weekend, however:

Saturday: Portland-Dallas; DC-Toronto; Columbus-Montreal; Colorado-San Jose; Vancouver-New England.

But fret not, Round 17 the following week will more than make up for it with four midweek games and eight on the weekend.

Parting Thoughts

A few questions to ponder and discuss:

Is McInerney due a slump with all those misses? What is up with the Yallop sacking – did anyone see that coming?

The coaching carousel has begun in earnest, though never as bad here as elsewhere, which underperforming coach is next for the axe?

DC and Toronto meet at RFK in a battle for the basement – seems as though Toronto is involved in one or two of these each season – who takes the upper hand in avoiding the wooden spoon.

Will Portland rue all these dropped points come season’s end? Any surprise at Seattle and Salt Lake showing their class? And what of LA, are they only as good as their high-profile stars, two of which – Robbie Keane and Omar Gonzalez – were away on international duty?

With Seattle and Los Angeles out, who looks destined for the US Open Cup final? Can Kansas City repeat? Four lower level sides remain – Orlando City, Charleston, Carolina, and Tampa Bay – does any persevere to the Quarterfinals? Carolina host Chivas, while the others are away to KC, Salt Lake, and Portland respectively.

And what of World Cup Qualifying in CONCACAF, is Jamaica out after that last-minute loss? It is a jumbled mess at the moment, with three teams – Costa Rica, the US, and Mexico - on seven points, Panama on six, and Honduras on four – who earns entry to the Finals? And does CONCACAF deserve it’s three-and-a-half spots?

Until next weekend.

Each week James takes a look at the league as a whole.

You can follow James on twitter @grawsee or read more of his writing at Partially Obstructed View

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MLS Week in Review – Round 15

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