So no posts for a little while, im changing jobs and moving to Portland Oregon, and will pick up this blog again when I get a connect again out on the west coast. I’m excited for the move, and looking forward to going to Timbers games and adding USL-1 coverage to this blog.
Home teams listed first
Toronto vs Columbus
By this time in the MLS season it’s becoming apparent who has a chance at being competitive for the title and who needs to start adding a little more urgency to their performances. A year ago one might have thought the roles of these two sides would have been exactly opposite of what they now are. Toronto, doormats in the East for the last two seasons,now lead the dividion, and Columbus, last year’s Supporters Sheild and MLS Cup winners, find themselves propping up the East table. For Columbus, it’s rapidly approaching put up or shut up time, and this trip away to what has recently become a very difficult place to play is not what the doctor ordered. Toronto is flying, thanks largely to Chris Cummins’ 4-3-3 installed after John Carver bolted a week ago now. Toronto has won two on the spin, both at home, under Cummins, and look very sharp both in defense and in the attack, with Adrien Serioux staking some serious claim to defender of the year and Amado Guevara obviously settling in north of the border. The return of hero Danny Dichio to the starting 11 has also proved a spark, as has moving rookie Steve Cronin to the wing. Toronto’s now a tough, agressive, posession oriented team that really doesn’t much resemble the dour punt and foul sides John Carver fielded. The English might not like hearing it but in Toronto anyway, John Carver just wasn’t a very good manager. For Columbus, they just simply need to put it together for 90 minutes. For 85 minutes vs Chicago last week, they looked like the same side that swept all challengers aside a year ago, with incisive, creative play from Schelotto and Moreno and solid defending from Chad Marshall and crew, only to collapse at the gasp to two late goals. If Columbus brings that same sort of intensity and quality this week for the full 90, they should have enough to beat Toronto; much will depend on whether or not Frankie Hedjuk is finally ready to come back to the lineup; he is listed as questionable and has not played since week 1. His energy and leadership are invaluable. My prediction: Columbus wins.
Home teams listed first
Wednesday April 22
Toronto 1, Chivas 0, my prediction Chivas win
After being fined by the league for criticizing the refereeing and taking a swipe at Toronto’s front office for “not backing him up” (though its unclear how they should have done that), under performing and under fire Toronto manager John Carver took a seat in the stands for this one, turning over the reigns to assistant Chris Cummins, and a few days later resigning his post altogether. For Chivas, Cummins fielded an (essentially) 4-3-3 and immediately found success with a frontline of Pablo Vitti, Chad Barrett and Danny Dichio giving TFC a punch thay’ve not shown much all season long. It was Dichio who (from what looked to me to be an offside position, but hey I’m just a peasant) fed Amado Guevara for the game’s lone goal, and a standout performance from Toronto’s D, led by Adrien Serioux, effectively shut down the league’s best team. Frankly Toronto under Carver has not been a particularly good side, and they seemed set free by Chris Cummins and the attacking mindset, which seemed to take Manager Preki and his Chivas charges off guard, itself a major achievement as Chivas is usually one of the most organized and prepared sides in the league. Chivas seemed unusually punchless in this match, part due to Toronto, but Alexko Eskandarian is, in my opinion, just not very good and Eduardo Lillingston as well seemed to have an off game, leaving Chivas with very little attacking options as they were still without first choice forwards Maykel Gallindo and Ante Razov, and last year’s sparkplug midfielder Sacha Kljestan has not had a good season so far. It’s the first chink in the armor for Chivas, though they are still solidly atop the Supporter’s Shield standings.
Defending US Open Cup champions DC United defeated FC Dallas 2-0 in a play-in match Wednesday night, on goals from Fred and Brandon Barklage, qualifying United for the second play-in round against either San Jose or New York, the winner of that game earning a spot in the Open Cup proper. Click here for more US Open cup info, many will diss this torunament but I love it, it’s our FA Cup and tradition is important.
Tags: US Open Cup
WED: Chivas at Toronto
On the surface, this game is no contest. Chivas is the best team in MLS and Toronto has, outside of a strong week 1 victory over Kansas City, been perhaps the worst. Equally troubling for Toronto is the fact that their home form has been worse than their road form, and Dwayne DeRosario, their one true creative force, will miss out with a hamsring injury, reducing the Toronto attack to Danny Dichio, Pablo Vitti and Chad Barrett, who between them have just 2 goals this season. Chivas is still missing a host of first line players like Ante Razov, Justin Braun, and Claudio Suarez, to name just a few, but this is nothing new and the “other” side from LA has fielded a raft of excellent new signings such as Gerson Mayen, Chukwudi Chijindu, Bojan Stepanovic and Eduardo Lillingston to go with grizzled vets Jesse Marsch, Carey Talley and Zach Thornton and has fairly rolled through the first 5 weeks of the season. Non one gets more out of his roster than Preki. Toronto has fielded some impressive rookies in Steve Cronin and keeper Stephan Frei, and veteran midfield presence Amado Guevara has had a good season thus far. But I don’t think Toronto will pose enough of a challenge for the Goats in this contest. Chivas wins.
Tags: MLS
Home Teams listed first
Dallas 3, Toronto 2, my prediction: Dallas win
Well they made it interesting but FC Dallas is finally off the schnide for the 2009 season, and none too soon. Two Kenny Cooper goals sandwiched around a Drew Moor goal were enough to see Dallas past struggling Toronto in front of yet another sparse crowd in Dallas. Toronto staged a strong comeback from 2-0 down only to see a Marvell Wynne handball in the penalty area set up Kenny Cooper’s second goal with just 6 minutes left. Toronto will certainly feel pretty down about the result; they missed at least 3 good scoring chances in the first half that would have put the game out of reach. In a week filled with late equalizers, Dallas nearly joined the club after allowing two soft goals by Adrian Serioux and Chad Barrett to allow the Reds back into the game. This was not an attractive game to watch. Dallas seemed to lack shape and discipline for most of the match, where Toronto seemed content to do two things: foul incessantly (TFC committed 19 fouls for the game), and pump long balls into the penalty area in hopes of getting a lucky bounce. All credit goes to the big guns of Dallas; with less than 10 minutes to go David Ferriera, Kenny Cooper, Dave Van Den Bergh and Pablo Richetti seemed to will a result out of nothing, combining on a nifty counter attack that led to Wynne’s handball. Dallas won’t much care how pretty the game was, the result was desperately needed. Toronto, well, they seem to be settling into the same medicore punchless side they’ve been for the last 2 years, even after all those new faces. Dwayne DeRosario, who was questionable coming in, tweaked his hamstring late in the game, adding insult to injury and perhaps leaving an already punchless, blue collar side without one of it’s few creative forces…though Chad Barrett did score a fine goal, albeit off a Dallas defensive miscue, perhaps showing a silver lining for one of the guys Toronto absolutely needs more from.
Tags: MLS
New England at DC United
Well rested New England should have Steve Ralston and Chris Albright back to 100%, though Matt Reis and rookie sensation Kevin Alston will probably miss out again through injury. Brad Knighton has been terrific in goal for the Revs in Reis’ absense, while rookie Darius Barnes and solid veteran Jay Heaps have been having good seasons in defense so the missing players should not pose a significant problem. Midfielder Jeff Larentowitz will also miss out through injury, meaning the Revs may revert to the 4-4-2 they started the season with, using Shalrie Joseph as a D Mid behind Steve Ralston, keeping Wells Thompson and Sanni Nyassi on the wings, and Kheli Dube and Kenny Mansally up top. Larentowitz’s absense may mean Michael Vidiera sees his first minutes of the new season. For DC, MLS all time leading scorer Jamie Moreno will be back after suspension and Ben Olsen should be back after being rested for a match, otherwise the lineup should essentially be unchanged from their dissapointing 2-1 loss to Salt Lake last week. As for the match, much will depend on the form of DC’s Christian Gomez, who, after returning to the United fold after a year in exile in Colorado, has yet to show the form he had in leading DC United to the Supporters’ Sheild a couple of years ago. Having Ben Olsen in the midfield to take some of the defensive duties from his shoulders should help. Luciano Emilio looks to be back to golden boot challenging form after an off year last year, and Fred should be back to near full fitness. If the rookies Pontius and Wallace bounce back from sub par performandces last week, and Gomez has a solid outing, DC United has a shot at the 3 points here. But New England just always seems to find a way, and with the heart-and-soul Steve Ralston back in the lineup I think they’re not about to lose to one of their stiffest rivals. Prediction: draw.
Tags: MLS
(Home teams listed first)
Toronto 1, Dallas 1; my prediction, Dallas win
Well Dallas didn’t quite pull off a victory as I thought they might but they did play their best game of the season to eke out a road point in Toronto, not an easy task. Pablo Ricchetti is one of those players who goes about his business quietly and without being widely lauded, but his midfield presence in this game along with his 87th minute goal were enough to help Dallas to their first point of the season. Under fire Toronto head man John Carver had inexplicibly dropped Pablo Vitti (I thought him the most dangerous player for Toronto last week vs Seattle, though that bar was not set high by his teammates), as well as (more understandably) the innefective hack Rohan Ricketts for rookie Steve Cronin and Fuad Ibrahim up top aside increasingly innefective Chad Barrett, who is starting to look like the inconsistent Chad Barrett that Chicago dropped a couple of years ago to make way for Brian McBride. The changes didn’t slow a rampaging Dallas side that outshot Toronto 19-10 and largely controlled posession throughout. Only Dallas’ inability to get solid shots on goal stopped the contest from getting out of hand for the men in red and they have to consider themselves lucky to have kept a point from another dismal home performance.
Tags: MLS
Week 4 in MLS featues the first “Super Classico” of the season between LA Galaxy and Chivas, and presumably former US International Gregg Berhalter’s debut in the league. It also sees Columbus and Houston looking for their first wins, and New York looking for their first goal scored by someone on their own roster.
Tags: MLS
MLS Cup/Supporters Shield Standings Week 3
| TEAM | GP | PTS | GD |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chivas (1W) | 5 | 13 | +6 |
| Seattle (2W) | 5 | 9 | +4 |
| Chicago (1E) | 5 | 9 | +3 |
| New England (2E) | 4 | 8 | +2 |
| Kansas City | 5 | 7 | +1 |
| Colorado | 5 | 7 | 0 |
| DC United | 5 | 6 | 0 |
| Salt Lake | 5 | 6 | 0 |
| Houston | 5 | 5 | -1 |
| Toronto | 5 | 5 | -1 |
| New York | 5 | 5 | -2 |
| San Jose | 5 | 5 | -2 |
| Dallas | 5 | 4 | -2 |
| Los Angeles | 4 | 3 | -1 |
| Columbus | 5 | 3 | -4 |
Tags: Home
