• After 9 defeats, "Worst team in the world" win at last
• You can have any score you like, as long as it's 3-2
• Crew take efficiency in front of goal to extremes
• The Galaxy drop two leads in four days
• Another late show from Real Salt Lake, as Dallas lose again
The "worst team in the world" wins a game
The comments on last week's five things were kicked off by a link from one limeyfletch who posted a heartbreaking clip of Danny Koevermans being interviewed in the wake of Toronto FC's 9th consecutive defeat - looking near tears as he described the phenomenon of playing for the "worst team in the world."
This week, the "worst team in the world" not only avoided a record-equalling 10th consecutive defeat, but actually won, courtesy of a goal by one Danny Koevermans, as the game entered its final minutes and Toronto fans were daring to dream heady dreams of their first point. Instead, as Canadian nerves frayed in the 88th minute, Koevermans bundled home an awkward, point-blank goal that was treated with the ticker-tape enthusiasm of a 40 yard cup-winning golazo, by the success-starved Toronto fans, who suddenly found themselves wishing away a few minutes of injury time to take all 3 points.
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Actually success-starved is not strictly accurate - Toronto won the Canadian Cup this week, against a stunned Vancouver side who must have looked at the teams' relative fortunes beforehand and thought they were a shoe-in for the cup and the Champions League spot that comes with it.
Toronto's decent cup form has been something of a mystery this season (they made an unlikely run to the CCL semi-finals as well), though those last ten minutes against Philadelphia gave something of a clue. It had been a dire game that most sides would have been happy to consign to the archives - but as it drifted towards its conclusion the feeling was that Toronto were feeling the pressure of the 9 games that preceded this one in league play and half-expecting disaster to strike. Paradoxically, even with more nominally at stake, the one-off nature of cup games has been liberating for them, without the weight of cumulative negative expectation dogging them. Making Koevermans' goal all the sweeter for their fans.
Their opponents yesterday earned the unwanted record of giving Toronto their first league points this season, to put the pressure back on Peter Nowak - this year's All Star Game coach, who now manages a side where he has shipped most of his stars out. On that note, I caught up with his former captain Danny Califf on Wednesday night, playing for his new team Chivas USA. Speaking to a couple of journalists he at first laughed and said he was going nowhere near the question of what had gone wrong with the Union this season, before pointing out that the turnover of players from season to season wasn't helping team chemistry or camaraderie. Asked if in his case this had anything to do with his relationship with the abrasive Nowak, Califf laughed again, before saying wryly "C'mon...We were regular homies..." (before discreetly opting to "leave it right there"). Behind the smiles Califf was clearly hurt by the sudden end of his tenure with a club he felt a deep affinity for. Without him (and LeToux; and Mondragon...) the side Peter Nowak has retained are looking worryingly anonymous. Though for one day at least they are unwilling stars in the game no-one in the league wanted to be part of - the game where Toronto got their first points...GP
Scoring first doesn't stop the Galaxy's woes
A few weeks ago I spoke to Landon Donovan as he described the need for the Galaxy to start scoring first in games to address their alarming slide this season - while a few minutes later David Beckham spoke of the opposition getting too many chances in the opening minutes of games. The good news for the Galaxy is that they have raced out to take early leads in their past two games. The even better news is that they are finding goals from less celebrated sources than usual: Hector Jimenez and Mike Magee found the net against San Jose on Wednesday night, while Edson Buddle, who has struggled to establish a partnership with Robbie Keane, raced clear to open the scoring in Houston, with the Irishman starting his Euro absence.
The good news ends there. After opening the scoring against San Jose at the 3 minute mark, Jimenez had a rush of blood to the head on the hour and was sent off for a studs up challenge on Steven Beitashour. Even at that point, the Galaxy still looked good value for a much-needed win, when David Beckham found Magee in the 73rd minute, and the striker shrugged off two challenges to slot home. But San Jose would score three goals in the last quarter of an hour, including yet another last minute Alan Gordon goal (his third in consecutive games) to win the game and deal a body blow to a team they love to hate.
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Exit the strangely underwhelming (unmotivated?) Donovan to international duty (where he promptly turned into a worldbeater again), leaving Beckham as the only Galaxy DP on duty - at least till the British Olympic team come calling. The Englishman seemed undistracted by losing his highest earning MLS player status to Thierry Henry on Friday, and with ten minutes on the clock he was punching the air in determination as Edson Buddle raced free to finish a great counter-attacking move.
Yet again though, the Galaxy could not hold the lead. Houston found acres of space in the remainder of the first half, and their height was a consistent problem for the Galaxy's makeshift defense - with Bryan Gaul struggling to contain Ching and Bruin in only his third start. The LA central defender was lucky not to be sent off after accumulating a few bookable incidents (eventually being subbed off on a yellow card). That was as good as LA's luck got though - Ching's shot off the bar rebounded off Magee for an equalizing own goal in the 38th minute, then in the 57th minute Andrew Hainault glanced a great near post header off Brad Davis's inswinging corner, to confirm the win and give a perfect illustration of Houston's aerial domination in the box.
Beckham had some chances, working the keeper with a free kick minutes before Hainault's goal, but the Galaxy wilted with the Texan heat (in fairness a lunchtime kick off in 90 degree heat is just wrong, and Beckham was right to point it out, however provocatively he phrased it) and effort of playing two games in four days. They now face an unwelcome trip cross country to face a lively Carolina Railhawks squad in the US Open Cup on Tuesday. Before the season started, the idea that a game against lower league opposition would represent the MLS champion's best chance to get a win right now, would have seemed far-fetched. But as it is, LA can only be hopeful that they can once again get a lead, and this time, somehow, keep it. GP
Salt Lake seal it late…again
Last week we spoke about San Jose being the "comeback kings" however this week, Real Salt Lake put up a good case to dethrone the Californian outfit.
For the third time this season RSL struck in injury time to seal another dramatic late win, this time FC Dallas were the unlucky victims of the increasingly prominent late sucker punch from Salt Lake. Injury-time winners against Portland and Toronto earlier in the campaign also sealed 3-2 wins (more on that increasingly popular score line later).
Nat Borchers emerged as the hero for RSL, after he curled home the winning goal in the 93rd minute to seal a topsy-turvy clash. Borchers strike also condemned FC Dallas to their second straight loss and stretched their winless streak to eight games.
The game was chugging along nicely at Rio Tinto without threatening to bubble over into a classic. It took nearly an hour to spark into life and when that happened, the goals started flying in. First Alvaro Saborio headed home the opener, then rookie Matt Hedges equalized in the 75th minute. But the Dallas defender turned from hero to villain within the space of 60 seconds as Saborio's scuffed shot deflected off Hedges and past Hartman in the Dallas net.
But with just five minutes left FC Dallas looked to have snatched a point when Blas Perez hit his shot right at stand in keeper Kyle Reynish, only for the 'keeper to inexplicably let the ball brush off his hands and into the back of the net.
Yet there was one more twist to come in the tale as stand in captain Nat Borchers (regular skipper Kyle Beckerman was away on international duty in the USA's 5-1 rout of Scotland), sealed a dramatic late win as RSL's "Believe" chant echoed around the raucous Rio Tinto for the third and final time on Saturday evening.
The win lifts RSL two points clear of second-placed San Jose in the West, while Dallas are left scratching their heads as they fell 3-2 after yet another rousing comeback from Real. JPW
3-2 wins galore
Talking about 3-2 score lines, they were flying around like Frisbee's on a Memorial Day beach this weekend in MLS (there were a lot of them…) As well as RSL's late victory, D.C. United and Colorado both won home ties by that score, against New England and Montreal respectively.
United continue their good form, winning their third straight - and now sit top of the East. Maicon Santos scored the winning goal against the Revs after missing D.C.'s last two wins.
D.C. again showed the immense strength of their squad, with Nick DeLeon, Chris Pontius and Santos also coming back into the team. New England put up a fight but once again sloppy defensive play was their downfall.
Head Coach Jay Heaps has become extremely frustrated with the Revs
leaky defense:
It was a 0-2 start that we shouldn't have even put ourselves in.
Unfortunately, we were a little loose on a foul that caused the first set piece, but it was a great header from [Brandon] McDonald. The second one to me is unforgivable, quite frankly. It was a textbook [example] of what you don't want to give up: [a goal less than] five minutes before half. It wasn't even on a direct free kick. It bounced and kicked around in the box. That, to me, was a play we need to be better on.
While in Colorado, the Rapids were down to 10-men but still prospered as Jaime Castrillon headed in after a bizarre incident where the rolled across the top of the crossbar before the Colombian capitalized. Montreal lost for the second-straight game, despite being up a man in both encounters for a combined 61 minutes over the two games.
The Rapids are fast becoming Mr. Inconsistent of MLS, as their record of 6-6-1 leaves their fans guessing which Colorado team will show up one week after the next. On Saturday it was the gritty, determined side that got the job done, as the free-flowing, possession-centric soccer the Rapids have employed in 2012 had no part of this battling display.
The Impact took an early lead through Patrice Bernier but that was quickly cancelled out by Jeff Larentowicz's effort. Drew Moor powered home a header just before the break to give the Rapids the lead but the No. 1 first-round draft pick Andrew Wenger struck to tie the game at 2-2.
Tyrone Marshall was given his marching orders in the 61st minute but despite wave after wave of Montreal attack, Colorado struck seven minutes from time to seal the third 3-2 score line out of eight MLS games played on Saturday. JPW
Columbus on a roll
The Columbus Crew aren't always the prettiest side to watch; but they're certainly getting the job done of late.
Clinical would be a good way to sum up the Ohio side - When Eddie Gaven drilled home a low shot to the near post for the opening goal in Saturday's 2-1 win over Chicago, a startling statistic arose...
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That goal meant that the Crew's last four shots on target, over a three game span, had all resulted in goals. In their 2-0 away win over Seattle they recorded just two strikes on target and in the 1-1 tie with San Jose, Justin Meram's curler was their only effort on goal. Only four teams have had less shots than Columbus' 147 attempts this season.
Even though you have to applaud Columbus' ability to finish when chances have come by in recent games, you also have to wonder why they aren't creating a shed load of chances. In truth they have the players with attacking instincts, as Bernardo Anor, Gaven, Dilly Duka, Meram and Emilio Renteria are all capable of turning on the magic in the final third, when given the chance. Yet the Crew's staunch "defend first, attack later" mentality has taken over in 2012 with varying degrees of success.
They have only lost by more than one goal twice this season (on the opening day to Colorado 2-0 and a blowout loss to New York 4-1) and they're now solidifying themselves in the Eastern standings after going five games unbeaten.
With a huge turnover of young untried players and a sprinkling of experience in Renteria, Gaven, Chad Marshall and Andy Gruenebaum, Columbus have taken a while to get going. With some youngsters impressing but failing to help the canary yellows get results early on, more experienced pros have stepped in to help steady the ship as Robert Warzycha's side have kicked on.
One such player is Chris Birchall, who subbed in to make his first appearance for Columbus, after being without a club since leaving LA where he won the MLS Cup in 2011. His MLS experience will be invaluable to help keep the midfield ticking over for the remainder of the campaign. Offensively, striker Meram is on a streak, scoring three times in his last three games - although he did not feature at all on Saturday.
All that said, it seems defense will be the best form of attack for the self dubbed "America's hardest working team" this season. Columbus will continue to soak up pressure, then scamper forward to harass teams, before striking with lethal blows, as they've done masterfully in their last three outings. JPW
Your thoughts
You've read Graham and Joe's opinions, now let's hear your take on the weekend's action, including the USA's 5-1 victory over Scotland and yesterday afternoon's game between Sporting KC and San Jose.
Also let us know about your team's prospects for the US Open Cup 3rd round on Tuesday night. We'll have a report on the cup and those games on Wednesday, as well as live coverage of USA v Brazil and USA v Canada next Sunday. No MLS previews this week because of the cup and international break, but plenty of soccer to be played and plenty of talking points to keep us going through the MLS break. Read More
انسخ الكود التالى و ضعه فى موقعك او مدونتك.
