• Houston's BBVA Compass stadium opens with DC game
• Seattle and RSL reprise last season's play-off semi-final
• Eastern rivals Philadelphia and New York meet in Chester
Seattle's stalking of their Western conference peers continues apace on Saturday night. After yet another win on Wednesday night at an alarmingly sliding Dallas side, Seattle return home to face Real Salt Lake in a repeat of last season's conference play-off semi-final second leg. Will revenge be in the air for the Sounders? Well with Montero and Johnson scoring and Rosales pulling the strings, they must fancy their chances up front, but more to the point, they've conceded only three goals all season (the same amount they conceded in the first leg of that play-off tie).
Another side who've become suddenly (and inexplicably) stingy in front of goal is New York, who in the wake of the free-scoring Henry's injury, have pulled out three clean sheets, including the eyebrow-raising 1-0 victory in Los Angeles last weekend. New York take their still makeshift defense to Philadelphia on Sunday, where they can expect a less than warm welcome. Philadelphia fans don't like New York at the best of times, but these aren't really the best of times for a Union side who aren't on the early season zero-points streak any more, but looked pretty toothless against Seattle last week. They'll be anxious to set the record straight - perhaps if they made the game a friendly it would help (after beating Shalke 04 on Wednesday night, the Union are now 4-0-0 in international club friendlies at home...).
Los Angeles, beaten by Seattle and New York in their last two games, now travel to Montreal, who outfought Sporting KC last week to record a famous victory that propelled them into the edge of the play-off spots. Anything could happen in that game, so misfiring have the Galaxy been this season. The suddenly stumbling Sporting KC side travel to Chicago, who certainly have the tools to trouble them, if maybe not yet the consistency to make that a sure thing.
Two sides who have been consistently disappointing so far, Columbus and Dallas, meet up on Saturday, with Columbus at least coming in to the game on the back of a tie with Portland - though not a particularly inspired one. Dallas are in a horrendous state with suspensions and injuries (9 players missing for Wednesday night's loss to Seattle). San Jose have also been hit by a couple of injuries to significant players, though the duo of Wondolowski and Lenhart are intact for the visit of a Chivas side whose mixed start is now definitely on the downward trend after Chicago's late goal robbed them of their first home point of the season.
Speaking of late winners, the pre-season buzz around the Whitecaps' attack suggested it might dominate more than it has, but with Hassli finally breaking his long scoreless streak to score the winner at San Jose, with just seconds left, Vancouver will go into their game against New England full of confidence (a 3-1 Canadian cup win over Edmonton in midweek won't do any harm either).
Finally, the showpiece game of the weekend (with due respect to the mouthwatering Sounders v RSL tie) has got to be Houston's game against DC United - the opening game of the Dynamo's brand new BBVA Compass stadium. We'll be covering that game as our live game from 4pm on Saturday - with every architecturally-inspired gasp of admiration, party-ruining DeRo goal and eponymous golazos from "the house that Ching built" described for your reading pleasure.
Speaking of reading pleasure, we've once again rounded up some of our regular fan reps, bloggers, podcasters and beat writers to give us their opinion of the sides playing this weekend's games. Their previews are below. Agree? Disagree? Have your say in the comments section below, then join me @KidWeil for Houston vs. DC United at 4pm Saturday and check back on Monday for 5 Things We Learned This Weekend.
All game times stated below are EDT.
Some previews were written in advance of this week's midweek games.
Montreal Impact vs. Los Angeles Galaxy, 4pm Sat
Christian Bourque, Ultras Montreal:
With the Canadian championship (qualifying for CONCACAF) in full stride, the team is playing 4 games over 14 days. This means rotation. Montreal headed to KC with 7 of its usual starting 11 off the pitch. In this context, the 2-0 result is huge. Montreal had to play on the counter as the KC offensive pressure would be on. The team resisted well though and scored on its two clear opportunities.
After a mid-week class against Toronto, the team will welcome the Galaxy, a team whose record does not match up to expectations. Montreal will have to watch Donovan's side but not defend too far back. They need to play high enough and with enough pressure. In the net-minder category, Montreal has the upper hand, that should be the difference.
Brian Lynch, Angel City Brigade, Los Angeles:
It's dangerously close to panic time in Los Angeles. What could have very easily been a statement game by the Galaxy turned into a dud. Surprisingly it wasn't the defense that let us down, but our "vaunted" offense. While the team conceded one goal they were unable to score and the end result was one point out of three games last week. The finishing is atrocious and our service is becoming predictable. New York seemed more than happy to let Beckham cross the ball into the box only to clear it or make a save, time after time.
This week the Galaxy are off to the Great White North to play the expansion Impact. With a week's rest one would think that this will yield at least a point, but Montreal will not roll over. With some veteran players, including former Galaxy 'keeper Donovan Ricketts, the offense will have to work on their aggressiveness and creativity if they expect to get a result. The days of assuming we can win and make the playoffs are over, legacy alone doesn't gain points.
Houston Dynamo vs. D.C. United, 4.30pm Sat (NBCSN)
Guardian live game
Zach Woosley, Dynamo Theory, Houston:
How did last week's game go? Great! After all, a bye week is always a great result. The Dynamo hopefully enjoyed it though because things about about to get very busy. Dynamo have two matches this week. Wednesday against the New York Red Bulls and Saturday against DC United. Both matches are important Eastern Conference matches that ideally the Dynamo need to get some points from. The Red Bulls have been playing well of late, but I'm hoping Houston can take advantage of being rested while NY have been traveling. As for Saturday, it's the opening of BBVA Compass Stadium! At last, a home match and more importantly, the Dynamo have their own stadium, with their own locker room, with all the amenities and bright orange seats! If we can't win the home opener, even against a tough DC side, there's no hope this season.
Kim Kolb, Screaming Eagles, author of NestLiner blog:
A mixed week from DC United. First they took on a red hot San Jose club mid-week, and the club certainly missed Emiliano Dudar - if your team's offensive output is three goals (quality goals at that) you'd expect to walk away with at least some points, but the United defense was victimized for 5 goals. In fact, since Dudar left the Houston match last Saturday, United had given up 7 goals in just over a game and a half! Still when you consider that two of United's three losses have come at the hands of the league's two best teams, KC and San Jose, it's nothing to hang our heads over, and the seven game streak without a loss had to end at some point. The team couldn't dwell on that result as they had to travel to Toronto. Questions started to linger though, was United going to right itself, or would a new streak take hold and potentially give Toronto its first points of the season? In recent years it seemed as though United would find a cure for whatever ailed another team. And when news of more injuries to defenders hit, it started to look that way. But a new makeshift backline held steady in the Great White North, and two quality goals from Chris Pontius and Hamdi Salihi helped steer the team to a 2-0 win.
Next is Houston in Houston. Houston will be looking to avenge their loss in DC two weeks ago and open their new stadium on a positive note. United will definitely have its hands full. Expect Bill Hamid (who returned to action Saturday in Toronto) to remain in goal. But the defense will depend on the health of Dejan Jackovic and Robbie Russell, Dudar is out for a few more weeks. Some are surprised by Andy Najar's recent stints at right back, but back in his rookie year Honduran national team coaches eyed him for such a role. He's been more than capable defensively, and it is hard to argue that he's quite a weapon coming out of the back, and quite possibly a lethal new wrinkle to throw at Houston. And Salihi, with two goals in two games, is making a case to remain in the lineup.
New England Revolution vs. Vancouver Whitecaps, 7.30pm Sat
Christopher Camille, Midnight Riders, author of NE tactics blog Soccer Theory:
Three outrageous occurrences kept the Revs from three points this past Saturday at Rio Tinto. Two were incredible saves by Nick Rimando (my USA #2 if I had to pick), and the third was the awful red card given to Fernando Cardenas.
Despite another loss the club is still giving me reason to be optimistic enough to hope some home cooking will do the trick for three points. Saer Sene has been sensational at creating chances and as his finishing becomes more consistent he will become a top MLS striker. AJ Soares has also been a standout at the back.
A Saturday night kick off in May also gives me a hope for a turnout that won't embarrass the club throughout the league, but that may be too optimistic. 2-0 to the Revs.
Brenton Walters, Communications Director, Vancouver Southsiders:
I'm still buzzing from our win against San Jose - brilliant end to a great game. Of course Wondolowski scored, but after that we severely limited their chances and fought back to win. Rennie's changes were all positive and gave us the impetus we needed to push for the winning goal, which came in the last seconds, a nice strike from struggling DP Eric Hassli.
Our game Wednesday in the Canadian Championship won't have tired us out, as we rested a lot of starters. We head to New England to face a Revolution team that is okay at home but struggles to find the net. I'm expecting a tight defensive game from us, New England to get some chances on set pieces, and maybe a goal or two for us on the break and another win to stretch our streak to four.
Columbus Crew vs. FC Dallas, 7.30 pm Sat
Ian Fraser, Crew Union, Columbus Crew:
Last week my brother in support, Ben Hoelzel, said "Winners win games, losers make excuses." The Crew's injury crisis deepened during the week with losses at forward and MLS's best CB Chad Marshall was ruled out during Friday's training, so the excuses were there to be had. Luckily, Portland were in a similar run of poor results and John Spencer changed his lineup in an effort to right his ship. That enabled the Crew to apply most of the pressure in the first half but both sides struggled in the final third of the field. Portland's lineup grew into the game forcing some big saves from Andy Greunebaum to keep Timber Joey's chainsaw silent, but Troy Perkins was not to be outdone as he produced a fine reaction stop on an unlucky Josh Williams to preserve the 0-0 in an entertaining draw. No excuses needed, that was a good road point in a tough environment.
The injury situation for the Crew doesn't get better suddenly this week. Dilly Duka and Carlos Mendes are reportedly close to returning and there is little word on whether Chad Marshall will be available. Any one of those guys would enhance the team this week if available but that is TBD. The fact of the matter is this team needs to find some offense. Part of it is just bad luck but they also need to find that guy they can rely on to create his own luck, or a bit of magic. The play lately has improved but you can't win if you don't score and this team needs to figure out how to do that. Ethan Finlay showed signs of being a threat last week before disappearing; he would be much more dangerous down the wing than Tony Tchani in Robert Warzycha's system. FC Dallas come to town after playing with 9 men for a large portion of Sunday's defeat and a midweek game against Seattle, so it's very possible they'll have tired legs by the time they hit the field.
Predicton: Blas Perez's fresh legs get a goal but acts of God give 2 goals to Columbus and 'the other son' beats 'the favorite son' to win the Pioneer Cup - honoring Lamar Hunt's legacy.
Gina Zippilli, social co-ordinator The Inferno, Dallas, guest panelist on Winning Ugly radio show:
When the going gets tough, the tough get going. Or they get injured. Or redcarded. Or retroactively suspended. Or injured- did I mention injured?
The cold, hard truth is that FC Dallas cannot catch a break. Sunday's game against the Colorado Rapids always had the potential to be a battle, thanks to two crushing home playoff defeats in 2005 and 2006, a little incident in 2010 that most FC Dallas fans don't like to talk about (the nightmares are still there), and now the fact that they've taken our beloved Oscar Pareja away from us. But the ref added insult to our ever-growing list of injuries by ejecting forward Blas Perez literally sixty seconds after Daniel Hernandez received his second red card of the season around the 35th minute. The boys gave the remaining fifty-five (yes, fifty-five minutes with NINE men) minutes absolutely everything they had, but Colorado left Dallas with all three points in the end.
FC Dallas went into Wednesday's match missing SEVEN of their usual starters. As stated before, Hernandez and Perez were suspended. Ricardo Villar, Bobby Warshaw and Carlos Rodriguez were all injured. Joining this trio in a very last minute development was captain Ugo Ihemelu, mysteriously listed as "OUT" due to "concussion symptoms." We know the team will give it everything we've got; we just don't know what it's going to take for the Soccer Gods to eventually take it easy on us.
Chicago Fire vs. Sporting Kansas City, 8:30PM Sat
Stephen Piggott, Hot Time in Old Town, Whiskey Brothers Aught Five, Chicago:
Marco Pappa's last gasp winner away at Chivas last week was the biggest moment in the Fire's short season so far. The build-up to the goal was excellent and was a microcosm of the past two matches where we have been playing some great stuff. The team is starting to play the way coach Frank Klopas wants: quick one touch passes, lots of switching the field and advanced runs from the outside backs. Pappa played very well in the last two games and will look to continue that in our toughest week to date. The defense is also looking solid despite having our third center back pairing of the season in just 7 games.
The game against KC is the biggest of the season to date and will be especially tough coming only 3 days after the RSL match. KC had the mid-week off and will be fresher but that is no excuse for the Fire. I expect little changes from the team that defeated Chivas last week but Anibaba should come in for Berry at center back. The 4-5-1/4-4-1-1 formation against Chivas worked well but I expect Nyarko to be playing much closer to Oduro this time out. Almost every Fire match so far has been decided by a single goal and I don't think it will be any different against KC.
Andy Edwards, Editor, Talkin' Touches, Sporting Kansas City:
Are Sporting Kansas City in crisis? No, not yet, but another consecutive performance like last Saturday's 2-0 loss at home to expansion Montreal Impact, and they could well be. Sporting were simply outplayed for the whole of 90 minutes, wasteful in front of goal, and very quick to say just as much for themselves.
This week, it's a surging Chicago Fire squad that they travel to Toyota Park to face. Seth Sinovic (broken hand), who ended up being quite a loss for the team last week, hopes to return to the eleven. That will be a quality boost, but of the utmost importance is snapping Sporting's now-205-minute scoreless streak. Doing so early on would obviously be a huge coup for Peter Vermes' squad.
Prediction against Chicago: 1-1 draw.
Seattle Sounders vs. Real Salt Lake, 10:00PM Sat
Sam Chesneau, Gorilla FC, Seattle:
Despite a number of injuries to key starters (Fernandez, Gspurning, Johansson, Rosales) this past month and an uncompromising schedule (4 game run in past 12 days), the Sounders just keep winning matches, regardless of the lineup Sigi and Co. put forth on the pitch. Having a punishing defense that has allowed just 3 goals, and only one of them in the run of play, in their first 9 games (with not one identical lineup in any game) is somewhat freakish. It has to keep opposing teams puzzled as to who some of these unfamiliar faces are (namely Alex Caskey, Bryan Meredith & Andy Rose), that play like veterans. My eyebrow raised at the gamble Sigi made by resting Alonso & Montero at the Dallas game this week, against a depleted Toros squad, only to see Fredy come off the bench in the second half for 2 world class goals to silence a half empty stadium in Frisco, TX.
It feels like Seattle are the only team capable of beating themselves at the moment, however this weekend will be a match against the team with the most points in MLS (Real Salt Lake) and with the two best defensive mids in the league, Alonso & Beckerman, on display for each team. Hopeful for the 3 points at home, especially against a team that ended our season earlier than expected last year. Historically, when Fredy Montero is hot (3 goals, 1 assist in last 3 games) it takes him a while to cool down and I don't see any reason for the Lakers to cool him down right now. I predict a close victory and a sixth straight game where the Sounders take the 3 and climb atop the MLS standings, just in time for their injured starters to begin returning. Hard to argue with there being a better coach than Sigi Schmid in North America at the moment.
Sayra Moran, RSL fan, Women United FC co-founder:
RSL faced NE Revolution at Rio Tinto stadium on Saturday, in a very eventful match, resulting in a 2-1 win for Real Salt Lake. The 3 points didn't come without a fight though. DC United held a lead for about 32 minutes before Alvaro Saborio scored off a cross into the box. Saborio found another opportunity to score in the 55th minute, leading RSL to victory. Not long after though, Will Johnson was shown a straight red and missed the match against the Chicago Fire. Going into that game RSL was tied with the San Jose Earthquakes for first place in the Western Conference at 22 points.
The Chicago game is just upon us and the game after will be against the Seattle Sounders, who are right on RSL's backs. Montero and co. are showing to be more and more dangerous with every game and as always, will be a massive challenge for RSL. Sounders goalie, Michael Gspurning, is out for 2-3 weeks so it will be interesting to see how RSL challenges his replacement on Saturday at CenturyLink Field.
Philadelphia Union vs. New York Red Bulls, 12.30pm Sun (ESPN2, ESPN Deportes, TSN2)
Corey Furlan, Vice-President, Sons of Ben:
Last week at Seattle was bad. Once again there was just no creativity in the final third. Despite that, it's too early to judge Herdling, who had a couple of chances and of course played well in midweek (in the friendly against Schalke) - though we always do well in home friendlies, when it didn't matter.
I still don't think we're a 9th placed team and we've got a lot of the Western conference games out of the way early, but I suppose you'd say the table doesn't lie. This week against New York is big - they're without Henry and I saw that Marquez sat out their midweek game against Houston, so maybe it's a good time to play them, but that makeshift defense has been doing well. It could be a midfield battle and a tight game, but we really need the three points at home against a rival.
Dave Martinez, Empire of Soccer and Soccer by Ives, co-host of Seeing Red, New York:
The David v. Goliath match-up that was the New York Red Bulls at the Los Angeles Galaxy, had a storybook ending. A backline with such obscure names as Tyler Ruthven, Brandon Barklage, Connor Lade and Markus Holgersson managed to slay the monstrous attacking force of David Beckham, Robbie Keane, Landon Donovan and Edson Buddle en route to their second shutout of the season - a 1-0 victory at the Home Depot Center. To top it off, rookie goalkeeper Ryan Meara led this youthful and inexperienced backline in accomplishing the monumental task.
This Wednesday, the Red Bulls host last year's MLS Cup runner-up, the Houston Dynamo. The Dynamo are an even 2-2-2; an admirable record considering every one of their games has been played on the road. This weekend, their long wait for a home is over as they inaugurate their new pitch - the BBVA Compass Stadium - but not before they play the Red Bulls. New York will welcome the returning Rafa Marquez to the pitch, but will still be without Thierry Henry and a plethora of others. With New York still hobbled by injuries, and the Dynamo looking to close out a long, winding road to start their season, you can expect a competitive game at Red Bull Arena - one that can easily end a draw.
From there, New York hits the road towards Philadelphia to take on the rival Union. The Union are an unenviable 2-5-1 to start the season, and will host FC Schalke 04 of the German Bundesliga prior to their match against the Red Bulls. Even with their injury laden lineup, I would give New York the nod in this match-up.
San Jose Earthquakes vs. Chivas USA, 7pm (Galavision)
Lisa Erickson, Center Line Soccer, San Jose:
Well, last week was a last minute loss against Vancouver. Interesting fact: Vancouver's first NASL professional game took place 38 years to the day before this game. Their opponents that day: San Jose Earthquakes. It was a disappointing way to lose. Injuries have been beginning to hit and that had an effect on this game - losing Jason Hernandez from the heart of defense is a big loss and his replacement, Ike Opara, was at fault for the winning goal. He didn't step up in time to stop Hassli scoring his first goal in 17 games. If the Earthquakes had held out for just 4 seconds more, he'd still be searching for that goal.
The offense is still doing well and should have too much for a slow Chivas side, up next. There are a lot of talented and experienced players up front, though Chavez's hamstring injury may keep him out until the FIFA breaks. There's a little concern about the experience of the back line. With Hernandez in there you have a player with 100+ MLS starts - without him, 3 of the 4 players are from the 2010 draft and some of the outcome of the game depends on which Opara shows up - he's not played enough recently. I don't want to sound negative though - the Earthquakes should win...
Julio Ramos, "Chivas Mayor", Union Ultras:
I expect a miracle from this coming game vs San Jose! It is always a good place for us to play since most of the time we win there. But this past game was just heart breaking. It was the same as all the past home games - we try, but again, poor decisions from our coach made the difference. Fraser makes selection decisions that are too cautious for the players we have - you look at the side we sent out against Chicago and it looks like a 4-4-2, but in reality Moreno drops so deep it's a 4-5-1 with Angel up top - for a home game. I don't see how you leave a creative player like Ryan Smith on the bench and then with the game tied bring him on to replace the only other dangerous looking player, Bolanos. Leave them both on and go for it - we lost the game anyway, so it's not like anything was gained by playing it safe.
You've read the previews, now have your say in our comments section – and while you're at it, let's hear your predictions for this weekend's games. Join us for live minute-by-minute coverage of Houston vs. DC, from 4.00pm on Saturday. And on Monday morning for Five Things We Learned This Weekend. Read More
انسخ الكود التالى و ضعه فى موقعك او مدونتك.
