Bruce McGuire gets us started. He’s a longtime soccer supporter and media member who lives in Minneapolis, where a big league announcement Wednesday welcomed in the newest MLS city:
“As a lifelong soccer fan, you’d dream about it. But I didn’t think I’d see this day.”
While we ponder how quickly officials there can sort out the specifics and get into MLS action, here are five storylines to dissect and discuss.
1. Getting the DPs right
Certain truths are becoming more cemented into MLS. One of them: Clubs that go “all in” on the Designated Player sweepstakes, paying big for the DP stars, had better get it right.
The premier example was on display in Week 3 inside the league’s shiny new ground, Avaya Stadium in San Jose
Earthquakes playmaker
Matías Pérez García
has been a midfield force for Dominic Kinnear’s rebuilt San Jose Earthquakes, doing more than his share to retain possession and slip out of tight spots. Most importantly, the Quake’s DP has been a steady supplier of deadeye set piece balls – and you know how Kinnear-coached teams love their set pieces. Check that: they
thrive
on them.
Two of Garcia’s dead ball services led to goals as the Quakes made a great day in the Bay, the ballyhooed opening of Avaya Stadium, a super-fantastic-great day in a memorable 2-1 win.
On the other side was Shaun Maloney, who is supposed to be doing for Chicago what Garcia is doing for the bunch from Northern California. Only, he isn’t.
The Scottish international spent a lot of good years at Celtic, a short but relatively productive spell at Aston Villa and some good years with Wigan. But he’s 32 now. His age may or not be the main factor here, but the fact is that Maloney has looked little like a DP. In fact, youngHarry Shipp, a Rookie of the Year contender in 2014, looks far more like the heart and soul of the Chicago Fire attack.
Maloney had slow starts at Villa and at Wigan, so there’s hope for the Bridgeview faithful. On the other hand, the Fire is 0-3, the league’s only team without a point so far, so the pressure will rise fast on everyone around Toyota Park. Most alarming, perhaps, is that Maloney once acknowledged homesickness was an issue as he started sluggishly at Villa Park. And that’s just a short hop from his Scottish home. If he was homesick in England’s midlands … Well, let’s just wait and see.
The DP decisions loom large. Clubs have to get them right.
2. Surprisingly slumping goaltenders
Everyone who knows MLS understands where the “new day” quality is in goal, right? It’s a no-brainer, right? Chicago’s Sean Johnson and D.C. United’s Bill Hamid, right?
Well, maybe. While veteran Josh Saunders enjoys a career revival, performing wonderfully for New York City FC so far, and while other lesser knowns, like Houston’s Tyler Deric, Dallas’ Chris Seitz and New England’s Bobby Shuttleworth, keep adding value with their work in goal, and while backstopper Luis Robles continues to be an underrated element at Red Bull Arena, the two young U.S. internationals are experiencing some early season struggles.
Johnson came for a corner kick against San Jose but didn’t get there. Later, he left a rebound in a bad spot. Neither was a proverbial “howler,” but they sure weren’t the Chicago goalkeeper’s best moments. He’ll wish to have done better on both.
Hamid has struggled a bit while coming off a preseason injury, so if he’s not yet at top rev, that’s something to consider. Surely he’d like a “do-over” on the New York Red Bull’s second goal last weekend, where United’s long, tall ‘keeper was beaten to the near post. Lloyd Sam’s shot was likely savable if Hamid had gotten his positioning right, one further step to his left (toward that exposed first post).
Again, this was no YouTube-worthy laugher. But it does remind us that Hamid and Johnson aren’t there yet. They’ve been around for so long, and part of the national team scene for so long, that it’s easy to forget they are still on the upside of their career growth curve. Johnson is just 25, and Hamid a year younger. No, they aren’t pups, but that’s still well south of a goalkeeper’s best years, that window when age still allows and experience becomes their best pal.
Don’t forget, Tim Howard had some dodgy moments at Manchester United (at about the same age), and he recovered pretty well, didn’t he?
That’s the deal with goalkeepers. They have to deal with the inevitable wiggles and wobbles. It’s how they respond that matters.
3. Another side to the story …
If we ask players and coaches about the match that just was (during post-game media scrums, that is), most are happy to offer their thoughts. But it’s up to journalist to filter and add context. Only, that doesn’t always happen. And what we’re left with is one side of the tale.
There is always another side – and sometimes things look night-and-day different from the other side.
In Los Angeles last weekend, a clearly agitated Robbie Keane took the opportunity to blast away at his team for … well, for a lot, actually. Mostly for not working hard enough and for giving away a “silly” goal in a 1-1 draw at home to Houston.
Well, he’s partially right. He forgot to credit the Dynamo, which came in with a smart tactical plan (a lane-clogging 4-5-1) and put in the hustle and bustle required to get a result on the road against the league champs.
Houston limited the Galaxy to nine shots, four on target and four corner kicks. We can all debate about how much was “Galaxy lacking” and how much was “Dynamo achieving,” but clearly Houston and manager Owen Coyle deserved some of the props.
Same deal for Ben Olsen in New York, where his team was a little better after the break, but had been nearly run off the field in the first half of a 2-0 loss at Red Bull Arena. Olsen lamented his team’s sleepy start.
But the truth is more complicated. New York pressed hard and high up the field. What Olsen saw as sluggish play may more accurately have been this: his team was overwhelmed in midfield, unable to play out of the back, and probably so occupied with trying to problem-solve their way around the match that they couldn’t put the effort into tackling in the right places, claiming the second balls, making the extra runs, etc.
Olsen’s midfield had zero answers for Dax McCarty’s energy, nor for New York’s three-man whirl of a midfield. Jesse Marsch’s tactics and his team’s willingness to make the press work deserved a big tip of the cap here, too.
4. A big boost to player development
As the development mechanisms in Major League Soccer continue to evolve, consider this huge advantage to the current system, where teams either operate a club in USL-Pro league or share an affiliation with one of the lower tier clubs:
Emerging talent can play alongside a guy like A.J. DeLaGarza.
DeLaGarza has never been the biggest star in Carson, but he’s been an important, versatile starter the whole way as Bruce Arena’s team has won an unprecedented three of four MLS Cups. He isn’t the biggest or fastest or most technically gifted. But he’s big enough, fast enough and technically gifted enough. Add in his smarts (we mentioned that versatility, right?) and commitment to professionalism, and he becomes the model every young, aspiring professional should emulate.
So understand the significance of this: DeLaGarza was just named to USL's official Team of the Week after 90 minutes at center back for Galaxy II, the Galaxy’s USL club.
The veteran defender is with Los Dos for now, the last steps in rehab of a foot injury that has kept him mostly away from the first team so far in 2015. Getting the youngsters alongside the DeLaGarza’s of MLS will become a huge boon to player development.
5. The Little Five
5a. The worst kept secret in MLS becomes official today as the league announces that Minnesota United will become the next expansion club. Most likely start date is 2018, although we know those start dates are frequently moving targets. Best thing about it: Another new, soccer-specific stadium, one blessed with real grass. Praise be.
5b. No reason to dwell on this, but Week 4 in Major League Soccer is the first real depth-tester. Teams all over MLS will dip further (much further in some cases) into the roster to fill vacancies left by international call-ups. Pretty much every club has tough decisions to make. Perhaps the most affected contest: RSL hosting Toronto. It’s not just because of the overall volume, it’s about the quality of missing players. The home team will miss Nick Rimando, Luis Gil and Alvaro Saborio (among others), while the visitors will cope without U.S. internationals Jozy Altidore and Michael Bradley.
READ: MLS Fantasy - Coping with international call-ups
5c. No question the in-game, tactical tweak of the week came from FC Dallas manager Oscar Pareja, who adjusted at halftime out of the usual 4-2-3-1 into a 4-3-3 with the insertion of the more offensive-minded Ryan Hollingshead for Michel. The result was two road goals against 10-man Philly. FC Dallas is the only team still perfect after three matches.
5d. Anybody else wonder if perhaps D.C. United attacker Chris Pontius needs a change of address? The breakout king of 2012 just never found that form in 2013, was hurt for much of 2014 and now … well, something just isn’t working at RFK. We’ve seen this before; maybe there’s nothing wrong with D.C. United, exactly, but the man just needs a change of scenery. He’s not youngster anymore, by the way. We may still see him as an up-and-comer, but Pontius is 27.
5d. Orlando City has some issues to sort out with stadium security and its supporters. Here’s the deal: It has happened to every club at some point. It’s just OCSC’s turn. It deserves a proper response, obviously. But do know that every club goes through this.
