1. Reinforcements arriving … and it will be sweet!
MLS is about to become a better place – and it has nothing to do with that
way-fancy stadium
they are about to construct in L.A.’s urban core.
Don’t get me wrong. That gleaming thing of beauty will make MLS a better place, too, the same way every facility improvement or development lifts the league a little higher. But that is years away; 2018 at best.
No, MLS is about to get better, like, really fast. Reinforcements are arriving, and these are the elite troops, a.k.a. the “difference makers.”
This happens every summer, of course, as teams begin adding important pieces in the summer transfer window. But the buffet of impending mid-season arrivals has never looked quite like this year’s. The only thing even close was David Beckham’s entrance in 2007 as he was such a globally iconic presence that he amounted to a one-man army of summer arrival.
This year’s arrival brigade starts, of course, with renowned English internationals Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard, who finish their Premier League obligations this week but it's deeper than that with Irish international Kevin Doyle already in training for Pablo Mastroeni’s Rapids. He could debut as early as this weekend and it cannot be a moment too soon for misfiring gang from DSG Park who haven’t won at home since last July.
Pushing the envelope on this quality elevation are a couple of returning difference makers: Diego Valeri recently got back on the field for Portland, and former league MVP Mike Magee is getting closer and closer to a return in Chicago.
Robbie Keane, who has played just four matches this year for a Galaxy team that continues its punchless stumble through 2015, will presumably return at some point. (We see this sometimes, where we know a player is valuable – but we don’t gain 100 percent understanding of just how valuable until he’s not around for a while.)
New York City FC continues to make noise about a third DP to potentially join Lampard and David Villa, who has also wandered through an up-and-down April and May.
Even if it’s not Jason Kreis at NYCFC, somebody will add a wow-wow name during the summer window; count on it.
The point is this: These guys are difference makers. Whether we are talking about new signings or injury returnees, they add substantially to overall quality. More so, they make the league more dynamic. We’ll all be the better for it.
2. Pace and tempo makes the night in Frisco
I went back and watched last week’s scoreless draw from suburban Dallas, where the New York Red Bulls and FC Dallas made the ultimate case that a 0-0 contest is not necessarily a snoozer.
We see plenty of 0-0 draws with good chances on both sides; those are scoreless affairs that check the box for “exciting,” even if no one manages to push one home. (In fairness, we do get some 0-0 nights where, well, the less said the better.)
But Friday’s match between Jesse Marsch’s new-day Red Bulls and Oscar Pareja’s FCD was worth re-watching for something else. It was the quality of the match that mattered. What high quality it was.
The Red Bulls under Marsch press high and like to maintain a high tempo, all a contrast to most road teams, who frequently prefer to sit back in a safer, defensive crouch. And generally, they prefer to “shorten” the match with a policy of “What’s the hurry?” on restarts.
Not the Red Bulls under Marsch. They pass quickly and get balls back into play with haste. And they do press high; they are Kansas City of two-or-three years ago in that way.
Something else that makes New York go – and “go” so darn quickly: that team has a big midfield brain. Between Dax McCarty, Felipe and Sacha Kljestan, they have a trio with technical craft, ideas and ample want-to.
Dallas couldn’t exactly match the trio in the middle (hence a big NY advantage in possession) but held its own in the match and created more good chances. Between holding man Victor Ulloa, connector Kellyn Acosta and playmaker Mauro Diaz, they don’t have the experience but did boast sufficient balance and talent to keep from being overrun by the more experienced trio (with combined over 50 caps for the US Men's National Team).
Overall, the passing and movement was great on New York’s end and good on Dallas’ end. There were turnovers, of course. But most were from timely, dogged pressure arriving from different angles rather than from heavy first touches, sloppy passing or thoughtless choices.
Nobody wants to see a bunch of 0-0s; but if you must have one, you sure want it to look like this.
3. In D.C., it’s Hamid and Espy
Who doesn’t love some in-depth analysis? Really diving into the nitty-gritty of why some teams can and some can’t is catnip for the soccer wonks among us.
But you know what else I love? Reminding people that sometimes you only need a wade into the shallow end of the analysis pool to turn up the bigger truth. That’s where we might be with D.C. United.
Ben Olsen has a good team operating out of RFK. Not dynamic or what we might call “lovely,” but certainly effective, faithfully grinding out results for two years now.
But what makes United a championship contender really comes down to two names: Bill Hamid and Fabian Espindola.
In Hamid, you could make a case that United would be in dire straits if not for the league’s reigning Goalkeeper of the Year. He’s been that good, passing all the eye tests in addition to ranking highly in the ‘keeper stats.
With Espindola, a newly minted DP this year, his impact is slowly becoming more quantifiable. He started with a six-game suspension, played effectively in two matches and then fell to injury (soon to return, apparently). United is 4-2-3 with nine goals scored in the matches he has missed, which isn’t bad.
But they certainly had to be at their grind-it-out best to achieve that mark. In the two matches he started, the team is 2-0 (including one road win) with four goals scored.
These two are difference makers, and sometimes all the analysis in the world boils down to that.
4. Narratives around MLS … and the truth
It is always interesting to explore the narratives that develop – and that sometimes wander off track.
I give you the Portland Timbers. I like Caleb Porter’s style of soccer. And it’s true that he became one of the young darlings of American coaching.
It is also true that Porter has some dynamic pieces, like Darlington Nagbe and certainly Diego Valeri. So the narrative that has developed around Providence Park is that the Timbers are a good team, even if things sometimes go wrong. Of course they are! They have a good coach and some good roster pieces, right? Sure, they didn’t make the playoffs last year. And they aren’t doing well this year. But they’ve had some injuries! They are still a good team. Really!
Only, that narrative deserves just a little more vetting. Because at some point, the numbers just don’t lie.
The Timbers have won 29 games over the last three years. (That includes this year; so, 2013, 2014 and 2015.)
Over that same period, Houston has won exactly the same number, 29. Only, we don’t always speak so highly of Houston, do we? Same with Vancouver, a club that has won 31 matches. Dallas has won 33 in that time.
It takes so much to actually be a good team: roster balance, chemistry, wise player management, tactics that fit the available personnel, locker room leadership. It takes back line stability and reliable goalkeeping, even if those components aren’t as sexy as playmakers and goal scorers.
Increasingly in MLS, it also takes proven, experienced game-changers, and this is where Portland hasn’t been as aggressive as, say, Seattle or Los Angeles. Which is understandable, because they are expensive. But you could make a case that Portland is one Clint Dempsey or Obafemi Martins away from fulfilling the narrative and actually being a good team rather than what they are: an average one.
This isn’t to pick on the Timbers. Playing attractive soccer and having a rockin’ ground like Providence Park adds something to MLS, and those attractive elements get built into the (perhaps false) narrative.
Something isn’t quite right with the Timbers, who are right back where they were most of last year, near the bottom of the Western Conference table. Yes, Valeri has been injured, and Will Johnson remains on the mend. But every team deals with injuries.
The truly “good” clubs just cope a little bit better.
5. The Little Five
5a. Jermaine Jones is back in the midfield for New England, where he wants to be. He keeps reminding us that he can still be the man in midfield. And maybe that’s where he needs to stay, never mind Jurgen Klinsmann’s insistence on making him a center back internationally. Because after watching him beaten repeatedly in the air near goal for the United States and for New England, you have to wonder if he just isn’t a strong fit for that spot. (Good examples are here and here, which happen to be the two goals New England gave up on May 8.)
Giles Barnes from long-range
5b. FIFA’s choice to stage the upcoming Women’s World Cup in Canada on artificial turf is unfortunate in so many ways. But if we’re trying to make lemonade from lemons, here’s something as it relates to BC Place, home of the Vancouver Whitecaps and a host for upcoming tournament: The bad artificial turf at BC Place is being replaced this week with a, well, less bad version of artificial turf. So, there’s that.
5c. This humdinger of stat is from the smarties at ESPN: Since Robbie Keane’s arrival into the Galaxy in 2011, the team is +67 in goal difference when he is on the field and -13 when he isn’t. That includes last weekend’s 4-0 dressing down from expansion Orlando. If that isn’t telling, then nothing is. Tough to question his 2014 MLS MVP award.
5d. MLSsoccer.com’s Matthew Doyle points out wisely that Giles Barnes' arrival as a scoring presence with 6 goals in 11 matches for Houston – after posting fairly pedestrian numbers in his first three Dynamo seasons – isn’t just good news for Owen Coyle’s bunch at BBVA. It’s bad news for the United States and fellow CONCACAF nations, who could see Jamaica in this summer’s Gold Cup.
5e. Here we have a Designated Player flat out getting it down: Clint Dempsey has a goal or assist in 10 consecutive matches in which he has participated, the sixth longest streak in MLS history. He has 13 goals and 11 assists in the club’s most recent 19 matches, going back to last year.
Steve Davis has covered Major League Soccer since is first kick in 1996. He writes on-line for World Soccer Talk and Fusion TV’s Soccergods, and co-hosts the weekly radio show/podcast ESPN Soccer Today on 103.3 FM in Dallas. Davis is also the radio play-by-play voice for FC Dallas on 100.7 FM.
