Jurgen Were You Watching?
On Saturday night, while most people were going to bed on the East coast or out enjoying the night life on the West coast, LA Galaxy were taking on Sporting Kansas City at the Home Depot Center in Carson California.
During Landon Donovan's often criticized sabbatical, the US National Team has seen many struggles in finding a replacement for the greatest ever American player during CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying. While many American fans are of the opinion that the solution to a Donovan-less USMNT over the next several years should be natural winger Josh Gatt of Molde, Jurgen Klinsmann has instead chosen natural central midfielder turned right mid by necessity in KC Graham Zusi, or other natural central midfielders.
My hope is that Klinsmann was watching his one time friend Landon Donovan return to form for LA Galaxy as they took on Zusi's Sporting KC. While LA dictated play for most of the first half and had the best chances often created from counter attacks thanks to the pace of Donovan, (something sorely missing from the USMNT minus Donovan) the moment the match turned was when Landon Donovan drifted to the left flank switching with Mike Magee and began a face to face confrontation with Graham Zusi. Donovan wasted no time in sprinting past Zusi as he nearly set up LA's first goal, and then did it a second time, this time assisting on a goal. Minutes later when Zusi gave a bit of a clatter to LA central defender A.J. De LaGarza, Donovan gave a little back to the KC man when he won the ball from him fairly in my mind, but was called for a foul thanks to the extra zeal with which he challenged Zusi. In response during the second half, Zusi was forced to drift more inside when Donovan was around, and only looked even a mild danger when Donovan moved back to the right flank. Later in the match Donovan got his first goal of the season in only his third full 90 of the short campaign.
If Klinsmann was watching, he saw Donovan returning to form and proving that he is twice the player Zusi is. Time will tell if Jurgen will bring the legend back into the fold, or stick with the younger man out of spite, but if Klinsmann is half the manager he thinks he is, Landon Donovan is already on the team sheet for the next qualifier the US will face. And he should be on that team sheet not in pencil, but ink.
Paper Tiger
Saturday also saw a win for New York Red Bulls, bringing them their third win of the season to go with their 4 losses and 2 draws, and lifting them to 4th place with 11 points. In a season where new Red Bulls manager Mike Petke has constantly been forced to admit the performances of his team were "not good enough", it would be easy to foresee a turn around that leaves New York battling for the Eastern crown as everyone believes they should be, as the Eastern Conference version of an MLS Superclub. Unfortunately for Petke and New York, the win was against a poor New England Revolution side, and their encounters with the better teams of MLS have seen them fall dramatically short.
While they now find themselves in 4th, the troubles for the Red Bulls are not yet over. If the teams below them win their matches in hand, New York could find themselves in 9th place. Chances are such a turn of events won't happen, but if even a few teams win even a single match in hand, the Red Bulls will find themselves out of the playoff places. Not exactly a scenario becoming of a Superclub.
The issues with the organization are deep, as can be expected from any organization that brings in Rafa Marquez, follows that disaster up with Tim Cahill, struggles to find managers in a timely fashion, and routinely hires executives without a day of MLS experience. But this season the main issue seems to be one of too many free spirit cooks in the kitchen.
Thierry Henry likes a free role. Juninho likes a free role. Tim Cahill likes a free role. Fabian Espindola covers the space vacated by the others, basically giving him a roaming free role. All this leaves Dax McCarty trying to cover for everyone while also protecting the back 4. When you add to this that Juninho has a lack of defensive skill not seen in the league since Blanco walked his way through his Chicago years, it makes New York an all or nothing proposition. Against poor teams their skill leads to plenty of attack, against the better sides it leads to defensive frailty. It's no coincidence either that the Red Bulls got their easy victory over the Revs with Juninho suspended.
Unless Juninho starts to show the dead ball accuracy of his past and puts in more of a defensive shift, and Tim Cahill starts to earn even a fraction of his $3 Million salary, the Red Bulls will be nothing more than a paper tiger looking to rebuild once again in the near future with a new crop of overpaid has beens and yet another new (and foreign again) manager.
Western Surprise? Bottles and Cans, Clap Your Hands
Even if LA Galaxy win both of their matches in hand on Western Conference leaders FC Dallas, they will still be 2 points behind. Thus far in the early MLS season the surprise of all surprises has been the form of Dallas. They have shown to have pace, defensive strength, and a mental toughness even manager Schellas Hyndman questioned in the preseason. Zach Lloyd, George John, and Matt Hedges have proven to be the most formidable defense while also having a flair for starting an attack, and the answer to the question of who will score the goals seems to be "anybody".
But the biggest surprise in Dallas has not been their form, but the recent attack on defender George John by a Dallas fan after his match winning goal. Following an 87th minute goal against LA Galaxy, John was hit by a beer bottle thrown from the North stand by one of his own supporters behind his right ear, immediately drawing blood and keeping him down for a few minutes. After several days, thanks to a tip from another fan, the perpetrator has been identified and banned from FC Dallas Stadium.
The question has to be, why would anyone throw a beer bottle at their own player, or even just onto the pitch at the players as a way of celebrating a goal? The fan has not been identified publicly by FC Dallas, but we do know that he has made no contact with John, though John would be open to hearing an apology and moving on, and is also open to using this incident and the fan as a way of promoting more responsible fan behavior in the future. Let us hope the fan reaches out to John and good can come from this blatant stupidity.
3 + 1 = 4
This week San Jose Earthquakes forward Alan Gordon will start the first of the four match ban he picked up last week. One match was given to the forward for getting sent off for a second bookable offense thanks to an elbow to the face of Mikel Silvestre of Portland, and another three from his homophobic slur aimed at Portland's midfielder Will Johnson.
Of the several issues at play here, one is the apparent use of technology by referees to send Gordon off for the elbow, another is Portland's rule breaking of showing the contentious decision on the big screen before the referee seemed to know if he should even take action. While the referee seemed to be inclined to let things go while he looked over Silvestre and his bloody face, a replay was shown in the stadium which caused the crowd to lose their minds, and the referee to book the forward, sending him off for a second bookable offense. The league is looking into the possible infraction, but the odds of any action being taken against the referee Hilario Grejeda or the stadium crew of the Timbers seems to be slim.
The ban for the slur however can not be seen as controversial. In fact, following the comment, Will Johnson's reaction to Alan Gordon was to hold up three fingers, suggesting they both knew what the slur just cost Gordon. For his part, Alan Gordon followed the game with an immediate apology for the homophobic language he hurled at Johnson.
The problem here is that while players will be forced to keep their language to themselves in the future, it does nothing to change the mentality behind the use of such slurs. As Robbie Rogers does the rounds with print and television interviews on why he feels a gay man can not be open about his sexuality and continue playing the game, his feelings have been reinforced publicly once again.
Many of us who support the equality movement believe MLS would be the perfect and safest training ground for the future of the game with openly gay players, but idiotic moments like this from Gordon (on the back of 2 more such public incidents and bans last season) tell us it is ingrained in the culture of the league to some extent, just as it is in our culture.
My hope is that some day we will no longer have to see bans for the use of homophobic slurs, because they no longer exist. I know this is a dream that may not come true in my lifetime, but I have to believe we will get there. Until then I will have to live with the knowledge that ignorance gets you three. (Though one can assume racism would get you more. Equality takes time.)
Boom Boom vs The Chosen One
Finally, this saturday also gave us a little something extra in the closing stages of the Real Salt Lake vs Chivas USA clash.
As Javier Morales slowly exited the pitch while being substituted, Chivas manager Boom Boom Chelis began to give Morales a piece of his mind. This got RSL manager Jason Kreis a bit heated and led to the two managers letting each other know just what they thought of each other.
Frankly, I am one who believes this little bit of agro is just what MLS needs to add to the personality of the league. Love him or hate him, Boom Boom Chelis surely isn't boring.
Until next time, remember, MLS Matters.
