It was an international break weekend in Major League Soccer but of course that didn’t mean every club was off. Two of the games on the Week 30 slate were rescheduled to due weather and bad turf installed on Empire Field earlier this summer.
Major League Soccer 2011, Week 30: What We Learned
Week 30 was a short one that decided the Supporters’ Shield and possibly helped shed more light on who could win the Golden Boot in 2011.
Week 30 for the lack of a better term was minor - in the sense that overall it really didn’t impact a whole lot in the overall playoff race. One game decided who won the league’s Supporters’ Shield this season and another game helped determine who could end up winning this year’s Golden Boot.
Top Dogs Yet Again
The Los Angeles Galaxy may have lost on Tuesday night to the New York Red Bulls but that match really meant nothing. No Landon Donovan or Robbie Keane meant the start power was a lot less than what this game could have been had it not been for Hurricane Irene a couple months back.
Instead, the Red Bulls took advantage of a very tired and young Galaxy squad. LA didn't seem to have enough going forward in the match while the Red Bulls did just enough with Thierry Henry and Luke Rodgers up top to get the three points. Three points that keep them in the playoff hunt too.
But the top story really becomes of what happened in Seattle over the weekend when the Seattle Sounders FC lost to the Philadelphia Union. The loss by the Sounders meant the Galaxy would be the league's Supporters' Shield winners for a second straight year and their forth overall in team history. LA now tied DC United for more Supporters' Shield trophies with four.
Wondo Proving 2010 Was No Fluke
We all thought going into the 2011 season that Chris Wondolowski's performance in 2010 was likely going to be a one time thing. Wondolowski won the 2010 Golden Boot award and it looks like it is on his way yet again to take home the honors after netting a brace against the New England Revolution on Saturday.
The game itself meant nothing, both San Jose and New England were already eliminated from playoff contention so this match was more about going forward than anything else. But for Wondolowski it was about staying in the Golden Boot race and making it a tad bit more interesting.
With his two goals on Saturday he is now tied with Henry in New York and DC’s Dwayne De Rosario with 14.
Yes, 14 goals for Wondo. What else can you say the man loves playing in October where he has nine goals in his last few October matches.
Philadelphia Making Things Interesting
Is there any team in the league that is hotter than the Philadelphia Union right now? I don’t think there is really as the Union have come on strong over the last month and a half to push themselves to the top of the Eastern Conference thanks to their first west-coast win in club history on Saturday in Seattle.
Freddy Adu got things going for the Union and Brian Carroll helped cap the day with the game-winner that was set up by none other than former Sounder Sebastien Le Toux.
Philadelphia now has a two point advantage over Sporting Kansas City for the top spot in the Eastern Conference. With two games left for each side, Sporting hosts New York and travels to DC while the Union host Toronto FC and travel to New York. With both clubs playing well at the moment, the Eastern crown will be hotly contested between these two.
Which Slump Is Worse - RSL or Dallas?
Take the CONCACAF Champions League games out of the picture and just focus on the league results for a moment. Got it, good. Now take a look at the resent results for FC Dallas and Real Salt Lake. Both have an identical 1-4-0 record in their last five league matches.
But which is worse going into the final games of the season?
On the surface Dallas has been struggling for some time now due to the schedule congestion and lack of offense. Salt Lakes’ woes have come from injuries, red cards and poor defense.
RSL has two big games left against Colorado and Portland. Dallas has three (four if you count the CCL game against Toronto) to get back on track.
At some point these two clubs have to come together and figure "it" out. For Dallas it is getting their offense going with Brek Shea, Maicon Santos and Marvin Chavez. For RSL it is stopping the red cards and plugging up the wholes through their midfield and defense. Sure the red cards have caused a lot of the goals but good teams like RSL don't go three out of four games and give up three goals in each.
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