Plenty of goals were scored, Designated Players shined and officials were their usual bad selfs. That was the week 23 in a nut shell in Major League Soccer.
Major League Soccer Week 23: What We Learned
Designated Players stepped up while the playoff race continued to get tighter.
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After the dust settled on the week, the playoff standings got even tighter. Even though people complain about a 10-team playoff structure for MLS, you do have to tip your hat to the league when so many teams are still in contention in August. The structure may not make complete sense to us all yet but seeing 14 of the 18 clubs in contention has to be a positive thing right now.
At this point, really only the Vancouver Whitecaps are really 'out' of contention. But most people, like myself and the others who do the Power Rankings here at SBNation.com also like to throw the Chicago Fire, Toronto FC and the New England Revolution into that mix. The Revolution and Reds could still make it interesting should both find ways to win the majority of their final eight games.
Designated Players Shine
Saturday alone had the drama and excitement to carry the week though. The debut of Robbie Keane in Los Angeles couldn't have gone any better for the Galaxy or the league for that matter. Keane took a quick restart from fellow DP David Beckham and made a nice cheeky move around San Jose keeper Jon Busch for the goal.
LA Galaxy vs San Jose Earthquakes 1-0 GOAL Robbie Keane! (via mlsoccergoal)
Goals don’t come any easier than that for players like Keane.
The man on the other end of that Keane deal, Juan Pablo Angel, also did well in his Chivas USA debut. Angel scored in his first game for the Goats against the Colorado Rapids.
Up in New England, the Revolution possibly got a glimpse of their future with Milton Caragilo scoring their first two goals against the New York Red Bulls. Both were simple goals that saw the young Argentine DP sneak into the box and beat the back four of the Red Bulls. One was off some hard work from Caragilo where he had a couple shots on goal before he put it home, the other was just a nice set piece goal.
Portland's DP finally got on the board. Diego Chara had been playing pretty well for the Timbers since coming to MLS earlier this season but he hadn't found the back of the net until Saturday night. Good time to do so against their Cascadia Cup rivals.
Rich Keep Getting Richer
The Galaxy had no problem controlling the match with San Jose on Saturday night. It wasn't just Keane on the attack that helped out, it was the Galaxy midfield stepping up and dictating the pace of the game.
With Keane scoring, and the Los Angeles Galaxy winning another game, I think you can nearly go ahead and engrave their name to the Supporter's Shield trophy. Sure they have the Seattle Sounders, FC Dallas and possibly even the Colorado Rapids on their tail, but with all four of those clubs involved in CONCACAF Champions League matches at the moment, you have to give the edge to the Galaxy who sit at 51 points on the season.
Real Salt Lake is the only club that has a chance at really catching the Galaxy but with their recent stumbles on the road, it will be difficult to see them make a run at it here late in the season with the amount of road games they have left on the schedule.
Columbus Proving Their Top Dog In The East
Again, we were all so wrong about this Columbus Crew team at the start of the year. Robert Warzycha blew up a roster full of veteran players and fan favorites in favor of a younger team. A younger team that has proven to be more hungry at getting results that we expected. Saturday night the Crew did what they had to do at home against the Philadelphia Union, the one team that was really knocking on the door to claim the Eastern Conference lead.
With a few points in their pocket above anyone else in the Eastern Conference, it is safe to count on this Crew team as a contender here. Robbie Rogers has stepped up in a massive way as of late. His fingerprint was on both Crew goals.
But the real credit continues to come to this defense which is as strong as you can nearly get in MLS right now. Chad Marshall and Julius James have formed possibly one of the most underrated center back combinations in the league this season.
Academy Kid Steals Points For Houston
The road woes in Texas continue for Real Salt Lake. All-time record in the Lone Star state now sits at 0-17-2. Just when Jason Kreis and his club thought they were at least going to add a point to that record, in comes Alex Dixon. The Home Grown product who was at the University of North Carolina last year found some space in stoppage time and ripped a great shot from the edge of the penalty box to beat Nick Rimando.
The goal was his first of the season and of his career.
The Dynamo had to rally twice in this one as RSL got their offense going early with Fabian Espindola and with Luis Gil. The more I watch Gil play, the more you can tell that this kid is indeed the future of this franchise. His goal was a beautiful header that Tally Hall had no chance at saving.
Give credit to the Dynamo here for sticking this one out. It may be hard to believe that this team still has yet to register a win away from home this season but they are making the most of it when they are at Robertson Stadium. Sometimes it doesn’t really matter where you win, it just matters that you win. This one keeps them in the playoff hunt and actually puts the Dynamo in one of the three automatic playoff births from the Eastern Conference. Not bad Houston, not bad.
Lack Of Depth Exposed In New York
It seems with each passing week the New York Red Bulls inch closer to not being in the playoffs. Most thought that if they were going to out of their current rut it would be against the New England Revolution. Turns out, trips to Boston just don’t work out well for these Red Bulls.
With no depth, no Thierry Henry or Luke Rodgers, and a defense that seems to be leakier than ever, the Red Bulls have no answer anymore. They did manage to come from behind to tie the Revs 2-2 but the fact remains, this Red Bull club is going in the wrong direction at the worst possible time.
Time and time again we’re seeing how Rafa Marquez and Tim Ream just aren’t the combination that most thought would be the best in the league at the start of the season. Either it is Ream getting exposed by his shortcomings or it is Marquez who just looks like he doesn’t care anymore.
Rosales Proving His Worth In Seattle
The Newcomer of the Year race is beginning to be a shorter list by the week. If I had to vote today it would easily go to Seattle’s Mauro Rosales. His laser goal against FC Dallas was more than enough for the Sounders to get their first win at Pizza Hut Park on Saturday.
I was very impressed with Rosales after seeing him in person for the first time. His pace on the ball and drive to make the Sounders better shows off all over. While the Sounders relied on the counter attack more against Dallas, it was Rosales making the difference.
Most however, would point that this game was disrupted by a center official who called 40 fouls though. It may have been fairly even on the fouls that this ref called but it killed the flow of the game. Both clubs said afterword that having so many restarts killed any momentum that they tried to get.
We should see plenty more of Dallas and Seattle as we get closer to the playoffs. They’ll play each other in the semifinal of the USOC next Tuesday and if things continue to go the way they are right now, they’ll meet in the playoffs. Let’s just hope that this ref isn’t involved in any more of their matches.
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