Write On Sports LLC - "Major League Soccer: Week 2 Previews" by Jeff Bull

Major League Soccer: Week 2 Previews

2007-04-11 01:34:33 | By: Jeff Bull

Major League Soccer’s (MLS) first week of play wrapped only days ago and, with the arrival of Thursday night games, the second week will get underway before fans and pundits have things in perspective. Naturally, what came before piques interest in one game while throttling it another - even if what came before happened last season. Then again, the newness of the season combined with major changes to many of the league’s teams means that too much is in flux for any red-hot story lines to have taken shape.

With that, let’s turn to MLS’s Week 2.

Los Angeles Galaxy v. FC Dallas
April 12, 2007; 7:30 p.m. PST (ESPN2)

Players to Watch: Los Angeles - Landon Donovan, Tyrone Marshall, Kyle Martino; FC Dallas - Carlos Ruiz, Kenny Cooper, Juan Toja

An interesting dynamic should unfold in this game, which features one team that defends well but struggles to score (LA) versus another that has plenty of offensive weapons but can’t stop the opposition from scoring ( Dallas ). For LA, Donovan had a good, if frustrating first game, though he’s been the driving force behind the U.S. Men’s team in 2007, while Marshall leads a new-look defense. On the other side of the ball, FC Dallas front-running duo of Cooper and Ruiz carried their team to a profoundly lucky draw on the road against Real Salt Lake ; new signing Juan Toja, who came with high-ish expectations left the game early without making any apparent impact.

Real Salt Lake v. Columbus Crew
April 14, 2007; 3:00 p.m. PST

Players to Watch: Real Salt Lake - Jeff Cunningham, Nick Rimando, Mehdi Ballouchy; Columbus Crew - Ned Grabavoy, Eddie Gaven, Joseph Ngwenya

While both sides settled for draws on the season’s opening weekend, Columbus Crew has more cause for optimism, courtesy of a poised performance from Grabavoy and some smart flashes from the (incredibly) still 20-year-old Gaven; the Crew fought through a dodgy first half to press the visiting Red Bull New York to the end. Salt Lake , on the other hand, reportedly controlled their home opener against FC Dallas only to succumb to a sloppy late goal unanimously blamed on Rimando, their newly-acquired net-minder. Cunningham’s two-goal heroics further burnishes his reputation as one of MLS’s most underrated forwards.

New England Revolution v. Toronto FC
April 14, 2007; 4:30 p.m. PST

Players to Watch: New England - Taylor Twellman, Andy Dorman, James Riley; Toronto - Edson Buddle, Paulo Nagamura, the entire defense

Toronto received a cold welcome to MLS in their first-ever game, suffering a 2-0 defeat to Chivas USA ; both goals came on near-complete defensive breakdowns, the worst of them the second, when no defender stirred to close down Sacha Kljestan. A 15-minute first-half flurry aside, they produced little in the way of offense, leaving Nagamura as one of the more active of their players on the field. New England , for their part, opened the season with a loss that came with an early, fatal mistake, which Riley, a stand-in defender, failed to prevent. Talismanic forward Twellman led the front-line with a series of promising strikes in reply, one of which rocketed off the crossbar, while Dorman brought sharp support from the midfield. With no Matt Pickens (that’s the Chicago Fire’s ‘keeper) to stop them, the Revs attack should get more target practice this weekend.

DC United v. Kansas City Wizards
April 14, 2007; 4:30 p.m. PST (Fox Soccer Channel)

Players to Watch: DC - Facundo Erpen, Troy Perkins, Christian Gomez; Kansas City - Eddie Johnson, Kevin Hartman, Jimmy Conrad

Kansas City sat idle when the rest of MLS kicked off last weekend - just one benefit of a 13-team league. One could be forgiven for thinking DC sat idle as well, given how flat they came out in their opener versus the Colorado Rapids; Gomez, a key piece to DC’s attack, was dubbed ineffective at best that day, while DC’s defense seemed to struggle to cope with a Rapids team that ran relentlessly against their flanks and defended thuggishly up the middle. A home game against a late-start Kansas City , especially one that has struggled for the past two seasons, may be just the ticket to shake off the cobwebs.

Houston Dynamo v. Chivas USA
April 14, 2007; 5:30 p.m. PST

Players to Watch: Houston - Kelly Gray, Brian Ching, Brad Davis; Chivas - Sacha Kljestan, Ante Razov, Brad Guzan

While Chivas indisputably picked up the better result, they also clearly had the easier test in Toronto FC. Guzan stood tall in the net when he had to, which provided time for players like Razov and Kljestan to find the holes in the Canadians’ defense. The Dynamo, who came off a BRUTAL overtime loss in Mexico just three days before, failed to beat the LA Galaxy’s defense, but they’ll come into this weekend’s game rested (at last). Not only will Guzan have much more to deal with Davis chucking in crosses to the imposing Ching, but the Chivas offense will have a tough Houston defense to break down. To sweeten the deal a little more, it was Houston that ousted Chivas from their first run into MLS’s postseason - and that one ended pretty ugly.

Colorado Rapids v. Chicago Fire
April 15, 2007 (Tax day!); 5 p.m. PST

Players to Watch: Colorado - Terry Cooke, Herculez Gomez, Kyle Beckerman; Chicago - Justin Mapp, Matt Pickens, Jim Curtin

It’s tough to pick between this and the game above for the Week 2’s Game of the Week; the Rapids’ win over DC probably stands as the biggest talking point from Week 1, while people (well, I) can’t stop talking about Pickens’ stand in the Chicago goal against New England. For Colorado, Gomez and Cooke ran DC’s outside backs stupid and, even if the break didn’t come there, that kind of pressure opens things up elsewhere on the field; if their nearly as effective this weekend, Chicago is in for a long night. But Mapp, a rising star in both MLS and the U.S. team, stands tall among individual performers on opening weekend; only Salt Lake ’s Cunningham, who won Player of the Week honors, tops him. Between the exciting players and the eye-catching first-week results, this game has it all - so how strange is it that this one could easily end in a goalless draw?

Red Bull New York v. FC Dallas
April 15, 2007; 12 noon PST (Telefutura)

Players to Watch: Red Bull - Ronald Wattereus, Josmer Altidore, Claudio Reyna; FC Dallas - see above, but add Ramon Nunez, and the Dallas defense

After the first half Red Bull put together against the Columbus Crew, it looked like only a matter of time before they found a chink in the Ohio side’s defense. Instead, they spent the second half on their heels with their ‘keeper, Waterreus, standing as the hero. Reyna raised his hand earlier this week admitting a lackluster performance, while 17-year-old sensation (and possible hype victim) Altidore failed to make an impression. Fortunately, they’ll have FC Dallas shaky defense for a sparring partner this week, which should prove more brittle than Columbus ’ bend-don’t-break back-four. Then again, in Cooper and Ruiz, Wattereus and the defenders in front of him should face a sharper test; if a player like Nunez (or, for that matter, Arturo Alvarez) can provide better service, this game could go either way.