Deux autobuts et de nombreux autres buts offerts directement par l’adversaire ou résultant d’erreurs des gardiens et joueurs de l’équipe qui encaisse, les cadeaux ont été nombreux lors de la dernière journée.

Au lieu de stigmatiser les bêtises, j’ai préféré me concentrer sur un autre aspect des réalisations du week-end : le kick and rush. De plus en plus rare (3% des buts en MLS en 2011, comme la moyenne des grands championnats européens), il existe encore. On n’avait marqué que deux fois de la sorte depuis le début de l’année, trois (jolis) buts avaient cette physionomie ce week-end. Le topo est simple : on balance un long ballon devant, tout le monde se précipite et là, place à la débrouillardise.

Le plus beau est celui de Pontius (DC United) contre New York : un dégagement mal négocié par la défense lui arrive dans les pieds et il déjoue l’arrière-garde adverse avant de marquer. Celui de Cummings (Colorado) contre Los Angeles est similaire : il récupère une longue balle de son arrière droit, elle aussi mal repoussée, et conclut de superbe manière.

Mais le but qui résume la journée est celui ci-dessous de Gaven (Columbus) contre Houston : kick and rush qui part d’un dégagement du gardien, passe décisive d’un défenseur et erreur combinée de la défense et du gardien. Tout y est…

Suivre @CoupFrancMLS

When a big-name sings the national anthem at a sporting event, there’s usually not much of a connection between the singer and the team they're singing for.

That will be far from the case with Brad Corrigan, the lead singer from famed indie-rock band Dispatch, who will be singing the national anthem Saturday when the Rapids battle the LA Galaxy at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park (9 pm EST, MLS LIVE). Corrigan has developed a friendship with several Rapids players after being a regular at Rapids games for years. And now, the Denver native will get the chance to sing in front of his friends and fellow fans Saturday night.

“I’ve always wanted to do this,” Corrigan told MLSsoccer.com this week. “I’ve been nervously excited all week. It will really be one of the highlights of my life.”

Corrigan’s passion for the Rapids began in earnest last year, when a mutual friend first introduced Rapids winger Wells Thompson to the singer. Over a cup of coffee, the two discussed Thompson’s honeymoon (Thompson got married last December), and Corrigan helped set Thompson up with a one-week vacation working with a non-profit group in Nicaragua.

“We just hit it off,” said Corrigan, who plans to attend several Rapids games this summer. “It’s just been fun. I couldn’t be more passionate about the Rapids and the guys.”

Corrigan’s friendships quickly extended beyond Thompson. Captain Pablo Mastroeni, a big Dispatch fan himself, got in touch with Corrigan as well, and now the two have also become good friends. Right back Kosuke Kimura is also a new friend of Corrigan’s. And who knows, by the end of the season, the whole team could be doing dinner at Corrigan’s house.

“They’re an awesome bunch of guys,” said Corrigan, who regularly speaks with Thompson, Mastroeni and Kimura.

While Corrigan has become a big Rapids fan -- he plans on attended 10 to 12 Rapids home games this summer -- Saturday’s national anthem rendition will be a warm up of sorts. On May 30th, Corrigan will take his talents to Landover, Md., to sing before the US men’s national team battles Brazil at FedEx Field.

But in the meantime, Corrigan will have to settle for singing in front of David Beckham, Landon Donovan and his new-found friends clad in burgundy. And he couldn’t be more excited.

“It’s an indescribable honor,” Corrigan said.

Chris Bianchi covers the Colorado Rapids for MLSsoccer.com.

Follow@chrisdbianchi

DISPATCH: ZIMBABWE - "GENERAL" - LIVE AT MADISON SQUAR

DISPATCH | Myspace Music Videos

With wins over Columbus, Philadelphia and Chicago in 3 of their first 4 games to start the 2012 MLS Season, Colorado seemed to be moving in the right direction. Unfortunately, that all came to a halt this past weekend when RSL ran rampant in the second half, possibly in part to a makeshift formation.

Drew Moor played midfield for the first time since I don’t know when and Tyrone Marshall filled in as if everything was just fine and dandy. Moor played alright – with 87 touches (second most among all players), winning nine of his 13 duels and completing 44 of 59 passes (75 percent). All in all, he was quite active.

Now let’s dig a little deeper and examine some graphics produced by the Opta Chalkboards that show Moor’s presence (in the defensive third), in every game so far this season. Let’s select clearances, blocks and interceptions by Moor in Colorado’s first five games and what Marshall did when he filled in vs RSL.

You can see what Marshall did – or didn’t do – against RSL (he has #34 inside his circles), but can you pick the corresponding image for Moor in that game as well?

If you haven’t guessed which graphic represents Moor’s production from the Real Salt Lake game, it’s the top right. Marshall’s clearances, blocks and interceptions vs RSL are shown in the bottom right image.

Put together the images from both players’ vs RSL and it still doesn’t equal the defensive production Drew Moor has had in any previous game this season.  Colorado has to make adjustments soon because Moor’s absence on the backline could prove to be quite costly over time.

(Image below) CBAI’s for Zapata, Marshall, Wynne and Kimura vs RSL

Playing Together? – Larentowicz and Moor’s Positioning vs RSL

As seen in the graphic below, Colorado lined up in a 4-5-1 formation with Drew Moor and Jeff Larentowicz playing as duel holding midfielders.

If this was the plan from Head Coach Oscar Pareja, everything went awry. After playing around with the Opta Chalkboards, you can see that Larentowicz and Moor played much different roles. The image below shows all passes completed by the two midfielders from box-to-box – Larentowicz on the left and Moor on the right.

Larentowicz seemed to play his normal role regardless, but Moor acted as if he was told to play right mid. How do players – that start the game in similar positions – end up with completely different outcomes?

New England Revoltion derrotó como visitante al flamante campeón de la MLS, LA Galaxy. San José hizo lo mismo en Seattle. Vancouver Whitecaps sigue invicto y no ha recibido un gol en contra hasta ahora… esta temporada ha sido simplemente impredecible.

Aun así, vamos a tratar.

A partir de la esta Jornada 5, el grupo de Tiro Libre: Kristel Valencia, el Gringo Simon Borg, nuestro productor (e incansable fan del Arsenal FC) Carlos Rodriguez, y yo ofreceremos nuestras predicciones de los partidos a jugarse cada fecha.

Tendremos aciertos y tendremos fallas, pero los invitamos a que nos acompañen en esta travesía y nos den sus predicciones cada semana por este medio o por Twitter en @FutbolMLS.

Siga@Futbol_MLS

¿Quién será el Walter Mercado del fútbol?

ESCUCHA: Víctor Bernárdez (SJ Earthquakes) y Olman Vargas (Columbus Crew) en Tiro Libre

JORNADA 5