and counting.
LAGERWAY IN CHARGE: TV and radio broadcasters don't just show up and start talking. The good ones don't, anyway.
So new Real Salt Lake general manager Garth Lagerway feels pretty well versed on league personnel matters. Lagerway was an attorney in D.C., but moonlighted as United's analyst for TV broadcasts.
So not only did he feel compelled to know the ins and outs of rosters around MLS, he also did all the extra homework. That is, he had candid, sometimes off the record, conversations with players, coaches and general managers. From those talks, Lagerway says he absorbed a healthy knowledge of the existing player pool.
And his day job as an attorney at Latham & Watkins always helped him gain a good understanding of the MLS single-entity concept. Plus, don't forget, he served under six different coaches during a four-year playing career that ended in 2000.
QUESTIONS ABOUT "QUESTIONABLE": Players are increasingly coming up missing on match day this year, with little notice that they were injured at all. Recently, Red Bulls defender Carlos Mendes didn't play last week against Chicago, apparently ailing, although he never appeared on the club's injury report.
For the record, the league does require teams to report injuries twice a week. Further, MLS does have standardized criteria for players who are "out," "doubtful", "questionable", or "probable".
TALKING SUBS: Nobody will question whether a fresh Bakary Soumare has more in his legs than a tired Cuauhtemoc Blanco. Soumary, an emerging rookie midfielder, is about 12 years younger than his Chicago Fire teammate.
What does make for lively debate, however, is the value of late-game tactical subs. Better to introduce the hard-working defensive legs or keep the veteran wile on the pitch?
Soumare entered Thursday's match against FC Dallas in the 83rd minute. Fire boss Juan Carlos Osorio had clearly gone defensive much earlier. (Actually, on the road under Osorio, the teams deploys quite defensively from the opening whistle.)
FC Dallas pressed and managed to find the 93rd minute equalizer. With Chicago clinging so desperately to that final playoff spot, who knows if the two points stripped away by Carlos Ruiz's late goal will figure massively in the final accounting?
Would Blanco's presence have helped? The Fire definitely had trouble keeping possession late as Dallas attacked in waves.
Go back about a month. Columbus held ever so tenuously to 1-0 lead at Houston. Crew manager Sigi Schmid removed offensive linchpin Guillermo Barros Schelotto, one of the Crew's best at holding possession, off in favor of the younger Danny Szetela.
Dynamo nailed the equalizer three minutes later.
PAYING UP FOR THE YELLOWS: It's the time of year where yellow card suspensions are not only adding up, but they are affecting the playoff races. Chicago travels to D.C. United this week, always a tough trip. On the other hand, the Fire won't have to deal with Fred, Christian Gomez and Ben Olsen, who are all suspended for an accumulation of cautions. Dallas won't have center back Clarence Goodson, who is having his best season, on Sunday in Los Angeles. Neither will Chivas USA have glue-guy Jesse Marsch to hold down the midfield when Kansas City visits.
Now check out a partial list of players who will sit out following their next yellow card: Jeff Larentowicz, Shalrie Joseph, Andrew Boyens, Tyrone Marshall, Jimmy Conrad, Jack Jewsbury, Eddie Johnson, Juan Toja, Carlos Ruiz, Dasan Robinson, Gonzalo Segares, Diego Gutierrez, Joseph Ngwenya and Ryan Cochrane.
LATE STRIKES NOTHING NEW IN TEXAS: FC Dallas just barely squeezed out a point Thursday against Chicago, manufacturing a 93rd minute equalizer. That was the fourth time this season Dallas has earned points with stoppage time goals. They also did so in April against Real Salt Lake as Carlos Ruiz struck late to pull even. Dominic Oduro's 93rd minute effort nipped RSL by a 1-0 score in June. And Clarence Goodson's 92nd-minute goal earned all three points for his club last month against Columbus.
