Armchair Analyst: On the radar for Week 17 of the 2015 MLS season

Love wins:

Now let's talk some soccer:

1. The Rising

You know Boniek Garcia, because it seems like he's been playing in World Cup qualifiers and Gold Cups for Honduras for about the past 70 years or so. And if you pay some attention to the Dynamo, you probably know Luis Garrido as well. The young d-mid was quietly one of the best mid-season additions in MLS in 2014, helping shield the back line and in the process giving the Dynamo a puncher's chance down the stretch of what had been, up until August, a plane crash of a season.

There is a third Honduran on the roster in Texas, one you may have forgotten about or never even seen play. His name is Alex López, he came in two years ago as a Designated Player (he no longer holds that tag) and he was singularly unable to play himself off the bench and into previous coach Dominic Kinnear's good graces. (If you're not sure who he is, it's understandable. He wears No. 15 and 'Alex' on the back of his jersey, similar to spring acquisition and Houston's No. 14, Alex.)

That has changed this season under new head coach Owen Coyle. López isn't yet an "every minute, every game" type of player, but he's become an efficient chance creator from midfield, usually playing on one wing or the other:

López, by most accounts, came into camp this year fitter and more dedicated to helping defensively - which is sometimes hilarious to watch, because he's not yet particularly good at that part of the game. But he's trying, and so Coyle is giving him enough run to see if maybe this is one of the guys Houston will build around going forward as Boniek, Brad Davis and Ricardo Clark approach their expiration dates.

Bear in mind that the numbers above tell only part of the story. Davis' touches are higher, for example, because he pinches in from the wing so much in order to help in possession. López and Boniek do that on occasion, but have usually been asked to push higher into the attack.

It'll be interesting to see how Coyle lines his team up in Friday night's MLS Heineken Rivalry Week encounter with FC Dallas (9pm ET; UniMás, UnivisionDeportes.com). The veterans are almost all available (Boniek is gone for the Gold Cup, but Davis is back from injury and Giles Barnes and Jermaine Taylor don't leave until next week), so it's not like the manager has no other choices. If he does start López, however, it could signal the continuation of a generational shift in Houston, with a valuable indicator that a guy who was once a bust is now expected to produce big moments in the biggest games.

I'll also be watching… FCD's Victor Ulloa is the most under-hyped Homegrown Player in the league, I think. Part of that is his role and how he plays it: He is a deep-lying midfielder who is too often content to hit square balls and often doesn't show enough confidence in his ability to play quickly through traffic or out to the wings.

• Update: Lopez and the Dynamo fell 2-0 to what looked like a rejuvenated Dallas team. Ulloa played perhaps his best game of the season, and his more aggressive passing freed up Mauro Diaz and Fabian Castillo to play higher and be more dangerous.

2. Classic Conflict

Stanford Stadium is awesome and has produced some of the most fun (funnest?) moments in recent MLS history. Yeah, I'm thinking about this goal from Alan Gordon, or the move from Marvin Chavez that led up to it (notice how he's smiling at the start of the clip? THIS is why); or the absolute madness that happened in 2012. All those links are worth clicking, kids. I put them there for a reason.

But here's my favorite:

Look, the Galaxy are just buzzsawing teams at the moment. Robbie Keane is back and healthy, and the value of that should be patently obvious to anyone who's ever watched a game of soccer; Robbie Rogers is also back and healthy, and the width he provides on the overlap is an underappreciated part of how LA create enough space for their pure attackers to work; Juninho is roaming around central midfield scoring goals and hitting ridiculous passes.

But who's out there, ready to go toe-to-toe with a mascot? Maybe it'll be new guy Sebastian Lletget, who has some of King David's sartorial sense:

Lletget has been nothing short of awesome since joining up with LA last month. He will most likely start on Saturday (10:30 pm ET; MLS LIVE), and San Jose will have to task someone with keeping an especially close eye on him. Even if it's a giant, fuzzy, blue space alien.

I'll also be watching...#TomThomHypeTrain klaxon, maybe? Everybody's waiting for the big breakthrough for San Jose's Homegrown attacker to happen, and there's really no better stage than this.

3. Paint the Town

NYCFC are unbeaten in four, and while there are myriad factors at play, none is bigger than the improved job Andrew Jacobson has done at playing as a true d-mid in the way he shields the back line and distributes. It's been a learning curve for him (d-mid is a very different role than box-to-box destroyer), but his game has started to round into shape, and the butterfly effect is that NYCFC's midfield is also rounding into shape.

Here's their network passing graph from their win over Toronto FC last weekend:

The thickness of the lines between players indicates the number of passes exchanged, while the position on the template is the average position of their aggregated touches, as measured by Opta.

You can see that while the rest of the midfield tends to lean left, Jacobson (4) holds a more central position and quite obviously doesn't get anywhere near as high.

It's Beckerman-esque in terms of form, but functionally it's a little bit different since it's actually the fullbacks - Chris Wingert and R.J. Allen - who are doing most of the distribution work. Jason Kreis is having his team funnel play down one sideline or the other, with Jacobson as a safety net.

Three wins in a row says it's working, and the attempt at No. 4 comes on Sunday evening in the Bronx against the New York Red Bulls (4:30pm ET, ESPN, ESPN Deportes, WatchESPN, TSN5).

I'll also be watching …Sean Davis played two games in RBNY's midfield last week and walked away with a goal and an assist. My guess is the Homegrown rookie keeps his spot in the starting lineup. 

4. Missing In Action

No Clint Dempsey, no Obafemi Martins, no Liam Ridgewell. At the very least.

So yeah, a lot of the fizz has kind of gone out of the Cascadia Derby that's Sunday's nightcap when Portland host Seattle (7pm ET, FOX Sports 1, FOX Deportes, FOX Sports GO, TSN2). There will no doubt be lingering bad blood and resentment from that epic US Open Cup match last week (what are the chances this one ends with 22 men on the field?), but there's no denying the amount of quality that will be watching from elsewhere.

Seattle haven't found any answers yet, going goalless in 180 minutes since the bust-up, and while some of the build-up play has been nice, the final, killer pass has been lacking.

Enter Victor Mansaray. I hope:

The 18-year-old has been lights-out for S2 in USL play and has gotten sporadic MLS minutes already. Is he ready to do it for 90 in the cauldron that is Providence Park? It's a big ask, but nobody else has stepped up to fill the Oba/Deuce void. Time to give the kid a shot.

I'll also be watching … The weak spot for Seattle's defense is at right back, where Tyrone Mears is often more aggressive than he perhaps should be. Caleb Porter has a choice in how to approach this: Move Darlington Nagbe to left wing and have him invert, drawing Mears inside to open up the flank for overlaps by Jorge Villafaña; or start Rodney Wallace at left wing and have him hug the touchline, then try to get into the space Mears leaves behind him, and in the process drag the entire Seattle defense out of alignment.

It'll be an interesting tactical decision.

It's hot.

Happy rivalry weekend, everybody.