Welcome back to the Thursday Q&A series, where we focus on one particular topic – today's being the Supporters' Shield – and ask you to react, share, and discuss in the comments section. However, feel free to ask about anything game-related (MLS, USL, NASL, USMNT, CanMNT, etc.) over the next several hours.
And so it was. San Jose had scored five goals in their previous seven games combined, and then strolled into Sporting Park to dismantle the league leaders in points per game, a team that was unbeaten at home, a team that's one game away from their third piece of silverware in four seasons, and a team that typically rips apart 4-4-2 sides. The Quakes turned Sporting into a speed bump en route to a 5-0 win.
Rather than fixate on the how -- which can be summed up as "It's important to have a center forward who can hold the ball up, draw fouls and complete passes around the box, so tip your damn hat to Quincy Amarikwa" -- I'm going to spare a couple of sentences for what it actually means.
First: I think this severely dents Sporting's Supporters' Shield hopes. I had them as the favorites entering last night, and now put them third at best.
Yes, they have games in hand, but seven of their final 11 are on the road, and while SKC are are very good road team (their 1.2 road ppg is third-best in MLS), projecting them to keep up their season's current pace gives them only nine more road points on the year. Add in 10 home points -- which is generous, since their remaining home slate is FC Dallas, Seattle, Colorado and LA, only one of which looks like a certain win -- and they're on a pretty precarious 59 for the season.
That miiiiight get silverware, but probably not. If the Galaxy go 5-1-2 (anybody gonna bet against that with the way they've been playing?), they're also at 59 points; if Vancouver win six of their final nine (they have six home games, by the way), they're on 60. The Red Bulls are one point back of KC, but like Sporting they have games in hand and unlike Sporting those are home games against the weaker Eastern Conference.
I haven't spoken much about D.C. in this scenario because their remaining schedule is hard, they have CCL games to worry about, and they've been so hit-or-miss that it's difficult to see them maintaining their lead, even if they are still third overall in PPG.
If they hold serve at home vs. the Quakes this weekend, then go to Red Bull Arena and steal all three from RBNY on August 30, that obviously changes. But that game in Harrison will be United's fifth in 17 days, and Sporting showed what happens to tired teams last night.
Second: San Jose have seven of their final 10 at home, and seemed to hit on something with that classic 4-4-2 last night.
Given how well the partnerships worked up top and in central midfield, and the need for speed on the wings, we may have seen the last of the "Matias Perez Garcia is the focus of this team" era. And we may very well have seen the start of a significant playoff push.
Who amongst you, after all, is brave enough to bet against a Dom Kinnear team at this time of year?
Ok folks, thanks for helping me kill off another Thursday. See you next week!
