First, a bit of housekeeping: It appears likely, though it has not been confirmed, that the weekend's results mean the LA Galaxy have joined the Seattle Sounders in qualifying for the 2015-16 edition of the CONCACAF Champions League:
That's Wondo's third lay-up against Portland in the last two games, and they did their damnedest to give him a fourth:
It's safe to say that "Keep track of Wondo on the back post" was somewhere in the scouting report.
Portland have the third-best attack in the league with 56 goals, behind only Seattle and LA. But those two teams are talking trophies instead of fighting for their playoff lives because they've (more or less) done the little things right on both sides of the ball.
3. Best of the East?
As I wrote last week, I'm a pretty big believer in D.C. Their team is a good balance of young and old, they have three productive forwards, they're getting all kinds of help in the attacking third from overlapping fullbacks, and their wings are pretty consistently dangerous.
But... I actually think the two best teams in the East right now are New England and Columbus. There's just a bit more flexibility and ability to use the ball as both showed in what turned into a 2-1 win for the Revs on Saturday at Foxborough.
Columbus had won the previous encounter between the two teams by 1-0 thanks in large part to their dominance in the central midfield. Wil Trapp and Tony Tchani have been more than a match for just about everybody over the last couple of months, and are ably helped by either Federico Higuain dropping back to add a third fulcrum or by Justin Meram pinching in and carrying the ball diagonally across multiple lines of defenders.
When the Crew were able to shape the game in that way against the Revs, they were the better team. Jay Heaps, however, has read his Sun Tzu: Know the enemy, and know yourself.
Here's how busy the Revs were in central midfield in the loss two weeks back:
Didn't work. So here's how they approached the game this weekend:
Get the hell out of the middle at all costs!
On paper Jermaine Jones and Scott Caldwell are a match for Tchani and Trapp, but going head to head against them in that section of the field is just not a good tactical choice. So Heaps did the smart thing, unleashing Jones to roam from flank to flank and create overloads while daring Tchani to come chase after him.
It worked – though just barely. Even with the new Revs tactics, better finishing from the Crew could have had them up 2- or 3-1 before Jones found the late winner.
A few more things to ponder...
10. Sporting KC went to D.C. on Friday night and got themselves a scoreless draw. It's the first time in three months they've shut out anybody (except Chivas), and while I'm not willing to say "the champs are 100 percent back," it's worth remembering how good this team has been defensively over the last few years.
9. A night before that saw the Philadelphia Union's season pretty much end. Amobi Okugo got what looked like a late game-winner, and then Rais M'Bolhi coughed up what's likely to be remembered as the gaffe of the year, which you can watch HERE.
It made for a 1-1 final, left the Union four points out of the final East playoff spot with three games to play, and gave us this delightful Face of the Week winner from M'Bolhi:
Philly have a small sliver of hope, though, because the Crew lost both Higuain and Waylon Francis to yellow card accumulation in the New England game.
8. The Fire broke the record for draws in a season at Philly, getting their 17th. They then extended it on Sunday, playing to a scoreless draw for their 18th tie in 31 games.
7. Toronto FC are riding in the commodore's lounge on that "sliver of hope" boatfollowing a 3-0 throttling by the Galaxy, which was noteworthy for Landon Donovan setting the career assist record.
For TFC it was noteworthy for Jermain Defoe's return to the field. If he can provide even 80 percent of what he brought to the table before his injury, the Reds are significantly more dangerous. Their game in hand comes this Wednesday against Houston, and if they win, they'll leap above the red line into fifth place based on the first tiebreaker (total wins).
6. Donovan got the record on a secondary assist, which rubbed some folks on Twitter and elsewhere the wrong way. But please look at it and appreciate how well it encapsulates him as a player: touch away from the pressure; acceleration with the ball into space; third-line pass through a backpedaling defense; perfect weight for the overlapping wide player to serve in a one-touch cross:
There are other players in the league who can make this play, but what's separated Donovan is that he makes this play – the fundamentally sound play combining touch, speed and vision – with machine-like precision. He also made the fundamentally sound run into the box afterward, and was just as available for the cross as Keane.
He's been doing all this for 14 years, and we're into the final month(s). Appreciate him before he's gone.
5. Blue Steel:
4. Let's appreciate Thierry Henry as well, because he's still a boss. His goal was the game-winner in New York's crucial 1-0 win over Houston, and he was only in position for the tap-in because of his 50-yard sprint to the back post. Watch it HERE.
3. RSL had 75 percent of the possession, completed nearly 500 passes, took 13 shots... and put one on target in Sunday's stunning 1-0 loss to Chivas. RSL have somehow managed to lose twice to the Goats this year.
The two teams will meet one last time, on October 22.
2. The only other team to drop points to Chivas since July are Vancouver,whose 2-0 win over Dallas was well-earned. Like Columbus, the 'Caps do a lot of things right in central midfield. Like Columbus, they switch the point of attack like champs.
Like Columbus, their lack of an elite finisher is what separates them from the better & best teams in the league. There are only so many times you can expect Sebastian Fernandez to win a header on the back post.
1. We'll end with an elite finisher claiming our Pass of the Week:
Dempsey, in the words of Bruce Arena, "tries sh*t." And it is simply glorious when he pulls it off.
