We are staring at the quarter post of the 2015 season. The last two months were kind of a blur, but here are some impressions so far:
- Best Forward:Kei Kamara, Columbus Crew SC - Numbers, hold-up play, relentless physicality.
- Best Playmaker:Benny Feilhaber, Sporting KC - He'd have a shout at MVP if his team were higher up the standings.
- Best Winger:Fabián Castillo, FC Dallas - Devastating in the open field and now showing increased playmaking abilities.
- Best D-Mid:Perry Kitchen, D.C. United - By a nose over Dax McCarty. And yes, in my world, d-mids get their own award.
- Best Defender:Omar Gonzalez, LA Galaxy - Brings more to the table than any other central defender in the league.
- Best Fullback:Chris Tierney, New England Revolution - And it's actually not close.
- Best Goalkeeper:Tyler Deric, Houston Dynamo - He had that howler vs. Orlando and shipped four vs. Sporting, but I don't care. Dude's been legit.
- Best Coach: Jesse Marsch, New York Red Bulls - That's the MLS Digital bump.
Here's what I'm looking forward to this weekend:
1. No Love Lost
Way back in days of yore, back before Twitter and HD and MLS LIVE and Chromecast, there was a Little Fish. He'd flip and flop and occasionally knock the ball into the net, and almost everybody hated this little fish.
Especially in Houston:
I'm not glorifying Ricardo Clark's attempt to punt Carlos Ruiz into the sun. I'm sure nobody feels worse about it than Clark himself - especially since the subsequent nine-game suspension ruled him out of the rest of the 2007 regular season and playoffs, which included a second straight MLS Cup triumph for the Dynamo.
In the near-decade since that incident, FC Dallas and Houston have mostly been separated in the standings. When Houston was up, Dallas was down, and vice versa. Combine that reality with the fact that these two teams have spent the last four years in separate conferences, and you have a rivalry that's been at a perpetual simmer rather than brought to the type of rolling boil we see in places like California, Cascadia and the I-95 corridor.
On Friday night, when Dallas head to Houston (8 pm ET; UDN in US, MLS LIVE in Canada), the heat will be up. These two teams are together in the same conference for the first time since 2010, and this is their first meeing of the year. There are intra-conference points and state pride on the line. The winners put themselves in position to win artillery, which is the most Texas thing imaginable.
I'll also be watching … Castillo's been brilliant, but DaMarcus Beasley is quietly one of the most effective fullbacks in the league and won't get turned inside-out the way Colorado's defense did last week. I rarely watch games for the 1-v-1 match-ups. This one is an exception.
- UPDATE: Castillo torched Beasley and everyone else in orange as Dallas won, 4-1. Expect Owen Coyle to move back to the 4-5-1 next week as the 4-4-2 has proved slow and gappy in transition.
2. Home
Sporting KC have no chill. They go full-throttle for 90 minutes, even if they're not pressing as high as they did in their heyday and even if a lot of that running ends up leaving gaps for other teams to exploit. The 2013 version of Sporting were one of the best defensive teams I've ever seen in MLS; the 2015 version are second from bottom in goals conceded, ahead of only Philly.
KC are particularly vulnerable when chasing the game, something that's been eating them up since the middle of last summer. In their last 21 regular season games, going back to the start of August, they've conceded 34 goals; in the 21 before that, going back to the start of the 2014 season, they conceded 19.
Things haven't been nearly as bad in 2015, at least at home. They've only won once at home - The Last Act of Raïs Mbolhi - but have yet to lose, and they have danced the knife's edge without conceding the kind of soft, late goals that have killed them on the road.
Problem is, on Sunday they're playing a Chicago Fire team (5 pm ET; ESPN2, ESPN Deportes in US, TSN1 in Canada) that just loves to rope-a-dope. Only Vancovuer average more expected goals per game in transition, and bear in mind that the Fire have posted very, very good numbers, even with David Accam mostly missing or, at the very least, integrating.
It's tough to press and commit defensively when you know you're going to have to deal with that heading in the other direction. Chicago are the type of team that can give an over-extended Sporting group trouble.
I'll also be watching … Chicago are also the type of team that can send wide open looks into Row Z - their strikers can't score, so their offensive prowess is mostly theoretical at this point. That said, teams that produce good expected-goals totals tend to eventually break through and produce actual goals as well. The Fire have good underlying numbers these days, and a three-game winning streak.
3. New York, I Love You...
But you're bringing me down. NYCFC are on a six-game winless skid and have lost four of five. They've only conceded multiple goals once all year, but on the flip side, they've scored multiple goals just once.
Their underlying numbers are actually half decent. One of the things I look at with desperate teams is how many big chances they create, since that's a stat that tells a story of intent, chemistry and execution. On the basic boxscore, all chances are measured equally - there's no difference between a hopeful 30-yard blast that comes nowhere close and a wide-open look from inside the box that gets Rimando'd aside.
Opta thus divides chances into two pots: "chances" and "big chances." Generally speaking, the teams that are better at creating big chances do better in MLS (LA led the league last year, followed closely by Seattle).
Like I said, NYCFC have been half-decent on both counts. They're just not finishing the looks they do generate.
Oh, and they've been awful on set pieces:
It's hard to see them, on Sunday night (7pm ET; FOX Sports 1, FOX Deportes in US, TSN1 in Canada) getting a result from a Seattle team that have won three of four and seem tailor-made to play on that bowling-alley of a pitch at Yankee Stadium.
I'll also be watching …Cristian Roldan, back from US U-20 camp. I don't know if he'll start, but I sure hope he plays so the Hype Train can get started in earnest. He's really, really good, folks.
One more thing:
The journey to the top is long and arduous, and no trophies are won in May. Vancouver, D.C., New England, RBNY, Dallas and Seattle all have reason to be happy. None have reason to celebrate just yet.
