the league champs are winless in their first four -- involved just a little more athleticism than Casey's. The RSL man's first might have looked like a simple put-back from close range. But look closer and you'll see that the young striker wasn't in the best position as the ball bounced quickly toward him inside the Crew six-yard box. Findley had to leap fast and, perhaps channeling Jackie Chan, got his left leg high enough to push a ball past Crew goalkeeper William Hesmer.
Believe it: plenty of starting strikers in MLS wouldn't have the foot speed and body control to stick that one home.
Later, Hesmer clearly goofed in presenting the ball to the surprised Findley. But from there the RSL striker's quick thinking and composure helped him gather up No. 2 on the night.
Athleticism was again the key on Findley's third as he rose high to accept Yura Movsisyan's cross from the left. It might look easy to push an unchallenged header over the line from a few yards out, but ask some others around the league if such begging opportunities really are such gimmes? Inaccurate finishing in similar places have kept plenty of others from putting a bigger stamp on matches, including reigning league MVP Guillermo Barros Schelotto, who will rue a diving header gone awry in the waning moments of his team's loss Sunday to Chivas USA.
Casey's hat trick didn't involve as much pure athleticism. Rather, his work was all the stuff of "right place, right time." And that's not as easy as it sounds, either.
Getting into the right spots is a big part of the equation for strikers. It takes dogged commitment, because for every big run into the penalty area that results in a chance there were probably three or four mad sprints into space that are never rewarded with service.
Early recognition and subsequent strong runs into the penalty area were keys to all three Casey goals in a 3-2 road win against L.A., including the second fastest in MLS history, bending the Galaxy net and breaking Galaxy spirit just 16 seconds into Saturday's match.
(I could write nonstop until Thursday about all the mistakes along the Galaxy back line on all three of the goals, but for now we'll focus on hat trick heroes and red card villains.)
MLS matches last year saw one card issued about every 3.5 matches (or, one ejection in about 28 percent of the games).
So a full round of matches (eight) that includes four referees going to the back pocket qualifies as quite high on the red factor. The Galaxy's Dema Kovalenko, D.C. United's Jaime Moreno, Chicago's John Thorrington and Columbus' Andy Iro were all shown red -- and it's really difficult to argue much with any of them.
Only Moreno's ejection may shade a bit to the harsh side. Still, he took down Houston's Brad Davis from behind, and the D.C. United vet really had zero chance at making a clean tackle as he chased the Houston midfielder. Any player who tackles from behind knows there's at least a chance that he'll get an early shower.
Kovalenko can't complain about his sixth career ejection. His cleats-up lunge was potentially injurious for Colorado's Omar Cummings. Same for Iro's dangerous stab at Chivas USA defender Carey Talley, who seems lucky to be walking today without a broken ankle.
Thorrington did injure the Red Bulls' Macoumba Kandji, once again underlining the risk of tackles from behind. It wasn't a particularly violent challenge, but was red-card worthy because the Fire midfielder represented the last defender on the play as Kandji rushed in on goal.
Finally, still on the subject of statistical oddities, consider a couple of the historical precedents expansion Seattle Sounders FC established in Saturday's 2-0 road win at BMO.
Toronto is in its third year of existence, and the Canadians have yet to post three consecutive clean sheets. Real Salt Lake needed 106 games before getting to a place where it could post three consecutive shutouts.
Seattle has done it in their first three matches, which is nothing short of befuddling. Really, who would have predicted such a thing?
And consider Sounders FC's perfect start, with nine points in three matches: That hasn't happened in MLS since 2006, when the Kansas City Wizards began the campaign by gathering all nine points. (Chivas USA has done the same in 2009, but obviously is not an expansion outfit.)
Seattle's amazing launch continues to be the most arresting of stories in Major League Soccer's 14th season.
TACTICAL CORNER
• Credit Steve Nicol for the weekend's dandiest coaching maneuver.
His team struggled to keep possession early against FC Dallas, which was transitioning fast into its offense and turning all those possession changes into chances. Schellas Hyndman's group held a 7-2 edge in shots on goal at intermission, not bad at all for a visiting team without a point in the standings.
So Nicol adjusted out of the 4-4-2 that has worked so well this year, subtracting a defender in favor of Steve Ralston. The veteran playmaker was getting his first minutes on the field of 2008, and what a difference he made.
Ralston played behind the Revs' two strikers in the role that has suited him so well over the last couple of seasons. His presence there Saturday changed the game in two big ways.
First, New England's possession improved dramatically. Ralston is one of the league's best at instantly calculating when to play safe and simple, or when to try something more risky. The result is that he almost always manages to keep possession for his team or turn the sequence into a goal-scoring chance.
Secondly, it gave Dallas something else to deal with defensively. Left midfielder Dave van den Bergh had tormented the Revs to that point, supplying a stream of shots and crosses from his side. But as van den Bergh had to drift back and to the inside to help holding midfielder Pablo Ricchetti deal with the extra man, his presence in the FCD attack dwindled. Dallas adjusted eventually, but not before the Revs found their equalizer. Ralston later hit the game-winner from the 12-yard spot.
• Findley and Yura Movsisyan are among the fastest pair of forwards in the league. And they may be the best at pressuring the opposition back four. That can rattle defenders and give them something to think about other than stepping into the passing channels and winning balls. It certainly seemed to unnerve the Crew defense somewhat in last Thursday's nationally televised match.
• Even as the Houston Dynamo started out sluggishly in 2008, the defense remained reasonably solid. Not completely water-tight, perhaps, but reliable. It was the offense that let down the team through the first few rounds last year.
But things look a little different for Dominic Kinnear's men this time around. Wade Barrett, Geoff Cameron and Bobby Boswell all have had their struggles through three rounds. In Saturday's loss to United, Boswell made a mess of a fairly benign ball played into the Dynamo penalty area. Luciano Emilio pounced opportunistically for the game's only goal.
The Dynamo are just 1-5-5 in all competitions going back to the end of last season.
• Galaxy rookie Omar Gonzalez will surely remember Saturday night for reasons good and bad. He got his first MLS goal, which will always be a fond recollection. After that, however, so much was going wrong all along the Galaxy back line, some involving the Galaxy rookie, but with plenty of blame to go around. And even in the good moments, he had his hands full with the in-form Casey; their little battles throughout the match were fun to watch, as it was always Gonzalez moving toward Casey with fellow Galaxy center back Tony Sanneh providing the cover.
• Add midfielder Kyle Patterson and defender George John to the growing list of rookie starters in what is surely a landmark class for first-year MLS pros.
Patterson played on the Galaxy's left side while Eddie Lewis was stationed at left back. Presumably, Lewis will be back into his former spot in the midfield at some point. But for Lewis' first action since recovering from offseason injury, manager Bruce Arena adjudged that Patterson could better perform the required midfield running, while Lewis would be called on for less two-way work at fullback.
John's first minutes came at center back alongside Drew Moor as Dallas attempted to shore up its back line issues. The University of Washington rookie was mostly in the right places, although he was whistled for a penalty kick late as the Revs' Kheli Dube went down near goal.
• Tim Ward, who has been a revelation at right back for the Fire during Brandon Prideaux's absence, moved into a central midfield role for Chicago as the 10-man Fire made second-half adjustments Sunday against the struggling Red Bulls. Ward played alongside Logan Pause and the pair more than held its own against the Red Bulls' central pairing, Jorge Rojas and Luke Sassano.
• The Red Bulls desperately need a stabilizer and organizer in that central area. Perhaps Albert Celades can be the man now that his visa issues are sorted out. Otherwise, striker Juan Pablo Angel drifts further and further back to help claim and retain possession, and that significantly limits his effectiveness in getting into dangerous areas closer to the opponent's goal.
Kandji's ability to make trouble for opposing defenders is one of the few things the Red Bulls had going their way in 2009. Now he's hurt, having left early with an ankle sprain courtesy of Thorrington's red-card challenge.
• Columbus' attack seems to be going more direct this year. One possible explanation: Emmanuel Ekpo continues to look less than comfortable in the middle. The Crew miss someone like Brad Evans (who went to Seattle in the expansion draft) to act as a conduit between the primary attackers and the defenders or holding midfielder Brian Carroll. The way it's working now (or, more precisely, not working) Guillermo Barros Schelotto seems to see less of the ball.
Steve Davis is a freelance writer who has covered Major League Soccer since its inception. Steve can be reached at BigTexSoccer@yahoo.com. The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author's, and not necessarily those of Major League Soccer or MLSnet.com.
