Welcome to another edition of "Discuss," in which MLSsoccer.com editors, writers and contributors debate the topics of the moment in MLS. This time around, we ask: Who's more important to his team -- the Portland Timbers' Diego Valeri or the Seattle Sounders' Nicolas Lodeiro?
It's the perfect time to raise that question, with the two sides squaring off Sunday in Seattle (2:30 pm ET | FOX, FOX Deportes).
Editor-in-Chief Simon Borg, Senior Editors Andrew Wiebe and Ben Couch, Senior Writer Matthew Doyle, and Contributors Sam Stejskal and Steve Brisendine give their takes on the playmaker who makes the biggest plays.
Wiebe: There Can Be Only One
Diego Valeri is the Timbers’ on-field soul, the beating heart of the club to which he’s dedicated his personal and professional future. I’m not sure you can say the same about Lodeiro. Both are game-changers,
only one is Diego Valeri.
Brisendine: I'm no Homer, but ...
... I've read enough of "The Iliad" to know this is how wars get started. Someone rolls out a golden soccer ball marked "To the Most Valuable," and the next thing you know a bunch of guys with swords are climbing out of a big wooden horse -- or, this being Cascadia, a big wooden craft brewer or something. Anyway ... my head says "Lodeiro," because look at the numbers from last year, when he showed up and Seattle suddenly got good. But my head also says "Valeri," because it's looking more and more as though teams are able to figure Lodeiro out on repeated looks and Valeri shows fewer signs of that happening. All of which is to say,
Valeri until proven otherwise over the long haul.
Borg: Rosters tell the story
Here’s one way to answer the question: Which of the two teams would fall farthest should either one of these players disappear from his respective starting XI? There’s no doubt in my mind that it’d be Seattle because Lodeiro is the one player on the Sounders’ roster who can connect the midfield with the forward line. The Timbers could get by with Darlington Nagbe or Sebastian Blanco carrying those duties.
There’s no replacement for Lodeiro’s quality in Seattle.
Stejskal: Before and After
Sure, Valeri is the Timbers' "soul" and looks like he'll be a Portland lifer. That's great. Good feelings all around. But Seattle were 6-12-2 before Lodeiro showed up last year. After he arrived? They closed the regular season by going 8-2-4 to shockingly qualify for the playoffs and then ran all the way to their first MLS Cup, with
Lodeiro notching eight goals and eight assists in 19 total games. I'll take that guy.
Doyle: Team Nope
I refuse to pick between these two.
Because asado and chivito are equally awesome. We don't need to rank everything, we can appreciate greatness in any context.
Couch: 2015 > 2016
Uh … we all saw MLS Cup 2015, right? Sure, Lodeiro’s penalty in last-season’s shootout kept Seattle alive for
Roman Torres
’ winner and the ensuing bedlam, but without Valeri’s daring, alert application of the scouting report 27 seconds in against Crew SC, that match in Columbus carries a different tenor throughout. Everything on-field about that man is encapsulated by that play.
Also, he’s San Valeri in Portland
. Lodeiro’s off to a great start, but #cmonson
