Trio of MLS Games this Weekend

Somehow amidst the Mother's Day celebrations, working in the yard and playing with the kid I was able to find time to watch not one, not two but 3 MLS games over the weekend. Normally that is cause for concern as no one would want to be subjected to that. However the trio of games I got to see were not like the rest.

First, on Friday night I watched the inaugural installment of Soccer Night in America on FSC. The Philadelphia Union traveled across country to take on the Portland Timbers. From my point of view, this was akin to Rangers-Flyers. Simply put, I hate both teams. Yet somehow once the game started, I actually found myself rooting for Philly. Those are words that have never come out of my mouth before. I feel kind of dirty, like I should take another shower this morning. Anyways, the game was an interesting one in that the two teamshad totally contrasting styles. In front of their home crowd, Portland essentially runs around on offense like a chicken with their heads cut off (thanks Martino for that one). It is nonstop. Philly on the other hand has such little interest in offense that I have to wonder if the mob has some sort of dirty photos of them all if they score.

A few additional notes about the game:

• Sebastian LeToux looks like the 2009 version rather than the 2010 version. It makes me wonder if he simply can't play with a partner up top. The obvious response would be to blame Carlos Ruiz, but I think it goes deeper than that. I think Seba needs to feel like he has full reign up top. Now with more options around him he is actually worse.
• For all the hoopla about the Timbers Army, I saw a lot of empty seats on Friday night. The actual fan club is without a doubt hardcore, but one has to wonder if the rest of the stadium is in to it.
• Portland is now 4-0 at home. I have watched three of the games and can't say I have been overly impressed with them. They feed off the energy of the crowd and have scroed some goals in transition and off of set pieces. While the Sounders should have the advantage heading into this weekends game, I am totally scared. Simply put, Portland so far has done everything needed to get results - something the Sounders often can't do. Add in that John Spencer will have the boys fired up and it is going to be scary

Next, on to Columbus where the Sounders played the Crew Saturdy afternoon. I don't really have much of a review of this game as it always seems that I pay less attention when watching on tv. If you read the Sounders blogs most people feel like we fortunate to get a point...that Columbus was the better team on the day. I somewhat agree but ultimately feel letdown any time we blow an early 1-0 lead. Call me crazy, but even with 3 games in 9 days, I feel like this team has the defensive depth not to give up that lead. I know that guys like Montero, Jaqua and Alvaro can't go a full 90 (especially with how thin we are at midfield all of a sudden), but there should be no excuse for the backline. Following the blowout against Toronto, I thought we were in a great position to collect points against what I consider to be two of the weaker teams in the league, yet we only come home with 1 point from 2 games. If we somehow don't get points this weekend I will inch ever closer to the panic button.

A few other notes from the game:

• I thought the shale jerseys were kind of cool looking. The Wife loved the green adidas stripes. I liked how XBOX looked on them (for some reason it just looks strange on the green ones). We both still hate the sports bra look.
  
• Ozzie Alonso continues to be my boy. I mean, if the man crush wasn't there before, it is even more now. He is the only player besides Keller to play all 270 minutes this past week. He was certainly less effective down the stretch, but remains the heart and soul of this team
• Kasey Keller came up with some HUGE saves in not the best climate. His save of a free kick in the 92nd minute will get the most pub, but to me, his best two saves were against a low hard shot but Eddie Gaven in the 10th minute and a breakaway save against Robbie Rogers in the 32nd minutes. After a few hiccups last year, he seems to be back.

Finally, the weekend ended with the marquee event - New York at Los Angeles. It was billed as a battle of stars - Henry, Marquez, DeRosario vs Donovan, Beckham, Angel and for once it did not disappoint. I know I am borrowing this from Ives, but the first 45 minutes were easily the best soccer this league has seen. Beckham looked to have gotten in a time machine as he was in my opinion the best player on the field. Henry scored early and played with a chip on his shoulder the whole game. It wasn't the Lothar Matteus "I am better than this league" chip but rather the "How dare you all question me" chip. No offense meant to Donovan or Marquez, but just having Henry and Beckham fulyl engaged was enough to lift the quality of the match.

A few additional thoughts:

• My favorite part of the game was easily when Donovan and Henry started trash talking after Donovan's goal. It started off as an embrace between the two and then quickly turned sour after Donovan took offense to something Henry said. A few minutes later, Henry took down Donovan and then failed in helping him off the ground. The Wife asked why they were in the same part of the field...simple answer - Henry was interested and tracked back on defense. A few minutes later he took down Beckham. Their was clearly some heat between the two teams. It was stuff that even the biggest soccer bashers would have enjoyed.
• Chad Barrett was the only player on the field that would not start for any other MLS team. Simply put, both teams are stacked. Only down side was that Teemo Tainio was injured and missed the game. I have been hearing a lot of positive things about his presence on the field.
• Donovan was a little too cool with his finish after beating Condoul late in the first. Credit Tim Ream for never giving up and clearing the ball off the line at the last possible second.
• I want to give credit to the other big names involved in this game not mentioned above: Ream, Omar Gonzalez and Juan Agudelo, all future USMNT starters; Juninho; Donovan Ricketts; Luke Rodgers. Just crazy talent all over the field

I think the opportunity to watch three games in one weekend will present itself again, but next time I fully expect it to be along the lines of Sounders, DC-NE and Tor-Columbus, or in other words nothing to write home about. Oh well, such is life in MLS (where only 6-8 teams are watchable)