MLS Week 13 previewsSeattle and Real Salt Lake hit by World Cup absences Portland and Vancouver play Cascadia Cup Galaxy have Donovan and a winning streak Its week 13, and that can only mean more MLS action... and Concacaf Champions League draws... and Canadian Championships... and we are also contractually obliged to point out that other tournaments are available. Admittedly most of those alternatives are at the preamble stage, where 23 men are being wheeled around compounds wrapped in cotton wool trying to avoid last minute cruel wounds. Sadly for RSLs Alvaro Saborio, and Costa Rica, he was one of the unlucky ones, as a metatarsal injury suffered in training will not only keep him out of the World Cup, but out for the next four months for his club team. Given the injury to Luis Suarez of Uruguay, another England opponent, if Im Mario Balotelli, Im sitting really, really still right now. I think from Seattles side the Sounders are the team best equipped to deal with World Cup absences, mainly because of the two guys one, DeAndre Yedlin is directly replaceable by the guy whose right back spot on the World Cup roster he took Brad Evans. Evans hasnt played right back a lot for Seattle, but its something we know he can do at international level, and for the options to replace Yedlin at right back hes the one who offers the most continuity of style. Losing Clint Dempsey on the other hand, is a big deal. Both as a creative player and as a goalscorer hes an MVP frontrunner. The goals side is perhaps less of an issue with Kenny Cooper sliding into the offense and Obafemi Martins there as well the latters goals and assists this season mean hes an MVP candidate too. But without Dempsey its a good rather than great attack. It could be that the Fire was weakened by the absences of starters Mike Magee, Patrick Nyarko, and Lovel Palmer... or it could be that the Fire just isnt very good. The truth is probably a little from column A, a little from column B on that one. The wins in the previous two matches were not without their shaky moments, but in both instances there were enough Fire goals to make up the difference. Against the yellow team that wasnt the case. Defensive goofs by Greg Cochrane and Patrick Ianni both led directly to Crew goals and second-half subs werent able to mount any kind of comeback there wasnt even a forward on the bench to sub in. The very minor bright spots were Harry Shipp and Quincy Amarikwa working hard and Tottenham loanee Grant Ward showing decently in a half-hour cameo, his first MLS action. The LA Galaxy under Bruce Arena had that great peak period in 2010-11 where the team was essentially in first place for an entire two years. It was a great time and there was much rejoicing, but despite a second MLS Cup since then its been up and down in the regular season. A big reason for that is the same thing causing ups and downs this year: trying to keep a consistent starting XI. Getting Donovan back was big in getting the Galaxy past the double match week hump. However Omar Gonzalez is still out, Robbie Keane is leaving in a week, Todd Dunivant has been injured half the season, his backup had to have major surgery, Marcelo Sarvas suffered a training knock. Its been rough. Portland took an unusual route to Sundays Cascadia Cup game against Vancouver by using a mostly reserve line-up on Wednesday night at Chivas USA. Having come from behind against Red Bull last weekend, thanks to a Maxi Urruti brace, Caleb Porters Timbers arrived in Los Angeles with eight changes to the starting XI. Though the game took a while to get going, Porters gamble paid off as on-loan striker Fanendo Adi scored twice in the second half to give Portland its first ever back-to-back road wins in the four-year MLS era. Meanwhile, the 2-0 win represented the Timbers first clean sheet of 2014. Porter will transition back to the regular starting group, including Darlington Nagbe and Diego Valeri who made substitute appearances against Chivas. Valeri assisted on Adis second goal and is finally rounding into form. Defensive issues persist and there is a chance Norberto Paparatto, back in the starting XI for the first time since early April, could miss the game due to a suspected concussion. But the team is riding high after winning its second and third games of the season and are ready to get themselves back above the playoff line. ... ...read more
Posted on: Fri, 30 May 2014 13:02:37 +0000
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