With top-notch European football playing meaningless exhibitions at this point in the calendar, we here at IMOTGP have decided to focus on the top-flight of United States football, the MLS. We may actually attend a big game in the league next weekend!
So the blog spent plenty of time this weekend watching matches and highlights - so you didn't have to - and we will begin with a discussion of the jewel of the Pacific Northwest, the Seattle Sounders - who were reportedly on the pitch Sunday in Kansas City. Of course, it was hard to notice them outside of the fact that their green uniforms stood out since they barely got close to the ball and should have been walloped by seven or eight goals rather than the 3-0 scoreline thanks to MLS-quality finishing by Sporting.
Now the debate is raging on whether the big German himself, Sigi Schmid, will be gone. Of course, we wish another German-born coach was out of the United States, but that's for another blog post. This is about Schmid, who has won MLS Cup with the Galaxy and Crew. He has not won it with fancied Seattle and the Sounders are bad, folks. They have a bunch of aging players who are wilting in the heat while Jordan Morris has been solid as a rookie but has botched some recent chances.
Seattle is an awful team, no two ways about it. They looked even worse Sunday than the Chicago Fire, a club that is winless in its last 35 MLS league road matches. We say Schmid should stay and the Sounders need to clean house since one Argentine superstar isn't enough to turn around their woes.
WHINING NYC HUMBLED YET AGAIN BY RED BULLS: Order was restored Sunday in the New York derby as the Red Bulls (Salzburg) thrashed NYC FC (Man City) by a 4-1 score that wasn't indicative of how lopsided this mismatch was.
Now this wasn't the greatest MLS match ever but it was intense, with NYC coach Patrick Vieira sent to the stands. Vieira and Red Bulls coach Jesse Marsch don't exactly get along, and the NYC coach foolishly and pathetically blamed the loss on missed offsides calls afterward.
Those of you who tuned out early with the Red Bulls romping missed some fun stuff near the finish. There was Frank Lampard NFL-style tackling Sacha Kljestan and accusing the Red Bulls star of showboating. Kljestan responded by letting Lampard know the score. Lampard was assessed the first of four NYC yellow cards in a five-minute span with Federico Bravo and David Villa foolishly getting themselves suspended for the next match, and Ethan White getting sent off. Afterwards the NYC players continued to whine and complain, showcasing yet again they are a useless fake club!
As an impartial blogger, we do want to say that the story of how NYC star Jack Harrison came to the U.S. is a good one.
OTHER NOTES: Ben Olsen, Gregg Berhalter and Dominic Kinnear are MLS coaching mainstays but none have turned in their best work this season. Should any of this trio be axed? Possibly but we don't quite envision it happening.
The hat tricks by Didier Drogba and reigning MVP Sebastian Giovinco were sensational for sure but the biggest goal was this laser beam by Victor Ulloa of FC Dallas in a hotly contested draw at Colorado. Many MLS observers consider FCD as the league's best team, but that won't be the case since Fabian Castillo is on to bigger and better things since he's moving to a much tougher league in Turkey.
Finally, we'll leave you with the wisdom of LA coach Bruce Arena after his team's 2-1 victory at Portland in which the Galaxy were outshot 18-9:
No comments:
Post a Comment