Watched (still watching, actually) some soccer. Manchester City’s new boss got a taste of his squad’s quality when they blew two points by giving up the tying goal with seconds left in injury time. Chelsea widened the gap with a 3-1 thrashing of Southampton, the first goal typical of Frank Lampard’s frightening recent attacking sense; I wonder if people’ll start calling him Shark soon. Liverpool stole three points from Bolton, 1-0, despite not putting much offense on display and avoided the temptation to look ahead to Tuesday’s Champions League Italy trip to meet Juventus. I’m still a little dumbfounded that the goal came from Igor Biscan but these are three very valuable points.
Yes, today is opening day of Season X for MLS. Two expansion clubs, both in the West, and nearly every team has done major surgery on the roster. Landon Donovan has returned from Europe but with the Galaxy, pushing Guatemalan scoring machine Carlos Ruiz to renamed (no more Burn) FC Dallas. But that should be okay with Ruiz since he gets to partner with Eddie Johnson, the hottest player to wear an American jersey since Donovan’s emergence in 1998.
(The Galaxy didn’t have LD due to flu and other issues left them deficient up front, so they lost the 3-0 to Columbus while looking like they missed preseason training. Okay by me. I also watched a chunk of the league’s opener, DC United gave new boys Chivas USA a 2-0 review of why they hold the MLS Cup despite losing Ryan Nelson to the Blackburn of the EPL and Freddie Adu not ready quite yet to storm the league.)
The Earthquakes lost LD, Ronnie Ekelund, Jeff Agoos (to MetroStars) and Richard Mulrooney (to Dallas) while Eddie Robinson returns from major injury to partner Troy Dayak in central defense. Craig Waibel will open wide right and Wade Barret comes back after a two year stint in Scandanavia, to reclaim the captain’s armband though Wes Hart, Danny Cailiff (new from the Galaxy) and second year player Ryan Cochrane figure to get plenty of playing time over the course of the season. Hart may feature on the wing as well.
Dominic Kinnear will open his second season as boss with two youngsters in the center, Ricardo Clark (the fee for Agoos) and rookie Danny O’Rourke (College Player of the Year from Indiana), both only 22. Brad Davis (the fee for Mulrooney) will try to add pace from the left flank, doing well in recent training and leading the team to victory in the Carolina Cup. Ian Russell and Brian Mullen showed some skill last year but definitely need to step up their game if San Jose is to improve on last year’s fourth place regular season finish.
The big question will be up front. Without LD to slash through defenses and provide service, Brian Ching needs to show his league leading 12 goals were not a fluke and Dwayne Derosario, producer of the 2004 MLS Goal of the Year, has to stay healthy and not be bummed out by a failed attempt to sign with a European club in January. Alejandro Moreno is another new name on the roster, traded from the Galaxy, and though he’s done some scoring could not crack their regular starting XI in three seasons; Ronald Cerritos returns for another go with San Jose after three years elsewhere; and, rookie Julian Nash, acquired late in preseason, is in the big, muscular Emile Heskey mold and might be good in relief when Ching needs a break.
Kansas City moved East, meaning the Quakes should make the playoffs even with the changes. They get Preki back from injury and otherwise have most of the same roster that took them to the brink of a title in 2004, meaning that 2005 is likely going to see the East become one big mass of bruises.
(I’m watching the opening match with the Revolution on a webcast, I forgot to check if this was happening and so missed the first 60 minutes; check the MLS front page on game days for video links to see if a game is available. Nasty game. What was Eddie Robinson thinking with the tackle that got him sent off? And Mr. Onstadt, 20 yards off your line while missing a defender, that was two points right there. Next week we host Chivas USA, here’s hoping for three points.)
DC will only be better, especially with some of the Adu glare toned down and Eskandarian , only 23 himself, growing by bounds. Columbus, poaching chippy Ante Razov from the Fire to partner speedy Edson Buddle, looked solid and aggressive in today’s win with MF Kyle Martino standing up to a pounding and emerging teenage star Danny Szetela looking far more experienced yet not quite 18. MetroStars, who have a teen MF star of their own in Eddie Gaven, and New England–Clint Dempsey was last year’s Rookie of the Year–look to be the odd men out when the post-season begins in October.
If I had to say, DC, Kansas City and Dallas look like the class of the 12 going in and DC will edge Dallas for a fifth league title. But there are 31 games left to play with more than ever before broadcast on FoxSoccerChannel, ESPN and ABC. Enjoy.
BillSaysThis 