The Hudson River derby – round two
Here we go again. The highly anticipated contest between NYC FC and the New York Red Bulls returns this Sunday with the former looking to finally get a victory in the fixture. The reality for NYC FC and their fans, however, is that geography right now is the only factor that makes this a true derby. Since the team’s introduction to the league last season, the teams have played each other four times, with the Red Bulls winning every game and outscoring their opponents 14-2 – the last one being one of the most devastating performances in MLS history, that 7-0 walkover at Yankee Stadium.
Interestingly, NYC FC have lost every single game against local opposition: outside the league, they have also been knocked out by NASL’s New York Cosmos not once, but twice in the US Open Cup.
Vieira needed some soul-searching after that lopsided loss, and after some positive results in recent weeks, it’s not presumptuous to think that he is beginning to understand what MLS is all about. Much like the lower leagues in England, success in this division is more than just ideological tactics and short, triangular passing. It requires strong defensive performances; counter-attacking can be your friend.
Jack Harrison has also impressed, and what a turnaround for Frank Lampard. After getting booed by his own fans in the 7-0 loss in May, the former Chelsea midfielder is NYC FC’s new goalscoring hero with two goals in the last two matches.
The Red Bulls, coming off a midweek cup defeat to the hands of Philadelphia Union, will be looking for some much needed redemption. Marsch – who was ejected in the Union game for a mind-boggling reaction after a call in injury time – knows his team can’t go into this game thinking it will be another walk-through.
“We’re going to have to gather ourselves physically and get ready for a big game on Sunday,” Marsch said after the Union loss. “It’s a Sunday noon game too, so the turnaround is quick. [We’re] going to have to evaluate where guys are at physically and figure out to put out a good team on the field.”
Viera has promised better from his side. “I know it’s going to be a really difficult game,” he said. “But this game will be more difficult for them than it was previously because physically we will be in better shape. Mentally, we will be in better shape. And we’re playing some good football. It will be a totally different game. We may lose it but it will be a different game.”
As MLS has taught us, anything is possible. LME
Tim Howard could make debut for table-topping Colorado
Colorado take on Portland on Monday, and they could have a new starting goalkeeper. Tim Howard, the best-paid player in the club’s history, has finally arrived, almost four months after the announcement that he was leaving Everton to return to MLS.
Howard took part in his first training session this week, after warming the bench for the US in Copa America, and was unveiled to the press on Tuesday. “Pablo [Mastroeni] and I spoke quite a lot over the last couple of weeks and I didn’t really want a vacation,” Howard said. “I just want to get out there. It’s what I do, it’s where I’m happiest. The sooner I can get on the field, the better. It’s been a long time coming.”
Will he be worth it? The Denver Post showed that Howard will make about $2.5m this season, equal to nearly 65% of what the other 19 starting MLS goalkeepers make combined. By illustration, Nick Rimando makes about $420,000 – which means Howard earns about six times more than his USMNT team-mate. Whatever the financials, it’s certainly a statement purchase from Colorado. Spare a thought for Zac MacMath, though: he’s started every MLS game this season and given up just 11 goals. Now he looks destined to drop to the bench. Life’s tough at the top.
Tim Howard joins Pablo Mastroeni and Josh Kroenke, the team’s alternate governor, at a Rapids news conference on Tuesday. Photograph: David Zalubowski/AP
Portland are still in mid-table no-man’s land, but they’re picking up some momentum – in the league, at least. Last time out they beat Houston 3-2 in almost 90F heat to make it five games unbeaten, but then they lost 1-0 to LA in the US Open Cup on Wednesday, thanks to an early goal from Raul Mendiola. “It’s disappointing to be out of the competition,” Timbers coach Caleb Porter said afterwards. “I thought we lost the game in the first 10 minutes.”
One good piece of news from that game was that Darlington Nagbe made his return for the Timbers after being used, ahem, sparingly by Jürgen Klinsmann at Copa América. Nagbe was obviously ready and raring to go: he finished the match with 49 successful passes to just three unsuccessful for a 94% completion rate. Portland have missed him: the Nagbe-Valeri midfield axis was arguably the league’s best last season, and with their star player back in the mix, a mid-summer run from Portland beckons. The rest of the west should watch out. TH
Mixed emotions for Toronto and Seattle as USA stars return
It has been an interesting week for Toronto FC. On Wednesday evening, Greg Vanney’s team defeated the Vancouver Whitecaps to win their fifth Voyageurs Cup and grabbed a spot to enter the 2016-17 Concacaf Champions League. It was not all great news, however: Michael Bradley returned from international duty with the US with a knee injury. Bradley played every game for Jürgen Klinsmann at Copa América and is now paying the price for the minutes he put in.
Vanney, though, said he doesn’t expect Bradley to be missing for too long. “Hopefully [he’ll be back] pretty soon,” Vanney told reporters in the weel. “I don’t think it’s a significant thing by any means.”
The truth is Toronto need to develop some consistency in the league: they haven’t won two games in a row since April. Last week they suffered their third consecutive loss away from home, and an interesting bit of history: Kaka’s penalty tied the MLS record for the latest goal ever in a match.
Seattle are, in many ways, the western equivalent of TFC. Their defeat against NYC FC last week was the second consecutive loss without scoring a goal and they have now lost five out of the last six league games. In those six matches they have only found the back of the net three times.
Enter Clint Dempsey, who after a fantastic run with the US national team, will be back to help his offensive unit. Seattle’s head coach, Sigi Schmid, has not actually made the decision whether Dempsey will take any part on Saturday.
“The national team is very taxing both mentally and physically,” Schmid said. “When you look at a lot of players around the league – Bradley broke down when he came back [from the national team] last year. That’s just the nature of the beast. So we have to evaluate where he’s at and that’s what we’ll do.” LME
Second-placed Dallas meet an Orlando team bruised by derby loss
At the same time as Colorado and Portland slug it out, FC Dallas, the Rapids’ closest challengers, take on Orlando at Toyota Field. Thanks to Mauro Diaz’s wizardry, Dallas beat RSL 2-0 last time out, and they followed it up on Wednesday with a 2-1 cup win over the Rapids themselves, advancing into the quarter-finals for a 15th time – an MLS record.
It bodes well for Monday: Dallas coach Oscar Pareja called the Rapids victory “one of the best” games in Frisco this season. “We kept our composure and controlled the game in the second half,” he said afterwards. “I thought we came back to a higher rhythm and higher intensity, and we created a lot of chances getting behind with the speed we have with our wingers.”
Dallas look to be back on track: they’ve lost just once in seven games, after that horrible April and May where they lost three straight without conceding a goal. Fabian Castillo and Diaz look to have struck up a fine understanding, and Michael Barrios, Tesho Akindele and Maxi Urruti have chipped in with important goals. “I have a group of players who don’t want to give up any tournament,” Pareja said. “We have a semester full of traveling and games and a lot of activity, and the boys are committed to fight for every single game.”
But Dallas must keep concentrating to the end: Orlando are the MLS specialists in scoring late goals. Last Saturday, Kaka converted a penalty in the 10th minute of stoppage time against Toronto which means they’ve scored six goals after 90 minutes the season, a league high.
Kaka celebrates his match-winning penalty against Toronto with Adrian Winter. Photograph: Ricardo Ramirez Buxeda/AP
But Orlando come into the game after receiving a bloody nose from their Florida rivals on Wednesday. The Lions went down 2-1 to the NASL’s Fort Lauderdale Strikers, in a tetchy game that saw both teams reduced to 10 men. Victor Giro’s goal right at the end of extra time gave his team a historic victory in front of just 3,162 fans at Camping World Stadium. (By contrast, 18,000 watched the Timbers take on LA.)
“I think we’re all frustrated that we haven’t progressed,” City coach Adrian Heath said. “I’ll talk about us tonight. We can play better. We had opportunities and we should have won the game. I thought we had enough chances to win the game comfortably. We haven’t done that. When you leave the game 1-1, anything can happen.” Cyle Larin missed several chances, uncharacteristically, on Wednesday, but Orlando are a team that scores goals, especially with the addition of Julio Baptista: Monday’s matchup should be a goodie. TH
Revs looking to climb up the table at Montreal’s expense
If the Eastern Conference can teach us anything, it’s that appearances can be deceiving. Both these teams are separated by four spots, but a win can change it all. Montreal, sitting in fourth place, are five points behind the leaders, Philadelphia Union, but with two games in hand the schedule is on their side, and six points will change their position dramatically. Not bad for a team who only has one win from the last nine league matches. Mauro Biello’s squad enter this weekend after a 2-2 draw with Sporting Kansas City, a game in which, despite from from Didier Drogba, they twice threw away the lead.
New England are also masters of misperception, sitting in eighth spot, one point away from a place in the playoffs. But, with a game in hand, they too can make up some ground – and a victory against Montreal means they will leapfrog their conference rivals and place them in the top six.
Jay Heaps and his team will be looking to at least score against Montreal: in the last three meetings, New England have failed to find the net. But at least they managed to find their scoring touch in the week, beating the Cosmos 3-2 to advance to the US Open Cup last eight. And a monkey off the Revs’ back: Kei Kamara finally got his first goal in a Revs jersey on Wednesday after a half-dozen scoreless appearances. “It doesn’t matter what game it is or how the goal comes, to finally get that first goal, it feels great,” Kamara said afterwards.
Points up for grabs in an exciting, albeit inconsistent, conference. LME
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