MLS Week Two Review
NYC Welcomes NYCFC; Howler Highlights; Ref Fail
Start spreading the news: David Villa still knows how to play; Brad Evans has a steep mountain to climb as he learns a new position; and terrible calls can ruin otherwise-entertaining games.
YES, THE FIELD IS TOO SMALL. And yes, the sight lines are less than optimal for the beautiful game. But despite the imperfections that come from playing at Yankee Stadium, this weekend we were reminded why so many were so adamant about a Major League Soccer team playing within the five boroughs of New York City.
New York City FC’s raucous home debut, both on and off the field, was part of an interesting second week of MLS action that saw FC Dallas continue to show it might be for real in the west, Los Angeles show it still has a champions’ heart; while folks in Chicago were painfully reminded they are in for another long year.
It’s still too early for many trends to emerge this season but combined with having missed the playoffs in four of the past five years, the Fire’s poor start—no goals in two losses after falling to Vancouver 1-0 at home—is not encouraging.
This is where we point out that Denis Hamlett took the Fire, a team he loyally served for a decade as an assistant coach, to back-to-back trips to the Eastern Conference finals in his two seasons as head coach in 2008-09—and was promptly fired. Since then, the team has missed the playoffs in all but 2012 when it lost the play-in game.
Yes, it’s early, but Frank Yallop’s team shows little sign of improvement. Would the team have floundered like this for so long under Hamlett? Perhaps, but it seems like firing a coach who performed has angered the soccer gods and given the Fire a lot of poor karma to overcome.
Given his considerable pedigree, David Villa had a subpar match against Orlando City in the season opener, leading to some question marks about his effectiveness in MLS. After this weekend, that is no longer the case.
The NYCFC forward gave a stellar performance that saw him score a skillful goal (helped from a nice flick-on from grizzled veteran Ned Grabavoy) and an assist after some really fancy footwork. And it wasn’t just those two plays. All game long he flashed the skill that made him one of the greatest players in the vaunted history of the Spanish national team. He also reminded us that he will be a lot of fun to watch in MLS, at least when he’s on.
Last week we also called out Octavio Rivero for his awful miss of an open net from up-close. But while that miss was bad, the reality is Vancouver’s Uruguayan striker has now scored in each of his first two MLS games after netting the game-winner in the Whitecaps' 1-0 win over Chicago. That’s as promising a start to an MLS career as fans in British Columbia could have hoped for, missed sitter notwithstanding.
Props also need to be thrown to Blas Perez, who scored a brace for Dallas in its 3-1 win over Kansas City and now has three goals in two games. Given how solid the rest of FCD is, if Perez is consistently scoring that’s going to be a really good team.
Finally, Fernando Aristeguita served notice that his is a name MLS fans will have to learn to pronounce (Are-ees-tay-gee-tuh) with a brace in the Philadelphia Union’s entertaining 3-3 draw with Real Salt Lake.
We love Brad Evans. Dude gets dropped from the World Cup team and he says it was an honor to be considered. He plays multiple positions and throughout his pro career his teams have always won. That’s why he’s got four U.S. Open Cups, two Supporters Shields, and an MLS Cup on his C.V.
But this latest experiment with him as a center back is off to a shaky start. Plenty of midfielders—from Peter Vermes to Pablo Mastroeni to Robbie Rogers—have made the transition to the backline successfully so there’s no reason to think Evans, with his attitude and smarts, can’t do it. But he was badly exposed Saturday in Seattle’s 3-2 at home to San Jose.
For years there were whispers in Houston that as good as Tally Hall had been in net for the Dynamo, his backup, Tyler Deric, had the potential to be even better. And when Hall was traded to create cap space late last year, it was apparent that Houston was ready to go all-in on Deric’s potential.
Through two games as the Dynamo’s No. 1 netminder, Deric has flashed all sorts of potential, making several breathtaking saves. But when goalkeepers screw up, they tend to be memorable and Deric had as memorably awful a gaffe as any in MLS history Friday in the Dynamo’s 1-0 loss to expansion Orlando City. Further words don’t do it justice. Just watch.
Here’s hoping Deric can put this blunder behind him quickly because he really has looked sharp otherwise this season.
Odds are that unless you are related to him or are named Jurgen Klinsmann, you’re ready to write off Chris Wondolowski from the U.S. national team pool. But the veteran striker showed why he continues to get looks from the national team by going on the road to one of the loudest venues in MLS and scoring a pair of goals in the Earthquakes wild win over Seattle.
Clint Dempsey scored another goal in the San Jose loss and Omar Gonzalez continued a strong start in the Los Angeles Galaxy’s 2-2 tie with Portland. But the player from that game that captured U.S. national team’s fancy was Portland’s Darlington Nagbe.
The Liberia native had a nifty flick-on to set up the Timbers first goal, assisted a late go-ahead goal, and made several runs that had us wishing he was already naturalized. Alas, Nagbe won’t be eligible to be sworn-in as an American until September.
Among players young enough for youth national teams, Jose Villareal continued his great start for the Galaxy. A week after scoring the winning goal against Chicago, he assisted L.A.’s first goal with a sweet cross from the left flank that Gyasi Zardes knocked home with a well-timed run.
Villareal is no Landon Donovan but his productivity has made the U.S. icon’s retirement much easier to absorb and looks like a player who could be a key factor for the U.S. U-23 team in Olympic qualifying this fall.
We still have no idea what his best position is, but NYCFC rookie Khiry Shelton also looks like a player that could help Andreas Herzog’s team. For the second straight game Shelton was a second-half sub and he immediately changed the game with his pace and well-timed runs. Shelton is big enough to play target forward; runs like a gazelle; and, as we reminded ASN readers when we introduced him last fall, is also a very good passer. (He was the only NCAA Division 1 player to hit double figures in both goals an assists last year.)
Because of his wheels, Shelton stretches the field for NYCFC and creates space for the likes of Villa to do their thing. Here’s hoping Herzog is noticing this, too.
Brooke Tunstall is an American Soccer Now contributing editor and ASN 100 panelist. Follow him on Twitter.
John Godfrey contributed to this report.
It’s still too early for many trends to emerge this season but combined with having missed the playoffs in four of the past five years, the Fire’s poor start—no goals in two losses after falling to Vancouver 1-0 at home—is not encouraging.
This is where we point out that Denis Hamlett took the Fire, a team he loyally served for a decade as an assistant coach, to back-to-back trips to the Eastern Conference finals in his two seasons as head coach in 2008-09—and was promptly fired. Since then, the team has missed the playoffs in all but 2012 when it lost the play-in game.
Yes, it’s early, but Frank Yallop’s team shows little sign of improvement. Would the team have floundered like this for so long under Hamlett? Perhaps, but it seems like firing a coach who performed has angered the soccer gods and given the Fire a lot of poor karma to overcome.
