ProSoccerTalk’s weekly MLS Panic Quotient

ProSoccerTalk’s weekly MLS Panic Quotient (®) takes the temperature of stress and distress in the streets of Major League Soccer.

FC Dallas: Now it’s Brek Shea, too? Seriously, did they extend the boundaries recently at FC Dallas’ stadium complex and build over ancient burial grounds? Somebody needs to call a witchdoctor or shaman of bruja or something. At this point, due to injuries or suspensions, seven first-choice starters are out ahead of tonight’s visit by Seattle. Schellas Hyndman’s team has done an admirable job of hanging in there, but this is the West we’re talking about, where things aren’t as forgiving as along the right side of the MLS map. If the turf toe for Shea turns into something lengthy, they’ll be flying the flag of panic, for sure.

Panic quotient: “Hey, dad, thanks for letting me borrow the car last night. Say, tell me again how ‘insurance’ works?”

U.S. Soccer referee assigners: Ricardo Salazar hasn’t been on top of his game, lately. So the federation assigners could give him a little time to clear his head. Maybe Mark Geiger, too, who appears to have blown it on the red card to Blas Perez. Officially speaking, David Gantar did, too, as the one red card he issued to New England that has been rescinded. But if you take these guys out of the rotation, that means more games for guys like Jair Marrufo or Baldemero Toledo, who haven’t seem to catch the new vibe and spirit at times this year, still sometimes defaulting back into old habits and failing to read the riot act to thugs and bad actors. Or it means falling back on guys like Abbey Okulaja, Michael Kennedy or Terry Vaughn, the likes of whom we haven’t seen so much this year. So, really, what’s left to do?

Panic quotient: Sleeping bag in the desert. Nice calm night. Wait a minute! Is something moving down at my feet – inside the sleeping bag?!

David Beckham: There’s no hiding it: the timing of Stuart Pearce’s visit to sunny So Cal really put Beckham in a pinch. According to some reports the Great Britain coach was here to watch two matches. Beckham didn’t play in one, which is revealing on its own. If Beckham can’t play in two league matches stitched closely together, how will those 37-year-old legs perform over back-to-back contests against teams chalk full of young bucks? Then the Galaxy stunk up the joint in the match Pearce did see. And surely the GB manager saw Beckham chucking desperately to get back into position on New York’s goal in that one? Blek. If Pearce liked what he saw, then his scale might just be busted. None of this means Becks won’t be selected after all, politics being what they are. Still, the man is desperate to be part of these London games, and he can’t be feeling peachy about things at the moment.

Panic quotient: See the doctor about a minor skin rash, but Doc wants to show a couple of more docs. Pretty soon: “We’d really like to make this a full-blown case study. Darned if we’ve never seen one like this!”