Low goal trend continue: Week 8 looked a lot like Week 7 in the trickle of goals. Eight of ten matches came and went with two goals or fewer. (But no scoreless draws!) Those were all 1-0 wins or 1-1 draws.
Landon Donovan rising: The league’s former poster boy isn’t done yet. Clearly. Donovan continues to work into playing shape, and his increasingly ability to help the champs along the way deserves further, closer monitoring. Donovan had a goal and an assist in the Galaxy’s meaningful, dominant 2-0 win over Sporting Kansas City.
That was the weekend’s most significant result. And it’s also significant because of what it means for Donovan – and potentially for the United States national team.
trangely, even though there weren’t a ton of goals, the center backs were providing their share of them. Jamison Olave recorded his second goal this year for the Red Bulls (helping to heap some of that above-mentioned misery on D.C. United. And Dallas’ George John supplied the important, late game-winner as FC Dallas took down the champs in Texas.
More penalty kick blues: This is getting to be an epidemic around MLS lately. Something in the Gatorade? Seven of the first eight PKs this year in MLS were successful. That more or less mirrors historical averages. Since then, however … yuk!
Since then, just two of eight have been successful. Over the weekend, Real Salt Lake’s Nick Rimando one saved off of Chivas USA’s Edgar Mejia; that was Round 8’s only spot shot.
As our guy Richard Farley told you about in piece linked above, Rimando increased his MLS penalty save rate to a remarkable 30.5 percent; opposing kickers are just 41-for-59 all-time against RSL’s veteran shot-stopper.
Coach in most trouble… : On last week’s Panic Quotient, I put three coaches ahead of D.C. United’s Ben Olsen on the ranking of coaches in trouble. That was based on a hunch that a focused bunch from United, playing at home, could get past a young Philadelphia Union squad. Well, wrong and wrong. Olsen’s team lost its third consecutive match at home. As we talked about yesterday, few MLS manager survive losing at home over any extended period.
… and trio of coaches with reprieves: We would be naïve to say that Seattle’s Sigi Schmid, Chicago’s Frank Klopas and New York’s Mike Petke are out of the woods. But they did all guide teams to Week 8 wins. So … big exhale. For now, at least.
Leading scorer, young scorer: This may not last all year, but for today Major League Soccer has a 20-year-old leading goal scorer. Jack McInerney hit Nos. 5 and 6 on the young season. (They were big goals as Philly won on the road, 3-2 at D.C. United.) The talk will now begin that young “Jack Mac” should be scooped up for Gold Cup duty
Attendance dragging: MLS attendance is down measurably from 2012, averaging just 17,508. That’s down about 7 percent from the record high of 18,807.
One reason is the attendance drag in Toronto, previously one of the more reliable, weekly sellouts in MLS. But the organization’s perennially bedraggled state has worn on fans. We saw it start last year, and Saturday’s crowd at BMO was reported at 15,973. It didn’t even look that strong – and the Reds late goal allowed in a 1-1 draw with Houston won’t help.
Weekend’s best goal: You know what makes Thierry Henry’s latest goal for New York so satisfying to watch – besides another highly technical finish from the fabulous French striker, that is? All the right choices are made as New York goes back to front in about 12 seconds. The clearance from Jamison Olave is perfect, not just “clearance” but a well-distributed one, right to Dax McCarty. McCarty makes the right choice in moving the ball quickly along to Fabian Espindola, who does the same when he sees Jonny Steele’s aggressive movement along the left.
Steele picks out the right moment to fee Henry’s precision run behind the defense. Every choice and every touch are well-designed. Here ‘tis:
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