Matthew Doyle | Soccer Therapy

UPDATE:

The Aztex are 3-3-1 and currently sit tied for 4th in the USL’s western conference. Not bad at all for the club’s inaugural campaign in the USL, but a closer look at the results reveals a disturbing trend: they are struggling with the better USL clubs and picking up points against the weak ones. Six of the club’s 10 points on the year have come at home against expansion side Colorado Springs (While Austin are new to USL, we are not a new franchise. ATX were founded in 2011 and have three seasons of experience in the USL PDL. Colorado Springs Switchbacks were founded in 2014 and played their first ever competitive match against Austin in the USL season opener, a 2-0 win for the Aztex).

Three more points came from a 2-0 win on the road against Tulsa Roughnecks FC, another expansion club playing in their first ever competitive season. And the tenth point ATX has so far in 2015 came at home against OKC Energy FC – a 2-2 draw in which Austin allowed an 87th minute equalizer (OKC, founded in 2013, are another relatively new club and have just one season of competitive experience). On the other hand, Austin have dropped points against stronger USL opposition: losing at home to Whitecaps II and Arizona United, and on the road against Galaxy II.

The team is young and the current group has had relatively little time to gel. This trend is no cause for panic, but Austin will want to grab a win against a quality opponent soon, before their confidence suffers as a result.

Runner-Up

I hate to give commentators a hard time as I appreciate the difficulty of talking for two straight hours without sounding like an idiot at least once (or twice or a dozen+ times). But Paul Caligiuri must be mentioned for his clumsy and hilarious analysis of FC Dallas’ opening goal on UniMas’ #ViernesDeFutbol. Before watching, note that Houston’s ‘keeper is named Tyler Deric. The Dallas ‘keeper is Dan Kennedy.

I love seeing two FC Dallas players nominated for GOTW on MLSsoccer.com, but all four of our goals against Houston were classy finishes. Week 9 offered a nice selection of goals to choose from, but two in particular caught my eye. Some might wonder why I didn’t choose Sebastian Giovinco’s 35-yard free kick goal that decided the 1-0 match in Philly over the weekend. I hate to take anything away because it was an awesome strike, but I believe a better GK would have read it earlier and made the stop. Thus, no GOTW for you, Sebas.

My official week 9 winner is the third and final goal in Seattle’s 3-1 win over NYCFC thanks to the sublime assist by Clint Dempsey. Once Deuce put him through, the control and the finish from Obafemi Martins was pure confidence and quality. Those two have been downright filthy of late and are proving to be in a class of their own every time they take the pitch. No play illustrates that better than the week 9 GOTW.

There’s nothing wrong with silver and I simply loved this goal, so the GOTW runner-up goes to the entire Revs attack for their second of the night in a 2-1 win over rivals NYRB. What amazing team work, kind of like a slow version of Arsenal! The passing was quick, crisp and crafty, and I love seeing the patience and composure from Teal Bunbury to finish off the move.

@HeyHayward, producer of top notch programs Soccer Morning and The Best Soccer Show, had the best of the CCL tweets from Wednesday’s second leg. This is Jurgen Klinsmann in a nutshell, apparently Piatti was running his ass off at that stage in the match.

But the tweet below Hayward’s is the official week 9 TOTW. @BBCSporf deserves credit for spotting it, but the distinction is awarded to the Notts County FC social media team for their perfect response to a fan’s inquiry.

I’ve got little more to add to this week’s post. Week 9 was fun but 10 could be even better with matchups like CHIvRSL, MTLvPOR, CLBvSEA, DALvLA and a game the folks in New York have been waiting to see for nearly two years now: NYRB vs. NYCFC, 5/9, Red Bull Arena, FS1, 7 ET.

Between chipping away at the MLS Timeline Series and the threat of a strike from the MLS Players Union, I am in no way prepared to thoroughly recap the first week of action. It’s unlikely that I’d consistently publish a quality recap of MLS action over the course of the entire 34 week season anyway. So instead, I’ll be reflecting in classic Soccer Therapy fashion, sharing thoughts, listing notable events and discussing key takeaways from everything that registered on my MLS radar over the weekend. I’ll try to post every Monday or Tuesday, but we’ll see.

Quality of Play – It looked like the first week of competitive action as far as I could tell. I’ll remember week one (not really though) for the awful finishing, as chance after chance was squandered. Nine of the 20 clubs failed to put one in the back of the net while only three clubs managed to score more than once. So the opening week didn’t exactly provide fireworks. But MLS writer Matthew Doyle compared this year’s opening week to 2014 and had some nice things to say:

“MatchDay 1 of the 20th MLS season is now in the books, and this must be said: It was a hell of a lot better than last year’s. Goals per game and pass completion percentages generally lag in March and into mid-April as teams work out the kinks – new faces, new schemes, new coaches and the occasional new stadium –on the way to becoming finely tuned machines. This weekend was still stuffed with the signs of early season rust, but there were also a few impressive passages of play, and a couple of very nice goals”

OCSC v NYCFC – The people of Orlando truly did #FillTheBowl and the Florida weather came through, providing a gorgeous sunny afternoon on a special day in MLS history. The scenes, as you can see, were terrific. Two unique expansion clubs joined the MLS ranks on the day. One, Orlando City, is a former dominant USL side owned by a rich Brazilian and the other, New York, a brand new club owned by the Yankees and Man City. Orlando City is captained by former Ballon D’or winner and 2002 World Cup Champion Kaká, while NYCFC is led by 2010 World Cup Champion David Villa. Each club also has a relevant member of the USMNT on their squad, with Mix Diskerud in midfield for New York and Brek Shea at fullback for Orlando. Brek Shea looked very dangerous coming up the left flank in the opener and Mix had a nice curler to score the first goal in franchise history and open his MLS account.

Toronto FC – They clearly upgraded their 3-headed monster from a year ago, replacing the frail Jermaine Defoe with the Hulk-like Jozy Altidore up top and replacing young Brazilian striker Gilberto with arguably the finest and primest talent in MLS history, Sebastian Giovinco. Checkout some highlights from his time at Italian powerhouse Juventus. Toronto FC has some other useful pieces and if they can keep their core healthy, this should be the year their frustrated supporters have been waiting for.

Houston Dynamo – I can’t personally comment on this as I did not watch any of the game. And even though I read somewhere that Columbus out possessed and out shot Houston, the Dynamo did still manage the three points and the sense I got on Twitter was that new manager Owen Coyle has them playing attractive, attacking soccer. Houston still has a lot of talent, and with Cubo Torres soon to be in the fold, if they can solve their defensive problems from 2014, they could be dangerous.

Seattle Sounders – While Seattle was missing their key midfield man, Ozzie Alonso, they were hosting a weakened NE Revs side missing its two best players, Lee Nguyen and Jermaine Jones. Despite this, the Revs are considered a top club in MLS this season and it was impressive for Seattle to get the three points and a clean sheet after losing 2-1 to TFC in the opener a year ago. Clint Dempsey’s goal in the 67′ was straight out of a FIFA video game.

Portland 0 – 0 RSL – I am starting to wonder if either of these teams is a significant threat in a western conference that’s just added two tough clubs to the mix (HOU and SKC) and lost its punching bag, Chivas USA.

CONCACAF – This has nothing to do with MLS’ opening week, but the paths of DC United and Montreal have been interesting over the last six days. Earlier in the week, DC United were eliminated in the CCL quarters after losing 6-4 on aggregate to Costa Rican side Alajuelense. Montreal, MLS’ lone surviving representative in the tourney, staged a miraculous upset, downing Mexican powerhouse 3-3 (on away goals) in dramatic fashion. These highlights are impossible to believe, amazing scenes in Montreal. Just 72 hours after DC were knocked out of the CCL, they hosted Montreal in their 2015 MLS opener, a match DC won thanks to a goal assisted by Davy Arnaud, the former Montreal midfielder.

FC DALLAS
I thought the boys looked good in the first half, creating some nice chances but failing to convert them. The second half was disappointing, and I would have liked to see some substitutions made earlier. However, with a 92’ goal, we secured the three points, and that is all that matters. The late goal was a fortunate one, and San Jose were probably unlucky not to come away with a point. Dallas has rarely taken points from matches that they shouldn’t have in the past, so to come away with three while the team is still feeling itself out is a big boost. We are a great home team, perhaps the key to the season ahead is finding points on the road.

Oscar Pareja appeared to go with a 4-4-2, deploying Tesho Akindele on the wing, and Blas and Castillo up top. Tesho’s first touch has vastly improved and rumors of his productive preseason and USMNT camp experience were verified, but I’ve never been a fan of him out wide (as much as I like him up top). Hollingshead manned the other wing and continued his strong preseason form as he was absolutely all over the pitch. Fabian Castillo was his normal terrorizing self, especially in the second half, and appears more comfortable taking defenders inside this year in addition to his standard trying to beat them around the outside. For me, Mauro Diaz was the biggest let down. The formation did not allow Mauro to be himself as the 4-4-2 didn’t accommodate a true #10, but the most disturbing part of his performance was the awful set piece delivery from FKs and corners. This must improve because Oscar left our set piece specialist, Michel, out of the lineup presumably to improve our passing and possession in the midfield. Moises Hernandez continued his growth at left back and showed real pace and skill on the evening – he will move onto a bigger league one day. Victor Ulloa is quickly becoming a fan favorite as he continues to become an above average midfielder in MLS and busts his ass for the entire match. Oh, and Michael Barrios, our new Colombian DP, looks like a strong player, a nightmare for opposing defenses, and I would imagine he will get the nod over Tesho or Hollingshead in our next match vs. SKC. That is about it for the player by player breakdown. Despite losing JeVaugn Watson for unknown reasons, this looks like the deepest FC Dallas squad I have seen and it should hold up nicely against injury and discipline over the course of the season.

These are my main thoughts after one week of MLS action. There are 33 more to go and it promises to get better. I’ll cover a variety of topics and some weeks the radar piece will be shorter than others. Here’s to an FCD victory on MatchDay 2, and maybe a few more goals across the league.