MLS Radar: Week 2

Posted on March 17, 2015 by CT

I promised the action would get better and it did. Week 2 was filled with intriguing storylines and can’t-miss-highlights, so let’s get right into this second edition of the MLS Radar Series. Below you will find a quick take on each of the weekend’s eight matches. If you don’t feel like reading but still love MLS, skip to the bottom where you’ll find fun stuff including my Goals of the Week, “F” Ups of the Week (refs eligible too!), Surprises of the Week and Tweets of the Week.

Friday Night Soccer

I particularly enjoy watching sports on Friday nights. For years I’ve thought MLS should incorporate a regular Friday night broadcast into their season schedule, something they finally did this off-season. It didn’t hit me last week that Friday Night Soccer is finally here, perhaps because LA v. CHI made for such a dull matchup. But this week it really settled in that MLS will become a Friday night mainstay on TV sets around the country thanks to UniMás, the Spanish language television network. HOU v. ORL provided for an intriguing matchup with the Dynamo coming off an unconvincing win and expansion side Orlando looking to build off of a draw in its inaugural match.

HOU 0 – 1 ORL
Orlando looked better for most of the match in my opinion, controlling possession and creating more quality looks than Houston. Like last year, the Dynamo defense struggles in the air while the midfield doesn’t apply enough pressure on the ball as attacks are mounting. Houston ‘keeper Tyler Deric has already put together an impressive highlight reel of saves this season in helping the Dynamo keep a clean sheet through the first three halves of the season. But a loose touch off a back pass in the 74^th minute showed Orlando midfielder Pedro Ribeiro just enough of the ball and he punished the in-form ‘keeper for the mistake.

In the end Orlando took the match 1-0 as Houston were never very dangerous. The Lions looked solid in week 1 and they built on that with a deserved three points on the road in week 2. They are looking pretty damn silky for an expansion side and should be fun to track in their inaugural season. If they can acquire a quality MLS striker (finishing seems to be the biggest problem right now), the eastern conference may need to look out.

Saturday Games

CHI 0 – 1 VAN
This one had draw written all over it, both before the game when predicting the outcome, and late into the match, as it was scoreless 85 minutes in. But an error in the defensive 18 from veteran MLS defender Lovel Palmer cost the Fire in the 86^th minute. Vancouver DP Pedro Morales should have been better and his MVP caliber form from 2014 is noticeably missing. Morales easily should have scored twice early, missing badly on two wide open looks in the first half. Chicago created some nice chances as well and improved on their week 1 outing but ‘Caps GK David Ousted played a great game and really earned his clean sheet. This was a big win for Vancouver after losing at home a week ago. They are sure to rack up some points at BC Place this season, so if they can find results on the road, even against the likes of Chicago, that’ll be enough to get them into the playoffs in a tough western conference.

CLB 2 – 0 TFC
It’s a good thing TFC managed three points in a tough venue (BC Place) in week 1 because I’ve just learned that the Reds open 2015 with seven straight road matches. What a brutal start to the year! The 2-0 loss to Columbus on Saturday night should not have TFC fans too worried because it was a tough road match against arguably the best team in the east. Plus, TFC were the victim of a terrible call, as fullback Justin Morrow was shown red just before halftime after what looked like a clean tackle. Ten-man Toronto couldn’t hang in the second half and goals from Justin Meram and Kei Kamara sealed the points for the home side.

FCD 3 – 1 SKC
The #BBQderby: This nickname didn’t catch on in the TwitterSphere, but I don’t care, and will be referring to the Dallas v. SKC matchup as the Barbecue Derby from now on. Oscar Pareja made the lineup adjustment many predicted, bringing on defensive mid Michel and his deadly left foot instead of Ryan Hollingshead. The one lineup change I would like to see going forward is removing Atiba Harris from the starting XI. A lot of FCD fans were probably glad to see Colombian hot head Jair Benitez leave because of his knack for picking up reds and yellows, but it seems that Atiba could fill his shoes nicely in that department, not to mention the fact that he’s performed poorly at right back through two weeks.

Dallas switched from the 4-4-2 used in week 1 and went with the 4-2-3-1 that suits Mauro Diaz so well. The team performance was improved and we looked a more threatening side than a week ago. It must be noted that SKC were without USMNT center back Matt Besler (suspended), but Dallas looked dangerous up the middle of the pitch, out wide and from set pieces all night. Both first half goals came from mistakes but Dallas’ was still the classier of the two, culminating after two nice passes and a sure finish by the Super Rat. SKC’s lone goal on the night came just before halftime was more a product of subpar defending and questionable goalkeeping than a specific blunder.

The second half was impacted by an egregious error from the officiating crew. Only 10 minutes into a half that seemed evenly played, Blas put one in the back of the net. The only problem is that he and four of his teammates were at least a yard offside. Both sets of players, coaches and fans looked on in astonishment as the head ref pointed to the center circle rather than looking to his assistant.

Five Dallas players were in an offside position before Blas Perez (circled) scored our 2nd goal of the match

I honestly didn’t even celebrate because I kept waiting for the offside flag to be raised – it was a strange sensation. FCD later grabbed a third thanks to Fabian Castillo – you can see this highlight in the GOTW section below. SKC could have put the pressure on late after being awarded a questionable PK in the 79^th minute, but star striker Dom Dwyer can’t finish a ham sandwich right now and ‘keeper Chris Seitz came up with a clutch save to seal the win for Dallas. Don’t look now, but FCD is on top of the MLS power rankings.

RSL 3 – 3 PHI
I have already written too much and I did not watch most of this game, so I’ll keep this short. From what I understand Philly’s three goals were mostly a product of good fortune and luck. Their new Young DP, Venezuelan striker Fernando Aristiguieta, opened his MLS account, bagging a first half brace thanks to some sloppy play from RSL. This much I did watch; RSL were down 3-2 late and scrambling to find an equalizer in their home opener. Then Luke Mulholland’s 85^th minute shenanigans paid off as head referee Alan Chapman pointed to the spot when the RSL midfielder took a fall in the box. Click here to see how bad the call was. No doubt, the officials decided the outcome of this one instead of the players. Unfortunately for us, Philly head man Jim Curtain was a class act and kept his post match comments tame.

SEA 2 – 3 SJ
Clint Dempsey bagged a garbage-ish goal in record time and must have had the Quakes and the famous Seattle crowd thinking the beatdown was on. But not so fast. New manager Dom Kinnear has clearly injected San Jose with some confidence in his return to the Bay Area. It didn’t take long for Chris Wondolowski to get on the score sheet, bringing down a cross with a nice first touch and hammering it past the ‘keeper with his second touch in the 13^th minute. It was a classic Wondo finish that brought back memories from 2012, when he set the league on fire with a record-tying 27 goal season.

Wondo’s second goal, an opportunistic but well taken blast in the 48^th minute, was less about Wondo and more about Brad Evans, the veteran jack-of-all-trades who has seen time with the USMNT. Seattle are experimenting with Brad Evans at center back to start the season but he gift wrapped the two second half goals for the Quakes on Saturday and cost his side the match. When I started following the league a few years ago, Evans was known almost exclusively as a midfielder, albeit a versatile one with a deep knowledge of the game. Then, during the 2014 World Cup qualifiers, JK gave Evans a look at the fullback position. Now Seattle is trying to convert him to a full time central defender so they can pair him with three time MLS Defensive Player of the Year Chad Marshall.

Back to the game. San Jose were down a man for the final 38 minutes but it hardly showed. They had the better of the chances until the final 10-15 minutes when they were clearly running on fumes. A 70^th minute strike from new Quakes DP Innocent Emeghara capped off Evans’ nightmare game. The San Jose striker deserves credit for putting a dirty move on Evans and beating the ‘keeper with a class finish, but again Evans inexperience on the back line showed itself on the play, which eventually cost Seattle the match.

Through two weeks, the Brad Evans in central defense experiment is looking like a risky one, and the Seattle faithful might be examining their defensive depth a bit in the aftermath of this loss. On the other hand, San Jose, one of the true unknowns coming into 2015, proved their week 1 effort against Dallas wasn’t a fluke and will look to build off of what their commentator called an historic win.

Sunday Games

NYC 2 – 0 NE
I only caught the first half but the crowd was electric. NYC created far more chances than they did in week 1 versus Orlando and David Villa saw quite a bit more of the ball. I thought he could have had at least a brace in the first 45’, but he did bag the opening home goal in franchise history by finishing off a nice little give and go. Even prior to the season, it was clear that Orlando’s DP/Global Icon/Team Captain Kaká had bought into his club and this league. After watching David Villa celebrate his first goal in front of a brilliant home crowd, I am convinced that NYCFC’s DP/Global Icon/Team Captain has bought into his club and Major League Soccer as well. The second goal of the match was fantastic as Villa played the role of provider, playing a perfect ball in on the counter attack to promising young forward Patrick Mullins who easily finished the chance and sealed the 2-0 victory.

A lot of MLS folks get sensitive and uppity when discussing playing surfaces and stadium situations, acting as though the league isn’t legit unless all 20 of its clubs play in the classiest of venues and on the finest of pitches. I on the other hand credit MLS for what they have achieved and the number of clubs that are housed in modern, soccer-specific stadiums. In fact, 16 of the 20 current clubs are playing in their own soccer-specific stadium or have seen the legislation passed in order to build one. Two of the other four clubs are Vancouver and Seattle, who play on artificial surfaces but in front of some of the league’s best crowds, so I wouldn’t describe their situations as terrible. NYCFC’s situation is pretty silly though. They are playing on a baseball field so the pitch is limited to small dimensions while the fans are limited to bizarre seating arrangements. Having said that, I thought it was okay on TV as the small pitch made for entertaining up and down action and the strong crowd compensated for the match being played in a baseball stadium.

The two expansion clubs have made MLS a better league with their unique stories and impressive community support. Suffice it to say, I’ll be tuning into as many NYCFC and Orlando home matches as I can this season.

PTFC v. LAG
In the action I watched, neither team looked particularly dominant. LA still seem to be finding their post-Landon-Donovan-era form, and perhaps we won’t quite know what that is until the arrival of Steven Gerrard in July. Portland seemed to have secured all of the points after a clutch finish from Adi in the 90^th minute, but Galaxy forward Alan Gordon headed in the equalizer moments later. If you listen closely, you can hear Timber Joey sawing away at the log, still celebrating Portland’s second goal as the Galaxy celebrated their dramatic equalizer. I can only imagine the sickening feeling for Timbers supporters. But their loss is my gain and it was a great way to wrap up the weekend for FC Dallas as even more of our western conference clubs were forced to settle for a point or worse on the weekend.

FUN STUFF

GOTW – Four of my favorites from the weekend in no particular order

Fabian Castillo (FC DALLAS): nice passing, pure speed, ‘keeper had no chance
Innocent Emeghara (SJ): great move, great finish, the game winner
David Villa (NYCFC): nice give and go, epic celebration by crowd
Fanendo Adi (PTFC): lightning quick build up, quality finish

“F” Up of the Week

Tyler Deric’s poor touch that cost Houston the game at home. Though Brad Evans was a close runner-up, as he also cost his side the match with an inexcusable gaffe in front of the home crowd. You can find highlights of these hilariously bad mistakes above in the breakdown for each match.

Honorable Mention: Three awful pieces of officiating impacting the outcome of matches
-RSL 3-3 PHI: Phantom PK call in 85′ cost Philly 2 points
-FCD 3-1 SKC: One of the worst non offsides calls you will ever see
-CLB 2-0 TFC: Terrible red card decision changed the match

Surprise of the Week

(1) San Jose went on the road to Shield and Cup favorites Seattle, took all three points and looked a creative and dangerous side in doing so. They hung with FCD in Frisco for 91 minutes and lost on a dumb mistake. They have been impressive in two tough matches to open the season.
(2) The expansion clubs are playing some solid soccer. While the opener wasn’t the most attractive soccer, Orlando played a nice match in Houston and NYCFC created far more chances at home than they were able to last week. It’s a big monkey off the back of the expansion clubs to already have a win, and they can now take aim at a playoff spot. After all, more than half of teams get in!

This week’s winner is @eyeats, for his astute reply to a Taylor Twellman tweet. I’ll post a picture below of the play in question:

There you have it, MLS Radar: Week 2 is in the books. That escalated quickly! I’ll be prioritizing content next week.

The Good, Bad and the Ugly from MLS in 2014

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Major League Soccer’s 19th season has come to a close and I am taking a look at some of the biggest talking points from this World Cup year. I’ll also hand out some biased awards and share my favorite highlights from an amazing year of soccer in North America.

THE GOOD

MLS Next is Here

Earlier this year, in typical MLS fashion, the league put on a ridiculous branding show called “MLS Next” that was basically a glorified logo unveiling. I think most MLS fans were excited by the idea of a new logo, but also skeptical about the league actually getting it right. Since 1994, there have been five “different” MLS logos. Have a look:

As you can see, the league hasn’t exactly been getting creative. The newest edition, which will go into use in 2015 for the league’s 20^th season, was initially met with a negative reaction. Many thought it looked, cheap, thoughtless, lacked substance, and why is that damn kick-stand sticking out of the shield!?! Those are all fair assessments, because on the surface, it does seem overly simple to the point that it lacks identity. But since these initial reactions, the logo has started to grow on fans around the league. MLS was brilliant to observe that so many of its supporters liked to take the old logo and alter the image to do different things with it, including myself:

MLS took notice of the trend and really embraced it when designing the new logo. They gave some silly explanation about how the red half of the shield symbolizes the first 45′ and the white half symbolizes the second 45′, but I believe they wanted to engage fans with a blank space in the logo to let them play with. This is brilliant marketing, but enough about logos.

NYCFC – The Connection

Manchester City’s investment into MLS has blown open a number of really cool possibilities for the league. First of all, the New York market should be taken advantage of, and NYRB certainly aren’t doing their part right now. In terms of building a more prominent product within the American pro sports hierarchy, establishing a proud, dominant, inner city club in NYC is about the most obvious thing any league could do. MLS has yet to do this, but if the Yankees-ManC partnership can make a stadium happen, NYCFC could earn legitimate international popularity. They are certainly off to a good start with the likes of Super Frankie Lampard and David Villa set to take the pitch this coming spring. Beyond the two decorated designated players (DPs), I’d imagine NYCFC will find a way to incorporate ManC’s youth talent into their MLS roster and maybe even get around some salary cap restrictions as a result. NYCFC has a veteran MLS coach with a proven track record and an MLS Cup title to his name. They’ll pick up some MLS veteran household names, surround them with 18 year old English kids and three high profile DPs. For people who hold out hope that the U.S might one day become a soccer power (at the club and international levels), this tangible link between MLS and world soccer power Manchester City is absolutely a big deal.

Player Acquisitions

MLS took a massive step forward when Seattle signed Captain America (C. Dempsey) back in the summer of 2013. The league validated that step forward when it brought in USMNT stud midfielder Michael Bradley and Premiere League talisman Jermaine Defoe in January. Orlando City SC signed the Brazilian Kaka – sure he may be old, but this is the kind of acquisition that has alluded MLS in the past. It’s also nice to see an expansion club in Orlando contribute to the league with a marquee signing before even taking the field (Note for Austinites: this Orlando City Soccer Club, which will make its MLS debut next spring, is actually the original Austin Aztex, who controversially left town, set up shop in Orlando, and now the rest is history). The Houston Dynamo signed two players that got serious time in Brazil this summer, although one of them is Honduran and the other is quickly becoming a washed up American fullback (Beasley). I already mentioned Frank Lampard and David Villa signing with New York. The number of DPs in MLS is growing. Owners and technical directors across the league are faced with constant pressure to sign real talent just to avoid a bottom table finish (Case in point: Colorado Rapids). As a result, North American clubs are making bigger moves with each coming transfer window, and it is becoming less of a stigma for star players to sign with an MLS club.

Keeping Players Too!

USMNT regulars Graham Zusi and Matt Besler signed with SKC rather than a European club when the option was theirs. The league is doing everything in its power to hang on to Cubo Torres, the Mexican striker who followed up a breakout year in MLS with a national team call up and a goal for El Tri. FC Dallas will be desperate to hang on to their young super talent, Colombian winger Fabian Castillo, after Mexican powerhouse Club America showed interest in the 22 year old earlier this year. Here is a pair of highly recommended highlights from each of the young attackers – one from Cubo Torres and one from Fabian Castillo.

The Homegrown Initiative

In my MLS All-Star* 2014 piece, I mentioned the inaugural Chipotle Homegrown Game and the league’s effort to showcase the talent produced by its club’s youth academies. MLS clubs will eventually be required to start their own lower-division team or affiliate with one. Austin’s Aztex just affiliated with the Columbus Crew while FC Dallas just partnered with Arizona United SC for the 2015 season. LA Galaxy became the first MLS club to field their very own lower-division club, the Galaxy II, who just completed their inaugural season in USL PRO (3rd tier of US Soccer pyramid). They will be joined by RSL, Portland, Seattle, Vancouver, Montreal and Toronto as each of these clubs will be fielding a USL PRO squad in 2015.

Perhaps the truest sign that player development in the U.S. is improving is the sale of DeAndre Yedlin to Tottenham earlier this year. He is a great young talent and the league will miss his marketability, but the fact that an MLS homegrown was granted a work permit in England so quickly after Totttenham showed interest suggests that maybe even the English are starting to take MLS seriously. 2014 was genuinely a landmark year for homegrowns in MLS. FC Dallas saw the rise of Moises Hernandez at left back and Victor Ulloa at d-mid, two very young players who look to be MLS regulars for the next decade (Hernandez could eventually garner European interest – he looks that good). Seattle Sounders homegrown Jordan Morris (currently playing college soccer at Stanford) received a call up to the national team earlier this year. Gyasi Zardes bagged a goal in MLS Cup and is garnering national team interest himself after a 16-goal season up top for the Galaxy.

We are seeing MLS’ player development efforts pay off before our own eyes. At the same time, the league and the U.S. Soccer Federation continue to ramp up these efforts and establish a more thorough and intense player development system resembling that of a European country. If the league and its clubs continue to take player development seriously, it could lead to great things for both MLS and the USMNT.

Stadium Movement

As fans of MLS know, soccer specific stadiums have played a massive role in the league’s growth by offering passionate supporters a place to call their own. Beautiful stadiums that sell out at 20,000 tickets rather than 50,000+ make it much easier for clubs to create a fun and exciting atmosphere for fans and players alike – make no mistake, that “Player Acquisitions” section above would not exist if teams were playing in half empty NFL stadiums. The point is that soccer specific stadiums are critical to the success of MLS and the league is making real progress in finding suitable venues for each of its franchises. The New England Revolution remain a concern as they play in Gillette stadium, a massive NFL venue with an artificial surface. But one of MLS’ proudest franchises, DC United, seems to have secured a new stadium deal so they can finally escape the laughable RFK. The Earthquakes will play their first game in their new San Jose stadium this spring. Orlando City has broken ground on the site where they will build their new soccer specific stadium. Here is a great view of one of SKC’s many supporter’s sections – this scene is becoming commonplace across the league:

The Bad and the Ugly
I spent so much time talking about the good things going on in Major League Soccer that this column couldn’t possibly squeeze much more into it. I’ll just list some of the “bads” and “uglys” with a quick thought to keep it brief. After all, Soccer Therapy is a place for happy thoughts. Then, it’s onto awards and highlights!

THE BAD

Scheduling – Unlike most domestic leagues, MLS’ schedule does not accommodate to the FIFA international calendar. Like Scandinavian leagues, MLS doesn’t want to play soccer in the ice and snow, and nature forces the North American soccer season to run from spring to fall. That is fine, but I would like to see the league make some effort to give its clubs a break during FIFA international dates. Currently, MLS does not recognize these dates and it is incentivising clubs to target players who don’t factor into their respective national team pictures.

Secrecy – I have not read them in detail, but those who have assure me that the league rules make no sense, and if they did it would not matter. Many felt the league basically just made up the rules as it went along so that it could bring in stars Dempsey and Bradley. If this is the case, we are better off with these guys than without them, but it severely damages the young league’s credibility when it contradicts itself with one player acquisition after another.

Salary Cap – The “secrecy” concern is legitimate, but also understood because MLS is operating in an environment where it is destined to fail. A domestic soccer league has never thrived north of the border, and if it means ridiculous levels of control by the front office to keep the league afloat, I suppose that is better than the league collapsing like its predecessors. I think the league is trying to keep the cap figure low as its core of investors turn soccer franchises from debts into revenue generating businesses. Not all owner pocket books are created equal, and a salary cap represents the best way to maintain parity and excitement. But MLS has stated that it would like to be considered a top league in the world at some point. It would also be nice if MLS clubs could compete with LigaMX clubs: In the last six editions of the CONCACAF Champs League, only four MLS clubs have reached the semis, only one has reached the final, and none have managed to win the cup. MLS is walking a fine line between being a growing league and one with real aspirations. But until teams are given the salary cap freedom to sign DPs and still fill out a deep, solid, veteran roster, the league will not be able to compete with Mexican clubs.

THE UGLY

TV Ratings – As an avid MLS supporter I have a hard time finding anything “ugly” about the league, but the TV ratings have been objectively hideous. The biggest problem is that I do not see where the league can showcase its product without going up against a much more popular American sport. Summer time seems like a good window as many American sports are on break as well as popular European domestic leagues. The ideal time to show MLS games would be at the conclusion of the season when playoff spots are on the line and then the playoff games as well. In 2014, the MLS Cup playoffs began on 10/29 and ended on 12/7. There is this little thing called the NFL that happens to be going on four nights a week during this stretch. I truly have no idea how MLS is going to get TV viewers going forward. Maybe, just maybe, this is real cause for the league to consider getting on the FIFA calender so they can showcase their product without competing against the NFL. But again, the weather in North America simply does not allow for that.

Awards:

Commentary Highlight of the Year: watch (and listen) as commentator Paul Mariner encourages his beloved New England side to keep a clean sheet in the opening minutes of a match only to see the boys give up a goal within seconds of saying it: “Well there I am, Brad, talking about keeping it clean…” – this is priceless.

Rookie of the Year:
Harrison Shipp, Attacking Mid, Chicago Fire

The young homegrown (more homegrown love!) played his first MLS season after a standout career at Notre Dame and absolutely tore it up. After 7 goals and 6 assists, he finished 2nd in the real rookie of the year voting to FC Dallas’ Tesho Akindele. Tesho had a great season and was deserving of the attention, but his winning the award was a result of a great social media campaign by FC Dallas. Shipp is the rare American footballer with European skills and vision. While he is great over the dead ball and a lethal finisher in front of goal, his ability to find and make the pass is what truly separates him. This 15-second highlight is a little fuzzy, but you should get the idea. The voters had their reasons though: this is the best highlight from Tesho’s 7-goal rookie campaign.

Coach of the Year
Oscar Pareja, FC Dallas

Oscar took over a team that had the 5th overall pick at each of the last three MLS Superdrafts. He led the club through an absolutely brutal western conference and got FC Dallas their first playoff win since 2010. He took the squad to the USOC semifinals as well. FC Dallas was never beaten when they were ousted – losing on PKs in the USOC semis and an away-goals-tiebreaker in the playoffs. How did Pareja do it? He wasn’t afraid to put the young kids out there. He gave everyone on the roster a chance and really brought along the young talent that former manager Hyndman refused to give playing time. The team also set a franchise record for goals scored in a season, playing some exciting soccer at times. I may be a homer, but this seems like a no-brainer of a decision.

Team Bust: Toronto FC

Portland was at least expected to make the playoffs after finishing top of the table in the west last year. Houston is always expected to make a run at MLS Cup rather than take a dump in August and September. Philly had a much better squad than their place in the table would suggest. But the winner of this award has to go to Toronto FC. After all the talk this off-season about ending the playoff drought thanks to their big player signings, they came out of the gates hot, only to stumble to the finish. They dropped 14 out of 15 points in their last five matches, missing the playoffs by eight points. The signing of Bradley in a World Cup year hurt them badly, and their other big signing, Jermain Defoe, was bugged by injuries throughout the season. Still, more was expected of this squad and the loyal fans in Toronto deserve much better.

Surprise Team: DC United

FC Dallas might even get a look here as many expected us to struggle in a stacked western conference. But no one could have expected the turn around made by DC United this year after a historically bad 2013. They finished top of the table in the east only to tumble out of the playoffs in the conference semis. It must be nice to be a DC United fan: the proud franchise still managed to shock the world during their miserable 2013 campaign by winning the US Open Cup at Rio Tinto over RSL. Even in the bad years they bring in silverware. Then, they seem to put those bad years behind them overnight.

MVP
Robbie Keane, LA Galaxy

Some say Obafemi Martins of Seattle was the MVP while others say the Revolution’s Lee Nguyen was more deserving. I actually saw Keane and Nguyen live, but did not see Obafemi. I am not going to go into any analysis here, but Robbie Keane has been far and away the most valuable player in MLS ever since he joined the league in 2011 – as evidenced by his club’s winning three of the last four MLS Cups.

Goal of the Year

These things are biased – do you like the upper90 screamer from 30 yards out? Maybe you prefer a beautiful team build up or some spectacular individual technical ability. I settled on this goal as the best of the season because it is simply absurd. Some of the coolest goals you will see are met with a debate: did he really mean to do that? In this case, we can all be certain that the chip is exactly what Obafemi was going for. And if you are all about the build up play, check out that chip through ball that led to the goal.

Breakout Player
DeAndre Yedlin, Seattle Sounders FC

Tweet of the Year – this is pure gold

And there you have it – MLS 2014. Hope you enjoyed it and I will try to post a little more frequently.

Soccer Therapy

Because I have no one else to tell

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