Monday Morning Centerback

Good morning folks. I made it back from Columbus in one piece and can say that it was a pretty interesting weekend in MLS action. Here are some thoughts from the weekend:

Is Troy Perkins being exposed? There is no taking away the fact that he had a great year in 2006, and he had a strong showing in US national team camp, but did too much success come too fast? He better figure things out soon because the DC defense isn't going to make things easy for him.

Yes, I know Shalrie Joseph and Michael Parkhurst were missing, but is New England's attack going to get it done without Clint Dempsey? I'm hearing great things about rookie Adam Cristman but can the Revs make up for the attacking quality lost with the departure of Dempsey and Jose Cancela?

The Crew impressed me on Saturday. They played hard and organized and goalkeeper Andy Gruenebaum was really good. Here's my thing. Their forwards aren't reliable and that defense is going to have more shocking games than solid ones like they did Saturday. That said, Ned Grabavoy looked pretty darn good. Here's another question Crew fans. Why on earth is Rusty Pierce starting at left back when you have Tim Ward?

When Josmer Altidore came off as a second-half sub in Saturday's game I couldn't help but picturing a commercial that started, "When I was five years old I used to play 90 minutes."

Clint Mathis needs to get the start on Sunday. Case closed.

I said it before the season and will say it again, FC Dallas is going to struggle. That defense is just not good enough.

If you haven't seen Nick Rimando's costly blunder on FC Dallas' equalizer on Saturday you need to find it. Painful stuff. You just know that Tony Meola is sitting somewhere thinking, "I could definitely start for those guys."

I'm still trying to figure out whether I can forgive Ryan Cochrane for the red card he received on Sunday that cost me first place overall in the MLS Fantasy Challenge.

The Rapids sure looked good on Saturday. Could this be the year Fernando Clavijo puts it all together? I'm not saying another negative word about Colorado. I do wonder how they get Cancela on the field.

That's all for now. I'll be back later today with some posts so stay tuned...

Comments

[bill]

i agree about Colorado. They actually played a fairly solid and exciting game. That Roberto Brown guy looked like he'll be good for a few goals as well.

[bill]

i agree about Colorado. They actually played a fairly solid and exciting game. That Roberto Brown guy looked like he'll be good for a few goals as well.

[SFC]

why does Clint "need" to get the start on Sunday?

[harry]

Re: Colorado. Brown might be nearly as good as Emelio. Cancela can play in place of Kirovski, or be stuck on the bench, like in New England.:) I think that is as well as Colorado can play, but D.C. can play better. And there were two 0-0 draws this weekend, but I saw a lot a few teams (D.C., RSL, Dallas) that look like giving up goals all season.

[Joe B. NYC]

The Rapids looked pretty good. I really think Herculez should get a look with the National Team...

I also think Altidore should have stayed on. If Arena (and others) gave EJ so much time this kid deserves longer time on the pitch. If anything, Mathis should have came on for Wolyniec. I thought Reyna was great (Seriously), but I'm not sure if Kovalenko is a good partner for him in the middle of the field.

[zilla]

Troy Perkins might GET exposed, but those goals yesterday had absolutely nothing to do with him. His backline made some pathetic mistakes and he got hung out to dry.

[Andrew]

Cochrane may have cost you first place, which you weren't expecting anyway, but he probably saved us Dynamo fans a point. . . well done Ryan, took one for the team.

[geoff]

Cochrane screwed me too!!!

[JJ]

I think when it comes to cards, the MLS refs never give the benefit of the doubt to the Dynamo players. Either that, or the ref tries to match the color of the card to the glowing orange jerseys we have.

[Uncle Dave]

. . . at least u didnt have Shalrie Joseph AND Michael Parkhurst starting . . .

Besides the point tho . . .

I agree with Eyeves. Give Mathis the nod. Wolyniec, god bless em, wont be able to do it like Mathis / Alti would

[Andrew]

JJ
The red card was completly correct. . . the benefit was that a goal wasn't given up!

[JJ]

Andrew - I concur, I just don't think the Dynamo get any slack for the most part. From my angle it was red according to rule - if Cochran had just made some attempt at playing the ball it might have only been a yellow. I don't know if the Galaxy guy would have scored (he seemed fast but not so skilled) but I'll trade Cocrane with a one-game suspension for a one-point tie.

[Andrew]

JJ
I agree that at times last season I was asking the same questions about ref's decisions. I remember a game against Chivas in which it seemed the ref wanted the goats to win, something about a real weak penalty given, but I think those things even out over the course of a season. And in fact during the playoffs, we got a couple of those calls back against that same team. Cheers. . .enjoy the season

[Nick]

Ives,
Only fans who don't follow United closely consider Perkins to be a "quality" goalkeeper. Goalkeeping has cost DC many times, and is one of the major reasons DC has been out of the championship picture despite such a good roster...Perkins getting "paid" by United brass this year had as much to do with Rimando's ineptitude as Perkins play.

[Allen]

Good question about CO + Cancela. I think it's obvious that Kirovski should be riding the pine until he learns how to spell "move" or "run" (let alone execute on those). But really the strength of CO this year is, IMHO, Pablo + Beckerman in the midfield together. Maybe Cancela gets the start when either of them are away on USMNT duty.

[Matt Y]

One mistake against Chivas doesn't mean that Perkins is getting exposed....not sure if you have actually been watching the DC games this year or as a Red Bull fan are just "hoping"...

Nick, you have no idea what you are talking about..I'm a GK and a DC fan..who watches 80% of the games.

Perkins played great last year...and has been solid this year despite injury.

[JJ]

Andrew, that Chivas-Hou game from late August I think was the one with the awful ref Alex Prus who swallowed his whistle on a penalty on DeRosario in the last minute that cost us a tie. We also had Clark red carded and maybe a PK granted for Chivas. It was the only game last year that looked fixed rather than incompetent. ESPN had a sideline mike open and after the no-call you could hear Kinnear screaming and swearing at him. Interestingly, in the 1st Pachuca game in Houston, Prus was the 4th official and when the ref got a cramp or a pull I thought he was going to come on. I figured after last year's Chivas game he wouldn't get assigned to Houston game for a long time. Enjoy the season as well.

[Andrew]

JJ
That's exactly what I was thinking of. I remember Kinnear ripping the refs a new one thinking he was about to hurt someone.

Game 1 vs. Pachuca was an treat for me — I live in the SF bay and happened to be in Texas visiting that week. Luckily the reschedule was for the following evening. I was happy to see the old boys play again and do well against the mighty Pachuca. Houston is a class organization all around and I was treated great by all those I talked/sat with that day.

[JJ]

Andrew, we got lucky getting the squad and coaches here in Houston that we did. I think this is the kind of market that an expansion team might have struggled in or they would have just loaded it up with Mexican players to play to the fans (the rumor for a few years was that Club America would put a team in Houston).