Big day in MLS action Saturday here coming off Will “Hoosier Daddy” Bruins trifecta against a discombobulated DC United defense on Friday night. The goals more a result of lack of protection and organization by United although a stellar effort by the home side Dynamo.
Today, Sporting KC plays at New York Red Bull in the US Striker Bowl, Real Salt Lake tries to right their ship in stormy water up in Portland and San Jose try to shake up the Union.
Jewsbury has been revelatory as a vet presence in the Timbers midfield...but only at home. Timbers thankfully play in P-Town today...
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The Shin Guardian 
Posted by dth on 2011/04/30 at 1:20 PM
Philly going aggro and young with a Torres/Okugo combo in central midfield. Need I confirm how much I like it?
Posted by mbw on 2011/04/30 at 1:35 PM
Definitely good stuff. Are you watching?- are they actually playing a 4-3-3? Or is Mwanga or Le Toux in the midfield?
Posted by dth on 2011/04/30 at 1:50 PM
It’s kind of amorphous: Le Toux was very pushed up, Torres drifted from left to central…
was going to write more but the ref just decided to ruin the game by giving a terrible red card to Jordan Harvey. A real WTF decision.
Posted by Ufficio on 2011/04/30 at 1:57 PM
There’ve been more than a few of those in the MLS this year.
Posted by dth on 2011/04/30 at 3:01 PM
Philly gets the win off of a dubious handball call in the box, but to be honest the Union were better, even down a man, so the result is not completely unjust.
Earthquakes have some problems.
Posted by dth on 2011/04/30 at 3:05 PM
Oh, and the USMNT update: Okugo was assured as a holding midfielder, though it looked like he could use some work on the longballs–sometimes he was hitting balls that weren’t there, and sometimes hit balls that were there not-quite-right. I’m still overall very impressed by Okugo and wouldn’t be surprised if he gets capped by the end of the year.
Sheanon Williams was responsible defensively but was only so-so going forward.
Danny Mwanga is sort of a “possible,” since his citizenship is unsure, but we finally got to see the Danny Mwanga from last year, at least a little bit. Subbed off at halftime for tactical reasons (the whole ten man thing.) Still has a ton of potential.
Were I Peter Nowak, I’d think about rolling out the same lineup next week (minus Jordan Harvey). First game all year the Union have looked as dangerous offensively as solid defensively–I don’t think San Jose had more than a half-chance all game.
Posted by Ufficio on 2011/04/30 at 3:28 PM
Mwanga’s supposedly up for citizenship this year, so one has to been pretty good about our chances of landing him.
Posted by Ufficio on 2011/04/30 at 3:28 PM
“feel pretty good”
Posted by dth on 2011/04/30 at 5:10 PM
Luke Rodgers is a good forward, but a punk.
Posted by dth on 2011/04/30 at 5:15 PM
TIM REAM JUST WON AN AERIAL BATTLE. really, why teams don’t try and test the ream/marquez pairing aerially is beyond me.
Posted by Alex Song on 2011/04/30 at 10:43 PM
Because the players in MLS can’t hit an acccurate cross?
Posted by hank on 2011/04/30 at 7:21 PM
been visiting this site for a while but first time to comment.
i have to say that mls is crap. i have been following the game since 1998, and although there have been improvements, it is so behind europe. i went to netherlands and germany recently, and i was defending mls to my euro co-workers. they took me to two games, and i have to admit, it was WAY above any mls game i have seen in 13+ years. i was ashamed by my initial comment. i read blogs sch as this and read all the pro-american propraganda – and I am ashamed to admit, i took it all in.
i will continue to watch mls, but not in the same view that we are not ‘that far behind europe’. i will take tsg and tyac very lightly going forward.
Posted by matthewsf on 2011/05/01 at 6:06 PM
Not sure where we made that comparison bud.
Posted by sfshwebb on 2011/05/02 at 11:03 AM
Hank – I agree with Matt in that i’m not sure where WE as writers and editors of TSG made the comparison between the Eredivisie and Bundesliga to MLS, but we not only report on football worldwide and US players in it, but we like to promote MLS as an up and coming league. As you mentioned it has improved since its inception and will no doubt keep improving. It will take time but it’s in its infancy right now. We’re not blind nor looking at overall things through rose tinted glasses. We’re just trying to promote the positives as best we can, cause no else is really doing that.
Posted by dth on 2011/04/30 at 10:00 PM
Other TSG fave Ryan Smith made his season debut today and looked very sharp. Someone get this man his citizenship.*
* assuming, of course, he isn’t cap-tied to England by his youth team experience.
Posted by Ufficio on 2011/04/30 at 11:13 PM
I thought his father was American, which would mean he was a US citizen at birth.
Posted by john on 2011/04/30 at 10:18 PM
The Timbers are going to be a tough out at home… and I love it. Down goes RSL and the win streak.
Posted by Ufficio on 2011/04/30 at 11:27 PM
Bunbury’s team lost, but at least he won his Twitter war with Agudelo.
Posted by Joe on 2011/05/01 at 6:29 AM
So really interesting set of late games. Sounders put a thumping on TFC, which TFC barely having any chances and spent a total of five minutes in Seattle’s side in the first half. RSL cannot conquer their CCL demons and/or Jeld/Wen stikes again. Good job on the Timbers for their first clean sheet of the campaign. And then the until last week winless Chivas team hosts the new MLS golden boy and his darling team mates from New England and put three up on them. Plus again a much maligned defense keeps the favorites out of the net. On a side note I have some serious questions about RSL’s offense. Their last two league games and the CCL final at home their offense has been dismal. If is wasn’t for a terribly terribly awful missed offsides they tie Colorado. A team that looks like it couldn’t score two goals against a college team.
Posted by dth on 2011/05/01 at 3:18 PM
This month is going to be very interesting for the Galaxy. They’ve had a moderately difficult schedule so far, against which they’ve done moderately well. The month of May looks very difficult to me, though:
May 1, 7 pm @ FC Dallas
May 7, 11 pm New York Red Bulls
May 11, 7:30 pm @ Philadelphia Union
May 14, 10:30 pm Sporting Kansas City
May 21, 10 pm @ Chivas USA
May 25, 10:30 pm Houston Dynamo
May 28, 8 pm @ New England Revolution
You’ve got two of the top three teams in the league, two of the better midtier teams, one dangerous offensive team (Sporting, to be clear), a ton of fixture congestion (7 games in a month, yikes!) along with five (five!) cross-country trips. If the Galaxy average better than 1.5 points per match–so better than 10.5 points–I’ll give a tip of the cap to Arena and his master plan.
Posted by dth on 2011/05/01 at 3:23 PM
oh, and a random prediction for tonight’s game: Bryan Leyva could be substituted in late for FC Dallas and unsettle the Galaxy defense.
Posted by dth on 2011/05/01 at 3:38 PM
Or not…not in the 18.