Preserve Defence

Colorado's Brian Mullan has been suspended an additional nine matches and fined $5000 for his two footed slide tackle that broke Steve Zakuani's leg. This is outrageous and shows MLS continuing to remove defence from the league. Yes, it was a horrible tackle and worthy of both a straight red and the three match ban. However, every match 1000 tackles take place and we rarely see something like this happen. Not every tackle is a rush of the blood tackle like Mullan's had last week, but not every tackle is innocent either. Everyone wonders how Zakuani will recover and if his career will continue to rise as it has been. I on the other hand believe it will be Mullan's career that will take the dive. He now has nine matches off to think about breaking another man's leg. I highly doubt Mullan will play to the standard he has in the past and I'm afraid his career maybe the one that fades and not Zakuani's. He will be a marked man every time he attempts a tackle.

Again let me say this was a terrible incident, but soccer is a full contact sport and these things happen. In the NFL players repeatedly run into each other to inflict pain, and rare it is when the NFL suspends someone for injurying another player. It's only in recent year for NFL players to be punished for off field problems. This is an incident that happens in sports, and if the tackle had happened a second sooner or later we wouldn't be talking about it.

The bigger problem I think this uncovers is the league taking defensive football and tackling out of the league. This season already we have seen a copious amount of red cards for light tackles, and ridiculous decisions by referees are becoming the norm in the league. I feel there is a concerted effort by the league to inform their referees that not only will goal celebrations be unacceptable, tackles and physical play be unallowed but also the referees most help to keep parity alive with their ridiculous calls. Lets face it, if the league wasn't happy with the refereeing they'd do something about it. Yes, they've brought in some fresh referees the past week or two; but those newbies have called the matches in the same inconsistent way. The league wants to look like they're stepping into help, but in truth they're happy to stay the course. MLS resembles the WWE more than professional football making the referee to be the villian in the match.

Many critics of the refereeing this season say US based refs call it in a Latin style. But the truth is there is no style. Too many times this season we've seen referees call a match inconsisentantly giving a yellow card to a player only to give a warning to another player for the same foul; or to give a red card when a warning would suffice.

To continue my consirpacy theory, MLS has plenty of reasons to want defensive football out of the game. First of all, they have already stated the referees need to protect the playmakers and attackers of the league. But most importantly defensive football is being taken away from us, because it doesn't sell to American casual fans and even to American hardcore fans. The common complaint of Americans is soccer is boring. MLS is rectifying this, however, by allowing the referees to make dodgy decisions that enable teams to play with an extra man. Conventional thinking is the game would then become open and more flowing with one team scoring a load of goals. This does happen, for example Colorado 4-1 DC United, DC had a player sent off in the first 15 mins for a soft tackle. But typically, teams play more defensive as in Vancouver's 1-1 draw with New England when three players were sent off. Two of which for questionable, soft fouls that were more hard play than reckless abandon.

The league is taking football out of football. It is a physically demanding game on all fronts. It was a horrible tackle, there's no doubt, but football is football and these things happen.

MLS Power Rankings Week 3: April 5, 2011

Everyone loves a power ranking in the USA, so I thought I'd get in on the act. Now that three weeks of MLS action has been played I feel it is a good time to make a few judgements on MLS clubs.

1. Colorado Rapids
The Rapids have had little trouble in their first three fixtures, and are using last season's MLS Cup victory as a springboard for this season; much like RSL did in '09. Colorado is doing it as a team and have had five different players on the score sheet in their three matches. Unlike many MLS Cup winners, they have strenghtened the team in key areas. They've signed striker Caleb Folan (who scored two in Week 3), they've brought back Danny Earls as defensive cover and also signed Sanna Nyassi. This team is much better than last season, which cannot be said for their cup final opponent FC Dallas.

2.Real Salt Lake
Salt Lake sit on six points from two matches and in their last MLS match humiliated LA Galaxy. They have an excellent starting 11, and have added depth to key areas with the signing of Conor Chinn. RSL should advance to the CONCACAF Champions League Final this week as they attempt to prove they are the best team in North and Central America. Fatigue shouldn't be a factor for this club. Yes, they've played extra matches in the CL competition, but they are good enough not to let it affect them. Much like Colorado they work as a team, though they have Alvaro Saborio as a DP, this team works for each other.

3. New York Red Bulls
New York is still undefeated in this early part of the season and looked better this past weekend against Houston than the previous week in Columbus. As long as this team has it's key centreback pairing of Tim Ream and Rafa Marquez it should be hard to beat. However, Bouna Coundoul is a liability and was at fault for Houston's goal on Saturday night. Dwayne De Rosario should fit in well. He had a fantastic through ball to Dane Richards to set up the Red Bulls only goal. Richards has become a fantastic talent since the arrival of Hans Backe.

4. LA Galaxy
LA handled Philadelphia quite easily in week 3 with a lone goal from Leonardo. Nothing special from LA in truth. They simply looked like the better team. With Landon Donovan back they should be able to handle most MLS teams, but may struggle against the top of the league. Their old legs don't help and need a youthful injection. Donovan is no spring-chicken anymore either.

5. New England Revolution
I wasn't expecting much from this team this season. Yes, they did get some fortunate calls against DC United in week 2, but they have played some good football. Throughout Saturday's match they looked evenly matched with Portland. Their defence looks solid only giving up three goals this season, however, they gave Portland too much room in the attacking third. At times Kenny Cooper was able to run freely through the middle of the defence. Steve Nicol will need to shore this up prior to week 4's match in Vancouver. The Whitecaps wide open attack could cause the Revs some problems. If the defence can get shored up and some more attacking talent is added this team could get back to old habits this season.

6. Chicago Fire
A pleasant surprise thus far in Chicago. This team can attack and after switching to a 4-4-2 (from 3-5-2) look like they can go toe to toe with anyone. They seem to have ditched the defensive mentality they showed for so many years under Denis Hamlett and the lot. They look more free flowing giving Marco Pappa the chance to run the midfield. Chicago also got rid of the old boys on the team this past season and the turnover has helped thus far. They just need to cut out the mistakes, like Gonzalo Seagres' 30-yard back pass to no one that Teal Bunbury picked off and scored in week 2.

7. San Jose Earthquakes
I've been surprised thus far with San Jose's play. They've played some good football, and Chris Wondolowski looks like the real deal and not the flash in the pan I thought. He has two goals, but more importantly his run and touch have been outstanding. They moved the ball well against Seattle last week and at times looked like the better team. Their finishing has been the achilles heel in home matches this season.

8. Philadelphia Union
Sorry Union, but I think you have been punching above your weight this season. Only two goals scored and one was by defender Danny Califf on a goal mouth scramble following a corner. The attackers haven't gelled yet and were completely out played by LA over the weekend. Week 1 and 2 were easier for the Union who will now face New York, Seattle and Salt Lake in the next three matches. We'll see if the Union are truly good enough then.

9. Vancouver Whitecaps
Maybe the most exciting team so far this season. An unbelievable, unprobable come back against Sporting KC capped by two goals in second half stoppage-time. They have two of the best midfielders in the league in Davide Chiumento and Terry Dunfield; and even without DP Eric Hasseli are scoring goals. If Hasseli can stay on the pitch and not be suspended Vancouver will be one of the hardest teams to beat all season.

10. Sporting KC
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Great attack and awful defence. This team again upgraded the attack in the off season and again neglected the defence. The powers that be seem to think they'll outscore every team. Sporting is lucky to have four points out of nine. If it weren't for goalkeeper Jimmy Nielsen Sporting would have surely lost this past weekend against Vancouver. They've given up eight goals in three matches, however, they have scored eight. They play exciting football, but if they aren't winning come June I don't expect their new stadium to fill up every weekend.

11. Seattle Sounders FC
Against San Jose, Seattle looked the best they have all year. I credit that to the injuried Fredy Montero. For the first time O'Brian White came into the match, and registered a goal. Is it just me or does he look unfit? Without Montero Seattle played more as a team and wasn't relying on one player throughout. Perhaps, it is time to move Montero on and stop depending so much on one player. Yes, when he is on he is on, but Montero has been incredibly wasteful this season as he drifts in and out of matches. Not to mention his selfish play. I think it's time for Seattle to make a difficult decision in moving Montero to strengthen the rest of the team. They have the best midfield in the league, and Saturday's match against San Jose was an example of what Steve Zakuani can do down the left. Zakuani's final ball following his blazing runs was there. I'm a big fan of Mauro Rosales and Erik Friberg and both were outstanding.

12. Toronto FC
One moment of bad marking and TFC paid the price in week 3. Though Chivas USA did have numerous opportunities to stregthen the lead their inability to finish chances kept TFC in the game. Despite trading Dwayne De Rosarion TFC is in good condition getting two quality players in Tony Tchani and Danleigh Borman. Alan Gordan's goal showed that TFC doesn't need DeRo to score every time, however, no one should miss a header when they're marked that freely.

13. Columbus Crew
Eddie Gaven is the most underrated played in all of MLS. Finally, he was allowed to play centerally against FC Dallas and he controlled the match. The Crew were gifted a penalty from what looked like a good challenge followed by the attacker and defender running into each other after the ball had been cleared. But the Crew were the better team throughout and capped it off with a fantastic Gaven strike from 20-yards. If I was an MLS club looking for an experienced midfielder then Gaven is my man. Still only 25-years old with eight years professional experience.

14. DC United
Week 1's result flattered DC United. They're not that good. Columbus's defence was just that bad in week 1. However, DC was rather unlucky in week 2 followed by a humilating defeat in a cold snowy Colorado this past weekend. DC again was unlucky as the Rapids' Conor Casey should have been sent off in the first 15-minutes. This team was missing several key players to injury and USMNT U20 matches. They are still putting the pieces together and I am still not convinced by Ben Olsen leading this team.

15. Houston Dynamo
The Dynamo have played relatively well so far this season. But where will the goals come from? Cameron Weaver had a classy goal against New York, but Bouna Coundoul should have done better. They've been strong at the back, and goalkeeper Tally Hall could be the next big thing in US goalkeeping.

16. Portland Timbers
The Timbers looked quite good against New England in week 3. Kenny Cooper came into the game well and did a fantastic job of running at defenders. Captain Jack Jewsbury showed why the Timbers traded for him with a classy goal to draw the match level. This team still needs better quality throughout the team, however. And sorry, but I'm not convinced by Rodney Wallace as professional footballer.

17. Chivas USA
Surprisingly they weren't the worst team in the league this week, but close. A much better all around display, but that's not hard when you are the worst team in the league. Justin Braun continues to show why I think he is overrated, awful and not cut out to be a top-flight football player. Braun had atleast four clear chances to put the game away against TFC, but each time missed and missed badly. I can't believe some MLS pundits believe Braun should be on the USMNT and is one of the best (young) players in the league. I just don't get it. By the way, Braun was at fault for the TFC goal, too. He was the one marking Alan Gordan, if you call marking standing four yards away and allowing a free header from one of the shorter players on the field to be marking.

18. FC Dallas
How the mighty have fallen. I keep saying that FCD didn't replace the players that left in the off-season, and yet again it shows. They were unlucky in the awarding of a penalty to Columbus. But the midfield allowed Eddie Gaven to run the show on the night. David Ferriera has looked like a shell of last season's form. There's no goal scorers as they've only scored once in three games. That came back in week 1 on a Milton Rodriguez wonder goal. Also, someone needs to tell Schellas Hyndman that Brek Shea is not a central defender. He has been terrible in the position. I know you can't expect him to completely learn a new position in the off-season. But maybe you should put him there gradually, give him some reserve matches there. He's too weak to play as a centreback anyway. He is slightly more affective as a wide midfielder. I actually think being 6' 3'' he should be deployed as a target man up front. His size should allow him to not only be a good header of the ball, but able to hold the ball up. FCD should have done the same as Colorado in the off-season and added quality to the squad, not get rid of it.


Team of the week: Vancouver Whitecaps for their come back from 3-0 in 20 minutes.
Player of the week: Caleb Folan 2 goals for Colorado and an honourable mention for Vancouver's Camilo for his 2 goals in second half stoppage time and Eddie Gaven for his 1 goal and play against FCD.

MLS officiating still ridiculous

Colorado Rapids hammered a depleted DC United on Sunday 4-1. However, this result could have been much different if referee Elias Basakos would have sent a deserving player off. Too often in MLS the referee is too quick to pull out a red card, however, in this instance Mr. Basakos was wrong not to show a red. If he would have I don't see this having ended in a 4-1 scoreline. The incident happened 15 minutes into the match when Colorado's Conor Casey wildly flew into a 50/50 challenge studs up. Casey caught DC's Daniel Woolard square in the shin/calf area just below the inside of the knee. Woolard's lucky not to have had his leg broken as many players have in this instance.

Casey got off lightly and was only shown a yellow card. I can't believe how bad some of the officiating has been this season with red cards given for non-offences and a referee misses a blantant red card offence. If Casey was red carded DC may have been able to get the upper hand in this match. However, Colorado looked great and Caleb Folan looks like a good signing. The difference between Colorado and Sporting KC is that Colorado not only has a great attack, but they have the midfield and defence to go with it.

Conor Casey would go off in this match with an injury, possibly a thigh strain. He did look quite unfit prior to going off. He looks to be carrying some extra weight, though he has always been a big guy, he looks 5-10 pounds over weight.

Things I've noticed after the first Saturday in MLS

The major theme this weekend was awful, awful defending. Most goals seemed to come from poor defending and average attacking play.

-The Vancouver supporters were fantastic and in great voice for their season opener. If Toronto could defend they would have taken a point from this game. Some of the worst school-boy defending I've seen in a long time with two of the Whitecaps goals from bad marking, bad clearances or just not marking a runner.

- On the theme of terrible defending Chivas tried their best to be the worst defensive team on the day. Sporting KC's three goals were simply down to awful defending and opportunistic attacking. However, Chivas got themselves back into the match by some shoddy set piece marking followed by a second Chivas goal thanks to more bad SKC marking. I wrote SKC's backline was untested in the first half and they looked shakey in the second. Chivas didn't have anyone to put the ball away and SKC escaped, in the end, with all three points.

- Salt Lake escaped San Jose with all three points in unconvincing fashion. The combination of wind, rain and RSL fatigue due to their exploits in the CONCACAF Champions League looked to zap the energy from the team. Fortunately for RSL Nick Rimando put in a man of the match performance.

- I'm not sure who counted the heads as they came through the gate, but it was annouced FC Dallas' Pizza Hut Park was sold out for opening day. I guess a sell out in Texas is different than in most other cities as there were massive gaps in the stands and loads of empty seats. I was a bit unaware Break Shea would be moving to centreback in this one, and he looked out of place miscontrolling a pass then getting sent off for pulling down a Chicago attacker. I thought Chicago looked the better team in this one, except for the magic goal that Dallas' Milton Rodrigez pulled out of nowhere.

- Great to see Colorado getting off to a great start and their attack looked electric, most notably Omar Cummings. Portland was never in this match. Rodney Wallace was poor and proved again he isn't an MLS level defender. It was also great to see a full house at Dick Sporting Goods Park.

- Nothing special between Houston and Philadelphia Union. The winner coming on a scamble in front of goal that was buried by centreback Danny Califf.

- New York and Seattle played perhaps the best match of the weekend. Seattle already played during the week and lost to LA 1-0. They looked better in this and if it wouldn't have been for Greg Sutton Seattle would have been up early. However, NY's Juan Agudelo won an early penalty only for the spot kick from Thierry Henry to be saved by Kasey Keller. Alvaro Fernadez and Freddy Montero were excellent linking up together in this one. But Seattle had no one else joining the attack and NY put the game away with an excellent goal from Agudelo. Henry it must be noted faded in the second half for the Red Bulls after starting brightly.

- Not sure how to judege DC United after they defeated a poor Columbus team. Josh Wolff got the opening goal and the man I said would lead the leauge in scoring and resurrect his career, Charlie Davies, got two. One from the spot and the other from open play. His second was fantastic individual effort and the quality that he showed against the Columbus defence was head and shoulders above. I've said previously Columbus has terrible fullbacks and a bad defence and it looks like it could be a long season for them. Great to see a big hungry DC crowd out looking for a rebound from last season. It's interesting to note DC's captain last season Santino Quaranta and Branco Boskovic started on the bench and were both unused subs.

- If the season goes according to opening day we're going to see a load of goals, some terrible defending and some fantastic forwards in the league this season. I'm already earmarking a couple managers to be sacked this year with the first being Columbus' Robert Warzycha.

Thursday Rounds

-Former Chelsea striker and much rumored to be coming to MLS, Mateja Kezman, will not be signing with MLS; at least for now. He has signed with Hong Kong's South China club.

- USMNT player Jermaine Jones has signed with Blackburn on loan from Schalke 04. Jones had been demoted by Felix Magath to Schalke's reserve team who play in the German fourth division.

- American and former Duke University player, Mike Grella who signed with Leeds United rather than MLS, has signed on loan with Motherwell in Scotland. Grella played well last season in Leeds promotion season from League One. Though, he never could break the strangle-hold Luciano Becchio and Jermain Beckford had on the starting striker spots. Grella has spent much of this season on loan already.

- Colorado's Kosuke Kimura's 15 minutes of fame in Japan could be about over. Fellow countrymen Shinji Kagawa's Borussia Dortmund is leading the pack in Germany's Bundesliga, with Kagawa as their top scorer. A shrewd buy in the summer, Kagawa has proved to be one of the buys of the year. It is now reported he may join Manchester United in the summer for over $30 million. Dormund signed him on a free from Japan's Cerezo Osaka.

- Finally, the Philadelphia Union has signed Colombian goalkeeper Faryd Mondragon and Colombian defender Carlos Valdes. Mondragon, 39, joins the Union from Germany's FC Cologne. Meanwhile Valdes, 25, comes to MLS from Colombian club Independiente Santa Fe. With the way the club finished last season they should be good enough to make the new 10 team play-offs.

Scottish Football League Change(s) Could Send Talent to MLS

The SFL has announce they will put changes to vote in an attempt to raise the the profile of Scottish football. The SFL which governs all professional Scottish football is looking to change the topflight, Scottish Premier League, to a 10 team league. The league currently contains 12 teams, and the league officials believe a 10 team league will help restructure TV money allocations to team as well as make the league more competitive. The second division would also be re-configured to 10 teams with the bottom teams in division 1 playing the top teams of division 2 in a playoff to determine promotion and relegation.

Many Scottish clubs and fans have spoken against these league changes. They feel this will make the league rather monotonous with each team playing an uneven schedule in a 38 match season. Many already feel the season becomes boring when teams can play each other 2, 3, 4 or 5 times in a season. Similar to MLS, Don Garber has stated the league may have an uneven schedule to promote rivalry and make the playoffs mean more. However, look at attendance and fan satisfaction in Scotland he should understand why so many are against this idea.

Many of the clubs and fans alike have called for a 16 team top flight with a total of 32 matches. They've also called for a playoff to determine the league champion, which has been denounced by both Celtic and Rangers. The two teams have won the Scottish top flight every season since 1984-85 when Alex Ferguson's Aberdeen broke up the Celtic/Rangers stranglehold. Rangers have amassed 53 Scottish titles to Celtic's 42 in the history of Scottish football. All non-Ranger and Celtic supporters can sympathize with the desire for change.

Another change that many are calling for is a schedule change that would mirror MLS and the Scandinavian countries. Winter weather tends to cause fixture cancellation in Scotland, as well as pitches becoming so torn apart they should be deemed unplayable for topflight football. However, SFA officials seem to think a spring to fall schedule is ludicrous.

If the SFA changes the league to 10 teams it could send Scottish talent to MLS. We've already seen Colorado's Jamie Smith, amongst others, who rather than take a step down in clubs( from Aberdeen) leave Scottish football for MLS. With two less teams in the topflight we could see many Scottish players migrate to MLS. Many Scottish players salary is on par with the mid to higher earning MLS players and last season Robbie Keane became the highest paid player in Scottish football history during his loan spell at Celtic.

Scottish football is in a shambles these days, and if these league changes take affect I think we will see Scottish football all but extinct. However, the good news for Celtic and Rangers is it could finally open up the English Premier League and English Football League to the idea of adding Scotland's two biggest teams.

Impact player

According to DC United, they're looking for an impact player in this year's Superdraft. It rare, however, that find such a player coming out of college. I argue that the true impact players are either players who have gained a few years professional experience outside of college, or they are signed from other parts of the world. The biggest impact player from last season, Andy Najar, was signed from the team's youth academy. It can be argued Tim Ream and Danny Mwanaga were impact players for their respective teams. However, it truly depends on how one defines impact player. To me these players have filled in holes that each team had and were valuable pieces to the team's puzzle. I classify impact as David Ferreria in Dallas or Omar Cummings in Colorado. Neither of these teams could have made the MLS Cup final with out the contribution of these players. Therefore, impact to me is dictated by the final results at the end of the season.

I don't think DC can find an impact player in the draft, until he is atleast developed in the league for a few seasons. However, they can find a valuable piece to plug into a terrible team.