MLS: Seattle Sounders win battle of Conference leaders

MLS is back, and Graham Parker and Malena Barajas were on hand to follow the lessons of the first weekend of resumed play.

Tim Cahill gets home early and comes up big late

Before New York kicked off against Toronto, Thierry Henry was asked about Tim Cahill’s World Cup strike against the Netherlands, and suggested that had a Brazilian scored it, it would have been an even more celebrated goal.

Of course, Cahill’s goal, while it decorated the World Cup, didn’t in the end have a substantive effect on Australia’s World Cup campaign, as they were eliminated without being disgraced. Cahill could have been forgiven for wanting a break after his exertions, but having flown back to New York, at his insistence he was put straight onto the Red Bulls bench for a rather less high-profile game against Toronto.

And as it turned out, Cahill would have a game-saving effect. With Toronto leading 2-1 late, the Australian came on for the last 15 minutes and started winning aerial duels, as he tends to do. Still, the game looked to have gone though, when in the 94th minute Cahill rose on the edge of the box to head the ball into the path of Bradley Wright-Phillips, who shot home from the edge of the six-yard box.

It got a rather error-strewn New York out of jail, and was hard on Toronto, who’d played some neat attacking soccer early in the game, before falling behind to Peguy Luyindula’s header. The assist on that gold had come from Red Bulls debutante, Ambroise Oyongo, who joined Matt Miazga and Chris Duvall in a trio of rookies accompanying Jamison Olave in the back four.

Oyongo did well enough, though Dominic Oduro had a lot of space on his flank to cross for Jermain Defoe’s perfectly flicked finish across Luis Robles early in the second half. And there was little the defense could do after their midfielder Lloyd Sam brought down Defoe on the edge of the box and the Brazilian Gilberto (after an angry wrestle for the ball with Defoe) battered a vicious free kick straight into the net.

At that point it looked as if we’d be asking questions about Petke’s inexperienced back four — the coach confirmed afterwards that rather than the squad being stretched this was part of his long term intention to bring young players into the side as and when they’d earned their shot in training — but a more experienced head was yet to make a decisive appearance. Cahill may have come to New York as part of his preparation strategy for one more World Cup, but his affection for his domestic team and fans is genuine, and thankfully for them, his appetite remains after stepping away from the big table. GP

A big night in North California, a good night for South California

It was always going to be the case that in trying to avoid the 2014 schedule being squeezed too deep into winter, MLS would have to make the decision to resume play in their usual summer schedule while the World Cup was still under way.

Perhaps in an effort to ensure the unfolding spectacle in Brazil, or even the masses showing up for viewing parties, wasn’t completely disproportionate to the crowds showing up for MLS games, one of the match-ups the league resumed with was a clash between San Jose Earthquakes and LA Galaxy at Stanford Stadium in front of 50006 spectators, mostly supporting the Quakes in the California Clasico.

Not that the league got the satisfaction of scenes of the crowd going wild: an organized, if not particularly spectacular Galaxy performance saw the northern California crowd given little to cheer about, as their southern neighbors worked a neat goal just after the hour and then held on for only their second shutout of the year.

Bruce Arena may take as much satisfaction from that shutout as the win — the Galaxy have games in hand on several of their opponents, but have conceded too many goals to begin hauling in, let alone overtaking, those rivals just yet. A couple more games like this though and we’ll soon be talking about another Galaxy charge starting in the summer, while San Jose, for this weekend at least, may have to content themselves with another big crowd against LA, and a hopeful marker for their future life at their new stadium (currently under construction).

Meanwhile, back at the StubHub Center, there was no such good news on the crowd front as Chivas USA’s struggles at the gate continued. Yet on the field, the news was better for the hosts. Another excellent goal for Erick “Cubo” Torres, whose loan (with option to buy) was extended by Chivas during the World Cup break, and who has repaid his team with consistent goals in an inconsistent season.

It was also enough for a win over Real Salt Lake. A few weeks ago that result would have been truly remarkable after RSL’s record-equalling unbeaten start to the season, but with RSL slipping without their World Cup absentees Nick Rimando and Kyle Beckerman, not to mention Alvaro Saborio (injured during World Cup training with Costa Rica), this was as good a time as any for the Goats to play the number two team in the West.

And while Chivas were aided by an early red card to RSL's Luke Moore and Salt Lake scrapped hard for an equalizer, they were as lucky not to be caught again by a number of late Chivas breaks as they were unlucky not to convert their own chances. Chivas saw out the game for a rare good night for them and a rare pair of simultaneous wins for SoCal. GP

Le Toux, the enigma, is back

Any regular readers of the Guardian’s MLS coverage will have seen a repeated phrase in the comments section: “Why did the U sell Le Toux?”

When Philadelphia Union first arrived in MLS, Sébastien Le Toux was their undoubted talisman, with his goals, link-up play and positional sense. When the Union reached their high water mark of a play-off place in their second season in 2011, Le Toux helped drive them there, only to fall foul of the internal power struggle at the club in the late Peter Nowak era.

Despite his apparent importance to the team, Le Toux was traded to Vancouver in early 2012 and having struggled to settle found himself back on the East in the same season — not with the Union though, but their Eastern rivals New York Red Bulls. Played wide by then coach Hans Backe, Le Toux looked an appropriately peripheral figure for New York and there was never any question of a mutual agreement for his contract option to be picked up there, as the player seemed to be drifting alarmingly.

With Nowak gone, Le Toux found his way back to Philadelphia, but despite some intermittent flashes, he’s never got near his form in his first spell with the Union.

But in the last few weeks, something positive has been stirring with the player’s play, culminating with a two goal tally against New England on Saturday night that took his total to the week for four — having scored the brace that put Philadelphia into the quarter final of the US Open Cup at the expense of New York Cosmos in midweek. Added to his goal in the last game before the World Cup break and Le Toux appears to have hit a streak of form.

Just in time to impress a new coach — John Hackworth was fired on June 10th as the World Cup break began, and temporarily replaced by assistant coach Jim Curtin. The Union seem to have experienced the traditional bounce in the wake of the changes, partly around a more careful preparation around dealing with set pieces, and on Saturday night through the opportunism of Le Toux, as he scored a classic poacher’s goal from an under hit defensive header, then finished a sweeping counter cooly to kill the game in the second half.

Hackworth might be ruefully wondering why Le Toux didn’t do more of that under him — the revamped Union midfield certainly has the potential to make chances, but had looked short of confidence in the weeks before Hackworth’s sacking, with Le Toux not particularly remarkable one way or another.

But for right now Sébastien Le Toux is the center of a conversation about the Union attack, and it’s been a long time since we’ve said that. GP

Seattle invented Chad Barrett winning goals

In a clash between the East and West conference leaders, Chad Barrett’s header in the 39’ minute was all it took to give the Seattle Sounders a win over D.C. United, earning the Sounders their 11th win this season. The win further solidified Seattle’s place atop the League table with 35 points, 10 more points than the four teams sitting in second place (Sporting Kansas City, Colorado Rapids, D.C. United, Real Salt Lake).

Unbeaten in the last five matches, the Sounders again proved dominant despite missing Clint Dempsey and DeAndre Yedlin – both on international duty with the US National Team – and Obafemi Martins who is out serving a red card suspension. Without the help of Dempsey and Martins on the attack, the Sounders were able to rely on Barrett, who positioned himself well during his 58 minutes on the pitch. Midfielder Gonzalo Pineda provided the service for the goal and directed much of the play for the Sounders at RFK Memorial Stadium. The World Cup break and absences have done little, if anything to curb Seattle’s momentum.

D.C. United was also missing its key attacking player. Fabián Espíndola is out with a sprained MCL suffered during play against the Montréal Impact on June 11. His team will have to do without him for an estimated minimum of six weeks. Forward Luis Silva, recently returned from injury, had an effort straight to hands of the keeper early in the match but later checked out, which was quite the contrast to his hat-trick performance against the Impact in the same match where Espíndola was injured.

D.C. United did find some inspiration in Chris Rolfe who was active throughout the night. Rolfe registered four shots, one of which hit the post in the first half. Eddie Johnson had one of the two shots on goal for the Black-and-Red, but was off-step from his teammates for most of the match. Johnson’s performance projected overcompensation; perhaps Johnson was trying too hard to find his place in the rebuilt D.C. United. With Espíndola’s absence, it is critical for Johnson to relax, focus, and get in step with his teammates should they intend to remain a threat in the second half of the season. The World Cup break was just not enough time for D.C. to coordinate a new and forceful attack.

Since losing to the Rochester Rhinos of the USL PRO two weeks ago, D.C. United are out of US Open Cup play and can focus their efforts on making the MLS Playoffs. Next week, they head to BMO Field to face Toronto FC. Seattle stay in Cascadia to face the Whitecaps at BC Place in Vancouver and likely extend their lead by another three points. MB

Porterball is so last season

Following a 3-1 home loss to them in the US Open Cup, Sporting KC beat a very different Portland Timbers team 1-0 in regular league play on Friday at Providence Park. In the four-day span, Sporting KC made three changes to its starting lineup while Portland made eight. The result brought Sporting KC from third place to the top of the Eastern Conference, even with DC United on points, but ahead by goal differential. Heading into the second half of the season, Portland sit seventh in the Western Conference, outside of a playoff position.

Fourteen minutes in, Darlington Nagbe broke through Sporting’s defense, but his effort was ruled offside. Ten minutes later, Lawrence Olum scored the would-be winner for Kansas City as a result of long throw-in into the box by Seth Sinovic.

Portland made two offensive-minded substitutions in the second half. Gaston Fernandez, who scored in brace in each of Portland’s last two Open Cup matches, was brought on in, and Portland opted for a three-man backline when they brought on a third forward, Maximiliano Urruti, in hopes of salvaging a point. In their last match before the World Cup break, Portland came back to draw 2-2 with FC Dallas with a stoppage-time goal from Urruti. This time, however, the Argentine was unable to make an impact in his eight minutes of play; all of Portland’s shots came before he entered the pitch.

Sporting KC brought a physical game to Portland, fouling the Timbers 23 times – more than double the 10 fouls committed by the Timbers. Sporting KC had committed fewer fouls than their opponents in their previous three regular season matches, but it appears they are back to their old habits.

This was Sporting KC’s second consecutive win following a five-match winless streak. The last win happened before the World Cup break against archrival Houston. Next Sunday at Sporting Park, Sporting KC will face their other rival, the Chicago Fire who had a bye last week. The Wizards will continue to be without strongholds Matt Besler and Graham Zusi who are on national team duty with the United States.

Portland will travel to Los Angeles to face the Galaxy on Friday. With a healthy squad available, Coach Caleb Porter must find the right combination on the pitch to carry the Timbers into playoff contention over the second half of the season. Possession and outshooting the competition is not translating to wins in 2014.