MLS Round-up: Drogba delight and the San Jose hype train is halted.

Amid new arrivals, Seattle find success in familiar faces.
The talk in Seattle of late has been of new additions and returning Designated Players. Roman Torres and Nelson Valdez handed Sigi Schmid a timely boost at both ends of the field as his side struggled to pick-up victories.

Torres, Panama’s captain, was a rock and in arriving displaced Brad Evans from the centre-defence - a position he was not traditionally known for having begun life as a midfielder. Asked what the return of Osvaldo Alonso meant for his own future in the middle of the park he replied: “I have no idea. Strap on the gloves, hopefully.”

On Saturday there were no gloves but instead a move out wide for the benefit of the team. That’s what makes Evans an important part of the roster; his willingness to be versatile and never complain keeps harmony amongst a dressing room. Clint Dempsey, Oba Martins and Alonso may steal the plaudits , but players like Evans are vital to a team and something Toronto lack.

Admittedly Michael Bradley had a point in complaining about the international scheduling conflict. It left them without Jozy Altidore and Sebastian Giovinco (although the latter was deemed injured). The problem comes in the fact the support staff in Toronto aren’t there. Seattle and even the leaders in the Western Conference LA Galaxy all get big numbers from lower paid players. Until Toronto achieve that it will be difficult to see them ever collecting an MLS Cup, as Saturday showed.

Drogba steals the show as Impact gain tactical diversity.
It’s often said of football that a team of script writers could not reproduce the drama we sometimes see unfold. Had a team from Hollywood put together the story board for Montreal’s 4-3 win over Chicago Fire, they’d have certainly deserved awards.

Under the guidance of Interim Head Coach Mauro Biello the twists and turns were plenty and never in the direction you expected. The star of the piece was Didier Drogba as he netted a perfect hat-trick. His first was exceptional technique to control the ball and spin in a fluid motion before poking it home.

His second saw quick thinking from Ignacio Piatti to set him-up from a free-kick, while his third was the trademark power we have come to associate with the Ivorian as volleyed a shot before rising highest to nod in the rebound.

Delicately planted in between his first and second goal was a Chicago Fire penalty and a header from Kennedy Igboananike to give him five goals in his last five games and the Fire a 3-2 lead.

“What can I say? It was an exceptional performance,” Biello said of Drogba after the game. “He’s someone who’s really engaged. He’s won everywhere. He came here with a great desire to win and that’s what we saw tonight.”

As well as drama we also saw was a diversity in attack from Montreal . In years gone by teams have sat deep against the Impact and limited space for their faster players such as Dominic Oduro and Justin Mapp. With Drogba that proves risky as it allows him to pitch up in the penalty box where he is most dangerous - all three goals arriving inside the penalty area.

Nigel Reo-Coker noted the tactical change after the game, describing their eagerness to cross and put the ball in the box as ‘old school football’. With games in hand over rivals, that old-school style under a new young coach could be just what Montreal need to secure a play-off spot and turn their season around.

Nguyen keeps the Revolution spinning.
One of the many fun aspects of MLS is that players can earn an assist without making the final pass before a goal. It’s an assist for the assist if you will and that’s why Lee Nguyen was described as having an ‘assist on each goal’ by the Boston Globe.

A talented technician, he was ubiquitous during New England Revolution’s success over Orlando City on Saturday. In the absence of Kaka (away on international duty) Nguyen gave a master-class in playmaking and showed why he was nicknamed MVLee last season.

What will please Jay Heaps more is that his team were able to win convincingly without Jermaine Jones. The US international was the fuel behind their run to the MLS Cup final last season and concerns over his health going into this campaign cast doubt over the ability to repeat that feat.

Reflecting on Nguyen, Heaps said. “I think we’re a good enough team, a balanced enough team, where he doesn’t have to score the goal. Now, if he gets a little space, the runners can run off of him, and that’s what happened tonight. I’ve seen games where Lee had zero assists, zero goals, and he was better than he was tonight. He had three assists, I don’t want to knock that. I don’t look at it as goals and assists. I look at it as the impact he’s having.”

In terms of the numbers it seems Heaps is right. Nguyen’s goal tally was a large part of his success last season as he recorded double figures. That has dropped this year, but he has eight assists, three more than his total last season in almost 700 fewer minutes.

All in all that shift could prove beneficial to the Revs. They have goal-scorers in their team, but providers are sometimes hard to come by in MLS.

Veteran Conor Casey halts the San Jose hype train.
You may struggle to find a more American sounding forward than Conor Casey. A veteran of the league, there’s an air of late career Alan Shearer about his play.

Currently with the Philadelphia Union his time in professional soccer is certainly entering the final chapter, but he added an interesting few paragraphs to his story with a brace against an in form San Jose Earthquakes. Arriving as a second half substitute, he netted twice in under 20 minutes to give the Union the win and played very well.

For Dominic Kinnear it was almost a cruel irony that they beat the LA Galaxy and a number of better placed teams only to fall against the Union who have one win in six. The fact they held also let a lead slip will not help matters nor did missing Aníbal Godoy in midfield. A new addition for the Quakes his distribution and defensive assets were a large factor in the team collecting four straight wins, a run in which they scored 9 and conceded 0.

With games running out, any loss will be damaging to San Jose. The positive remains that they have a number of home games and the Portland Timbers face some tough tests in the coming weeks, meaning the train is still on the track, for now.

The Crew pay the price for internationals as Pareja’s babes do the damage.
The continuation of MLS during recognised international breaks has been an increasingly tense issue. A moment in which teams often lose key members of their squad never was that more evident than during the Columbus Crew SC’s game against FC Dallas.

Missing over half-a-dozen players through international duty the most telling absence for the Crew SC was Kei Kamara. His physical presence in attack has given Ethan Finlay an easy target from wide positions this season and without him they connected with just 25% of their 32 crossing attempts.

Credit to Oscar Pareja though who himself was missing a quintet including Fabian Castillo and Tesho Akindele. That didn’t stop FC Dallas running wild in a stadium that had seen just two home losses this season however. A proud night for the club in terms of the result, they also broke records by including five home-grown players in their starting line-up.

Alongside that ability to rear youth is Pareja’s eye for South American talent. In the absence of Castillo, Michael Barrios stepped in and provided pace and dynamism in the final third which was typified by his solo effort to give Dallas a two goal lead.

With the play-offs approaching, Dallas are hitting form at the right time. Now able to perform without some of their big names too, few teams in MLS will want to face them in the off-season that is for sure.

Results Week 27

Saturday

New England Revolution 3-0 Orlando City

Montreal Impact 4-3 Chicago Fire

Seattle Sounders 2-1 Toronto FC

San Jose Earthquakes 1-2 Philadelphia Union

Sunday

Columbus Crew SC 0-3 FC Dallas