MLS Week 24: The Art of Eddying

by user The Manly Ferry

Here we are: Week 24 of 29. It’s clearly time to get down to, what Nacho Libre’s Ignacio would call, "the nitty-gritty." With most the league’s teams seemingly stalled, a few teams – most notably, the Chicago Fire, the Los Angeles Galaxy, and, arguably, Real Salt Lake – have seized the chance to fight for the playoffs; the smart money, on at least two of them, is that they get in. A look at the standings shows that, incredibly – and not a little unfortunately – absolutely everyone remains in contention. One might think that a good thing, but when that only comes about courtesy of August performances that produce, say, one win, two ties and three losses (that’s Red Bull New York’s record and it’s the norm), there’s actually not all that much to cheer.

Whatever is happening, below are the previews for tomorrow and Sunday’s games (9/9 and 9/10). The home team is listed first, followed by their overall record, either the home or away record, whichever is relevant for the week, and each club’s record in the month of August (well...it’s actually their record since the All-Star break and includes all competitions). After that comes word of injuries and suspensions. After that, it’ll be me trying to make sense of all that. Here goes...

Columbus Crew v. Chicago Fire

INFO BOX

Columbus Crew: 6-12-8 (26 pts.); Home: 3-5-5; Form: LLWLW

Injuries: OUT: Johnny Walker, Jed Zayner, Frankie Hejduk, Jon Busch, Danny Szetela, Jacob Thomas; PROBABLE: Duncan Oughton.

Chicago Fire: 9-8-8 (35 pts.); Away: 3-5-4; Form: LWWWWWTWW

Injuries: OUT: Chad Barrett, Craig Capano, Jeff Curtin, Jared Montz; QUESTIONABLE: Zach Thornton.

In the end, this likely comes down to a straight comparison between W’s and L’s; Chicago has racked up a lot of the former lately, while Columbus could use "L" as something of a middle initial – especially if one goes back the length of the season. It hardly helps that Columbus has collected only one points more at home as Chicago has away. Still, who would have thought this same Columbus team would have thrashed the New England Revolution last weekend? One more game like that and people will have to figure out who this Ricardo Virtuoso character is. Still, unless the stars line up just right, Prediction: CHICAGO WINS.

DC United v. Real Salt Lake (TV, FSC, 4:30 PST)

INFO BOX

DC United: 14-3-8 (50 pts.); Home: 8-1-3; Form: TTTWLTWL

Injuries: OUT: Dominic Mediate, John Wilson (out for the season); QUESTIONABLE: Devon MacTavish, Jaime Moreno, Alecko Eskandarian (but wait); SUSPENSION: Bobby Boswell, Alecko Eskandarian (there it is!), Christian Gomez, Joshua Gros.

Real Salt Lake: 9-12-5 (32 pts.); Away: 4-8-0; Form: WLWWLWL

Injuries: OUT: Paul Broome, Seth Trembly, Christian Jimenez, Daniel Torres; PROBABLE: Jason Kreis; SUSPENSION: What’s up with Scott Garlick?

Between players missing and that hideous rash of suspension to crucial players, one expects DC United officials are scouring the local parks and rec leagues just to field a team. Any familiarity with the players missing – Christian Gomez, for one, carried DC to their most recent league win – suggests this will be a hell of a tricky game for the hosts. For their part, Real Salt Lake just suffered a dirty, dirty loss to the Colorado Rapids; one could anticipate righteous anger to lift them…but only so far. Prediction: DRAW – DC at home, even with half the team gone, is still a tough game.

New England Revolution v. Red Bull New York

INFO BOX

New England: 7-8-10 (31 pts.); Home: 5-3-3; Form: TTTLLWL

Injuries: OUT: Marshall Leonard, Willie Sims, Daniel Hernandez; PROBABLE: Jani Galik (who?), Pat Noonan, Doug Warren.

Red Bull New York: 6-8-11 (29 pts.); Away: 1-6-6-; Form: LTLLWTL

Injuries: OUT: Peter Caner, Elie Ikangu, Mike Magee, Mark Lisi, Shawn Kuykendall; QUESTIONABLE: Youri Djorkaeff.

Can either team hold it together sufficiently to walk away with a win? Got me. New England, at least, has all their big names back. And Red Bull does suck on the road. Still, a look at those sorry, sorry form listings says plenty about these two teams. In the end, it seems a matter of weighing Edson Buddle, Amado Guevara, and John "Three-Goals-in-Three-Games" Wolyniec versus "Disgruntled" Clint Dempsey, Taylor "Deadeye" Twellman, and Steve "Shoot Me" Ralston. On the up for New England, they get Shalrie Joseph back; maybe he’ll do enough to keep the defense organized while the Revs labor to score their one goal. Prediction: NEW ENGLAND WINS (I can’t believe I just wrote that.)

Kansas City Wizards v. Colorado Rapids

INFO BOX

Kansas City: 8-13-6 (30 pts.); Home: 5-4-4; Form: TWLLTWTL

Injuries: OUT: Jimmy Conrad, Eddie Johnson; QUESTIONABLE: Nick Garcia; PROBABLE: Alex Zotinca, Josh Wolff, Jose Burciaga Jr.

Colorado: 10-10-5 (35 pts.); Away: 2-7-2; Form: LWTLLW

Injuries: SUSPENSION: Hunter Freeman, Thiago Martins; PROBABLE: Terry Cooke, Mike Petke, Matt Jordan.

The return of Terry Cooke, who remains near the top of the league in assists, would help immensely. But it wouldn’t do anything to erase the dirty, dirty win Colorado picked up against Real Salt Lake last weekend…honestly, continuing play with a man from the other team down…shameful. It may be true that Kansas City is missing Eddie Johnson, but, when you get right down to it, he’s been missing all season. In the end, though, whatever happens in this one don’t count on it being exciting. Prediction: DRAW – and a mass attack of narcilepsy among the three fans in the Kansas City stands.

Chivas USA v. FC Dallas

INFO BOX

Chivas USA: 8-7-10 (34 pts.); Home: 6-2-5; Form: TWTWL

Injuries: OUT Mike Munoz, Ramon Ramirez, Estuardo Sanchez; DOUBTFUL: John O’Brien; PROBABLE: Lawson Vaughn, Johnny Garcia; SUSPENSION: Juan Palencia.

FC Dallas: 14-8-3 (45 pts.); Away; 4-6-2; Form: LLLLWW

Injuries: OUT: Jeff Cassar, Roberto Mina; SUSPENSION: Carlos Ruiz.

It’s statement time for Chivas USA. A win against FC Dallas, the top club in the West and the only club pushing DC United for the best regular season record (aka – the Supporters’ Shield), could send them into the playoffs with more hunger than desperation. Dallas, for their part, has something more to play for as well; four of their six losses on the road came during the month of August and they’ll need something to provide confidence for the road portion of their first-round, home-and-home playoff tie. Last week’s first-ever win over their “El Capitan” rivals (that'd be the Houston Dynamo) started the road to self-belief. Prediction: FC DALLAS WINS – that road gets wider and flatter.

Los Angeles Galaxy v. Houston Dynamo

INFO BOX

Los Angeles: 9-12-5 (32 pts.); Home: 4-5-3; Form: WLWWWLWW

Injuries: OUT: Cornell Glen, Kyle Martino, Troy Roberts; QUESTIONABLE: Nathan Sturgis; PROBABLE: Ugo Ihemelu, Tyrone Marshall.

Houston: 9-8-9 (36 pts.); Away: 2-5-6; Form: LWLWLTLL

Injuries: OUT: Mpho Moloi (who?); QUESTIONABLE: Brad Davis

Guess who just played mid-week in the U.S. Open Cup? And guess who won? Given the way things are going generally for Houston, it’s very hard to believe they’ll win this one; the best thing one can say is they’ve got Brian Ching back, if only part-time, to take some defensive attention from Dwayne DeRosario. Los Angeles counters Ching, to some extent, with the suddenly hot Alan Gordon. Even if Los Angeles is better on the road than they are at home, Houston stinks on the road and, frankly, they’ve lost the plot in 2006. Prediction: LOS ANGELES WINS.

Date

Fri 09/08/06, 12:37 pm EST