MLS Week Six Review

Criticism of Major League Soccer is far from a new phenomenon, but a 13-year-old league obviously includes aspects in need of improvement. Commissioner Don Garber is fully aware of this and developments will naturally take time to bear fruit, but as far as the standard of refereeing is concerned MLS already ranks alongside its more illustrious peers – right up there among the worst of them.

In a fledgling set-up without full-time officials a less-than-exemplary standard of refereeing is somewhat unsurprising, but the performance of Jozef Batko in Saturday evening’s clash between Houston Dynamo and Chivas USA left most of the 20,000 plus crowd utterly perplexed, not to mention both teams and benches.

Batko irked the home fans early on when Dwayne De Rosario, always looking for the spectacular, attempted a bicycle kick on the edge of the Chivas’ penalty area. In stooping to head clear, Lawson Vaughn was accidentally caught by De Rosario’s boot and a free kick was duly awarded. With play set to recommence, it became apparent that the unintentional contact had drawn blood. A dizzy Vaughn required treatment (he was substituted minutes later) and his groggy state seemed to trigger the subsequent booking for the Dynamo playmaker rather than the incident itself.

The Dynamo bench were further riled before half-time by Stuart Holden’s caution for a similar foul to that of De Rosario, minus the cosmetic damage, despite aggressive means being utilised by the visitors’ backline to nullify the presence of Brian Ching and Franco Caraccio, Dynamo’s strike pairing. Batko’s failure to control the players led to frequent scuffles throughout the match, but the caution count was redressed after the break as both sides ended with four bookings apiece, topped off by a deserved red card for Chivas defender Claudio Suarez for a crude hack at Brian Mullan.

Dynamo looked to have a valid second half penalty claim when Jim Curtin appeared to let the ball roll down his arm before clearing but Batko was unmoved. His indifference towards the time-delaying antics of Brad Guzan, the Chivas goalkeeper, also added to the frustrations of Dominic Kinnear, Houston’s head coach, who sought an immediate confrontation with the official at full-time. Indeed, one wondered whether Guzan’s UK work permit would arrive before some of his clearances.

It would be amiss, however, to single out officiating for Houston’s failure to clamber off the foot of the Western Conference. Aside from a late chance for Corey Ashe, thwarted brilliantly by Guzan, Dynamo struggled to create clear goal-scoring opportunities despite bossing the match. De Rosario, their main playmaker and inspiration, gave another good showing despite not hitting top form but the supporting cast remains some way off the pace. Brad Davis, another scheming playmaker, missed out again through injury while Holden, replacing Davis on the left of midfield, struggled to find his bearings after his recent spell on the sidelines.

Though never the most fluent attacking side, Dynamo possess a strong belief in their ability to grind the opposition down. Kinnear had a number of forward options available last season to change the direction of a game, but the departures of Joseph Ngwenya and Nate Jaqua to clubs in Austria has left the reigning champions short of alternatives when Plan A is snuffed out. Acquiring another goalscorer must be high on the organisation’s priority list.

Preki, the Chivas head coach, sacrificed forward Ante Razov late on for added steel in the shape of Justin Braun; seemingly not introduced for his footballing brain. Chivas showed glimpses of the flowing, counter-attacking play which they are capable of but only in brief spurts. They remain a single point above the defending champions and are also some way short of finding their best performances.

The weekend’s highest scoring fixture saw L.A. Galaxy claw their way back from the loss of two early goals to salvage a 2-2 draw at Real Salt Lake. David Beckham’s contribution to date may be slight, but he kept the highlight reel producers happy this week with a stunning first goal which was reminiscent of his effort for Manchester United against Arsenal in the 1999 FA Cup semi-final replay – so often forgotten due to the subsequent heroics of Ryan Giggs. Beckham notched the equaliser with a trademark free kick before half-time, assisted by the poor positioning of Nick Rimando in the Salt Lake goal. Rimando more than redeemed himself after the interval with a fabulous save from Landon Donovan’s close range header.

Colorado Rapids regained top spot in the West after Christian Gomez, their experienced Argentine midfielder, inspired them to a 2-0 victory over his former side, D.C. United. The capital club, like Houston, continue to struggle after an intensive start to the season which included the CONCACAF Champions’ Cup tournament. In common with the reigning MLS champions, D.C. also remain rooted to the bottom of their division

New England Revolution saw their erratic form continue with a 3-0 home defeat at the hands of a Chicago Fire team who beat them 4-0 in Week Two. Stephen King sealed the win with his first MLS goal, but the real horror story was written by the Revolution defence that will be giving head coach Steve Nicol nightmares.

Columbus Crew remain ahead of the rest after a 2-1 win over Kansas City Wizards. Crew took control early on through goals by Adam Moffat and Robbie Rogers and seemed to have the points wrapped up when Roger Espinoza, the Wizards’ Honduran midfielder, was dismissed on 36 minutes. Claudio Lopez pulled a late goal back from the penalty spot, but Columbus held on to record their fourth straight home success of the campaign.

Week Six Results

Toronto 1 New York 1
New England 0 Chicago 3
Columbus 2 Kansas City 1
Houston 0 Chivas 0
Salt Lake 2 L.A. Galaxy 2
San Jose 0 Dallas 0
Colorado 2 D.C. United 0

Standings

Eastern Conference
1) Columbus 15 points (played 6)
2) Chicago 13 (6)
3) Kansas City 10 (7)
4) Toronto 10 (6)
5) New England 10 (7)
6) New York 8 (5)
7) D.C. United 6 (6)

Western Conference
1) Colorado 9 (6)
2) Dallas 9 (6)
3) L.A. Galaxy 8 (6)
4) Chivas 5 (6)
5) Salt Lake 5 (6)
6) San Jose 4 (5)
7) Houston 4 (6)