Article by Matt Lichtenstadter
MLS’ second and final rivalry week of the season produced quite a bit of intrigue, fascinating games and important results to dissect. The playoff races have all been dramatically affected by what went down this weekend, and while there’s still a bit of season left, time is beginning to run out for teams making playoff pushes. Some helped themselves quite a bit this weekend, others did not. Let’s take a closer look…
Portland Exacts Revenge: Derby games can often spring some big surprises, but very few if any expected Portland to be up 4-0 on Seattle at halftime. The Timbers were rampant, dominant and clinical against a Sounders team that didn’t show up. Losing Clint Dempsey to an irregular heartbeat obviously hurt, but that doesn’t explain how the same Sounders team looked pretty solid under Brian Schmetzer until this past Sunday, when they looked lost. Their performance certainly improved in the second half, but by then they had dug themselves too deep of a hole. Portland had been wavering for a few weeks, which opened the door for the likes of Seattle, San Jose and Vancouver to inch closer in the playoff race in the West, but now the Timbers have a small cushion to work with. They’re by no means out of the woods yet, but there’s quite a bit of relief in the Rose City after this win.
Teams Helping Themselves: Outside of Portland, there were other teams that had big weekends with regards to the playoff race. First, DC United put on a show against 10 man Chicago, with relatively new acquisition Patrick Mullins bagging a hat trick in a 6-2 win. Mullins didn’t catch on with NYCFC, but in DC he is a focal point as well as a player with plenty of potential to continue his form. He adds punch to an otherwise fairly punchless attack, and now DC United is starting to find their way as they need to consolidate their playoff position. Orlando City, who had been merely OK under Jason Kreis, scored a huge win against his former NYCFC team, keeping them within only one point of DC. This is a team with the talent and coaching to make the playoffs, but now they need to put that on the field and translate it to results. Sunday’s win does enough to start that, but they have more work to do.
On the Other Hand: There are some teams who are in a bad patch of form, and their playoff hopes are starting to either go away, or were put in some jeopardy. The New England Revolution have not won a MLS game since July 23, and haven’t beaten a non-Chicago team since July 9 against Columbus. Their 1-0 loss against the Red Bulls, coupled with the wins ahead of them, should be raising serious alarm bells for Jay Heaps and company, whose team has been a solid playoff contender recently, is now seriously facing missing the dance entirely, and they’ll have no one to blame but themselves. They don’t have the edge they possessed a season ago or especially two seasons ago, and now there are questions about Jay Heaps’ job status. In the West, aforementioned Seattle, San Jose and Vancouver all have been spurning opportunities lately to move up the table, especially the Earthquakes, who took one point from games against Houston, New England and Columbus. And finally, Sporting Kansas City is in total free fall after another bad loss, this time to Philadelphia. Red cards, horrible form and fixture congestion are threatening to derail their season and while they have a cushion (and lesser teams below them), they need to right the ship soon if they want a deep playoff run.
The Supporters Shield Race: Both TFC and NYCFC lost this weekend, hampering their chances of winning the Supporter’s Shield. Toronto FC had a home game against Montreal, and despite the Impact going down to 10 men, the visitors won anyway. They also lost Sebastian Giovinco to a groin injury, and thankfully for them they’re on a bye week so Giovinco can recover. But for the Impact, it was a massive win as they tried to escape a bad patch of form. We already talked about NYCFC’s loss to Orlando above, but the team they are chasing looked very good in a derby of their own, and that would be FC Dallas. They won 3-1 at Houston despite conceding the first goal, and though they haven’t been quite as dominant without Fabian Castillo, the bank of points they have built up is coming in handy right now as they try to complete an unprecedented MLS treble of US Open Cup, Supporters Shield and MLS Cup. FC Dallas has a five point lead over Toronto FC, Colorado and RSL for the Shield with seven games to play.
Watch out for Real Salt Lake: Real Salt Lake has quietly had a solid season, bouncing back from missing the playoffs last season. After winning the Rocky Mountain Cup back from their rivals from Colorado, they are only five points behind FC Dallas as mentioned for the Supporter’s Shield and first place in the West. What’s old is new again with this team, including players like Yura Movsisyan, Javier Morales and Kyle Beckerman still forming the backbone of this team just as they did when they won MLS Cup in 2009. Can they make another run? It’s certainly possible if they play the way they did on Friday and when they’re at their best.
What to watch for: Despite the upcoming international slate of fixtures, MLS play isn’t stopping. There are six games this weekend, including NYCFC hosting DC United on Thursday, FC Dallas playing host to Portland and somewhat slumping LA gets a chance to right the ship against Columbus. Also next Wednesday, Orlando City travels to Montreal for a huge game in the East playoff race, and RSL gets to take on LA as well.
