MLS Cup 2010 Kick Off

Major League Soccer playoffs kickoff tonight when Columbus travel to Dick's Sporting Goods Park to take on the Colorado Rapids.  In a year clearly dominated by western conference teams, this will be the chance for a perennial eastern conference power to grab this series by the collar.  But Columbus comes into the playoffs limping.  They lost starting goalkeeper Will Hesmer to a broken shoulder in the final game of the regular season.  That means that that University of Kentucky alum Andy Gruenebaum will have to step into the most important games of his career in Columbus are to make it to the final.  Here a few keys to the game:

Andy Gruenebaum 
As I said earlier, Gruenebaum is in for the injured Hesmer for as far as Columbus goes in the playoffs.  The Crew's road to the final is pretty tough.  First up is the Colorado strike force of Omar Cummings (14 goals) and Conor Casey (13 goals).  Columbus are vulnerable on the road, especially with a backup GK.  Gruenebaum will need to grow up quick to slow down that duo.

Andy Iro and Chad Marshall vs. Omar Cummings and Conor Casey
Talk about your epic first round battles, this is the key match up in the series.  Iro and Marshall are big and physical, but lack speed.  Casey should be simple enough to deal with, but Cummings will present a different monster to deal with.  How the Crew adjust to compensate could make the difference in this one.

Check out the game tonight on ESPN2 at 9pm ET. 

Major League Soccer End of Season Review

The 2010 MLS season ends today.  A season of new heights for the league has seen exactly what it needed to.  Here we'll review some of the major story lines for the season.

Major Market Teams Flourish
With LA Galaxy controlling their destiny in tonight's game against FC Dallas (a draw will earn them the MLS Supporters Shield), LA has returned to the top the league.  With Landon Donovan, Edson Buddle, and David Beckham leading the way, MLS couldn't be happier with the way LA has dominated for most of the season. 

Meanwhile in the East, the New York Red Bulls sit top of the Eastern Conference heading into the playoffs.  For MLS to succeed in the future, it will need a successful NY club.  The Red Bulls are giving them that and then some with the acquired star power from Thierry Henry and Rafa Marquez.

Chicago had it's struggles this season, but have acquired Frddie Ljungberg and Nery Castillo.  The retirement of Brian McBride hurts, but Chicago is a great club and you can bet they'll be back

Philadelphia went through the growing pains of a first season in MLS, but to come away disappointed with them wouldn't be fair.  They are a young, tough club and they'll contend for the future. 

MLS is still in its infancy, and it needs its major market clubs to lead the way into the next decade.

Pacific Northwest Expansion
Though not involved in the play this season, the Portland Timbers and the Vancouver Whitecaps FC have only added to the great northwestern love fest, joining the Seattle Sounders FC.  This is going to be a great triplet to watch next season.  It started earlier this season when Portland planted its flag on a billboard just walking distance from Quest Field. 

The Year of the Designated Player
As mentioned earlier, the additions of most notably Thierry Henry and Rafa Marquez for New York, along with Nery Castillo (Chicago), Mista (Toronto FC, Blaise N'Kufo (Seattle), Alvaro Fernandez (Seattle), Branko Boskovic (DC United), Geovanni (San Jose), and Omar Bravo (Kansas City) have expanded the leagues reach into the depth of football talent.

Now the league needs to go out and get some good young talent.  MLS should be strong enough to make some headway into the market come next summer.

From the "Where in the hell did he come from" department:
Chris Wondolowski...that is all that needs to be said.  Leads the league with 18 goals this season and unless Edson Buddle scores tonight, he'll finish with the Golden Ball.  What a season he's had and it could culminate with a call up to the January camp with the national team.

Playoff preview coming after tonight's matches.  Have a good one.

Knee Jerk Roster for South Africa

Title says it all.  Here are the 18 guys I see for the South Africa match in November:

GK (2): Brad Guzan (Aston Villa), Dominic Cervi (Celtic)

DF (6): Jonathan Spector (West Ham United), Eric Lichaj (Aston Villa), Oguchi Onyewu (AC Milan), Clarence Goodson (IK Start), Michael Parkhurst (FC Nordsjaelland), Carlos Bocanegra (Saint Etienne)

MD (7): Maurice Edu (Rangers), Jermaine Jones (Schalke), Stuart Holden (Bolton), Mikkel Diskerud (Stabaek), Alejandro Bedoya (Orebro), Sacha Kljestan (Anderlecht), Benny Feilhaber (AGF Aarhus)

FW (3): Jozy Altidore (Villarreal), Eddie Johnson (Fulham), Conor Doyle (Derby County)

Explanation
Season will have just ended for most MLS teams, save the two teams in the MLS Cup Final.  There is no need for any of the potential guys to have to fly across the world for 3-4 days.  So I expect a Euro heavy roster.  I'd look for a lot of "newer" guys to get a good amount of time.  It's never to early to integrate forwards into the US fold, so Conor Doyle is my outside shot forward.  I like his game and he's getting as much time as Jozy Altidore and Eddie Johnson these days, so why not?  Here is a starting lineup I'd like to see.

---------------------Guzan

Lichaj-----Goodson-----Onyewu-----Bocanegra

---------------Edu----------Jones

Bedoya------------Holden------------Feilhaber

--------------------Altidore

International Break Rewind: Best and Worse of

Apologies for the lack of posts following the Colombia game.  School got hectic.  But we're back at it today with a review of the full international break for the United States. 

First off, let's get a round of applause to Bob Bradley.  He certainly deserves it.   He defected away from the 4-4-2 and the 4-2-2-2 that was his linchpin for the last 2 years.  Against Poland we saw this:

4-2-3-1

-------------------------Howard

Cherundolo-----Onyewu-----Edu-----Bocanegra

---------------Bradley------------Jones

Holden----------------Dempsey--------Feilhaber

-------------------------Altidore


Here was the formation against Colombia:

4-3-3

-----------------------Guzan

Spector-----Goodson-----Onyewu-----Pearce

----------Bradley----Jones-----Edu

Holden--------------Altidore-------------Shea


Have to love the the changes from Bradley for these games.  He tried things out.  I don't think the 4-3-3 worked very well, but that had more to do with Stuart Holden and Brek Shea not really understanding the position as a true wide playing winger.  But seeing something different is always a nice breathe of fresh air.  A lot of people are calling the formation more of a 4-1-4-1, which it did kind of morph into because of the confusion from Holden and Shea.  But the official formation from US Soccer was a 4-3-3 so that's what we'll go with.

Lets talk stand-out individual performances from the two games:

Jermaine Jones- What a revelation he is.  He gives the US midfield a tough tackling, visionary, class central midfielder.  He immediately took responsibility of distribution from Michael Bradley and performed admirably, picking up an assist against Poland.  Really excited about his future.  Gold Cup 2011 will be his official coming out party.

Oguchi Onyewu- He's on his way back.  Still some rust, but you can see the physicality and the intelligence is there.  Just getting time now is his deal.  He may have to suck it up at AC Milan and take a loan somewhere.  The big hoopla about him not talking to the media is way overblown. 

Stuart Holden- Despite the confusion against Colombia, you can see that regular time in the EPL is changing his game for the better.  His vision and set piece delivery are spot on.  His tackling is what has impressed me the most however.

Eric Lichaj- A damn impressive debut for the youngster from Aston Villa.  He looked ready, strong willed, and ready to just try things, as evidenced by his attempted loft over the Colombian defender when he got forward.

Michael Parkhurst- After the debacle that was the Gold Cup 2009 final, Parkhurst reassured the US fans with a strong defensive performance against Colombia in the second half.  Deserving of more call ups.

Now for the sit down performances:

Brek Shea- Yea, yea, it was his first game, with completely unfamiliar players, etc.  However, he didn't even look like a soccer player.  He looked like a fan in a US kit who got lost on the field.  He's one for the future, but his 45 minutes showed little of what he is capable of.

Jozy Altidore- Sure, he scored the opener against Poland, but then failed to connect on goal with at least four other opportunities against Poland and then a stunning no show against Colombia.  His tantrums and carrying-on really need to end.  His yellow card is proof that he still has a lot of growing up to do.

Michael Bradley- Simply put, a terrible two games from Junior.  Everyone is allowed to have bad games, and thank god that Jones was there to clean up for him.  He'll recover.

USA vs Colombia Preview

Tomorrow the United States takes on Colombia at PPL Park in Chester, PA.  Colombia is coming off of a 1-0 win against Ecuador at Red Bull Arena Friday night.  Tonight we'll have a traditional preview of what to expect from the United States in game two of the October opening in the FIFA calender.  We'll also take a look at what formations and guys we'll see this time around from both teams. 

Lets start off with the United States potential line changes.

I expect there to be some significant changes to the US set up here.  We already know that two starters won't even be in uniform.  Carlos Bocanegra and Steve Cherundolo have been sent back to France and Germany respectively so we can expect almost wholesale changes in the backline.  Here's the lineup I see starting.

-----------------------Guzan

Spector-----Goodson-----Onyewu-----Pearce

---------------Bradley------Jones

Holden-------------Dempsey-----------Bedoya

----------------------Altidore

Not exactly a lineup that is blowing my skirt up either.  But the fact is that Bob Bradley is still coach and when last I looked, just about everything he does is pretty predictable.  Sure the Edu at centerback was a bit of a surprise, but not completely out of the picture since Edu did play there during the Olympics and against the Czech Republic in the Send Off Series to the World Cup. 

Whats the lineup that would love to see?

-----------------------Guzan

Spector-----Goodson-----Onyewu-----Pearce

--------Bradley------Jones-------Holden

----------------------Dempsey

---------------Altidore-----Johnson

I'd expect that everyone on the roster gets a cap in this one except Howard.  Of course, maybe Howard starts with the jumbled backline and Guzan comes on after the break.  But I'd really like to see Johnson get the full 90 here, just to see where he is at.  Don't look at my Edu exclusion as a bad thing, I could see he and Jones splitting the 90 here.  Lichaj and Shea also get at least a half in this one as well.  Feilhaber maybe comes on late in this one, and Bedoya as well. Parkhurst probably gets a run out as well, maybe the last 10 minutes or so. 

The three in the midfield give us the advantage over their two, allowing us, potentially to control possession and create numbers up in the final third.  Johnson gives the speed option up top.  Dempsey goes into the playmaker role, which he played so well against Poland.

Lets look at the potential Colombia lineup:
4-4-2, or a 4-2-3-1 depending on how you want to look at it.  This was their lineup against Ecuador, so things can change:

------------------Ospina

Zuniga-----Perea-----Yepes-----Armero

----------Restrepo-----Viafara

Ibaro-------------------------------Ramos

------------Moreno

------------------------Gutierrez

There you have it.  Let's hope for a positive result.  Until then, have a good evening.