Deepest squad in MLS
After their latest victory over Real Salt Lake, L.A. Galaxy coach Bruce Arena claimed that this was the deepest squad he has ever coached and I have to agree with him.
Arena added three Brazilians to an already talented squad in the offseason and, although I have not been overly impressed with Alex Cazumba, Juninho’s inventiveness and Leonardo’s strength at the back now means that the Galaxy has a lot more options than they did last year.
Sean Franklin has also completed a full preseason and is looking better than ever, while the success of last year’s draft picks means that the Galaxy has gone from a bench full of youngster to one that has the likes of MLS vets Greg Berhalter, Chris Klein and Jovan Kirovski on it.
The biggest compliment I can pay this squad is that they have not even missed the injured David Beckham.
Foreign Fans at MLS Games
While attending the L.A. Galaxy-Real Salt Lake matchup I ran into a lot of European born fans - particularly English - attending the game. While it is great to see many of these ex-pats supporting MLS, I do get annoyed by their constant comparisons to European football.
Having grown up in Europe myself, I am not stupid enough to think that MLS is at the level of the top leagues in England or Spain, but we have to remember that the league is less than 20-years old and the strides it has made in that time have been remarkable.
MLS will only continue to grow with the support of all football fans in the country and that support needs to be positive and not constantly reminding people around you that the play in MLS is slower than that in the Premier League.
Finding the right mix at forward
The next top English born goal-scorer in the Premier League behind Wayne Rooney is Darren Bent. The Sunderland striker has been in great form all season, yet he still finds himself behind the likes of Peter Crouch and even Emile Heskey when it comes to Fabio Capello’s England team.
This is because Capello recognizes the need for balance when it comes to picking a front two and he feels that the linkup play of Crouch and Heskey provides the best foil for Rooney.
This is the principle that many American fans need to apply before they try and say that the goal-scoring form of Herculez Gomez and Edson Buddle makes them a more viable option than Brian Ching and Conor Casey in attack.
Casey and Ching may not be as prolific as Gomez and Buddle, but they are both better linkup players and provide a better balance when paired with Charlie Davies or Landon Donovan. Playing Buddle or Gomez alongside Davies or Donovan would mean they would have to sacrifice something from their own game to make the partnership work and I am not sure that Bradley would want to take that gamble this late in a World Cup year.
American sports are very stat driven but picking someone based on goal scoring alone would be missing the bigger picture.
McBride a class act
Many top players in MLS would sulk or complain about being left on the bench, but Brian McBride showed last weekend that he is not one of them.
The former American international has done enough in his career to almost demand a place in the starting lineup but his “I’m not bigger than anyone else in the team” showed once again why he is a perfect role model for any up and coming young player in this country.
McBride, like the rest of his teammates, has not started the season well, but it was still a surprise to everyone when Carlos De Los Cobos didn’t name the star striker in last week's starting lineup. However, it was a gamble that paid off as the Fire picked up their first win of the season.
McBride still played his part by coming off the bench to set up the second goal and showed that the best way to get back into the side is with actions, not words.
Friendly games a must for MLS teams
The recent announcement of New York Red Bulls upcoming friendly with Juventus follows hot on the heels of the news that D.C. and Chicago will entertain AC Milan as MLS clubs continue the tradition of playing some of the top sides in Europe during their offseason.
Although some may see these in-season friendly games as a distraction, they offer many benefits to MLS. The first and most obvious one is they get to play against some of the best players and teams in world football and that experience is vital in the development of some of the top young players.
It also attracts new fans out to MLS venues and hopefully the majority of them will continue to come out and support the league in the future. It also offers MLS owners the chance to increase revenue by selling out their stadium and this money can be poured back into the league to help further develop MLS.
On to this week's MLS Power Rankings ...
1. Los Angeles Galaxy: The Galaxy came through their stiffest test of the season with flying colors as Edson Buddle continues to confound us all with his amazing run of form.
2. Seattle Sounders: Seattle produced a battling win but their overall play wasn’t as bright as the new kit they unveiled earlier in the week. Now Seattle really will have the brightest fans in MLS.
3. New York Red Bulls: Three wins from their first four games and every big named European player linked with a move to New York this summer ... things couldn’t get much better for Red Bulls fans.
4. Kansas City Wizards: K.C. may have felt hard done by after losing late at Seattle but head coach Peter Vermes team didn’t really do enough going forward to deserve anything from the game.
5. Houston Dynamo: Houston came to life last weekend with a superb three-goal showing against Chivas USA. Lovel Palmer marked his first start with a candidate for goal of the season and Oduro was also impressive up front.
6. Columbus Crew: I’m not sure that it is beneficial for the Crew to have two bye weeks so early in the season.
7. Colorado Rapids: The Rapids played well in their win over Toronto but were helped by the fact that it was Toronto’s second game of the week.
8. San Jose Earthquakes: Frank Yallop has steadied the ship since their opening day defeat and on this form look capable of challenging anyone in MLS not named L.A. Galaxy.
9. New England Revolution: The Revs were poor in their loss to San Jose, although new signing Marko Perovic showed some nice touches.
10. Real Salt Lake: RSL played some good stuff but lacked a cutting edge in their loss to L.A. at the Home Depot Center.
11. Chicago Fire: Who would have bet that the Fire’s first win of the season would come with Brian McBride on the bench?
12. Toronto FC: Did Julian De Guzman really get out of the way of Jeff Larentowiscz’s free kick goal on Sunday? Toronto’s DP has hardly set the world alight since arriving in MLS.
13. Philadelphia Union: Can anyone please tell me what Danny Califf was thinking when he assaulted Julian De Guzman to get sent off and leave his team in a hole at BMO last Thursday?
14. FC Dallas: The amazing run that Dallas went on to end last season seems a distant memory now.
15. Chivas USA: Chivas USA proved once again that they are one of the most inept sides in the final third after another poor attacking performance at Houston.
16. D.C. United: I’m not sure playing a young academy starlet will help get D.C. out of this current slump. Then again, nothing else has worked.
Keith Costigan covers MLS and U.S. Soccer for FoxSoccer.com.
