Top Stories

MLS Match Week Two: Your Running Commentary

MLSLogo2013

Two of the top goal scorers in MLS square off as Chris Wondolowski and Thierry Henry do battle tonight in a clash of teams seeking their first victories of the season.

The San Jose Earthquakes will look to avoid starting the season with two straight home losses as they face off tonight (10pm, ESPN2) against a New York side that is on a second straight cross-country road trip after blowing a two-goal lead in last week’s 3-3 draw vs. the Portland Timbers.

The Colorado Rapids play their home opener today, a day later than originally scheduled after a snow storm pushed their match against the Philadelphia Union to this afternoon (3pm, Direct Kick).

Chivas USA is at home again today, and they will be hoping to draw some more fans than they did in the season-opening loss to the Columbus Crew. They take on an FC Dallas side (5pm, UniMas) that enters the match with some confidence after a season-opening win vs. the Colorado Rapids.

If you will be watching today’s MLS action, please feel free to share your thoughts, opinions and some play-by-play in the comments section below.

Enjoy the action.

Comments

  1. I thought espindola would open things up for Henry. Is this year where Thierry starts to seriously decline in mls? Still not impressed by the quakes so far. That win was gift wrapped by roy miller.

    Who can forget his horrible free kick last year in the playoffs that Henry should have taken.

    Reply
    • Agreed, he is absolutely terrible. The Quakes are also really unimpressive, I don’t expect them to keep getting this lucky for a second season in a row, it can’t possibly happen again. Could it?

      Reply
  2. I think the “cancer in the clubhouse” trope is a bit overstated. (I mean…cancer??) I get your meaning, though. But seriously, he is the guy the team is built around. Except it isn’t. I really don’t know what Henry’s role is on this team. What is he supposed to be doing? He doesn’t make runs; he doesn’t pull strings, because no one else is making runs; he’s not a target. I don’t get it. Can anyone enlighten me?

    To be fair to him, he gets no help. He’s routinely double-teamed, and no other RB is within 10 yards. I don’t know what the solution is.

    Reply
    • Yeah, it’s hard to blame him for anything when he’s routinely blanketed by 2 or 3 defenders. And even then he manages to gather the ball and distribute it–if someone is around. Generally he’s near the left side and passes it to Roy Miller who doesn’t pass it back or runs out of bounds. I counted–Miller ran over the endline 3 times with the ball. Wtf.

      Henry is at his best in build up. I honestly can’t remember any good build ups that didn’t involve a turnover before the ball got across midfield. Most of the NYRB attacks were Miller or Olave or whoever else was back there just blasting balls long to nobody.

      Reply
  3. Red Bulls make it very hard for New York fans to actually give a s#it when they obviously don’t. Some don’t care, some complain, some seem confused why they’re on the team at all. Petke has a lot on his plate, and it looks very similar to the way it has was the last two seasons. My guess is that Henry is a bit of a cancer in the clubhouse. Some vets gotta be fired too… Pearce, Miller. And really not sure what Cahill has achieved these past two seasons for the team.

    Reply
  4. God, that was awful.

    Yes, Roy Miller. I know. (Saving grace: he’ll do that playing for Jamaica as well, so that’s probably one less team the USMNT has to worry about in the Hex.)

    But honestly, Henry and Cahill were amazingly weak. I feel like Henry is the beautiful girl we can’t believe we’re dating so we’re willing to overlook all kinds of flaws. But what the hell was that pathetic fall in the box in the second half, where he rakes at the ground with his foot? That’s, like, a U8 play! And then he lies down on the turf, all frustrated?

    This is a hard team to love.

    Reply
  5. Future headlines:

    Breaking News: Chivas USA trades Dan Kennedy and future considerations for Roy Miller.

    Breaking News: Major League Soccer star Thierry Henry was arrested earlier this morning after the body of teammate Roy Miller was found floating in the Hudson River. Police suspected Henry due in part to the french slang written all over Miller’s jersey, which he was still wearing.

    Reply
  6. Not comedy of errors, comedy of Miller. How Roy Miller is one of the three players RB decides to keep utterly baffling.

    Reply
  7. Not even joking.

    MLS is a mickey mouse league as long as people like Roy Miller are paid to play in it. My. F$#$#%. God.

    Seriously. Two yellow card-esque fouls along with a million blown coverages and turnovers followed by not marking the guy coming in on his post to score followed by punching the ball out of the air in the box followed by just an amazing encroachment that made the referee give Wondolowski a retake at the game winning penalty that Robles had just saved.

    I would honestly end his contract immediately after the postgame brief. Done. Get the h$ll out.

    Reply
    • comedy of errors by him down the stretch, literally one after the other. would be tough to try and perform that poorly even if you wanted to

      Reply
  8. Is Lloyd Sam injured or out of favor? He has a history of having an attitude, and I wondered if Pretke had benched him as a result. Any news?

    Reply
  9. Wow, I didn’t think the Chivas back line could be worse than last year, but they reek. Nice first touch and goal by Agudelo to tie it up. Not much happening in the attack, no chemistry and slow ball movement…very bad combo.

    Reply
    • Are you the FCD announcer? He was also going on about how FCD were dominating. At no point in the game did I see that. Both teams blew chances prior to the goals starting (and after).

      Reply
  10. Agudelo trying to impress knowing Martin Vasquez is there scouting him. He needs to be more consistent, especially since he’s the usual starter at Chivas USA.

    Reply
  11. So… Don Garber needs to execute whatever clause he inevitably has and force Chivas ownership out immediately. The ethnic cleansing has clearly been the final straw for the fans.

    That team is done. I got more people in my house for parties in college than they’ve got in the stands.

    Reply
    • The problem is the Chivas brand and disinterested ownership. A Hispanic flavored club could be successful in LA if done right. Something along the lines of a working class rival club to compliment the galaxy and their bevy of DPs. A lot of places in the world have that dynamic to their derbies.

      Reply
  12. This league won’t grow until MLS parity extends their salary cap and has free agency. The ony difference with galaxy and their very good DPs, is that their players have no choice but to play 100% good, because then roby keane,donovan( becks when he was there) ,would trach them in the locker room. Ask yourself, how many MLS teams have DPs that are really good DPs with experience and talent and name.The asnwer is galaxy and red bull only, which makes the players (not DPs) play harder if not cahill or keane will trash their minds in the locker room. For example, if RSL had ronaldinho, every player would be on their toes to play 100% in order to not look like a kid next to ronaldinho. That is why if MLS wants real parity, then raise the salary cap, have free agency, have 4 to 5 dps and that will help the real teams who want to win and not just make a profit out of us. For example, rapids, chivas usa, fc dallas, columbus, rsl. Another thing, MLS can not have 19 teams that can win MLS cup and have a weakass team win MLSCup due to a hot streak.

    Reply
    • All the teams in MLS are equally weakass with the exception of maybe 2 or 3. The quality of play is lower Champioship at best.

      Reply
    • Despite having a low salary cap RSL players do play all out because that’s the team culture Jason Kreis had created. They have two dps but the best coaches like kreis, arena, vermes, kinnear etc demand 100% effort no matter who the DPs are. MLS best coaches raise the level of accountability for everyone not big name foreign signings.

      Reply
  13. To the tune of Stars and Stripes forever: “Here we go, here we go, here we gooooo. Here we go, here we go, here we go.”

    Most unoriginal soccer song ever?

    Reply
    • Wow. I didn’t realize it had such history:

      “”Here We Go” is the archetypal football chant, composed of the words “here we go” sung over and over again to the tune of Sousa’s “The Stars and Stripes Forever”. The words were written by Harold Spiro and first recorded by Hoagy And The Terrace Choir which was released on State Records in 1976 and the song is published by State Music Ltd.[1] Used at the time of the miners’ strike as a rallying call, the song is often interpreted to precede a battle of some kind – in popular thought it is the chant of an aggressive football firm or gang; yet, unlike many football chants, it contains no explicitly offensive lyrics and is known widely. It is also an integral component of “The Music Man”, alongside “The Dam Busters” and the theme tune to Match of the Day.”

      Reply
    • But seriously. These Col-Phi commentators are pretty horrendous. I’m going to say it and keep saying it, in order for MLS to reach “the next level”, the production value of games and quality of commentary midst significantly improve. Don’t misconstrue what I’m saying; I know it’s not MLS’ fault per se that networks broadcasting their games choose to employ weak commentary teams and televise games utilizing unconventional (see unwatchable) camera angles or poor use of replay, or lack thereof. I am just stating that MLS will truly have started to arrive when the presentation if games are polished and professional.

      Reply
  14. Just tuned into the Rapids-Union, argh, another poor crowd, I get that the Rapids had weather issues, but this makes me worried about attendance issues beyond Chivas.

    Reply

Leave a Comment