Can Landon lead LA to one last Cup? I wouldn’t bet against it.
Ned Joyce
Stop the fight. End the debate. It has been decided, the West has won.
The Seattle Seahawks won the Superbowl. The Spurs may have won the NBA Title but the best teams of the future are the LA Clippers, Portland Trailblazers and Golden State Warriors. Heck, Kendrick Lamar of Compton is the King of Rap and Dr. Dre is the first Hip Hop Billionaire. Bottom line: unless you’re talking college football, West Coast is the best coast right now and most importantly, the Western Conference of the MLS reigns supreme.
The Top 4 of the Western Conference right now are Seattle, RSL, LA Galaxy and yes, Dallas, but just behind them is Vancouver. That is an intimidating group. The Timbers, presently sixth, might not even make the playoffs! The Timbers!
The top 4 of the East meanwhile are Sporting KC, DC, Toronto and Columbus. The Red Bulls are likely going to make the playoffs then will quietly fizzle out of the playoff’s just like (insert year here). But in sum, the East has only two teams with positive goal differentials and no genuine secondary title contender.
Yes, SKC is legit and the former champs. Dwyer has been on fire, selfie’s and all. Feilhaber is an MVP candidate. And they are supported by Zusi, Besler, Colin and one day, Palmer-Brown. But the thinking here is that Sapong isn’t strong enough to help balance out Dwyer, and Dwyer will fade eventually.
We can applaud DC’s resurgence but is anyone really taking them seriously? Espindola the former Red Bull super sub and Eddie Johnson whose motivation left when he was left off the World Cup Squad, do not strike fear into anyone.
I don’t know if Toronto will be able to lean on Bradley, Defoe and Gilberto to get them to the Cup. Not with Bloom, Morrow and Henry as their defenders.
Will Trapp is a great story, but the pieces aren’t really ready for a title run.
Columbus just doesn’t have it in them. They can’t ride Higuain and they just don’t have the firepower. Will Trapp is a tremendous story and a testament to MLS player development but despite all that possession (54.7% is second best in the league), the goal differential is zero and the pieces around Trapp don’t scream championship, even if you consider what they did to a previously streaking Galaxy team last weekend. And young phenoms rarely cash all the checks come playoff time.
So the west is King and here is why. Vancouver as it stands today are in a playoff dogfight. They would be in 3rd place in the East, comfortably in the field. San Jose is in eighth place in the West and their goal differential is better than all but three of the Eastern conference teams.
Seattle looks like an all-star team with Dempsey, Martins, Pappa, Yedlin, Alonso and, yes I’m saying it, Chad Marshall. They play well and whether they build up or counter-attack, their ability to score is most dangerous through their multi-pronged approach. The signs of the typical early autumn Sigi Schmid fade are present: the manner in which Real Salt Lake methodically picked them apart was eye-opening, but there’s still Clint Dempsey in the playoffs, a story MLS is dreaming about.
RSL is strong from top to bottom with Beckerman, Saborio, Morales, Playa and Gil. Their strength is through the middle and wings and have more than competent attackers to finish.
Colorado began the year flying leaning on young talent and the future is bright. Dillon Powers, Deshorn Brown, Shane O’Neil and Dillon Serna are long-term answers even if the recent rash of results is more than suggestive of a late season fade. If they do get in, the talent is there to advance a round.
Lastly, LA is finally gelling, defeat at Columbus aside. Whether it’s the Landon Donovan retirement driving them or the emergence of Zardes or an ageless Robbie Keane, the Galaxy have lost only twice in ten matches since bowing out of the US Open Cup to the NASL’s Carolina Railhawks in June. The losses, to Sporting KC and Columbus, have demonstrated the team’s weaknesses but there have been eye-opening wins and free-flowing attacking soccer as well, including a 3-0 pasting of Seattle.
Which leads me to the discussion of the premier matchup of the league right now. LA vs Seattle.
Yes, LA ran roughshod over Seattle in the last meeting but this is the playoff matchup the league needs. Sure the Portland-Seattle rivalry is fun, and the fans go crazy but it’s not the same. Caleb Porter is the future, he has not fully arrived nor has his inconsistent team.
You have such intriguing match-ups with the Galaxy-Sounders. Former USMNT captain Donovan vs Current captain Dempsey. Former European standout Keane vs former European standout Martins. USMNT star fullback of the future and Tottenham Hotspur signing DeAndre Yedlin vs USMNT defender Omar Gonzalez. Zardes vs Neagle. (And can we talk about how Zardes might be the next future attacker we blow out of proportion as to his USMNT potential?)
Now or never for Sigi.
It’s a marketing dream.
Seattle and LA have attacking styles, great combination play, big names. Both have arrogant, self-assured coaches who make snide remarks about each other. And while Seattle has the rabid fan base, we might see a celebrity at the Home Depot, err, Stubhub Center! Most intriguingly, they do not like each other. We saw in this past game hard tackles, teams that don’t give up, and players willing to make a play more stylishly in order to rub it in the others’ faces.
The MLS is in prime form and ready for prime time. There have been exciting, charged, competitive soccer games since the World Cup and it will need more than hope to keep the interest of the casual US soccer fan. Once college football and the NFL come around it will be a true test. The MLS has always been steadfast in ignoring the other football’s schedules when they play their games, but that will always be an issue.
The good news? We will continue to have great soccer through the summer and fall and the dominance from the west won’t be diminishing anytime soon.
The end of the season should make for compelling copy. If Seattle are going to win a Cup under Sigi, this is the year. Meanwhile, with Donovan retiring, the time for LA to claim another one short-term is winding down. For some reason the schedule makers only have LA playing the Sounders once during the regular season, which is a pity. If both wish to make it to the MLS Cup, the road will eventually lead to each other. It would be a matchup for the ages. And regardless of who wins, someone from the West is taking home the Cup.
Ned Joyce is a guest writer for The Yanks Are Coming. He can be reached at nedjoyce@gmail.com and you can follow him on Twitter at @nedjoyce.