Eight, eight, I forget what eight was for.
Let's go.
Saturday Slate
Montreal Impact vs. LAFC
1 pm ET | Match Preview | TV & streaming info
The Impact play just their second home match of the year, and their first at Stade Saputo. LAFC, meanwhile, play the finale of their six-match, franchise-starting odyssey. They've won three of their previous five, including three of four against Western Conference foes. That means they're officially playing this game with house money – whatever happens here (injuries excepted), it's been a successful road trip. Full stop.
Montreal have had much less success in the early going. They countered their way to back-to-back wins over Toronto and Seattle last month, but have been blown out in two straight and are still... I'm gonna be charitable and call it "questionable" at the back. Victor Cabrera in particular has struggled, Rod Fanni came off injured against the Red Bulls and man does it feel like this team is always just scrambling like mad back there. That's compounded by a midfield who've yet to find any sort of rhythm or ability to control the game with possession.
It's early days yet. Remi Garde is still adding pieces, juggling formations and lineups (my guess is he goes away from the 5-3-2 in this one and into a 4-5-1 with Ignacio Piatti as a false 9). But it's not been a promising first two months, and the hope in Quebec is that with a home-heavy schedule coming up, Montreal finally get their legs under them and start living above the playoff line.
Houston Dynamo vs. Toronto FC
3 pm ET | Match Preview | TV & streaming info
Houston have left points on the table just about every week via careless defending and their own poor finishing. They should not do so this weekend against what's sure to be a backup-laden TFC team.
As was the case with Colorado vs. the TFC reserves last weekend, this is a pass/fail proposition. I do not care how well they play at this point – we all know they play well. They have to win.
New York Red Bulls vs. Chicago Fire
3:30 pm ET | Match Preview | TV & streaming info
A friendly reminder of what the Red Bulls do to a soft and disorganized defense:
Those third-line passes – ones that eliminate multiple defenders in a zonal scheme – are murder. And New York are both fearless and ruthless about hitting them.
I honestly don't know what the Fire do here. I don't think they can keep playing Bastian Schweinsteiger as a sweeper, and it's probably past time to give someone else the minutes Tony Tchani's been getting, as he hasn't been at all effective on either side of the ball.
The last time these two teams met, which was in last year's playoffs, the Red Bulls won 4-0. I wouldn't be surprised if Saturday's scoreline was similar.
Columbus Crew SC vs. New England Revolution
7:30 pm ET | Match Preview | TV & streaming info
My colleague Bobby Warshaw laid out the case for Diego Fagunez in his column on Thursday. The operative take is "They have a small and funky sample size." New England have played an inordinate number of games either on the power play or the penalty kill, and just twice on the road, and etc. etc. etc., so it's hard to get a real feel for where, exactly, they are overall.
I will say that my early opinion is so: They are organized and committed when playing front-foot defense, which they showed best in their 2-2 home draw against NYCFC. They were organized and dangerous when playing purely back-foot defense and hitting on the counter, which they showed in their 2-0 win at Houston. And they've looked kind of clueless when trying to build from the back – unable to string passes together, inattentive to runners and prone to "hey I forgot to check my shoulder, oops!" lapses – which killed them last weekend in their 1-0 home loss to FC Dallas.
I think that means New England have two good ways to play, which is more than most teams at this point. But I'm not quite certain of that just yet.
As for Columbus... they've hit the woodwork seven times in seven games, including five in the last three weeks. Not coincidentally they're 0-3-0 in that span. The underlying numbers still like them, though, and so do I. They might not get it right this weekend (watch for the Revs to try to turn Zack Steffen over), but they'll be fine in the long run.
Orlando City SC vs. San Jose Earthquakes
7:30 pm ET | Match Preview | TV & streaming info
Jason Kreis was finally happy with the "defensive mindset" of his team in last weekend's 2-0 win at Philadelphia. Part of that, from where I sat, was simply getting Cristian Higuita into central midfield and sliding Will Johnson over to right back.
Higuita – who came on at d-mid the half-hour mark when right back RJ Allen was injured, thus sliding Johnson over – is a pure destroyer in front of the defense and an unadventurous passer of the ball. He adds almost nothing to the attack, but he rarely gets out of position, never tries to do too much, and generally speaking seems to have no illusions with regard to his strengths and weaknesses as a player.
Johnson is not that guy. He tries to cover a ton of ground and often does so to the detriment of his team's defensive shape. His ideas with the ball are often excellent but his execution is often lacking, which leads to giveaways that the Purple Lions aren't equipped to handle. And while he's definitely a tough tackler, he's definitely not a backline shield because his instincts are always to hunt rather than protect.
I would hope, for Orlando City's sake, that Johnson stays at right back this week and either Higuita or Uri Rosell partners Yoshi Yotun deep in the 4-2-3-1.
The Quakes, by the way, have not been good. As with Garde's team and Friedel's it's too soon to really judge what Mikael Stahre is doing, and I will say that the 4-3-3 they played last week showed some promise in terms of the team's ability to create overloads then switch the field of play, spreading the opposing defense out:
Not a lot has gone right for the Quakes but the 4-3-3 they played last week showed some promise in terms of their ability to create overloads then switch the field of play, spreading the opposing defense out. pic.twitter.com/dYXN26mMjX
— Matthew Doyle (@MattDoyle76) April 20, 2018
But they've been sloppy at the back – waaaaay too sloppy at the back – and have not shown an ability to get in behind any defense they've played against. They're already three points below the playoff line, and this game starts a stretch in which they play four-of-five on the road. It's entirely possible that by the time that stretch is over, the Quakes will be trying to dig themselves out of a big old ditch.
FC Dallas vs. Philadelphia Union
8 pm ET | Match Preview | TV & streaming info
I've covered Dallas in each of my last two Sunday columns so I'll leave it at this, here: I hope Cristian Colman starts again, and not just because he's capable of some wildly amusing stuff. I just think FCD look much more dangerous with him on the field.
As for the Union, here is midfielder and team captain Alejandro Bedoya talking to Matthew De George of TheAthletic.com about the team's over-reliance upon crossing the ball:
“We had a meeting today and that’s one of the things that I brought up. I said I’d like to mix it up more in not just being too predictable in terms of getting it to feet and getting it wide, cross, repeat,” Bedoya said Tuesday. “I’d like to stretch the defense, maybe get the wingers to make those outside-inward diagonal runs in behind the defense so we can play the balls in between the center backs or in between their outside back and the center backs.”
Borek Dockal could make some of those runs as well, for what it's worth. Anthony Fontana did in the opener and he got himself a goal out of it.
Real Salt Lake vs. Colorado Rapids
9 pm ET | Match Preview | TV & streaming info
RSL got destroyed last week at NYCFC, losing 4-0 to the Cityzens. Their lack of coordination through central midfield and dislocation between their lines of midfield and defense has been catastrophic early-on this year, but there are also more contained, individual issues. Why, for example, does right back Adam Henley do... whatever this is on this particular sequence?
This is unreal from the RSL defense – look at how lost Henley is, how they don't track or pass off runners, etc. This team looks like it's in preseason. #NYCvRSLpic.twitter.com/qav4gNWkpS
— Matthew Doyle (@MattDoyle76) April 12, 2018
I have no idea.
Colorado haven't been great, but they've played with more clarity than the Claret & Cobalt, and that's paid off with a totally respectable 2-1-2 record through five games with a fast-and-direct attack that's generated nine goals. If RSL decide to play on the front foot here, if they decide to say "hey, we're at home, we're technical, let's use the ball and carry the game" but are as sloppy and inattentive as they've been through the season's first seven weeks, Dominique Badji will repeatedly get into space and roast them.
LA Galaxy vs. Atlanta United
10:30 pm ET | Match Preview | TV & streaming info
So LA switched to the 4-4-2, with both Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Ola Kamara up top last week against the Fire. It was not the prettiest thing in the world but the general idea of "let's just get our guys into the box and overwhelm a less physical backline" was the right one.
You could imagine the same thing would be on tap against the Five Stripes, who have one of the smaller backlines in the league. And fair enough – it's always been a pretty decent strategy to attack Michael Parkhurst in the air. But if you're going to do that, 1) you're probably going to have to push your fullbacks up, and 2) then you have to figure out how to account for all that space said fullback left behind them.
Atlanta United are sitting deeper than they did last year and inviting teams further forward because they are just murder in space. Here ya go:
Ashley Cole and Rolf Feltscher are going to have to be very clever on Saturday night or Josef Martinez is going to score this exact same goal two or three times.
Sunday's Double-header
Seattle Sounders vs. Minnesota United
4 pm ET | Match Preview | TV & streaming info
Ozzie Alonso came back last week and was awesome in a 30-minute cameo. Clint Dempsey and Kelvin Leerdam are now un-suspended. Will Bruin is healthy, as are Chad Marshall and Roman Torres.
There are still absences, and will be all year (get well, Jordan Morris). But this is something close to the Best XI that Seattle can play for the first time since last October, and I for one am eager to see whether the early-season disaster they inflicted upon their fans was an injury- and suspension-hit mirage or an actual sign of things to come. Their attacking performance last week at Kansas City suggested it was probably more of the former than the latter.
I am also eager to see more of the Darwin Quintero show for MNUFC. He was fun as hell in his MLS debut last week and should make that team better while, at the same time, probably making them more vulnerable defensively. And really, who doesn't love goals?
Portland Timbers vs. NYCFC
6 pm ET | Match Preview | TV & streaming info
NYCFC have been the best team in the league thus far in 2018 (though the underlying stats don't really show it, I'm trusting the eye test here more than xG). The Timbers have been...
I think there are obvious fitness issues here, but there are also sub issues. Timbers head coach Gio Savarese has repeatedly tried to sit on leads so far in his MLS tenure, and when you have a questionable backline the idea of "hey let's give up the ball and let the other team attack" just isn't a very good one. Once a team becomes passive and lays back, they need a dominant central defensive presence. Portland do not have that.
One more thing to ponder...
Roomba-pong is the sport of the future.
Happy weekending, everybody.
