Well, the 2013 season kicked off this weekend, and there's been some good games already.
Houston continued their fine home form from last season, getting a good win against a really poor DC side. Houston dominated the play for long stretches, and DC looked like they were really struggling even when they had the ball. The second goal was excellent, but I have to feel like Taylor should really have done better. He didn't close down fast enough, and he turned away from the block; be a man, take one for the team, and get yourself in there.
Sporting got off to a good start, comfortably beating Philadelphia 3-1. Graham Zusi looked really good, and KC look like they'll be in the hunt for the Eastern Conference title again this year. That said, Le Toux looked very good for the Union, and they could end up improving a lot this year, we'll have to see.
Columbus saw off a very poor Chivas. The less said about that game the better. Chivas have undergone a huge renovation in the off-season, and it will take time before they're really going to gel as a unit, but this was not a promising start.
Finally, I have to take a moment to talk about my Sounders. We opened our season with a disappointing 1-0 home loss to Montreal, and I have to say, we looked right 🤬 for most of the game.
High points first: Mario Martinez looked very good. His distribution was good for most of the game, and he was picking up the ball everywhere, roving for space and generally looking dangerous. He gave the ball away cheaply a few times, but he was no more guilty of that than anyone else last night.
Secondly, Deandre Yedlin was excellent. It was his debut game, and at 19 he played well beyond his years. He was fearless going forward and equally good defensively, and he played with an energy that was sorely lacking from the other Sounders players. I look forward to seeing more of him as the season goes on.
Now for the bad: this was the same kind of poor performance Seattle were guilty of so many times last year. Defensively, it looked ragged for most of the game, with the two centerhalfs barely communicating, and Gonzales playing so narrow that he was basically a third CB. One instance in particular, Gonzales was squared up on a Montreal attacker, and he covered the run to the wing, showing the Impact player all the space he could ever want to cut inside; this is defending 101, you should always shepherd space wide when you're squared up.
Equally poor was the attacking half of the team. They were shapeless for large portions of the match, and there was no real strategy to how they moved the ball. There was no real effort to utilize the wings & get crosses in, and there was equally no focus on trying to play short through the middle. It looked like they were just trying to do whatever they could to get the ball in the box; there was no evidence of a system they were playing to. Towards the end of the game, Seattle was simply lumping the ball forwards with no real targets, trying to just 'hit & hope' their way into a goal.
This is exactly how we looked for long stretches last year, and it's a big part of what cost us so badly against LA in the playoffs. The lack of any kind of consistent system going forward means that you have players who are barely ever on the same page; you have some players who want to play short, and some who want to cross, and some who want to try long shots, and there's nothing to tie it all together. It's just whoever has the ball, playing how they want to; there's no team coordination in the attack.
I really can't help but feel that this is a problem with Sigi Schmitt. I respect that he is a championship-winning coach, and he was definitely a big part of making Seattle so successful so early, but I think it's time to part ways. Seattle has had these problems for several years now, and I don't really see them getting better. It's time for us to bring in a coach who will unite the team, get us all playing the same game, and properly sort the defense. Otherwise, I expect more of the same from Seattle; inconsistent performances for the whole year, and crashing out of the playoffs.
LA open their season against Chicago today, with Portland hosting the Red Bulls & RSL traveling to San Jose. Should all be good games, and the season is looking to be off to a fine start.
Just like with Houston Rockets coverage, the game was on Comcast SportsNet Houston- which a lot of the Houston area (myself included) doesn't have. So I won't be able to see many Dynamo games. I don't have NBC Sports Network either (I used to). So keeping up with the Dynamo on TV will be a problem.
