MLS Thread 2015

Was at the game where Stevie G. made his MLS debut (after the ICC "friendly" vs. Club America and the mid-week Open Cup match @ RSL). When the Quakes went up 2-0, I was ready to tear off Leonardo's head (and wasn't too thrilled with the starts of either Gargan or Rogers at RB and LB, respectively). Then Keane scored a PK after Gerrard was elbowed in the head, Gerrard levelled off a nice cross by Baggio Husidic (that I'm pretty sure Sebastian Lletget deliberately got a boot on), and they went off in the second half. Keane made it 3-2 on a set piece by backheeling in a Gerrard low drive into the box, then another penalty by Keane and Lletget's injury-time header made it 5-2 Galaxy at the end.

Gerrard was very good, and Keane was Keane, but for my money the MOTM was Sebastian Lletget. Whether carrying the ball forward on the left or right, delivering sharp crosses into advanced attacking positions, or coming back to disrupt San Jose in the midfield time or defensive third and time again, Lletget was a beast. A few more consistent performances like that, and he should get an end-of-the-year call-up to the national team. He's been that good. But with Giovani dos Santos arriving, I fear he'll be the odd man out in the new midfield of dos Santos, Gerrard, Juninho and Husidic.

Now to address the woes away from Stub Hub.

Tell you what, the NYCFC/Orlando match was an entertaining one today. Once Andrea Pirlo made his presence known after his 2nd half introduction, the match turned on a dime for them. And the last goal they scored? One moment, I'm watching Kaka level the score at 4 on a beautiful free kick (only to have the shot ricochet off the post), the next I'm watching a devastating NYCFC counter turn into goal #5 for them, a tap-in for Mix Diskerud. 5-3 was the final.

Next, I watched the Philadelphia Union go up 2-0 on DC United inside four minutes, then watched until minute 20. After some errands and other responsibilities, I came back to watch the last 15 minutes, and Fabian Espindola gave United all three points with a 79th minute header. What a turnaround!

Meantime, Vancouver easily beat back San Jose 3-1 to move past my Galaxy into 2nd. The Galaxy continue to flail about away from StubHub, having been humiliated 3-0 by Houston Dynamo. The Galaxy are 0-5-6 away from home this season!