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Monday MLS Breakdown: Sound(ers) Defense
While much of the focus in Seattle has centered on Fredy Montero, Sounders FC has its defense to thank for its fine early season form. Goal.com's Kyle McCarthy explains why in the Monday MLS Breakdown.
Apr 6, 2009 11:51:48 AM
Seattle went to Toronto on Saturday afternoon and made a statement.
It wasn't the statement many – including this pundit – thought Sounders FC might make. It was a different, more powerful statement.
A 2-0 win at BMO Field screams that, at least for now, Seattle is for real.
Toronto FC may not have played particularly well on the day – TFC head coach John Carver basically called his side a bunch of mugs in the post-match press conference – but Sounders FC still looked well better than their opponents.
While much of the focus has centered on the outstanding Fredy Montero (more on his legal troubles later), Sounders FC showed why it isn't just about him after winning in Canada without the influential Colombian.
There's a reason why Montero's loss wasn't acutely felt. Seattle's success starts in the back.
Give credit to Sigi Schmid for establishing clear expectations for his team. Schmid's teams know exactly what they should be doing at all times. They are organized and prepared. There is a sense of purpose and a sense of awareness about their play. For a Schmid team, that organization and purpose starts in the back.
Kasey Keller is a great building block between the sticks. He keeps his side organized and lends his considerable experience to a new and developing situation. When tested by the opposition, Keller has shown that he can still make the saves he needs to make. Too many teams around the league have tried to build a good defensive team around a mediocre goalkeeper. That isn't a problem in Seattle.
Nor is a central defensive pairing that looked a little rickety on paper before the season started. Jhon Kennedy Hurtado and Tyrone Marshall are uncompromising fellas back there. Forget about the pretty stuff. They hassle and manhandle opposing forwards. Once they get the ball, they launch the ball out of harm's way. Hurtado, in particular, has shown well in the opening three matches.
Fullbacks James Riley and Zach Scott keep the play in front of them. They remind me of Gino Padula in Columbus. Solid, steady and practically invisible. They don't try to do too much and don't take anything off the table.
Any discussion of the Sounders' defensive organization has to include a lengthy mention of Osvaldo Alonso. The Cuban defector runs his socks off in the defensive midfield and finds a way to destroy plays time and again. He's the type of player every team needs. He's tidier than I thought on first glance and serves as both an effective shield in front of the back four and an effective conduit to push play forward through the midfield. Impressive play over the first few weeks has won Alonso legions of admirers around the league.
That collection of six defensive players has yet to concede a goal in 270 minutes. Juan Pablo Angel – admittedly devoid of service – couldn't breach them. Real Salt Lake – who scored four goals against defending champion Columbus on Thursday – couldn't breach them. Toronto – who scored three goals against a pretty decent Kansas City team on opening night – couldn't breach them. It is quite difficult to lose games when you don't concede goals.
Defensive stinginess also gives the Seattle attack a bit of wherewithal to press forward with the knowledge that a broken-down attack likely won't end up in the back of Seattle's net.
The incisive attacking play – particularly the build-up play through midfield, the hold-up play of Nate Jaqua and the ruthless finishing of Montero and others – builds from the solid defensive core. Seattle has proven particularly adroit on the counterattack. Counterattacks tend not to work very well if you can't repel the opposition.
That hasn't been a problem for Seattle in its opening three games. If that defensive core continues its fine work as the season progresses, Sounders FC's early-season success might turn into something even greater than an emphatic statement on one early April Saturday in Canada.
Montero investigation creates potential distraction
While everything on the field is good news for Sounders FC, there was one troubling off-field incident that came to light last week. Word broke late last week that a Seattle-area police department was investigating Montero on possible rape charges. Montero didn't travel to Toronto, with the club saying he had the flu and Montero's agent saying he was held out of the game.
Seattle issued a statement of support of MLS' leading goalscorer late last week and Keller echoed those sentiments after the victory in Toronto.
“I wasn't there, but nobody's been charged,” Keller told the Seattle Times. “It's just something that obviously, we support our player. Let the police do their job. ... Hopefully it all blows over here and it goes from there. We don't know what's going on, but we're behind him.”
Seattle showed remarkable poise to push Montero's situation to one side and perform well in Toronto. If this investigation drags on for a considerable amount of time, focus might not be as easy to maintain in the long-term as it was for Sounders FC to maintain this weekend.
Week Three – Questions, Thoughts, and Answers
Goal.com Player of the Week – The Wind
One problem with playing football matches in late March and early April: the weather doesn't always cooperate. Matches in Salt Lake City, Toronto, D.C., New England, Kansas City and Chicago were marred by swirling and powerful winds. The scenes were particularly ridiculous at CAB, where free kicks were knocked down like pitching wedges and Joe Cannon had to dig a hole in the ground just to make sure he could hit a goal kick without the ball rolling out towards the end line.
No one player could match the impact of the conditions on the quality of play this weekend. Considering there were two hat tricks this weekend, that says something.
What were they thinking? The Los Angeles Galaxy on the opening kickoff
Here is a blow-by-blow of the opening sequence of the Galaxy's 3-2 loss to Colorado. Landon Donovan taps kickoff to Alan Gordon. Gordon overcooks retrograde pass to Eddie Lewis on left wing. Lewis has to slide to keep ball in play and then hits an aimless ball up field. Ugo Ihemelu collects and launches a long ball down the right wing. Omar Cummings latches on to it, surges into the penalty area and fires a cross. The ball squirts in between Josh Saunders and Omar Gonzalez and Conor Casey taps in the first of his three goals on the night.
The goal took 17 seconds to develop, making it the second-fastest goal in MLS history. It also set the tone for another night of errors for the Galaxy.
“It started from the opening kickoff, and it went through throughout the match,” Los Angeles head coach Bruce Arena told MLSnet after the match. “I give our guys a lot of credit for hanging in and fighting, and positioning themselves to be ahead 2-1, which is unbelievable after we actually somehow managed to give up a goal on the opening kickoff, with a kickoff in our favor.”
Eleven observations to start the week
1. Robbie Findley will get all of the plaudits for his hat trick in Real Salt Lake's 4-1 drubbing, but Clint Mathis deserves a mention for his all-action display. Lots of movement and lots of combination play from the man who used to love New York.
2. “It was a disgrace,” Toronto FC head coach John Carver told the Toronto Star after Seattle stormed into BMO Field and left with a 2-0 victory without much resistance from the home side. “We've had our backsides kicked.”
3. “We've shown that we can play with the best teams in this league,” FC Dallas midfielder Dave van den Bergh said after the Hoops lost 2-1 to New England on Saturday night. “I consider New England one of the best teams in the league, consistently over the past three or four years. To be able to play through them like we did in the first half and face us in the second half, that means we have a pretty decent team ourselves. We just need the confidence from that first win. If that first win comes, we're going to string those wins together.”
4. New England inserted Steve Ralston at halftime – Ralston said afterwards that he expected to play 30 minutes – and switched to a 3-5-2 formation in an attempt to overturn a 1-0 deficit. The changes – and playing with the wind at their backs – led to a pair of goals and another three points for the Revs.
5. If you missed D.C. United's 1-0 win over Houston, you didn't miss much. What a drab affair.
6. In a match littered with mistakes, Colin Clark's little through pass to set up Casey's winner deserves some kudos. So too does Sean Franklin's inventive run in the buildup to the Galaxy's second goal.
7. Is Juan Carlos Osorio counting the days until Jon Conway's suspension ends?
8. Chicago head coach Denis Hamlett is playing with fire (literally and figuratively) by continuing to leave Cuauhtemoc Blanco and Chris Rolfe out of his starting lineup. While the Fire can win regular season games without the duo (especially when teams play like the Red Bulls did on Sunday), Chicago will need Blanco and Rolfe later in the season when the matches are important and alienating them now just doesn't seem to make much sense.
9. Two players really stood out for me in Kansas City's 2-0 victory over San Jose: Claudio Lopez (for his general inventiveness and his well-taken goal) and Lance Watson (for locking down Darren Huckerby).
10. It is probably not a good sign that Earthquakes head coach Frank Yallop had to switch Bobby Convey out of the middle in his third game in a San Jose kit. Convey's comfort level looked far higher after shifting out on to the left, a point well-noted by the K.C. broadcast crew.
11. Gerson Mayen is a nice little find for Chivas USA. Great move to find the byline and create the first goal in the Goats' 2-1 victory over Columbus on Sunday night.
Kyle McCarthy writes the Monday MLS Breakdown and frequently writes opinion pieces during the week for Goal.com. He also covers the New England Revolution for the Boston Herald and MLSnet.com. Contact him with your questions or comments at kyle.mccarthy@goal.com.
It wasn't the statement many – including this pundit – thought Sounders FC might make. It was a different, more powerful statement.
A 2-0 win at BMO Field screams that, at least for now, Seattle is for real.
Toronto FC may not have played particularly well on the day – TFC head coach John Carver basically called his side a bunch of mugs in the post-match press conference – but Sounders FC still looked well better than their opponents.
While much of the focus has centered on the outstanding Fredy Montero (more on his legal troubles later), Sounders FC showed why it isn't just about him after winning in Canada without the influential Colombian.
There's a reason why Montero's loss wasn't acutely felt. Seattle's success starts in the back.
Give credit to Sigi Schmid for establishing clear expectations for his team. Schmid's teams know exactly what they should be doing at all times. They are organized and prepared. There is a sense of purpose and a sense of awareness about their play. For a Schmid team, that organization and purpose starts in the back.
Kasey Keller is a great building block between the sticks. He keeps his side organized and lends his considerable experience to a new and developing situation. When tested by the opposition, Keller has shown that he can still make the saves he needs to make. Too many teams around the league have tried to build a good defensive team around a mediocre goalkeeper. That isn't a problem in Seattle.
Nor is a central defensive pairing that looked a little rickety on paper before the season started. Jhon Kennedy Hurtado and Tyrone Marshall are uncompromising fellas back there. Forget about the pretty stuff. They hassle and manhandle opposing forwards. Once they get the ball, they launch the ball out of harm's way. Hurtado, in particular, has shown well in the opening three matches.
Fullbacks James Riley and Zach Scott keep the play in front of them. They remind me of Gino Padula in Columbus. Solid, steady and practically invisible. They don't try to do too much and don't take anything off the table.
Any discussion of the Sounders' defensive organization has to include a lengthy mention of Osvaldo Alonso. The Cuban defector runs his socks off in the defensive midfield and finds a way to destroy plays time and again. He's the type of player every team needs. He's tidier than I thought on first glance and serves as both an effective shield in front of the back four and an effective conduit to push play forward through the midfield. Impressive play over the first few weeks has won Alonso legions of admirers around the league.
That collection of six defensive players has yet to concede a goal in 270 minutes. Juan Pablo Angel – admittedly devoid of service – couldn't breach them. Real Salt Lake – who scored four goals against defending champion Columbus on Thursday – couldn't breach them. Toronto – who scored three goals against a pretty decent Kansas City team on opening night – couldn't breach them. It is quite difficult to lose games when you don't concede goals.
Defensive stinginess also gives the Seattle attack a bit of wherewithal to press forward with the knowledge that a broken-down attack likely won't end up in the back of Seattle's net.
The incisive attacking play – particularly the build-up play through midfield, the hold-up play of Nate Jaqua and the ruthless finishing of Montero and others – builds from the solid defensive core. Seattle has proven particularly adroit on the counterattack. Counterattacks tend not to work very well if you can't repel the opposition.
That hasn't been a problem for Seattle in its opening three games. If that defensive core continues its fine work as the season progresses, Sounders FC's early-season success might turn into something even greater than an emphatic statement on one early April Saturday in Canada.
Montero investigation creates potential distraction
While everything on the field is good news for Sounders FC, there was one troubling off-field incident that came to light last week. Word broke late last week that a Seattle-area police department was investigating Montero on possible rape charges. Montero didn't travel to Toronto, with the club saying he had the flu and Montero's agent saying he was held out of the game.
Seattle issued a statement of support of MLS' leading goalscorer late last week and Keller echoed those sentiments after the victory in Toronto.
“I wasn't there, but nobody's been charged,” Keller told the Seattle Times. “It's just something that obviously, we support our player. Let the police do their job. ... Hopefully it all blows over here and it goes from there. We don't know what's going on, but we're behind him.”
Seattle showed remarkable poise to push Montero's situation to one side and perform well in Toronto. If this investigation drags on for a considerable amount of time, focus might not be as easy to maintain in the long-term as it was for Sounders FC to maintain this weekend.
Week Three – Questions, Thoughts, and Answers
Goal.com Player of the Week – The Wind
One problem with playing football matches in late March and early April: the weather doesn't always cooperate. Matches in Salt Lake City, Toronto, D.C., New England, Kansas City and Chicago were marred by swirling and powerful winds. The scenes were particularly ridiculous at CAB, where free kicks were knocked down like pitching wedges and Joe Cannon had to dig a hole in the ground just to make sure he could hit a goal kick without the ball rolling out towards the end line.
No one player could match the impact of the conditions on the quality of play this weekend. Considering there were two hat tricks this weekend, that says something.
What were they thinking? The Los Angeles Galaxy on the opening kickoff
Here is a blow-by-blow of the opening sequence of the Galaxy's 3-2 loss to Colorado. Landon Donovan taps kickoff to Alan Gordon. Gordon overcooks retrograde pass to Eddie Lewis on left wing. Lewis has to slide to keep ball in play and then hits an aimless ball up field. Ugo Ihemelu collects and launches a long ball down the right wing. Omar Cummings latches on to it, surges into the penalty area and fires a cross. The ball squirts in between Josh Saunders and Omar Gonzalez and Conor Casey taps in the first of his three goals on the night.
The goal took 17 seconds to develop, making it the second-fastest goal in MLS history. It also set the tone for another night of errors for the Galaxy.
“It started from the opening kickoff, and it went through throughout the match,” Los Angeles head coach Bruce Arena told MLSnet after the match. “I give our guys a lot of credit for hanging in and fighting, and positioning themselves to be ahead 2-1, which is unbelievable after we actually somehow managed to give up a goal on the opening kickoff, with a kickoff in our favor.”
Eleven observations to start the week
1. Robbie Findley will get all of the plaudits for his hat trick in Real Salt Lake's 4-1 drubbing, but Clint Mathis deserves a mention for his all-action display. Lots of movement and lots of combination play from the man who used to love New York.
2. “It was a disgrace,” Toronto FC head coach John Carver told the Toronto Star after Seattle stormed into BMO Field and left with a 2-0 victory without much resistance from the home side. “We've had our backsides kicked.”
3. “We've shown that we can play with the best teams in this league,” FC Dallas midfielder Dave van den Bergh said after the Hoops lost 2-1 to New England on Saturday night. “I consider New England one of the best teams in the league, consistently over the past three or four years. To be able to play through them like we did in the first half and face us in the second half, that means we have a pretty decent team ourselves. We just need the confidence from that first win. If that first win comes, we're going to string those wins together.”
4. New England inserted Steve Ralston at halftime – Ralston said afterwards that he expected to play 30 minutes – and switched to a 3-5-2 formation in an attempt to overturn a 1-0 deficit. The changes – and playing with the wind at their backs – led to a pair of goals and another three points for the Revs.
5. If you missed D.C. United's 1-0 win over Houston, you didn't miss much. What a drab affair.
6. In a match littered with mistakes, Colin Clark's little through pass to set up Casey's winner deserves some kudos. So too does Sean Franklin's inventive run in the buildup to the Galaxy's second goal.
7. Is Juan Carlos Osorio counting the days until Jon Conway's suspension ends?
8. Chicago head coach Denis Hamlett is playing with fire (literally and figuratively) by continuing to leave Cuauhtemoc Blanco and Chris Rolfe out of his starting lineup. While the Fire can win regular season games without the duo (especially when teams play like the Red Bulls did on Sunday), Chicago will need Blanco and Rolfe later in the season when the matches are important and alienating them now just doesn't seem to make much sense.
9. Two players really stood out for me in Kansas City's 2-0 victory over San Jose: Claudio Lopez (for his general inventiveness and his well-taken goal) and Lance Watson (for locking down Darren Huckerby).
10. It is probably not a good sign that Earthquakes head coach Frank Yallop had to switch Bobby Convey out of the middle in his third game in a San Jose kit. Convey's comfort level looked far higher after shifting out on to the left, a point well-noted by the K.C. broadcast crew.
11. Gerson Mayen is a nice little find for Chivas USA. Great move to find the byline and create the first goal in the Goats' 2-1 victory over Columbus on Sunday night.
Kyle McCarthy writes the Monday MLS Breakdown and frequently writes opinion pieces during the week for Goal.com. He also covers the New England Revolution for the Boston Herald and MLSnet.com. Contact him with your questions or comments at kyle.mccarthy@goal.com.
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