The Monday MLS Breakdown: Playmaker, Playmaker, Come Out To Play

By Kyle McCarthy

Luciano Emilio, playmaker?

Emilio, he of the one assist to complement his 20 goals last season, dished off two for United in Saturday night's 3-0 win over Colorado.

Emilio, with the cheeky little dish off for Joe Vide's thumping opener after some hold up play.

Emilio, with the turn and change of field to set up Santino Quaranta for his second half goal.

Carlos Valderrama is sitting somewhere with a quirky grin on his face. But what does it say about the role of the MLS striker when the Brazilian striker known for doing nothing but scoring goals suddenly decides to round off his game this season?

Before pondering that question, consider this.

The league's fourth (Jeff Cunningham, 100) and eighth (Carlos Ruiz, 82) all-time leading goal getters have changed teams in the past month. The collective haul? Two supplemental draft picks for Ruiz and a third-round draft pick for Cunningham.

Forget about the fact that both players aren't particularly renowned for their locker room diplomacy. Forget about the fact that neither player had produced his best form this season (Cunningham has four goals, Ruiz only one). Forget about the fact that both players carry comparatively bloated salaries for their production this season.

One hundred and eighty-two goals changed hands for the equivalent of loose change floating around the couch.

Now compare the collective haul for poachers extraordinaire Ruiz and Cunningham to the take for Crew midfielder-cum-striker Pat Noonan and 'Quakes striker Scott Sealy.

Noonan has no locker room problems and boasts two ten-goal seasons on his MLS resume. He scored 42 goals in 136 appearances for the Revs and has the ability to create as a second-forward or distribute as a wide midfielder. The tally for Noonan? A first-round draft pick, allocation money and a swap of spots in the allocation order in 2008 and 2009.

Sealy scored 26 goals in 75 games for Kansas City. While quick and potent, Sealy didn't contribute much to the overall attack in K.C. besides finishing off the move. Sealy is also out of contract at the end of the season. San Jose sent allocation money in the low six-figures to the Wizards for Sealy.

One can certainly make a convincing argument that the severe discount for Ruiz and Cunningham occurred because of the three factors I listed (and asked you to forget). One can also argue that Sealy's value is impacted by his impending departure. One cannot argue, however, that Noonan, a versatile player with both creative guile and predatory instincts, holds more value on the open market than one-dimensional strikers Sealy, Cunningham and Ruiz combined.

To help explain why, let’s return to the question about Emilio's evolution.

The role of the MLS striker has evolved from the days when drag-racers like Roy Lassiter just ran past defenses and poachers like Mamadou Diallo lurked in front of goal without contributing much else to the team. In blunter terms, the complete striker is en vogue these days, and Ruiz and Cunningham are considered outmoded.

In their place are multi-dimensional contributors who do more than finish the move. Run down the scoring charts and you'll see the proof.

1. Landon Donovan, the league's leading scorer and a striker who is part creative midfielder and part ruthless finisher.

2. Kenny Cooper, the target forward who won't play like one because he drifts out wide to create opportunities and open up space for others.

3. Edson Buddle, the rejuvenated striker with awesome footskills and a tight turning radius.

4. Emilio, a predatory striker who has five assists so far this season.

5. Jaime Moreno, the league's all-time leading striker transformed into a second striker with creative flair and deadly distribution.

Add to this list one other player who would generally join it:  Taylor Twellman. Injuries have kept him out of the scoring race this year. He is still widely considered the poaching type of striker, but he has consistently worked on his first touch and build-up play since assistant coach Paul Mariner's arrival, and doesn’t get the credit he deserves for this dimension of his game.

Seven of the top ten scorers this season have four or more assists. Four have five assists or more. All ten add something to the offense besides being someone who can stand up there and finish the move.

Perhaps it's just another indication of how the standard of play in the league has continued to improve. Defenses are more sophisticated and capable of shutting down players like Cunningham and Ruiz, players who offer singular threats and operate in similar spaces from game to game. The strikers who succeed now are able to adapt and thrive. Even Sealy has added more hold-up play to his game in an attempt to mesh with San Jose.

Mostly it's a sign to Cunningham and Ruiz that the success they have experienced in the past may not come as easily or as profitably as it has come to them in the past.

If the success arrives at all.

Week  Twenty-Two – Questions, Thoughts, and Answers

Goal.com Player of the Week – Guillermo Barros Schelotto, MF, Columbus
One goal. Two assists. Another Player of the Week. Is the Argentine the MLS MVP? One could -- and should -- make a strong case for his candidacy.

What was he thinking? Pablo Ricchetti, MF, FC Dallas
The Hoops are improving, but are just barely in the playoff zone right now. There is no margin for error. Staked to a one-goal lead by a fantastic long-distance drive by Andre Rocha and aided by an ineffectual Wizards attack, FCD looked relatively comfortable on Saturday. Then Ricchetti struck out to haul down Davy Arnaud. That left the Hoops to hold on for a half hour, and down a man, they could do nothing to stop Jimmy Conrad from equalizing in second-half stoppage time.

Eleven observations to start the week

1. Diego Jimenez's long ball to set up Mike Magee's goal in New York's 3-0 win over Houston on Sunday was world class. That’s not a term I throw around lightly. But given the weight of the pass and the distance over which it was played, that's a worthy tag for that particular piece of distribution.

2. Maybe San Jose and Chivas USA can agree to only play the final 15 minutes the next time they meet. Watching the first 75 might have been a waste of time, but two fine saves from Joe Cannon and Zach Thornton and an agonizing miss from Alecko Eskandarian made the final quarter of an hour worth it.

3. With his late goal against Dallas, Wizards captain Jimmy Conrad now leads the team with five goals. What? A central defender leading his team in goals in late August? Just shows how poorly the Wizards are going forward this season.

4. One week I call for the inclusion of Kenny Deuchar M.D. in the RSL starting lineup. The next he allows Chad Marshall to nod home simply at the far post to open the Crew's 3-0 rout over RSL at Crew Stadium. Not the best way to repay the faith, is it Doc? Combine Deuchar's missing the mark with a feckless RSL display in the final third and a disaster-ridden showing defensively, and it's not hard to see why RSL has struggled on the road this season.

5. Perhaps part of the problem for RSL was in naming three strikers (Robbie Findley, Yura Movsisyan and Deuchar) in the starting eleven, and then expecting Kenny Cutler to stay home in the center while Guillermo Barros Schelotto roamed where he pleased?

6. A 1-1 draw between New England and Toronto was the rare match where the result suited both sides. The Revolution's road-weary legs couldn't afford a loss in a tough road venue, while TFC just needed some positive momentum going against one of the league's best teams after a soul-sapping stretch of play.

7. There's some credence to keeping Christian Gomez out of the lineup if you don't like how he's playing. For one game. Then you put him back in and hope he snaps out of his funk. It's essentially inexcusable to leave Gomez out of the starting lineup against his old team. If you're worried about his motivation, isn't that the game where he has a little extra to prove?

8. Super, super strike from John Thorrington to give Chicago a 1-0 victory in Los Angeles on Thursday night. Low and curling inside the far post, Thorrington's drive is generally found at levels higher than this one. Perhaps Bob Bradley will give him a look again in January?

9. If Kei Kamara had finished as ruthlessly in San Jose as he did for Houston on Wednesday night, he’d still be in San Jose. Frank Yallop probably wonders where that was back when San Jose couldn't purchase a goal with gold.

10. Jeff Larentowicz's second-half drive to provide the margin against D.C. on Wednesday might just be one of the weirder goals of the season. Larentowicz hits the stuffing out of the ball and struck it with enough torque to cause United keeper Louis Crayton to dive the wrong way before the ball ducked off the other way. Many will blame the keeper, but that was a wicked curverball. Roberto Carlos would have been proud.

11. Toronto simply had to take a chance on Ruiz at the bargain-basement price on offer. Even if he doesn't report, the deal is worth it. Unless you think TFC can find a couple of Canadian impact players in exchange for low draft picks.

Kyle McCarthy's Monday MLS Breakdown appears each Monday on Goal.com. He can be reached at: kylemccarthy@gmail.com.