So Major League Soccer finally has an opponent for its all-star game after Everton FC agreed to make up the numbers. The Toffees got the league out of a sticky situation after the courting of Valencia and Villarreal ended in failure.
My question is this: Of the three options, why wasn't Everton the first choice of MLS all along? I understand the need to mix things up a little, and so facing Premier League opposition for the fourth time in five years isn't necessarily ideal. But in terms of drawing fans to Rio Tinto Stadium on July 29, Everton -- which visited Real Salt Lake for a friendly in 2007 -- represents the biggest attraction.
Tim Howard will get much of the press for a side that has built up a decent fan base in America, thanks in part to Everton's past employment of two other former national team stars, Brian McBride and Joe-Max Moore. Furthermore, a cosmopolitan set of nationalities -- from Australia's Tim Cahill to Joseph Yobo of Nigeria -- makes Everton one of the Premier League's more interesting sides, and one that could challenge the league's big four next season.
Before that, Everton plays in the FA Cup final on May 30, having knocked out both Liverpool and Manchester United en route to Wembley. The Toffees' new season will start approximately two weeks after the all-star game, which offers a further advantage in terms of maximizing the game's competitive spirit. Spain's season starts later, meaning the preparedness of players from La Liga likely wouldn't measure up.
Everton is on the upswing, a stark contrast to a side whose very future is under threat. Valencia's financial woes mean that, at best, the club likely will have to watch its best players walk away this summer; worst-case scenario, the team goes out of business. Villarreal would have been a better option, but its failure to reach next season's Champions League could strip the club of some star power by the time late July rolls around.
Seeing red in New York
The longest-suffering fans in MLS have dealt with more than their fair share of anguish over the years, but as regular-season angst goes, few games could have been more depressing to watch for Red Bulls followers than Sunday's encounter with D.C. United.
Having fought so hard to take the lead after falling behind in the first half, New York imploded in spectacular fashion in the final moments. The manner of defeat was even more difficult to take because it was entirely self-inflicted. Nothing D.C. did inspired its most unlikely of comebacks.
Individual meltdowns are nothing new for Red Bulls players, but has there ever been consecutive ones featuring the same two players so soon after one another? First, goalkeeper Jon Conway inexplicably allowed a looping cross to bounce seven yards from his goal, at which Luciano Emilio ran while his "marker," Alfredo Pacheco, was caught ball-watching.
Then, approximately 90 seconds later, the Keystone Cops were at it again, as Conway and Pacheco allowed Emilio to get to an innocuous through ball first, from which he laid on Chris Pontius' winner. The slapstick nature of the sequence was amplified by Kevin Goldthwaite, who pointed to Pacheco to cover -- only to fall over while trying to cover the line.
Thus, what should have been the Red Bulls' second straight home win instead became their fourth defeat in seven games. Had the club not dropped a total of five points in the 89th minute or later -- including a late New England equalizer in the home opener -- New York would currently be a point off the top of the Eastern Conference standings.
The finger of blame for New York's mediocre start has to be pointed at Juan Carlos Osorio. You feel some sympathy for a coach when players make errors, but there's a flip side: These are the guys he sent into battle. Pacheco was Osorio's signing, and only the red-card woes of Carlos Johnson have masked the struggles he has endured early in his MLS career.
Meanwhile, Conway has only just returned to the starting lineup following a 10-game suspension. After posting a shutout in his first game, his rustiness showed. The fact that the four goals he has conceded all have been the result of defensive errors only suggests he must do a better job of organizing and communicating with those in front of him.
Further forward, New York has assembled a mishmash of accomplices to assist the league's most potent goal scorer. Juan Pablo Angel must despair as he watches the likes of Mac Kandji, Matthew Mbuta and Khano Smith -- Osorio signings, all -- fritter away one attacking opportunity after another.
It's a long season, and more so than any other team in 2008 the Red Bulls showed that what happens before the playoffs often counts for very little -- so long as you get there. Last year's run to the MLS Cup bought Osorio extra time to work through the issues he faces now, but everyone knows a New York minute is shorter than 60 seconds anywhere else. The pressure is on.
A thing that made me go hmmm …
Has there ever been a four-day stretch in which a side has won back-to-back games to reach the top of its conference while also losing its coach? What a wild week it was in Toronto.
I wrote last week that John Carver's future would be decided by how TFC fared in home games against Chivas, Kansas City and Columbus. As it was, his decision to quit after the first of those games meant that any move the front office might have made, had Toronto continued to struggle, became a moot point.
Maybe Carver decided to jump before he was pushed, but regardless of his reasons, Toronto must quickly move on if the club is to take advantage of its current winning run. An interim coach is likely to be appointed from within, which is a sound move.
The new man will take over a squad built very much in the mold of a Carver-Mo Johnston outfit, so the transitional impact of bringing in a coach from outside could halt the side's momentum. Despite the upheaval, Toronto has a good squad that may be only a decent center-back pairing away from a deep postseason run. Now is no time to rip things up and start over.
Well played, old men
A few weeks after I sang the praises of two young Real Salt Lake forwards, a pair of the side's veterans proved they have plenty left to offer during RSL's 6-0 thrashing of previously unbeaten New England.
One is a former national-team golden boy, who served a reminder of what he still can do. The other was more poignant, delivered by an MLS journeyman for whom soccer serves as a release from a far greater struggle for his family.
Clint Mathis' volley is a contender for goal of the year, and highlights a renaissance for one of the more gifted players of his generation. He may never have reached the heights his talent suggested he could achieve, but Mathis remains an effective player when his mind is right. A goal and three assists already this season hint that Jason Kreis has him buying into what an impressive RSL squad is doing.
Mathis' replacement off the bench Saturday was Andy Williams, who marked his cameo appearance by firing home a free kick from 20 yards against the side for which he played from 2001 to '02. It was a rare moment of elation for Williams, whose wife, Marcia, had begun only a day earlier her second round of chemotherapy in her ongoing battle with leukemia.
Williams celebrated with a modest kiss of his ring finger and, according to Kreis, had "tears in his eyes." I doubt he was the only one.