By J Hutcherson - WASHINGTON, DC (May 2, 2011) US Soccer Players -- In big picture terms, FC Dallas did everyone but Los Angeles a favor on Sunday night. After a lengthy lightening delay, Dallas scored. Normally, that sentence would end with “to take all three points.” Instead, what Dallas did for the rest of the League was prevent Los Angeles from taking any. That means the Galaxy leading Major League Soccer’s mythical single table by only point, with more games played than anybody else in MLS.
New York trail Los Angeles by a point 14 to 15, but they’ve played seven games to the Galaxy’s nine. In the Western Conference, Real Salt Lake are 2nd to the Galaxy with 12 points from five games. That games played difference flatters the Galaxy, who got an advantageous result of their own with Portland ending Salt Lake’s undefeated streak. It’s worth noting that had RSL done as expected and won at Jeld-Wen Field, they would have the best record in MLS.
What does this mean for LA? Other than righteous indignation at the way the final ten minutes of last night’s game were handled, the realization that their games played advantage could leave them in trouble when other teams catch up. Oddly, that won’t be any time soon. The Galaxy play six more times this month. Next on the schedule is New York, second place in the single-table and a team still basking in the glow of a 4-0 away win over DC and a serviceable 1-0 home win over Kansas City.
Giving all due respect to DC and Kansas City, fundamentally beating Los Angeles at the Home Depot Center is simply a bigger test. It’s also a bigger opportunity, proving to critics such as myself that New York really is playing a different game than most MLS teams. An away win against LA can’t be downplayed in this League, anymore than taking advantage of an opportunity like Dallas did at home on Sunday night.
This isn’t a case of simply rewriting the test after every New York achievement. Their inspired run of form happened after dropping a winnable game to the Philadelphia Union. Though the Union circa 2010 remain the leader in explaining away disappointing results, New York has entered the fray by rewriting their own slips this season. It’s not so much that they’ve lost a game and tied two others, but that they were in solid position to win all three. Maybe, but that’s normally not the kind of reasoning that is altogether fair to the other team.
New York’s big restatement of purpose had to wait for a home rout of San Jose, followed by the big DC win, and now a 1-0 over Kansas City. Using the current table, that means beating the 17th, 13th, and 18th-place clubs. Granted, the New York losses helped mire San Jose and Kansas City at the bottom of the table. It’s no knock against any team when they take advantage of their schedule, and now it’s time to see what this New York squad can do against a higher level of opponent.
It’s the same for LA. They seemed eager enough to take their point and get out of Frisco, a game that would’ve been remembered for the weather as much for the soccer. That’s a professional result, and nobody expected Brek Shea’s game winner. There were people willing to immediately add Shea to that list, with a shot that looked like a cross ending up in the back of the net. Whatever the intent, the result means an opportunity lost for Los Angeles. Now they’ve got their second marquee ESPN2 game and an opportunity to play down what happened at Rio Tinto on March 26th.
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