Outside90’s Daniel Fraiz-Martinez breaks down all the biggest talking points to come from the latest round of Major League Soccer action.
Super Seba’ the King of Canada
Not that there was any doubt heading in, but Saturday’s crunch match against rivals the Montreal Impact further emphasised Sebastian Giovinco’s status as the undisputed ‘King of Canada‘ and league MVP.
Givoinco’s brace in his side’s 2-0 victory, while hardly remarkable by the diminutive Italian’s lofty standards, further highlighted the somewhat paradoxical affirmation that the ‘Atomic Ant’ is head and shoulders above his MLS peers.
Aside from a much welcome three points, Saturday’s two goals also placed Giovinco on to joint top of Toronto FC’s all time top scorer chart on 28. He is now equal with former talismanic TFC forward Dwayne De Rosario, albeit De Rosario had taken 78 games to reach said tally, with Giovinco astonishingly only needing 40.
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Galaxy of stars in full force as LA show their potential
LA Galaxy produced a sublime performance Saturday night, to come from behind and emphatically rout a previously unbeaten Real Salt Lake side 5-2.
Despite initially (and altogether to briefly) going ahead, Real Salt Lake succumbed to an inspired team performance, punctuated by the individual brilliance of Emmanuel Boateng and designated Mexican superstar Gio Dos Santos.
Dos Santos, who had threatened to fade into obscurity despite the initial media furore surrounding his arrival, showed glimpses of his unquestionably top level talent.
The former Barcelona and Villareal forward pulled the strings in a team performance that saw former Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard become the latest player to fall victim to the ‘Wall of Wasatch‘ with Salt Lake goalkeeper Nick Rimando stopping the Englishman’s penalty. Rimando has incredibly saved exactly half of the 10 penalties he’s faced against LA and players taking Penalty Kicks against him have a 27 out of 45 missed to taken ratio in his time at RSL)
The former Premier League star did have the last laugh though, by putting the gloss on a result that perhaps penalised a Salt Lake side that played their part. Both in the entertainment, and in their own downfall as well.
Consecutive defeats begs the question – will Viera end up making Jason Kreis look good?
Patrick Viera was brought in to lead a struggling New York City side, due to his predecessor Jason Kreis’ failure to implement a “winning style” in his first year in charge.
Therefore, there will be more than one or two neutral onlookers wondering how long Viera will be holding court over at the City Group’s newest footballing venture.
The Frenchman suffered the ignominy of back-to-back defeats for the first time in his (brief) tenure, with the second coming on Saturday at the hands of a much improved Philadelphia Union side.
Shorn of two (Andrea Pirlo and Frank Lampard) of their three Designated Players, it was the third in David Villa who seemed the only man in blue capable of providing any genuine quality in the attacking-third.
With some industrious performances from Argentine destroyer Federico Bravo and young Costa Rican defenderRonald Matarrita, the only other commendable outings. Viera will most likely be resting easier due to MLS’s lack of relegation affording a longer than usual lead time to engender a much needed improvement.
https://youtu.be/7KW180yFJ7A
Red Bulls finally off the mark, but MLS officials yet to join them
Soccer Sunday helped confirm that Cyle Larin loves New York, as Orlando City SC’s powerhouse Canadian striker found the net once again in the ‘Big Apple‘.
The Red Bulls were to bound to (finally) win again though and that they did, scraping a nervy 3-2 Sacha Kljestan-inspired victory.
But perhaps most emphatically Soccer Sunday confirmed the remarkably poor level of MLS officiating, with Orlando City once again facing the brunt of a more than dubious officiating decision.
The referee’s refused to give a certain penalty and red card just under the half hour mark, only for matters to be further compounded with the Red Bulls equalising moments later. The match went from a potential 2-0 against 10 men, to 1-1 against a buoyant New York side.
In a season that has seen the league’s continual improvement on the field ratified, the officials are most certainly doing their bit to undermine this with senseless sending-offsx, and unfathomable failures to get right the most basic of decisions.
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