Tale of two games

I must say after watching the boys on Wed at home vs Dallas I was worries about where our season was headed.  There was really no chemistry for the team.  We looked like 11 players and not a team.  Our strategy was the long ball and while we got off shots there were few of any real quality.  While we tend to play the long ball more than most teams it was much more frequent on Wed.  Dallas had very little scoring chances but the ones they had were higher quality than ours and while we "controlled" the game I felt we could have done much more to get better chances.  Going in I thought we'd go down initially but would take that and get a 2 - 1 win, guess the bunker down strategy foiled that idea.  (one side note on that, till MLS teams can actually play with the lead and still generate offense, we will always be a secondary league - this in my opinion will get better as the quality of players does)


OK, done dwelling on the negative cause then there was Saturday against RSL.  That game I was sure I would see the Rave Green get another loss.  It was not that I don't believe in the team this was just the numbers pointed to that result.  I could not have been happier with the outcome.  The boys looked like a team, they made overlapping runs, covered for each other on the backline, and chased down the ball.  I feel the Fucito(new man crush there) really gives us a better chance with our long ball style.  He seems to outrun most defenders and his stocky build lets him hold up play for help to arrive (or draw the red card).  While we still have issues at midfield, Neagle was a pleasant surprise and I want to see more of him.  The shots he took were struck with pace and I can see him giving teams trouble on the outside.  He played better than the rest of the offensive minded center folks.  On the back line, besides Ianni's lapse (probably still thinking about that cheap tap in goal) they were fairly solid.  We had issues clearing but overall recovered well.  And that may have been the best game from Keller this season and maybe ever for the Sounders.  This game showed us the team we hope to be, hopefully we can keep this up.  Of course we still need to work on finishing but 2 goals a game with our defense should get us plenty of points.


We now have a little softer schedule the next four games - Chicago, Vancouver, Toronto, N.E - probably the bottom four .  A third of the way through the season we are setup well for the playoffs, we just need to keep playing as a team.  http://www.sportsclubstats.com/USA/MLS.html