Kicking it: Major setbacks early this MLS season

Demetrius: Hoo boy. I was so optimistic for them going into the game against New England after they managed to scrape a point against Colorado. They only conceded twice against the Rapids, so I figured that they were back on track. Then they joined the High-5 Club (or Low-5? I don’t know.) for the third time this year with that game in Foxboro. Now I’m beginning to think that this may not be a tactical issue that Adrian Heath can fix right away. This is a “the players aren’t good enough” issue. Surely they’ll adjust to the rigors of MLS as the season progresses but right now, they look like a newly-promoted team in a European league who naively decided to stick with the ideas that won them a lower-league title instead of adjusting to the realities of the top tier.  

Megan: Demetrius is right to bring up that Adrian Heath should not shoulder the blame. Usually, the reaction is naturally to say that a head coach is in over his head. But Heath is not someone who remotely deserves that assertion. He did well at Orlando City before this, and it’s not irrelevant to point out that he was the one who transitioned Orlando City from USL to MLS: a similar position he finds himself in Minnesota. The difference is that Minnesota, like Demetrius said, just doesn’t have the players right now. Or perhaps, the right players just yet. 

Josef Martinez of Atlanta United had been on loan from Serie A’s Torino, signed to be a permanent member of the team just last week and now is out due to injury in international play. How much of a loss is this for Atlanta?

Megan: The blow of losing a young, electric striker who produced five goals in three games is exacerbated by the fact that Atlanta United is an expansion team. Gaining momentum behind Martinez was huge for the foundation of this club, but this is part of the league, and in the grand scheme of things, Atlanta will be fine (given the injury isn’t more serious than we’ve been led to believe) behind the likes of a veteran in Jacob Peterson or Kenwyne Jones and Yamil Asad. 

Demetrius: It’s obviously a pretty big blow. Five goals in two games speaks to the quality that Martinez brings up top for Atlanta, and it’s always difficult to replace that type of production. Fortunately, Atlanta’s got a decent amount of depth at the forward position. Kenwyne Jones is the obvious replacement and he’s a pretty good replacement option when it comes to this league. 

Speaking of international play, this past weekend was one the first of the MLS season where we saw teams missing players from rosters as athletes played in qualifiers to represent their home country. Do you think American fans will ever get used to this phenomenon in the MLS or do you think it will always turn off a certain group of hardcore soccer fans who are used to the international breaks matching up with their league schedule?

Megan: I think MLS fans are accustomed to losing players, key players at that, for international play. On some level, I think it’s just as much a point of pride for fans as it is for players, especially in MLS. But as with everything, accepting something comes down to the bottom line: if players continue to miss out on MLS games for international duty and a fan’s team still wins, then they’ll deal with it. 

Demetrius: Megan pretty much nailed it. Fans of MLS in general want this league to be taken seriously, and one of those factors of getting this league taken seriously involves players picking up international caps. So while it may be a slight bummer to miss out on a player working for their club in order for them to represent their country, I don’t think that the fans will mind too much as long as the rest of the team steps up in said player’s absence and gets three points on the day. 

Does that extend to entire games being rescheduled, like this weekend’s Rapids-Dallas FC game which has been recently pushed to October due to a conflict with CONCACAF? 

Demetrius: I think that this is just part of the game at this point, and sports in general. For the most part, nobody really bats an eye when a baseball game in May gets pushed back to August or September due to rain. So I don’t think that it’s a huge deal that a game gets rescheduled due to conflicts with another competition. Again, it’s part of the game and if Dallas ends up breaking through and wins the CONCACAF CL, I don’t think too many people will have complaints.

Megan: I agree with Demetrius. What’s the alternative? FC Dallas isn’t competing in CONCACAF CL, isn’t lending exposure and legitimacy to MLS as a whole? I think presented that way, fans would take the rescheduled match every time.  

The Chicago Fire picked up Bastian Schweinsteiger from Man United last week. Schweinsteiger has been a force for Bayern Munich and the German national team over the years. What does he bring to the Fire they don’t already have?

Megan: He brings to Chicago an international name, which might be unfair to say that’s all he will bring to the Fire considering he is so accomplished. But this is more about precedent and less about Schweinsteiger specifically. The examples of international superstars coming to MLS for one last run are plenty: Steven Gerrard, Tim Howard, Didier Drogba, David Beckham. People will most definitely come out to see him play in person, but it just furthers a false narrative about MLS that the league can’t produce its own high-end talent. 

Demetrius: Obviously, he’s going to bring a wealth of experience, knowledge, and leadership that comes with a player who’s been through the rigors of soccer at the highest possible level both for club and country. That type of impact can’t be discounted, even at his advanced age. I just don’t think it’s a good tactical fit for the Fire. It might be weird to say that a MLS team didn’t need a guy from Manchester United, but this might actually be the case because the Fire were already pretty set in midfield. I hope that Chicago can find a way to make this work on the field, because to me it just seems like the Fire made one of those typical “aging superstar comes to the States for one last big payday” deals that I figured the league was moving past. 

Kicking it: Where the MLS stands heading into Week 3