We discussed SKC just ten days ago and those notes are reproduced at the foot of the email, they won that 2-1 with a late, late winner and then followed up just three days later with a defeat of LA Galaxy by the same scoreline and I am full of admiration with how they handled that gruelling schedule, to say nothing of the travel delays. They now hold a narrow lead at the top of the Eastern Conference and will be keen to see off one of their closest challengers this evening and cement their advanatage with second placed DC United not playing until next midweek.
TFC are six MLS games without a cleansheet and have conceded twice in four of those, including a couple to Houston Dynamo last weekend, we did preview that, but it was very much from the Dynamo perspective, it was a match Houston should have won and for all the money spent and their offensive capabilities, the hosts do look suspect at the back and they have, IMO, been fortunate to lose just one of those six matches (four draws).
Both played home friendlies in midweek against EPL opposition and both lost, I would not read too much into that, but the match for TFC was a far bigger game, in that it was against Jermain Defoe's former club Tottenham Hotspur and the home side put a lot of effort into getting back on level terms from 2-0 down, before losing by the odd goal in five. They will be without Defoe tonight with the striker suspended, that will mean Gilberto and Luke Moore upfront, they have also lost keeper Julio Cesar who has been recalled by QPR and captain Steven Caldwell is missing from the backline, along with key right back Mark Bloom. That leaves them weakened through the spine of the team and will mean other areas having to compensate a little. The hosts have already shown a real weakness on the right flank recently and Tottenham caused them huge problems down the left wing and that will have got the attention of Graham Zusi (see below) today.
That SKC have been able to keep both him and especially Matt Besler ( at least for the rest of this season) was a massive statement of intent and at least one well respected journalist called it "one of the biggest deals (in terms of how the game is perceived), in the history of MLS football." TFC cannot concede two goals again ( which is very likely) and win this.
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MLS: Columbus Crew - Sporting Kansas City (written July 16th)
SKC have won the last four h2h meetings and look good for a 5th. They have kept clean sheets in the last three of those and now that they have got back on the winning trail, with all three points at Montreal at the weekend, they should go from strength to strength, ahead of their previous game, a 1-1 home draw with Chicago Fire, I wrote a few lines .........
Just one match for me to discuss today, I was going to get involved originally in the SKC -Chicago Fire game, half hoping that the hosts would include one or both of Matt Besler or Graham Zusi in the squad. Feeling that the duo would have been both tired and distracted, Besler has gone home a hero, has had huge demands made on him by the media, appearing on 8-9 television shows. His agent will have been busy too, with a whole host of European clubs expressing interest in the centre back. He will definitely be on his way, earning just $220k pa, that's per year , not per month or week, he can secure his future with one overseas contract.
However, SKC have done the right thing and allowed both to decide when they will return to training, or if they will actually do so at all. Zusi has also attracted some interest and like many in the US squad who impressed, their low salaries in the MLS and fantastic work ethic make them good value.
The pair will be presented to the crowd before the game and that might have more of an effect on the supporters and team, than any contribution they might make on the pitch this weekend.
Both Besler and Zusi played all 90 minutes in Montreal and appear to be back in the fold and on song. The trip to onwards to Columbus was a bit of a disaster with most of the squad delayed in New York (a long story) overnight, that was not ideal, but they were in time for their training session and US players are used to spending a LOT of time in transit and at airports so whilst far from perfect, not a massive concern.
Crew have now not won in six starts and only once since stating their season on fire with three consecutive wins, we spoke at the weekend (see below) about how they were rebuilding and how important Hector Jiminez was to them and there should be plenty of joy for SKC and maybe especially Zusi,on that flank. He had an offensive MOTM performance in the reverse fixture a 2-0 win , when the MLS website said: " Dangerous up and down both flanks, switching sides throughout. Had one assist, but could have had three or four others. And as always was the freshest guy on the field at the whistle."
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Good Luck.
