Major League Soccer has just come out and admitted that referee Ricardo Salazar erred in not calling a foul on Houston’s Andre Hainault when he took down DC United’s Raphael Augusto late in the first half of the Eastern Conference Final first leg in Houston.

The failure to call the foul and eject Hainault for Denial of an Obvious Goal Scoring Opportunity (DOGSO) was entirely understandable from the position from which Salazar viewed the players and their exchange of arm contact. He couldn’t see that Hainault had trapped Augusto’s arm and pulled him down.

His own explanation confirms that he didn’t see it as a foul, but Professional Referee Organization General Manager Peter Walton, admitted on MLSSoccer.com that in his judgment it was indeed a foul and DOGSO.

Then MLS went on to state that the event was not reviewable by its disciplinary committee. That’s interesting, because it must be on the basis that the referee’s decision to let play continue on removes their ability to punish the action.

Let’s contrast that seemingly defensible position with their actions in regard to the second yellow card on Andy Najar in the semi-final opener against New York Red Bulls for which they suspended him for two additional games.

That punishment was given despite the fact that the referee, Jair Maruffo, specifically chose to call Najar’s offense only a cautionable dissent.

It seems to me that if the MLS Disciplinary Committee holds itself to a standard that the referee’s report is the defining document in such matters then they should feel similarly prevented from intervening in Najar’s case. After all, Marrufo was the aggrieved party when Najar threw the ball and determined at that time that it was not an abuse or assault on him.

While two similar preceding events involving Brek Shea (3 added games for kicking a ball at a referee) and Mike Magee (1 game for a mild throw in the direction of a referee) would seem to neatly bracket Najar’s punishment and provide adequate justification, we are still stuck with Maruffos’ reporting only dissent.

My quarrel is not with the Najar decision but with the failure to act on the Hainault situation. As it is, it seems that a non-decision by a referee because he did not see something (Hainault’s foul) may not be overruled while a specific description of an act that the referee did see (Najar’s throw) may be overruled.

Yet, disciplinary committees worldwide routinely punish “unseen” simulation although not reported or seen as such by a referee. How does this ex-post-facto calling of simulation differ from calling Hainault’s “simulating” fair play? So I ask MLS, did I miss something technical?

The New York (New Jersey) Red Bulls have one of the highest paid rosters in MLS and have an empty trophy case to show for it. They will be motivated tonight at home. Still, they have to realize that their salaries and good fortune on Saturday in DC are no deterrent to Ben Olsen’s United team.

The coach was sanguine about his team’s situation after tying 1-1 at home, “We obviously wanted to win today. I thought we had a good balance of going forward and making sure we didn’t get exposed in the back.

“Again, I thought there was some really good stuff offensively. We created chances. In the first half, we were a little bit rushed at times. We probably should have nicked a goal.”

He was not alone. Commenting on the classic playoff style adopted by both teams, Lewis Neal felt that the deeper restraint line was not really a hindrance to attacking, “We had a lot of decent efforts…We played particularly well in the first half.”

When Andy Najar was ejected leaving United with only ten players, Neal noted that, “We weren’t just hanging on there, (We had) one or two breakaways, one or two half looks…..It just shows the togetherness and the team spirit that we have.”

Perry Kitchen, who has carried the large burden of protecting the defenders while helping transition to attack, believes that DC’s cohesion has matured quite well, – “If we are playing the best, with good pressure, good possession, we can hang with any team. That’s just what we need to do.”

Captain Chris Pontius agreed, “I always felt good about how we matched up against them and tonight just proved it right. Like I said, we have to match their intensity up there and we’ve got to play offensively up there like we did down here.”

This year’s group has grown along with their young coach and appears not only to have bought into his approach, but to understand it well. Their unanimous confidence in each other stands out in every interview.

Possible rookie of the year, Nick DeLeon saw it clearly, “They weren’t doing much with that (the deeper restraint line used by both teams) and we picked our moments very well…We stuck together as a team and it all worked out….It really limited their chances and it’s unfortunate we couldn’t put more in the net.” After going down to ten men, it was, “Sit in tight and go on the counter if we had the opportunity.”

The wisest player on the team, Branko Boskovic put it simply, “Game like this, you must be smart…..Be patient until the last minute.” It is interesting that Olsen has frequently chosen Neal and Boskovic for simple roles that support the middle of the field. They both bring a calmness and understanding that supports and teaches the youngsters around them.

The expected horrible weather conditions tonight will favor the team that holds together best and avoids mistakes. Olsen has emphasized that cohesion as the season has progressed and the loss of Dwayne De Rosario has helped cement a team that adjusted to the loss of offense by be becoming even stingier on defense.

The original DC United followed the Bruce Arena style of pressuring all over the field. Olsen’s squad lends itself more to a withdrawn restraint line, but is otherwise the same in emphasizing maintenance of possession once obtained and a quick attack, but only when it “is on”.

Here’s how Chris Korb saw it, “In the second half after the red card you can’t do much.” That is obvious enough, but he went on to point out, “We still probably had more chances than they did. We’re fine, we’ll be ready for Wednesday.”

His confidence is well placed as he realized that United was already prepared to contain the Red Bulls as they had all game, but the team reserved the right to attack when it was on. The loss of Najar’s services will take away some of DC’s sting in either a slow buildup or a counter, but his talent is best suited to better conditions where skill predominates.

With weather the great leveler, United’s blue collar style should serve them well.

When you take the hands out of a game, you remove man’s special tool for refined play and frustration becomes the order of the day. The low scoring rate in soccer reflects that reality.

There are two ways to address the problem, run up your opponent’s frustration by forcing him to make more passes to get to the goal or minimize your own frustration by accepting the delay and beating it with cunning and skill.

The MLS style, adopted by DC United Coach Ben Olsen, is based on athleticism and obstruction and a focus on forcing a way through the opponent rather than around him. Witness the bench time for DC United’s more subtle players like Branko Boskovic and Hamdi Salihi.

The direct approach is not without merit as can be seen with the success of Chris Pontius and Andy Najar. Still, an obstructive defense will most often stifle their efforts. Against Red Bulls New York, Olsen chose to clog the middle with a two man defensive midfield and frequent inside play by the wide midfielders.

Thus, Nick DeLeon’s comment, “I was just trying to tuck inside. The coaches wanted the outside mids to come inside and help because Henri and some of the forwards would drop back into that space and would crowd the midfield.” The tactic succeeded in closing down the Re Bulls’ primary attacker.

Henri showed his frustration with frequent gestures, but neither he nor his teammates took the appropriate action to exploit the newly freed up space on their left wing in which Joel Lindpere took up residence. As Najar responsibly rotated into central defense to maintain team shape, DeLeon often left Lindpere unmarked.

His rationale was that, “Andy’s a quick defender, he’s not an easy kid to beat. You touch it past him and he’ll catch up to you real quick, so I’m not too worried about that. He can handle himself.”

Asked about Najar’s having to take on both Henri and Lindpere, DeLeon simply replied, “He’s a beast.” While the young Honduran has been very active and effective since his return from duty at the Olympics, he is not inexhaustible and the thin air in Utah may slow his work rate.

Real Salt Lake’s Coach, Jason Kreis, will surely note Olsen’s approach. With a strong Kyle Beckerman in central midfield to encourage the same crowding, he will exploit the wings more effectively than New York, hoping to either outflank or wear down Najar.

Olsen has made it too easy for opposing coaches by persisting in the athletic MLS style despite having solid alternatives on the bench. He and the coaching staff believe that the more patient style of Boskovic and Salihi can only be effective against tired and slower legs in the second half.

I disagree. Saturday’s game will be at altitude and dominance of early possession will be essential. Instead of repelling RSL’s attacks with a bunkering empty bucket, DC needs to take control. That means positional discipline with the wide defenders rarely overlapping and less team rotation.

In such a scheme, triangles will be a bit more predictable since they will be based on less position switching, but the scheme will require much less running and will have the added benefit of having wing attacks made by primary attackers, Pontius and Deleon, rather than an overlapping Chris Korb or a tired Najar.

This more measured approach will require good possession skills and accurate passing. That points to Boskovic’s starting in an attempt to impose United’s style on RSL. Variety on attack should come from educated runs by Salihi and the unpredictable Dwayne De Rosario.

To further emphasize controlled play, Olsen should play Emiliano Dudar in place of Brandon McDonald whose long balls out of the back are too often the first step in opponents’ buildups.

As the early season progressed, DC United grew more sophisticated in its play and Pontius in particular showed greater understanding of the usefulness of width and delayed movement into space. Then, the style suddenly went away. Olsen went with the “work harder” mentality and forgot the “work smarter” approach.

It’s time for a return to simple, intelligent play.

The “rookie wall” is a well worn cliché precisely because it is so often encountered. If the rookie in question is lucky enough to break through, he has a good chance to hang around the top level. Last night, rookie Nick DeLeon showed signs of returning to his early season form.

When I asked him in April about the main lesson that he had taken from his father, a former professional player, he noted that it was, “My attitude of going at defenders without fear. Sometimes you lose it, sometimes you get by them; but you just gotta keep going.”

His observation applied then, applied to last night’s wonderful run, and may apply to DC United as well.

He made the most significant game-changing effort I have seen that garnered no assist. That pesky statistic requires a more direct link than he generated; but the goal was almost all his doing with a neat backheel by Long Tan and a simple tap-in by Chris Pontius to finish it off.

Having gone through his own rookie and sophomore phases, Pontius had the correct insight, “It’s tough. You go from having a three-month season to all of a sudden – with preseason – ten plus months. Consistency is the hardest thing as a rookie, but I think he’s found his groove back.

“I just told him the thing that makes him successful is his going at guys, and you saw that tonight, putting defenders on their heels.” The rookie’s early season fearlessness and ability to shed defenders is indeed reminiscent of his mentor’s early years.

Deleon benefited from immediate advice as, “[Chris] Korb played a ball down the line and I just heard the sideline saying ‘go at them, go at them.’ He gave me a little space toward the line and I went at him. Fortunately enough I got through and we got the goal.”

In fast moving situations in a crowded goal area anything can happen, but a quick reflex increases the odds of scoring. As he closed on goal, DeLeon pirouetted around a defender to free up enough space to put in a short cross to Tan.

The play showed his adaptability and cool under pressure, “That was just a bad touch. The defender was coming, so I just improvised. It worked out for the best. We got the goal and we got the win, so I’m happy about that.”

Now let’s consider a DC United team that has been wading through its own midseason morass. It won on the night only because it got a few more breaks than a mediocre opponent. Both teams created few good chances and both nearly scored from in the box bounces. This one could have gone either way.

The team played a bit more narrowly than normal because of the style that the Columbus Crew chose to use. Josh Wolff noted that the Crew wanted United to attack wide so that crossed balls would be more easily rejected by their tall defenders, principally Chad Marshall.

United chose instead to play a quick passing game inside, as both Korb and Daniel Woolard overlapped into the wide channels, while the team maintained overall good shape. The discipline held up well enough to preserve the clean score sheet despite a few scary moments.

As United approaches the most trying several weeks of their season, they will need to show more confidence in attack while retaining good discipline and shape. Saturday’s upcoming game at Sporting Kansas City will provide them a stern test by a quality side.

With the team still looking like a preseason side, Olsen will have to hold very focused practices this week to ingrain proper habits. It takes a superior coach to instill a confident improvising mentality while assuring that shape is well maintained.

Both have to come naturally, with no delays to think it over. The players must all be as adaptable as DeLeon was when he turned his bad touch into a clever move. Olsen has been slowly working out how to do that. His opposite numbers keep redefining the issues he faces.

Just as several of his players are still learning how to get out of a funk, so Is their young coach.

What a day for being a Sounders fan. I’m honestly not sure what the bigger story of the day is.

The team won a match against the best team in the eastern conference 6-2. They are now 6-0-1 in the month of August. They are now just 3 points behind LA Galaxy in the race for the Supporters Shield.

Truly, no one could have asked for a better run of form for a month that starts a pretty crazy run of fixture congestion. A run that includes qualifying for group play on the CCL, a win in Dallas, and a win in Monterrey. And up next, a game at Starfire to move to the third straight USOC final.

Its a great time to be a Sounders fan. Let’s all sit back and enjoy.

Today, Josh Mayers at the Seattle Times tweeted that the Sounders would not take advantage of the summer international transfer window. We all know that it’s not for lack of trying. Adrian Hanauer has stated publicly that he was “working frantically” trying to bring in a top-talent target forward but that he wouldn’t bring in a player that was too expensive or a poor fit for the team.

Sounders supporters have formed two camps around this issue: one saying that this is further evidence of Hanauer’s limited ability as an MLS-level GM, and a second saying that Hanauer used sound reasoning and handled the situation as well as anyone could have.

In reality, both these viewpoints have a measure of validity but are far too strong.

Hanauer is the leader of the FO and is responsible for roster construction. The reality is that he put together a roster that has been competitive at the MLS level from day one. He put together the roster that won the USOC and made the playoffs in the Sounders’ inaugural season, then again last year. He has them poised to make another run at the USOC, the MLS playoffs, and the CCL.

Adrian Hanauer has earned our trust.

Having said that, this failure to bring in an international top-caliber target forward IS a statement on his job performance.  The Sounders clearly have a need and have the DP slot and cap room available. Several players around Europe and elsewhere are available. For whatever reason, Hanauer was unable to complete a deal.

But this one failure, in this one situation, for this one need, does not negate all the excellent work Hanauer has done.

Hanauer should not bring in a player for the sake of doing it. He should not overpay for anyone. He was almost certainly willing to slightly overpay on a short-term deal because of the benefit of progression through USOC, CCL, and playoffs.

I have developed a great deal of trust in our GM and you should too. He has earned our trust over the last 2 ½ years. Obviously, we want a big-time TF to pair with Montero. But more than that, we should all want the Sounders to maintain depth in the roster with long-term young talent supplemented with short-term vets. Above all, we should want the Sounders to maintain a strong viable business that will last for generations.

Seattle Sounders have lifted the hearts of their supporters to new heights, winnning convincingly against LA Galaxy (including Landon Donovan) in the US Open Cup, winning in Portland, and most recently defeating the Colorado Rapids in Seattle. Sounders were slightly unlucky in Los Angeles on July 4th when Montero had his penalty kick saved by MLS noob Brian Perk. Seattle has been red hot.

Seattle has set out to be a model franchise in MLS. Celebrity owners, star players, championship coaches, amazing fan support, the only thing that has really been missing has been winning anything in MLS. Sounders do love winning the US Open Cup and the birth into CONCACAF Champions League that it provides.

Manchester United has what Sounders want. History prestige, romance.

It’s forgivable if there were some fans who thought Sounders could make a game of it with Manchester United. Although the first team did play level to a Manchester United side without Wayne Rooney they missed big opportunities to score, managed to leave Michael Owen unmarked, not once but twice. Second time he may have been offside, but was saved by Keller.

It was impressive that Sounders had opportunities to score and were still in the match.

The second half, Wayne Rooney & Ji-Sun Park came on, several key Sounders were subbed off and things fell apart quick. Wayne Rooney being Wayne Rooney. Hat trick in under 30 minutes.

Sigi Schmid termed this his most embarassing loss as a coach. If the stakes are so low is it really that embarassing? Is it worse than LA Galaxy 2010? Also known as, “refund day.” There is nothing at stake against Manchester United. That said, it is still 7-0.

If anyone thinks that exhibitions are for anything other than building Manchester United’s International brand, introducing MLS to a European audience, trying out players (Ngassa is fast), showcasing players, selling souveneirs & concessions you can go right ahead and leave your comment below.

I forgot FUN! That was the other reason Sounders played Manchester United. Did you forget that reason too?

It’s probably a good thing that Sounders did lose 7-0, losing is a more powerful motivator. This could be the perfect loss to keep Sounders focused and on track in MLS and other competitions that matter.

 

The short answer: No. But short answers won't suffice in light of a recent Goal.com column that claims 10 reasons why New York needs another team. So a long answer it is.

As you may have heard by now, Juventus Turin will visit Red Bull Arena May 23 to play an exhibition match against the New York Red Bulls. These exhibitions are at best short-term solutions to generate a bundle of cash that can then be reinvested in the all-important "grass roots." But like many short-term solutions, you can't help but wonder about negative fall-out. Do the Red Bulls really want to cultivate an audience of this type for a one-off event that is unlikely to generate any kind of sustained interest in the team itself? Read the full story at ASN's New York Red Bulls page.

Fans of Major League Soccer are by now surely familiar with its new Web site, the ineptly-named MLSsoccer.com. The site is by all definitions a complete mess–so much so that MLS commissioner Don Garber himself saw the need to publicly apologize for it.

But that problem is well-documented at this point. Presumably, MLS is even doing something about it. The larger, less forgivable offense in my opinion is the site’s purpose. Specifically, MLSsoccer.com has taken to “break” news on its own. To wit:

MLSsoccer.com confirmed Tuesday that an MLS club is working on signing the Frenchman in a transaction that could take place during the summer transfer window.
–MLSsoccer.com, April 13

A source close to New York Red Bulls management has confirmed to MLSsoccer.com that the club intends to purchase a third designated player slot, as allowed by the recently expanded DP rule.
–MLSsoccer.com, April 14

Here is an organization (MLS) that for whatever reason has decided it needs to turn its official Web site into a news portal. That its area of coverage is identical to its end product (MLS) is in itself fine–after all, just about every organization’s Web site has a “news” page where it supplies updates on its activities. But MLS takes this a step further. Actually two steps. It cloaks its news updates as independent reports and has these compete directly with the myriad of actually independent news services (including this one) that already cover the space. Then, if that weren’t bad enough, it touts its own reports as “exclusive” stories and goes as far as to cite “sources”!

Can you say conflict of interest? USsoccerPlayers.com, itself no stranger to potential issues like this, has the following assessment:

What the League is actively doing is working on making themselves everybody’s direct competitor…Being able to scoop other outlets alongside providing media relations? That’s a tricky choice and one that could end up working against what was once upon a time the goal. The best possible coverage nationally and in the local markets. There’s a reason that normally means supporting the media rather than taking their place.

The sad thing here is that MLS never really gave supporting the media much of a try in the first place. The league seems to think it is dealing with issues of national security the way it safeguards information and generally stonewalls around media requests great and small. But MLS not only isn’t national security, it effectively has no competitors it needs to guard information against. It’s not like a rival U.S. soccer league is going to spring up out of the blue and compete with MLS for a player’s signature. Or that the Securities and Exchange Commission is going to launch an investigation into insider trading.

After 14 years, MLS has made scant inroads with the general U.S. public. Most people are barely aware the league exists at all. For sure, the sporting landscape is extremely crowded and competition for eyeballs is fierce. But interest in soccer is on the rise, as evidenced by the growing popularity of European leagues and U.S. national team matches. MLS as a league has to date failed to capitalize on this. Sure, it’s successful in select markets (Toronto and Seattle, basically) and deserves credit for that. However to sustain this success, and grow it to where it genuinely captures the imagination of the greater North American public, the media is going to have to play its part.

MLS has either failed to realize this or bungled the execution–badly. The greater mystery is why league brass thinks it is doing anybody a service with this latest attempt. Because as far as I’m concerned, doing nothing whatsoever would be a vast improvement at this point. A cheaper, less embarrassing one, too.