Welcome to another edition of Heineken Advocare Audi Target MLS Rivalry Week! There are six games we’re going to consider “rivalries” this week, and our big week preview is taking a close look at all of them.
But don’t forget about the rest of the league’s teams, who end up playing some random opponent who also doesn’t have a match. Orlando City-Vancouver Whitecaps, for example, is a storied matchup between the two teams farthest away from each other geographically. Philadelphia-Atlanta are meeting for the first ever time. FC Dallas had their rivalry on Wednesday (3-3 against Houston) so they get to face Columbus. Chicago play Minnesota for the first time.
We’re here to focus on the big ones, though. Your ultimate rivalry week preview:
New York Red Bulls vs. NYCFC (Friday, 7:00 p.m. ET, ESPN)
The Eastern Conference playoff race is one of the few actual races left in the standings. It’s looking likely that we will see Montreal and Atlanta duke it out for sixth and final playoff spot over their final 10 and 11 games, with the Impact holding the spot now with 36 points and Atlanta one point off the pace. The Red Bulls are in fifth, with 38 points, and while fourth-place Columbus (who’ve played three or four more games than their competitors) are looking vulnerable, NYRB are far from safe.
That means home game left is important for them in order to keep themselves out of the race for the red line, and focus on approaching their rival NYCFC closer to the automatic bye spots at the top of the table. They’ll get a chance to pull themselves even with Chicago for third with a win at Red Bull Arena on Friday, at least until the Fire dominate Minnesota.
They enter the latest edition of the New York Derby following an away loss at Portland, when they played a second team after qualifying for the US Open Cup final. Their three-at-the-back formation has lessened the impact of the constant absence of their best center-back, Aurelien Collin, who limped off in the first half at Providence Park. There’s no indication on whether he’ll be available against NYC, so it looks possible that David Villa will have another opportunity to feast on Aaron Long.
Another byproduct of NYRB’s formation switch is a de-emphasis on their high press, which was used to shut off high central channels and force turnovers to counter through Sacha Kljestan and Bradley Wright-Phillips. The attack now focuses more on free movement and the constant opening of various half-spaces and channels, attempting to utilize players beyond Kljestan and BWP. That emphasis has lessened with the injury to Daniel Royer, suffered at Yankee Stadium early in the month.
NYC are notorious for their pass-out-of-the-back-at-all-costs philosophy, which has flourished this season as they are the only team remaining in the quest to dethrone Toronto FC. The only club able to find a tactical solution to Vieira’s possession has been the Reds, who easily beat them 4-0 in late July with a coordinated high press that overwhelmed d-mid Alexander Ring and allowed Sebastian Giovinco to find ample space to slalom into the final third.
Jesse Marsch does not have a player like Giovinco, and he does not have a comparable forward partnership, but he does have years of trophy-winning experience with the gegenpress. If any team can be expected to replicate Greg Vanney’s well-designed press, it’s Marsch and the Red Bulls.
Houston Dynamo vs. Sporting KC (Saturday, 9:00 p.m. ET)
Unlike the Eastern Conference, the Western Conference is very much up for grabs, among more than two teams. Seattle are dominating at the moment and sit at the top, but Portland (who play the Sounders this week) are just a point behind, as are defensive stalwarts Sporting. FC Dallas are seriously slumping right now, but they have two games in hand on Seattle and are still very much in it, and, of course, the Houston Dynamo are on 38 points, three behind the Rave Green.
Houston and SKC face off at BBVA Compass Stadium this week, giving the Dynamo a golden opportunity to leap their rivals and SKC a chance to keep pace with Seattle, who are at home against the Timbers on Sunday (more on that in a little bit).
Sporting have made their living on a backline with more individual talent than any other in the league and a high defensive line that condenses the field and gives the opponent little room for combination play and quick passing. The athleticism of workhorse No. 8 Roger Espinoza prevents opposing midfielders from slipping balls behind the backline, and Ike Opara has been good enough at winning footraces with strikers to clean up any balls that do get in behind. That and Goalkeeper of the Year winner (just give it to him already) Tim Melia is why they’ve only given up 19 goals this season.
The Dynamo have given up 37 goals, which is not especially terrible; that fact should make you realize just how dominant SKC have been defensively this year. 26 of those 37 goals came when Houston were on the road, though, and on Saturday, they get to play at home. Theoretically, Houston should be able to get in behind Sporting’s high line with their speedy wingers and hopefully the distribution of new No. 10 Tomas Martinez, who looked fabulous off the bench in Frisco.
Real Salt Lake vs. Colorado Rapids (Saturday, 10:00 p.m. ET)
This matchup lacks pretty much any playoff implications unless RSL are priming for an unlikely push, so don’t expect to see much buzz on this late night clash on the mountains of Utah. But there are storylines: Salt Lake’s entertaining core of talented youngsters is coming together, most recently in a 4-0 midweek demolition of playoff rival San Jose; players are fighting for spots there, most notably out of favor DP Yura Movsisyan; Colorado will play their third game post-Pablo Mastroeni following an embarrassing home loss to D.C. United and a road defeat at Portland on Wednesday; and the Rapids’ quest to actually try and score goals will inevitably lead to goals conceded, as these things do, so look for some goals in this game.
Real will be without defensive midfielder Kyle Beckerman due to yellow card accumulation, which might be a blessing in disguise. Beckerman is 35 and long out of USMNT contention, and while he’s been okay considering, his spot is really the only one yet to be taken over by a youngster. Their deep midfield is filled with journeyman Luke Mulholland-types, and we’ve yet to see a potential future starter emerge.
Sunday Stephen, or Sunny, will likely start in Beckerman’s place on Saturday. Sunny is an average, no-frills player, a guy who can step in and do the job but won’t give you anything special. One feature of his game is an inability to pass the ball forward without turning it over. Not ideal.
The rest of RSL’s season should be a chance to see who will be around for next season. Jefferson Savarino has been exquisite as a winger, but he is on loan from a Venezuelan club, and it has yet to be seen whether Real will look to buy him when his loan expires after this season. Justen Glad, Danilo Acosta, Albert Rusnak and Joao Plata should have spots sewn up by this point, and forward Luis Silva has made a case to take over Movisyan’s job full-time.
For now, enjoy the show, which should only continue at Rio Tinto Stadium this weekend given Colorado’s inability to function on the road.
Montreal Impact vs. Toronto FC (Sunday, 4:30 p.m. ET, ESPN)
If the Red Bulls take points from NYCFC on Friday, this game could very well be TFC’s chance to lock up the Supporters’ Shield. These Montreal-Toronto games are always a thrill, though, and the Impact have just as much of a chance to hold serve at Stade Saputo.
Montreal are on a four game win streak, winning 2-1 over Orlando, 3-0 at Philly, 3-0 against Chicago (which is impressive), and 3-1 against RSL. Three of those wins are against Eastern Conference teams of various levels, so this stretch has levelled them all the way up to the red line from the deep depths of the conference, where they had spent most of the season alongside the likes of the Union, New England and even D.C.
There are three reasons for this run of form, essentially: (1) Ignacio Piatti is healthy and back winning games by himself again; (2) Blerim Dzemaili, signed as a midfield creator, has caught fire, scoring twice and gathering three assists in those four games; and (3) recently-signed defensive midfielder Samuel Piette (22) has added a mobile presence in deep midfield, taking over for the pass-oriented Marco Donadel (34).
Their attack runs through Dzemaili and Piatti. Toronto’s 3-5-2 (which they presumably will revert back to after going with the 4-4-2 diamond in a midweek creaming of Philly) thrives on Michael Bradley’s tactical awareness, the athleticism of the outside center-backs, and the endline-to-endline capabilities of the wing-backs; like any TFC opponent that possesses a quality winger, the Impact will look to get Piatti 1v1 with a center-back in space.
This is where having overlapping full-backs would be helpful if you’re Mauro Biello, but let’s remember that Montreal scored five goals on aggregate in last year’s Eastern Conference championship against the Reds, and that was with a couple of senior citizens in midfield and without the services of Dzemaili, super-sub extraordinaire Anthony Jackson-Hamel and Ballou Tabla. Toronto have improved since, but the Impact have done it before.
LA Galaxy vs. San Jose Earthquakes (Sunday, 7:00 p.m. ET, FS1)
The latest edition of the storied Cali Clasico rivalry features a reeling LA Galaxy team quickly falling off the face of the earth against the San Jose Earthquakes, still clearly vulnerable but in a much better position than the weird-looking Galaxy.
In four games since Sigi Schmid took over for Curt Onalfo, LA have one home draw and three losses, most recently a 2-0 result on Wednesday at Columbus (a game that has the record for most video review incidents). Jonathan dos Santos has arrived, but Jelle Van Damme is back in Belgium, and the roster remains filled with mismatched pieces.
San Jose probably won’t make the playoffs, but they’re a lot closer than the Galaxy. The Quakes, led by Chris Leitch, are seventh, two points behind Vancouver, while LA remain in a deep ninth, an incredible 10 points behind their in-state rival and 12 off the red line. Since June 24, the Galaxy have accumulated exactly one point, which adds up to nine losses in 10 games.
Their only point in that span was a 0-0 tie with Seattle in Schmid’s first game. That draw was the Sounders’ only non-win in a six-game span. Welcome to MLS.
Leitch has installed a 3-5-2 formation in San Jose, based around heavy squad rotation and the poacher qualities of Chris Wondolowski. Wondo, Marco Urena, Tommy Thompson, Jackson Yueill, Vako, Jahmir Hyka, Danny Hoesen, Quincy Amarikwa and Simon Dawkins all start games, an impressive list. They tend to struggle with mobility in central defense (Victor Bernardez is old, and Florian Jungwirth is injured a lot), and they are working out the tactical kinks of the formation, but they look like they can be a playoff-caliber team in the future with a couple more additions.
A lot more has to be done in LA, and they have considerably less promise at the current moment. This’ll be an interesting one.
Seattle Sounders vs. Portland Timbers (9:30 p.m. ET, FS1)
The Sounders are currently unbeaten in their last 10 MLS matches, winning six of those 10 and six of their last eight. They are now tops in the conference on 41 points, one ahead of Portland and Sporting and six ahead of the red line. When they began their unbeaten run on June 21, they were eighth, eight points behind the top of the conference.
They’ve been pretty good recently, you could say. They only managed a draw in Vancouver on Wednesday, but they did see the debut of TAM winger Victor Rodriguez, which kept Clint Dempsey on the bench as a super-sub. Dempsey did come on for Jordan Morris and played 22 minutes, but was unable to score a winner. He was successful as a super-sub the last time these two teams played, though. Something to keep an eye on.
Portland could climb to the top of the conference with a road win over their bitter rival, something they would particularly want after giving away a draw at home despite a Seattle red card. The Timbers need to do a better job of possessing the ball in the final third and using their talented attack to its full potential, a potential that is likely greater than that of the Sounders’.