MLS Week 31 review: 5 important players for the stretch run

After MLS Week 31, we look at five players to watch over the last three weeks of the season, plus more from an important week.

There are three big races to pay attention to in the final three weeks of the MLS season: The top of the Western Conference, between FC Dallas, Sporting KC and LAFC; the race for sixth in the west, between RSL and the LA Galaxy; and the East’s red line squabble between D.C. United and the Montreal Impact. Also keep an eye on Columbus and Philadelphia competing for a home playoff game, and whether the Sounders can move from fifth to third over LAFC and Portland.

After a week of blowouts and 0-0 draws in crucial matches, let’s take a look at some players who will play big roles in this final stretch run:

Quincy Amarikwa, Montreal Impact

Saturday’s Impact-D.C. United game was arguably the most important of the weekend. They’re the last two remaining competitors for the sixth playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, and with a win, Montreal could have put the red line nearly out of reach for DCU. A point, at least, would have been huge for the Impact. D.C. needed a win.

The score was 5-0. Wayne Rooney had two goals and an assist. Paul Arriola had a brace. Yamil Asad had a pair of assists. Luciano Acosta, making a late surge for MVP consideration, was fantastic, with a goal and three assists. D.C. are two points out of sixth place with two games in hand.

It was the luckiest 5-0 game in MLS history:

Montreal had 24 shots and scored none of them. D.C. had nine and scored five. Soccer is weird sometimes.

Amarikwa had six of Montreal’s shots, putting just one on target. All came within 20 or so yards of the goal, and two were blocked. Amarikwa, who has been getting MLS minutes since 2009, has a low scoring profile, historically, for a number 9. Per Steve Fenn’s research, Amarikwa has scored on 8.7 percent of his non-PK shots in his 9,440 MLS minutes. That’s one of the lower figures in league history.

(Go ahead and scour that Tableau sheet; it’s fascinating.)

Amarikwa has never scored double-digit goals in his career, and in the three seasons that he’s played more than 1,000 minutes, his totals were eight in 2,549, six in 1,462 and three in 1,699. He is not a prolific goalscorer.

His style of play as a bruising, hold-up number 9 has been productive for a counter-attacking 4-3-3 team, which is why he’s played in seven straight games (including starts in the last four) since being traded to Montreal. He takes up the right space and makes things easier for wingers Ignacio Piatti and Alejandro Silva. But Montreal need goals. If he’s going to play up top, he needs to score some.

Victor Rodriguez, Seattle Sounders

Rodriguez seems to pick up more small knocks and slight muscle pulls than any player in MLS, but he is apparently healthy now. He went 90 with a goal and assist in Seattle’s 4-0 easy win over the Rapids. With Harry Shipp out longer-term, Rodriguez projects to get more starts for the Sounders, potentially in a playoff knockout game.

He has to find on-goal production. When Seattle is struggling, they are dull in the attacking third, with little active movement and a straightforward approach. Even when they’re on fire and winning every game, they only produce flashes of brilliance near the goal. They have to put out the good versions of themselves — i.e., not the version that lost 1-0 at home to Philly and 3-0 to the Galaxy last week — in big games, and that starts with aggressiveness and cohesiveness in the final third.

Jo Inge Berget, NYCFC

NYCFC, as I wrote last week, have a slew of bizarre tactical problems. They no longer generate effective possession and have made themselves increasingly vulnerable defensively. Their 2-1 loss in Minnesota, in which they sat David Villa and Jesus Medina, was more disjointedness. They were all over the place.

Berget has been more of a true forward under Dome Torrent. Patrick Vieira played him as a target winger-type. Against Minnesota, he had another ineffective game, failing to connect any of NYCFC’s lines. The Light Blues need more from him.

Doneil Henry, Vancouver Whitecaps

Vancouver are still narrowly in the postseason race, though a 3-0 loss to the LA Galaxy makes their odds significantly lower — with a game in hand, they’re five points off of sixth-place. Coach Carl Robinson is out, so the search is on for new blood that can take the Whitecaps into this century.

A rebuild is probably necessary, especially with a bunch of money coming in soon via the Alphonso Davies transfer. In the meantime, Doneil Henry got consistently roasted by Zlatan Ibrahimovic and the Galaxy, eventually conceding the Whitecaps’ second penalty of the game. The ‘Caps have a lot of places to improve.

Diego Chara, Portland Timbers

Portland have been playing Diego Chara as destroyer number 8. This is a bad idea. Chara is arguably the best defensive midfielder in the league, and using him in any other way is not making full use of his abilities. Putting Lawrence Olum in front of an already-slow backline does not help the situation.

The Timbers, an increasingly dull team, drew 0-0 with FC Dallas at home. Not a terrible result, but the Timbers don’t look capable of doing much in the playoffs.

Awards

The best team in the league

We’ve got a change at the top: The New York Red Bulls are now the best team in the league, after weeks of Atlanta United reign. The Red Bulls dominated the Five Stripes in a huge game Sunday despite missing their two best players, Bradley Wright-Phillips and Tyler Adams, and now are one point back of the Supporters’ Shield lead with three games left.

New York’s schedule of San Jose, Philly and Orlando City is slightly more favorable than Atlanta’s New England, Chicago, Toronto FC. After Tata Martino got thoroughly outcoached by Chris Armas, it’s hard to deny the Red Bulls status as the league’s best team.

The worst team in the league

The San Jose Earthquakes blew a lead against the Houston Dynamo, eventually losing 3-2 to the red-hot Mauro Manotas, but with Mikael Stahre gone, they’re finally back to playing their good and exciting players. If they had been playing Jackson Yueill and Tommy Thompson all year with some coherent gameplan, they could have been in the playoffs.

Houston, by the way, are nearly out of the playoffs, but they did win a trophy on Wednesday. Unexpectedly, they dominated the Union on Wednesday in the US Open Cup final. Silverware is a very nice consolation prize for what was otherwise a lost season.

Predictable result of the week

It has to be the scoreless draw between Portland and Dallas. Those two always seemed primed for 0-0. Maybe it would have been different if FCD would start Pablo Aranguiz, who has looked good in inexplicably limited minutes.

Also, that Seattle 4-0 win over the Rapids could have been seen from a mile away.

Random result of the week

Have to pick that D.C. United obliteration of Montreal. A 5-0 result in one of the most important games of the year is a very MLS type of thing.

Goalkeeper howler of the week

Just watch the full San Jose-Houston highlights, with Andrew Tarbell’s putrid game:

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He’s shown flashes, but he’s probably not an MLS starter.