The wife and I went to the mountains and did the B&B thing this weekend so I didn't see any MLS games so I'm looking forward to reading the observations of the U23 players from those of you who saw the games. A lot of tape for Mooch to review as, despite two teams not playing this week, 20 US players who are age-eligible for the U23 team played this week. KC 2, LA 1 Jesus Ochoa - 90 minutes 0 goals, 0 assists Ochoa, whom the Galaxy website claims is now a US citizen, for his first minutes of the season. He appears to have played D-mid. NE 3, CLB 2 Kyle Martino - 90 minutes, 1 goal, 0 assists Nice to see Martino back healthy. The Crew defense gives up a bushel for the second straight game - hey Coach Andrulis, how about giving Akwari a look? I mean, he can't do any worse! NY/NJ 2, DAL 1 D.J. Countess - 90 minutes, 5 saves, 2 goals allowed Philip Salyer - 86 minutes, 0 goals, 0 assists Brad Davis - 90 minutes, 0 goals, 0 assists Edward Johnson - 8 minutes, 0 goals, 0 assists Countess seems to have had another nice game but is still looking for his first win. Salyer gets his first MLS minutes, apparently playing right back. (Nice to see some pro depth being developed there.) Given that I've never seen Martinez play on the left, I can only assume Davis played right mid so it's also nice to see some guys getting minutes at that position. Johnson gets benched after several unproductive starts; hopefully this serves as a wake-up call for him. Tim Regan - 90 minutes, 0 goals, 0 assists Ricardo Clark - 90 minutes, 0 goals, 0 assists Mike Magee - 89 minutes, 0 goals, 0 assists Jacob LeBlanc - 10 minutes, 0 goals, 0 assists Kenny Arena - 1 minute, 0 goals, 0 assists Clark was called for a PK that led to Dallas' goal, probably the first mistake he's made this year. Regan gets his first start, playing for the injured Richie Williams, after seeing gradually more minutes this year. Sounds like Magee was frustrated by the Dallas D. Metros scored the game-winner after LeBlanc came in, make of that what you will. For the fourth staight game, Arena comes in late to help Metros protect a lead. CHI 4, COL 0 Nat Borchers - 90 minutes 0 goals, 0 assists Kyle Beckerman - 45 minutes 0 goals, 0 assists Seth Trembly - 45 minutes 0 goals, 0 assists Casey Schmidt - 45 minutes 0 goals, 0 assists Beckerman started, Trembly and Schmidt came on at halftime. First minutes of the season for Borchers (who was undrafted) and Trembly. Not a good sign for Beckerman that he came out at halftime with his team down 3, though this team is in such upheaval, you don't know if it's his fault, per say. As much as I like what Casey Schmidt did in the spring, he has yet to get it done in a game that counted. DaMarcus Beasley - 90 minutes 1 goal, 1 assist Logan Pause - 90 minutes 0 goals, 0 assists Justin Mapp - 73 minutes 1 goal, 0 assists Kelly Gray - 33 minutes 0 goals, 0 assists Nate Jaqua - 8 minutes 0 goals, 0 assists Nice to see what Beasley can do when he's rested and playing wide left. Mapp played wide right, which is certainly intriguing, and it's great to see him get his first goal. I think he played more Sunday than he did all last year for DC, who I think gave up on this kid just a little too early. Pause didn't play last week and Chicago lost for the first time all year. He goes 90 today and Fire continue to be undefeated when he plays. Gray gets some nice minutes in D-mid - though I was a little surprised he didn't start in place of CJ brown - and Jaqua got some PT in garbage time. Also, Conor Casey came off the bench in the 74th minute for Hanover and scored the game winner against Armina Bielfeld. It was Casey's first goal in the Bundesliga. I've said this before, but it's amazing how last year D-mid was a question mark for the U23s and now you've got Clark, Pause, Gray, Ochoa, Borchers, Regan, Arena and even Jordan Stone, who didn't play Saturday and Brian Carroll, whose team was off this weekend. Looks like Davis and Mapp are making strong cases for the answering the right mid question mark and Clark plays some there too for the Metros. If Salyer gets more PT, he can pose a real challenge to Chris Wingert for that backup wing back spot. And, big ups to Casey for scoring in one of the top leagues in the world. He gets forgotten a lot in the U23 pitcure because he plays abroad but you have to figure he's in the mix for Athens. And, of course, Landon, Convey and perhaps Esky should get minutes with the senior team Monday night.
I was at the Fire-Rapids game at North Central College. Beasley made complete mincemeat out of Wes Hart, who not only couldn't keep up with his speed, but couldn't hold the ball against him. Beasley's goal was excellent, but to me the best moment occurred when he was at the top of the 18, and I fully expected him to shoot, only to see this beautiful on the ground square ball, right in front of the flat Colorado defense along the 18, a ball teed up perfectly for an onrushing Justin Mapp, who buried it. By the way, on the spirited "Beasley Dilemma" thread, somebody posted the astounding fact that over the last 25 MLS games he has played, DMB has been fouled 125 times. Let's send this kid a case of Ben-Gay. As for Mapp, I thought his play was a bit inconsistent. A great finish for his first MLS goal, and his speed gave Henderson some problems. But it seems he's not quite sure what positions to take up, and there were a couple of times he ran into his teammates. Part of it might be playing out right, or just MLS inexperience. He also looked like he was running out of gas, which is why he was subbed out I beleive. But he works hard, is very active, is willing to defend and, of course, is very fast. I think he needs to stay in the starting line up. Logan Pause had another workmanlike game, winning and holding balls, making the simple pass, and otherwise doing the useful little things. He was put through nicely by Armas, and it appeared he was a bit shocked that he was 1 v 1 with Garlick. Didn't finish, but that's not why he's out there. There's a line of thinking that says the Fire shouldn't have two d-mids out there in Armas and Pause, but as you would expect, when both of them are out there, opponents have hard time with middle third combination play, and the Fire control the center circle area of the field. Kelly Gray looked good coming in for Armas. When you see him out there, it is unfortunate that his playing time is sporadic. As a Fire fan, I am glad we have him, because it's a long season and injuries mount, but it's not good for his development. Jacqua's brief time was not revealing. For the Rapids, Beckerman was not impressive, hounded by Pause and otherwise running around to no discernable effect. It was not surprising he was subbed out. Beckerman was better, but the Rapids as a group have a hard time holding the ball. John Spencer wound up spending half his time in midfield trying to orchestrate what few attacks the Rapids could muster. Mastroeni's absence must leave a gaping hole for them. Borchers was also not impressive. Casey Schmidt simply could not handle Ralph and was also apppropriately subbed out.
Beckerman was not impressive, hounded by Pause and otherwise running around to no discernable effect. It was not surprising he was subbed out. . ___________________________________________________________________________________-__ It is very hard to get in a rhythmn on this team. THERE has never been the same lineup for any game. IMO it seemed like he didn't know his role since he was playing along side someone who had never played in any game. It must of been his turn to be pulled!! In Hankinson's mind Borchers and Trembly were going to be his "secret weapons"