Individuals and teams continually confront a hard reality when it comes to getting past sticking points: maneuvering past the first step isn't easy, of course, but it's a piece of candy compared to what comes next.
Achieving the next level is even more troublesome and demanding.
Look at Robbie Rogers at Columbus. Look at how hard he's obviously worked to establish himself as a presence in MLS. Mission accomplished! Well done, young man!
Now, if you can kindly push the tempo even more, pour even greater effort and heart into future outings. Never mind the extra attention and kicks to the shin that you'll now receive from opposing defenders. And please ignore the significant undertow of heightened expectations. Sound OK? Thanks.
Rogers' five goals in eight matches have provided a huge boosts as Columbus, without a playoff appearance since 2004, is suddenly all that in MLS. But it's going to get tougher on the U.S. winger, who only last week reached his 21st birthday.
Last Saturday in Toronto, the fastest man of the BMO bunch, Marvel Wynne, made sure that Rogers had a quiet afternoon. With Toronto's right back concentrating on keeping Rogers in check, the teams played to a 0-0 draw.
The good news for Rogers: opposing defenses also have to worry about Crew teammates Guillermo Barros Schelotto and Alejandro Moreno. The bad news for Rogers: he'll soon be the target of ever more transfer speculation, which will test his ability to block out blaring distraction.
Ask Jozy Altidore about how tough that can be sometimes.
Some other sticking points and "next steps" around MLS:
• Real Salt Lake and Colorado have proven they can hold their own at home. But they'll have to reach deeper and be more confident on the road.
Jason Kreis' team has taken the first step to greater competitiveness by guarding the home grounds; RSL is unbeaten at Rice-Eccles this year with two wins and two draws and a plus-5 goal difference. Away from Utah, the side has lost all four and faces an ugly minus-8 goal difference.
Colorado has made its Commerce City home a little bit of a fortress early in 2008, allowing just two goals in posting a 3-1-0 mark. Fernando Clavijo's men haven't been as good away from Dick's Sporting Goods Park -- although there is evidence that they aren't far away from righting matters. The Rapids have been quite competitive in one-goal losses at Kansas City, Chicago and Houston.
• The LA Galaxy certainly aren't hurting for offense, with 19 goals in eight matches. At that pace (2.375 per outing) Ruud Gullit's men will land at about 71 goals -- which would mark the best MLS output since 1998.
On the other hand, the Galaxy must zip up that defense a little tighter. In Sunday's ambush in Frisco, a 5-1 Galaxy victory, FC Dallas missed numerous chances to get back in the match, threatening to make it another old-fashioned Texas shootout (like the 6-5 doozy in last year's SuperLiga).
But Gullit is advising fans and media to stop picking solely on his defenders. He agrees that the Galaxy has ample room for improvement, but says defensive betterment is needed front to back.
"I tell you, it's not all defense," he insisted with a smile, but in a tone that suggested he was losing in the battle to convince people. "It all starts before that. If teams have easy access, like the last goal against New York, where they have access all up the middle and can just run, what do you want from the defense?"
In that one, New York's Dane Richards was allowed to run about 50 yards with the ball before releasing it to Juan Pablo Angel, who rounded L.A. goalkeeper Steve Cronin and scored in the empty net.
"Then, the defenders have to make choices, and sometimes they make mistakes, but it's not their mistakes," Gullit said.
• Clearly, the next step in San Jose, where Frank Yallop's defense is increasingly leaky but still the side's better half, is scoring more goals. The Earthquakes are on pace to reach historic lows in offensive output.
Yallop's men are on pace to score about 17 this year, which would easily be the all-time low. Toronto FC currently holds the dubious mark, netting just 25 in its expansion campaign.
It won't be easy for Buck Shaw brigade. Ronnie O'Brien is arguably the top offensive talent. But he's a lifelong set-up man, always better at arranging goals for others than at scoring himself -- which is a little odd considering his ability to strike powerfully from distance. He has 13 MLS goals to go with 40 assists.
Also working against San Jose is this: Ramiro Corrales is toiling admirably as a central midfielder. But he's really a defender disguised as a linkman, and he doesn't provide much offensive punch going forward. Ned Grabavoy is the Earthquakes' attacking midfielder. But he's never quite figured out how to translate some of that smooth skill into match production; the U.S. midfielder has five goals and 12 assists in 77 career MLS contests.
• In the nation's capital Tom Soehn and Co. are searching desperately for answers, still trying to take the first next step, which is as obvious as a boot to the face: the 2007 Supporters' Shield winners need to get off the mat and start playing better. How far behind have they already drifted in the playoff chase?
In MLS, the magic number for points is right around 40. Climbing to the 40-point plateau gives a side a chance, at least, of stamping their postseason pass. United currently have six points from eight matches.
That means the Beetles (ya know ... they are sponsored by VW now) need about 34 points from the remaining 22 matches. Translation into Win-Loss-Tie language, that's something like 9-6-7 or 10-8-4. So, the men from D.C. are hardly out of it ... but they had better push the pedal and get that little VW Beetle moving fast.
TACTICAL CORNER:
Ruud Gullit is no slave to any one system. That's obvious.
He started his days in L.A. by aligning the Galaxy in the Dutch version of a 4-3-3. When that didn't fit, he adopted a more standard 4-4-2.
But he cooked up something a little special for the Galaxy's latest visit to Texas, where the tactics proved spot-on in Los Angeles' big win 5-1 Sunday against FC Dallas. (Road teams have won by four goal margins or more only 25 times in league history.)
The Galaxy used a hybrid formation, crossing the 4-3-3 with the 4-4-2 and coming out with something that obviously rocked Dallas.
Gullit was eager to get healthy-again Alvaro Pires back in the lineup, since Pires "holds" at holding midfielder better than L.A.'s other choices. So Gullit put Pires there, and then aligned Joe Franchino and Brandon McDonald in central roles in front of him.
David Beckham played on the right, as a midfielder/forward with latitude to go, well, pretty much anywhere. Landon Donovan and Edson Buddle were up front.
What does that leave? Uh, oh, yes ... the left!
Who was on the left?
That's just it. The Galaxy essentially played without a left-sided guy. Franchino was tasked with drifting left should the need arise. But Dallas had Andre Rocha as the right-sided presence in the Hoops' 3-4-3, and the young Brazilian is really out of place as an outside guy. So, he drifts inside frequently and rarely tries to exploit the wide areas and crossing channels.
Gullit recognized this and was thus able to get an extra man into the middle, essentially playing three central midfielders against Dallas' two.
On the right, Beckham's drifting and floating gave Dallas trouble immediately. FCD manager Steve Morrow had assigned young Anthony Wallace to essentially man-mark Beckham. When the England international went inside or remained in a more defensive position, it exposed a big gap on Dallas' left flank and forced FCD defenders to adjust quickly.
Yes. Beckham became a multi-million dollar decoy. And happily so, according to the man himself and his boss. The Galaxy scored five goals, and not one came officially from Beckham or Landon Donovan. (Although an own goal came off Donovan's cross/shot.)
"It was a tactical move that we had to do," Gullit said afterward. "And tactically, they [Dallas] played exactly the game that I expected from them. Sometimes, you are not in the headlines, but it is necessary to do these things to win. And also, they [Donovan and Beckham] are happy, because if you win like that, they are happy to do it. It's OK for somebody else to profit. That is good."
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