MLS Five-a-side:The skinny on five things that matter this week in Major League Soccer:
1. It's the one just this side of California: It can sometimes be easy to overlook Major League Soccer's team from Utah. The club gets lost out there because ... well, because it's in Utah.
That might help explain why Real Salt Lake sit in first place in the West, but didn't have a player at the All-Star celebration last week.
Still, don't take that to mean that Jason Kreis' team doesn't have to some All-Star-worthy high performers. And individual recognition is starting to come around now.
Nick Rimando was just named MLS Player of the Month. He certainly had some big moments as RSL clawed its way slowly to the top of the Western Conference stack this summer.
Javier Morales has seven assists, which matches Landon Donovan and David Beckham in second place among the league leaders. So, he's done his part, too.
But the player who has really rounded into form during RSL's recent run of "wow" is Jamison Olave. Olave has been chief engineer on the Stingy Express lately as RSL has been easily the best defense in Major League Soccer over the last two months -- even if people have barely noticed.
Kreis' team has allowed just three goals since May. That covers nine MLS matches.
Three! In nine matches!
That's a ratio that would smash league records over an entire season. Obviously, you can't extrapolate season-long ratios over a short sampling. But nine matches is moving out of the realm of "brief sampling." That's getting close to a third of the season.
Rimando has something to say about that righteous "D." As does Nat Borchers, who continues to perform well in his second MLS go-round.
But it's Olave who has been large and in charge back there. He's commanding in the air and composed when winning balls with his feet. Most importantly, the big Colombian has improved seemingly game-by-game since winning a starting spot from Matias Mantilla in May.
And now he's scoring goals, too, having headed one past Greg Sutton earlier this week against Toronto.
Kreis said Olave has been "spectacular." Now, it's just a matter of spreading the word.
2. Coming and going ... for another two weeks, at least: The international transfer window remains open for another two weeks (until Aug. 15, to be exact.) And several teams seem intent on pushing their final 2008 opportunity to pursue foreign talent (or U.S. talent that has wandered abroad) to the limit.
Toronto continues to nibble around the edges on a potential deal for former Manchester City striker Paul Dickov. Even at 35 Dickov could probably help ease the mounting pressure at BMO, where goals have been hard to come by since Danny Dichio's concussion troubles.
Hard to say if Juan Carlos Osorio has finished the ongoing roster dance at Red Bull New York, where he's adding a player a week lately. Newest into the Giants Stadium fold is defender Diego Jimenez from Mexico's Tecos UAG.
FC Dallas will bring Ajax product Victor Sikora back to the States following a recent two-week trial. Manager Schellas Hyndman says he wants to add the Dutch midfielder if the terms make sense for everybody. Meanwhile, Hyndman will also look at two River Plate youngsters en route for a Frisco trial: forward Lucas Gomez, 21, and left back Lucas Malacarne, 19. Dallas recently singed a partnership agreement with the Argentinean giants, which appears to be paying off immediately.
D.C manager Tom Soehn is being coy about whether he plans to bring in more new talent to augment this week's RFK addition, industrious midfielder Ivan Guerrero, who was acquired via trade with San Jose.
Colorado may not have conceded defeat just yet in its exhausting, protracted pursuit of Brazilian striker Reinaldo Elias da Costa, 24, who is available once again after a spell in Korea didn't go as planned.
Kansas City has allocation money thanks to the trade that sent Scott Sealy to San Jose. But the Wizards seem more intent on dealing within MLS for the missing puzzle pieces at Community America Ballpark.
Finally, there is word from Washington Post scribe Steven Goff that former FC Dallas and one-time U.S. international Cory Gibbs may be interested in a second bite off the MLS apple. Gibbs' career was climbing two years ago as he moved from Holland's Feyenoord to Charlton of the English Premiership. That's where things started going sideways.
Charlton was soon relegated into the English Championship (the second tier). Not that it mattered much to Gibbs, who was injured for most of his two years with the south London club.
Los Angeles has the first allocation option, but whether the Galaxy could wedge Gibbs into its salary structure is another matter.
3. We hear Cancun is nice: It's starting to look more and more like Cuauhtemoc Blanco, 35, has gotten a bit tired in his sophomore MLS season.
It may seem that Blanco has been a steady presence in MLS since, after all, he did construct that classy All-Star game goal. But the Mexican playmaker has not scored or assisted in a Chicago Fire shirt since June 7. That covers seven MLS matches and one U.S. Open Cup contest in which Blanco participated.
Chicago's scoring has suffered as a result; Denis Hamlett's team has been shut out in five of those seven MLS contests.
The Fire has a steady and manageable schedule through August, when the club plays essentially once a week. That's bound to help a bit, especially as the Fire comes off a busy and taxing July, one where the club packed two U.S. Open Cup matches and a friendly with Everton into a schedule that already included four MLS matches and a trip to the All-Star festivities in Toronto for Blanco.
Still, you almost wonder if the Fire would be better telling the playmaker to get lost for a week or two. Go to the beach. Relax. Refresh.
Then, he could rejoin the side, hopefully recharged, just as Brian McBride arrives later this month.
4. Playing possum: Look what the sneaky Dynamo are doing. Just when everybody thought the run of championship fun might be over, just when it looked like the Dynamo machine was running short on petrol ... the two-time defending champs began quietly shifting to higher gears.
Dominic Kinnear's team is 5-2-4 in all competitions since May. Lately, the Houston side has been even better, going 5-1-0 since what was essentially a reserve squad was eliminated from Open Cup play on July 1. The only setback in that time was during the SuperLiga opener, as Chivas of Guadalajara held on desperately at the end for a 1-0 win.
And the Dynamo lineup pickings just got stronger. Not only has top-shelf defender Eddie Robinson recently returned from injury, Nate Jaqua has also rejoined the side.
Don't underestimate Jaqua's value to the team. He's versatile enough to play on the outside. Or, when Houston needs another big target alongside Brian Ching, Jaqua fills the bill. And the Dynamo just got that much more dangerous on set-piece opportunities, something that's always been a strong point on this team, anyway.
Another factor in the turnabout: Brad Davis is back to full health, now buzzing around on the wings once again.
Houston might need its entire roster this weekend, as Kinnear has tough decisions to make. He'd surely like to put his best side on the field for Saturday's home date with Columbus.
On the other hand, the Dynamo travel to New England for Tuesday's SuperLiga final -- and that's precious little recovery time. New England doesn't play this weekend, leaving the Revs well-rested for the SuperLiga meeting at the Gillette.
5. MLS in the Olympics: Major League Soccer's stamp was all over the U.S. Olympic side that made its Asian debut earlier this week during a scoreless draw with Ivory Coast in the ING Cup in Hong Kong.
Six of Peter Nowak's starters currently wear an MLS shirt: Marvell Wynne, Michael Parkhurst, Maurice Edu, Sacha Kljestan, Stuart Holden and Brian McBride. Recent MLS departures Brad Guzan and Jozy Altidore also started. Patrick Ianni, Dax McCarty and Robbie Rogers were second-half subs.
Particularly interesting is where Edu lined up, right next to Parkhurst in a four-man back line.
Edu, in the middle of his sophomore MLS season, always lines up in the center of the park for Toronto. He has also played in the central midfield spot for Bob Bradley on the full national team. Still, it's interesting to see him play there and wonder: if the talented young man were ever to test European soccer, where he might land on the field?
Nowak's young men get their next pre-Olympic warmup test against Cameroon in the wee small hours (5 a.m. ET) Saturday in Hong Kong.
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