1. Rising to the occasion: When it comes to marketing, Major League Soccer is just like any other professional sport: a big percentage of the enterprise is about the glam, wham and shazam of the big stars.
But when it comes to performance, when it comes to creating headlines in and around postseason money time, the DPs and the big earners just beneath DP status can't do it all. The teams that will rise over the last five weeks of Major League Soccer -- it wouldn't be a stretch to say these will be the most pressurized five weeks ever of regular season play, considering the number of teams contending fiercely for playoff spots -- are teams where a mid-rung player or two can find the next level.
We give you Chicago's Chris Rolfe and Wilman Conde.
The Fire's most acclaimed man, Cuauhtemoc Blanco, certainly did his part in Thursday's telling 3-1 match, one that pointed Chicago back in the right direction, while further tamping down the Los Angeles Galaxy's diminishing playoff hopes. Blanco was livelier than he's been in two months, and it showed in an enlivened Fire attack.
Brian McBride, as well-known, respected and popular as they come in U.S. soccer circles, had a relatively quiet night. And although Justin Mapp, a one-time poster boy for U.S. soccer's new generation, had his moments, he was somewhat contained as well.
Rolfe, meanwhile, following some time on the bench in Chicago's previous game, willed his team to an early 1-0 lead. He did it by scrappily refusing to quit on an early sequence, finally finding net when the Galaxy defense couldn't collectively match his spunk and persistence. Rolfe, a player on the fringes of national team consideration -- although that could be changing -- later added a second strike to punctuate a huge night at Toyota Park.
(Yes, Rolfe was also marking Eddie Lewis as the Galaxy midfielder scored his team's only goal. But let's give Lewis some credit for a highly athletic play despite Rolfe's satisfactory marking. And don't forget that Rolfe was tracking all the way back as a forward, who found himself matched with Lewis in front of his own goal.)
Speaking of huge efforts: Conde has that rare combination of skills, smarts and passion, all of which can be brewed up into quite a soccer stew. Five days earlier, as Chicago fell meekly to Dallas, Conde was perhaps the only man in a Fire kit who had acquitted himself adequately in that ugly 4-1 setback.
He was often a man among boys on Thursday, shepherding what suddenly looked once again like the league's best defense. Individually, Conde might be the best defender in the league at the moment. Similarly, it would be difficult to make the case that he and Bakary Soumare aren't the best central tandem.
Thanks in large part to Conde and Rolfe, the Fire once again had that look of a top MLS contender on Thursday.
2. A little more DP talk: As we look at the playoffs, considering above all who's in and who still wants in, one hard truth is hard to escape: once again we see that clubs do not necessarily require a designated player to turn over success in Major League Soccer.
Columbus is in the playoffs. No DP there.
Houston and New England are in great shape. DPs? Not so much.
Now look at the five teams with DPs currently attached: Los Angeles, Chicago, Kansas City, New York and D.C United. Some can like their playoff chances better than others, but none will book passage without sweating it a bit. (Chicago's big win Thursday can allow the Fire to breathe a bit easier, at least.)
So what's the point? That DPs can sometimes drive team performance, in addition to marketing initiatives, but they aren't the be-all, end-all. Just like horse racing, there are no sure things.
3. A little good news for RSL: Real Salt Lake's playoff chances may well come down to those two remaining home games. Problem is, the first of those two critical opportunities correspond with the club's new stadium debut in Sandy. And these midseason facility debuts aren't very helpful for the W-L mark. Dallas and Chicago managed only draws in similar circumstances, while Toronto FC fell on the day they raised the curtain at BMO.
But news from halfway around the world this week may be tilting matters back in RSL's direction for the big day in Sandy, the Oct. 9 opener of the league's seventh soccer-specific venue. That's because Venezuela has named important Red Bulls Gabe Cichero and Jorge Rojas to the roster for two World Cup qualifiers. Venezuela meets Brazil and Ecuador on Oct. 12 and Oct. 15, which would likely make the pair unavailable for the Oct. 9 MLS date.
Furthermore, there is a growing buzz that in-form striker Juan Pablo Angel could be in Colombia's plans for those same fixture dates, as a new manager tries to rebuild some burned bridges in that national team program.
If Angel goes south for the next round of qualifiers, that would be happy news, indeed, for RSL supporters. Angel has seven of New York's last 12 goals.
4. Dick's jinx?: If you've watched any soccer this year, you've probably seen the Dick's Sporting Goods commercial, where four prominent MLS players goof around with a soccer ball; boys-will-be-boys high jinks ensue. Odd thing is, misfortune has befallen three of the four. Ben Olsen, around whom the TV spot is built, has been hurt all year. Dallas' Duilio Davino has been hurt for weeks, mending more slowly than he or anyone else around Pizza Hut Park would like. Christian Gomez can't get out of the Colorado Rapids' doghouse.
Houston Dynamo striker Brian Ching is the "last man standing." So, if I'm Ching, I'd be very careful getting in and out of the bathtub and such.
5. Respect is in, animosity out: Maybe you were looking for some of those rivalry-inspired U.S.A.-Mexico shenanigans to spill over into Thursday night's MLS contest at Toyota Park. Maybe you thought it would tumble out in the form of a little business-on-the-side between Landon Donovan and Cuauhtemoc Blanco. Well, you were surely disappointed.
Both have had their moments sowing and harvesting antics in the border rivalry. But they've seemingly made peace with it all. The pair spent time together a couple of months ago during the MLS All-Star break, and Donovan emerged with peaceful, easy feelings toward the Fire playmaker.
So, if you like your sports stars toting big bags full of fashioned animosity and acrimony when it comes to all rivals, you'll have to look elsewhere to find it.
Here's what Donovan told MLS Magazine for an upcoming article on Blanco:
"As a player, he's talented, he's fun to watch, he's entertaining," Donovan said. "And a lot of players are all those things, and then they're not productive. He's also productive. He gets goals, he get assists, he gets his teammates involved. From that aspect, you couldn't not want him on your team."
And about the renowned Blanco gamesmanship? Donovan seems pretty forgiving here, too.
"It's a Latin-American thing, and he's one of the masters at it," Donovan said. "It's weird because you see him off the field and he's so quiet -- a lot like Carlos Ruiz is. He's very quiet and contained. And then they get on the field and it's a whole different element, it's a whole different animal. It's just who they are, it's what they do, and it's just the way it goes."
Galaxy unable to build off momentum
Usain Bolt Is A Blanco
