They tell me tomorrow is the third Saturday of the MLS season, and as I am ostensibly a soccer blogger, I feel obligated to give my thoughts on each match.
Forgive my malaise, I've had a bit of a day.
Briefs previews and predictions after the jump.
Toronto FC v. Seattle Sounders
Think the Red Patch Boys and their cohorts won't be a little jacked up for this one? Short of a fun reunion with the Nordecke boys from Columbus, I doubt there is a more anticipated game on the TFC calendar. How dare people say that Seattle has better fans! Anyway, on the field, Seattle is going to be without Fredy Montero. Big blog, and let's hope his troubles are short lived (health and/or criminal). DeRo makes his BMO Field debut, I've heard Ljundberg might actually start, and this is probably the highlight match of the weekend. As much as I would love to say that SSFC is going to rumble into Toronto and take those hosers down a peg, it just ain't happenin'. The road struggles for Seattle start tomorrow; afterward, TFC fans will demand they be given the MLS Cup, $10 million from the city of Columbus, and a new jean jacket for every man, woman, and child in lower Ontario.
Prediction:
Toronto 1 Seattle 0
As a bonus, I've just now suddenly decided out of the blue to include a nice little video of the stadium atmospheres involved in tomorrows matches. It's a little hack, but I love this crap and I'm frustrated at the attendance numbers so here you go:
Atmosphere:
Toronto fans singing in French, because I find it amusing:
New England Revolution v. FC Dallas
Dallas still has a team, though no one in the Metroplex or Hoops' front office seems to care. New England still has a team too, and as usual, they're pretty good. It seems Stevie Nichol knows what he's doing, and the Revs have four points from two matches, both on the road. Unfortunately, their home opener in their abomination of a venue will tell us nothing about how good they actually are, since Dallas est tres terrible (carrying over the French theme). A good stomping, a goal from Cooper, and a few rug burns are all that FC Dallas will get out of this match.
Prediction:
New England 3 FC Dallas 1
Atmosphere:
The "Fort". This video makes me sad.
DC United v. Houston Dynamo
It's starting to look to me like this is the year that the Dynamo finally take step off of the mountain, and come back to the MLS pack. Okay, so may last year was the year, as they did lose the Red Bulls in the playoffs. Houston hasn't shown me much, and I'm still bitter at them for crashing out of the CCL without putting up much of a fight. A week one tie with Columbus at home was a fairly pedestrian effort, though they did score two goals on the road last week. United has tied twice, deserving better in the first, and lucky to escape with a point in the second. Neither side is up to their usual standard, so it's difficult to know how they stack up. Let's just go with the home team, give the DC crazies some love, and call it a preview.
Prediction:
DC United 1 Houston 0
Atmosphere:
Love these people. A throbbing mass of soccer-loving humanity:
LA Galaxy v. Colorado Rapids
LA is still LA, which means that it's generally up to Donovan to make things happen. I'm going to assume that he's playing after coming back from Nats duty (mostly because I haven't seen anywhere that he's not), though I'm not sure how effective he'll be. The Galaxy come into the match after a week off, so the rest of the team should be well rested. Colorado looks improved to me over last year, and for some reason I like Clarke and Casey. On the road in the HDC though, I can't see them winning. No gut either way on this one, but I expect goals to be scored.
Prediction:
Galaxy 2 Colorado 2
Atmosphere:
This.
