So after a dismal few weeks of picking matches in the MLS, I have decided to turn matters over to my son Gavin from here on out. Gavin is 2 years old, going on 3 in September, and I am working on getting him started into the game early as I had him watch the opening match of the EPL season with me Saturday morning; since he was awake already. So from here on out I relinquish control of the MLS picks to him, and he seemed to enjoy making them so it should be quite interesting, until he forms a real opinion or picks his own club. So without further ado, here are Gavin’s picks for MLS’ Week 23.
Last Week: 1 – 5
MLS Overall: 8 – 17
**team in bold is chosen winner, no bold denotes a draw
Los Angeles v Chicago
New England v Seattle
Los Angeles v DC United
Kansas City v San Jose
Toronto v Chivas USA
FC Dallas v New York
Colorado v Chicago
Real Salt Lake v New England
Seattle v Houston
Now here is my take on the matches, minus any REAL predictions.
Chicago should show strong as usual and LA are hurting at the moment, but I would not be surprised if LA come out to play in this one as Donovan will be a bit more recovered from his H1N1 virus, and they were managing before Beckham joined the team so his absence should not hurt them much.
Seattle got a result in what I can only guess was a horribly called match last weekend, but New England is struggling this season, and Seattle is a tough place to play this term. This could be an interesting match to watch, if one of the sides can get a goal early.
LA will go from a mid-week matchup in Chicago to DC, who will have played a CCL match on Tuesday in Honduras. This match in DC could go either way with both teams playing two matches in a short week. LA could bounce back in this one after dropping two, but DC has the deeper side and should give the Galaxy trouble in DC.
Two of the worst possible teams face each other this week in San Jose. Kansas City will come to town and will be looking to get on track, after going through a recent coaching change. San Jose could pose a problem to Kansas City though, as they have gotten some results of late, and do not look to be giving up on their season quite yet. This is probably one of the more useless matches to view of the week, the other taking place in New York.
After getting back on track against DC last weekend, Toronto will travel to the Home Depot Center to take on Chivas USA, who also managed to gain back some confidence in New York on the weekend. This should be an entertaining match, and very physical with the two sides involved. Do not be surprised to see more than a couple of bookings in this one, and maybe a player or two sent off by the end, as they both play a pretty physical game.
Dallas will travel this week to New York to face what has to be the worst team in the MLS at the moment. This match is almost pointless, except I am a Dallas fan and hope to see them do well. Dallas still has an outside chance at the playoffs, but New York really has nothing to look forward to for the rest of the season, and should be playing spoiler for the rest of their term.
The only other match I am really looking forward to is taking place in Chicago at the weekend, as Colorado come to town. Colorado has looked good of late and Chicago will be playing their second match inside of a week with a weakened squad. I am very interested to see if Colorado can take their show on the road in this one and find a result, but I am afraid I am going to be sadly disappointed by Chicago shutting up shop and defending like made. Here is hoping that Colorado gets a goal early so Chicago cannot get all their men behind the ball for 90 minutes.
New England will welcome Salt Lake into Foxboro this weekend after returning from a late week match against Seattle, in Seattle. With a weakened squad, I find it hard to believe New England can compete strongly twice in one week, but I would hope so since Salt Lake is not one of the stronger sides in the league. This match will most likely be a bore to watch, but there are some entertaining players, and if they can produce some fireworks it could be interesting to see.
After a disappointing result in Seattle a few weeks back, the match that earned Brian Ching his $500 fine for his comment on Twitter, Houston will welcome the Sounders to Houston. The Houston side will be on a short week as they open up CCL group play in the mid-week, but barring any serious injuries, Houston should be up for this match as they are used to this busy schedule. Seattle will also be on a short week after playing New England at home in the mid-week, but if they can find the net this could be a match to watch. The MLS new boys have had their ups and downs this season, but at the moment they still find themselves in position to make the playoffs, a feat not normally associated with a first year expansion side. This should be a match to watch this weekend though. I know I will be tuning in.
So there it is. Week 23 picked by my son so I no longer have to embarrass myself trying to pick a league based on parity, to be sadly disappointed as the results roll in. This should be a good weekend, as the MLS is packed with matches, the CCL and UEFA CL have action, and the EPL will start in the mid-week. Another busy week in the world of footy.