Let’s not beat around the bush, MLS has scheduling problems. For various reasons (the weather, avoiding clashes with NFL, whatever) the league plays April to November. Which means that whenever an international tournament rolls around the summer months are a bit of a mess. The league’s star players go missing for long stretches, to compete in the World Cup, Gold Cup, Copa America and (maybe next season) the European Championship. So we get situations like Eddie Johnson having to abandon his hat-trick hot streak, something statistically notable enough to attract some media attention had it continued. Add that to the annual July/August interruption to play those lucrative friendlies against big name club sides and the already in danger of being pointless regular season takes another blow. So here’s one possible solution: Not a shift to a regular European schedule, which wouldn’t work for all the reasons it wasn’t adopted when MLS began (although the sharing stadiums with NFL franchises is less of an issue now there are more “soccer specific” stadiums.) But how about going Latin American (and Japanese) style and adopting an apertura and clausura schedule? It basically means there’d be two seasons, and two championships awarded. One before summer, one after. Each season would be far shorter than the 30 games MLS teams currently play, which would be no bad thing given that things never truly hot up until the play-offs roll around anyway. And so, two key MLS problems disappear: the unnecessarily long and not always meaningful regular season, and the limping through summer waiting for the big names to return from international duty. I’m sure there are several reasons why this won’t work. Maybe MLS fans would prefer the league to stick with the current schedule to build tradition and stability. Maybe the apertura season would have to start earlier than the current MLS season, and the clausura may have to push further into November. Maybe there’s a benefit to being one of the only leagues in action during the summer months. But if MLS continues to get better and attracts bigger names and better players, then these players (like Beckham) are going to want to represent their countries at international tournaments. And international tournaments (African Nations excepted) happen in June and July, so if MLS reaches the standard it hopes to achieve, there’ll eventually be no choice but to break for summer. In the meantime, there’s still plenty action to ponder over, and the weekly MLS Offside Awards to distribute… Hardest/Easiest Goal: Juan Toja/Robbie Findlay Toja scored under pressure from two or three defenders, plus a goalkeeper, sidefooting home from what my old maths teacher would call an obtuse angle for Dallas, while Findlay had an open net, no keeper from about three yards out. Both scored, though one deserves a lot more credit than the other. Dallas won the game 3-1 and Galaxy are in desperate need of some sort of English midfield superstar. Oh, wait. MLS Golden Boot 2007: Juan Pablo Angel Let’s just give this to Angel now. Ever since the guy arrived from Aston Villa, he hasn’t stopped scoring. He scored two for New York in their 2-1 win over Toronto on Wednesday, and again in New York’s 4-2 loss to DC United today. Goal of the Day: Ben Olsen’s 3rd You read that right, Ben Olsen got a hat-trick for DC United and his third was the best. A sweet long range strike that soared into the top right corner. Wes Brown Award for Unlucky Own Goal: Chad Marshall Wes Brown went through an unlucky spell for Man Utd where the ball just kept bouncing him off him and going past his own keeper. he’d stretch to block a cross and in it would go. Same thing happened to Chad Marshall, as he gifted Houston Dynamo a 2-1 win over Columbus Crew. Supersub: Stuart Holden Houston Dynamo vs Colorado Rapids delivered some prime time goods, despite various scheduling clashes. I’ve no idea how many watched it, just that it was a good game that began with two goals in the first 12 minutes and ended with Stuart Holden coming off the bench and immediately scoring the winner for Dynamo. Meekest attack: Chicago Fire A Chrsi Rolfe and Justin Mapp-less Fire mustered just one shot on target in the entire game against Chivas USA, leaving goalkeeper Matt Pickens to do all the work. He did so admirably, until Paulo Nagamura finally scored Chivas’ 79th minute winner.
