This weekend saw the new season of the MLS kickoff with some serious fireworks in Seattle, and ended with a blast into LA.  In between there was little to enthusiastic about.  I had the opportunity to watch every televised game this weekend, starting with Seattle vs. NY on Thursday.  On Saturday Houston battled Columbus at home, and Colorado faced Chivas in LA.  Then, on Sunday Galaxy vs DC was a fun grudge match to watch.  The stand out stars were Seattle’s striker Fredy Montero, and Landon Donovan of the Galaxy.  The best game of the weekend was Seattle vs. NY, mainly due to the atmosphere that the crowd created. Okay, so lets break this down one at a time.

Starting off the game of the week, Seattle and NY exploded and imploded to a 3-0 win for Seattle.  Seattle comes into this game with minimal team play experience, yet they looked like they had been playing together for months.  NY was left shocked and constantly playing catch up.  Red Bull’s star Juan Pablo Angel was isolated and marked heavily, essentially taking him out of the game.  The Red Bulls also felt the loss of Van den Berg in the off season.  They just seemed to miss the cohesion that the Sounders had.  Seattle’s crowd built up a European club style environment, that would make any team intimidated.  The march to the match and the constant chants for their club made me proud to see a new team embraced so quickly.  On the pitch, the Sounders were well balanced, and had lighting in their boots.  Fredy Montero was a breath of fresh air for the league.  This guy took me by surprise and I’m sure the league, and the world, took notice.  Let’s see how long this quality of a player stays in our league.  My only complaint on this game is the same for all the games of the weekend.  The game play was sloppy and inconsistent.  Passing was weak and there were several turnovers on both sides.  The MLS is dealing with becoming a world class league, yet the teams need to focus on quality skills to prove we belong on the top levels.

On Saturday, the Houston Dynamo were at home versus the returning champs Columbus Crew.  These two power houses pounded out a 1-1 draw.  I was truly curious to see how the Dynamo would deal with losing DeRosario to Toronto, and they handed the keys to the offense to Stuart Holden.  Holden was at best ineffectual, and at worst disappointing.  Stuart Holden did show signs of genius, yet was unable to capitalize on his opportunities.  He was kept out of the leading role by solid mid-field play by the Crew.  On the flip side, Guillermo Barros Scheloto was a dominating threat and was consistently knocking on the door with his solid delivery and targeting.  This game saw two very solid defenses holding back attack after attack.  Because of the strong defenses, the passing was interrupted a lot, and the teams had to force the ball over the top more often then usual.  Houston was unable to establish their wide play, and the Crew were unable to work the ball through the mid-field.  All in all both teams showed why other teams are forced to respect their abilities, yet they also rained on the excitement that the previous game established.

Chivas USA was able to come back to a 2-1 win over the Colorado Rapids at the Home Depot Center.  This game was actually rather slow in its pace.  Both teams had opportunities early, and then there was a lull in the action till close to the end of the first half when the Rapids scored first.  The second half started out with a sense of urgency that Chivas was able to capitalize on.  Paulo Nagamura was able to score twice in short succession.  Surprisingly, Nagamura had only scored twice before in his MLS career, and in a matter of ten minutes he scores two more.  Once Chivas captured the lead they locked down their defense and mid-field limiting the chances Colorado had.  Rapids were unable to take a shoot on target for over thirty minutes.  Of course, with this little amount of action in the last part of the game, it ended just at it started, slow.

Sunday was bright and windy in LA with the Galaxy facing DC United to a 2-2 draw that saw blood, sweat, and wow.  You can’t watch a Galaxy game right now without wondering how they would have done if that special someone was playing, you know who.  Well I’m guessing the Galaxy would have had a few better chances early the game, but other than that they played well.  The United came to LA wondering how their new and old team would match up.  Both teams had some injury issues that allowed young talent to rise up and show their skills.  The young talent really fought for every opportunity, and a couple had to leave the field in stitches.  LA Galaxy got a lot of the early opportunities abut little luck was not on their side.  DC was able to have a penalty kick that was successful, and then a second goal in the middle of the second half.  After the half, the Galaxy was able to regroup under Donovan’s leadership and skill to come back from a two goal deficit to tie it up with their own penalty kick then a solid header.  In review the penalty was called a hand ball in the box, yet the DC defender actually hit the ball with his leg.  Donovan was on top of his game and was a strong leader on the pitch.

One week down and many more to go.  I am excited to see the announcement of two more teams for 2011 in Portland and Vancouver.  MLS growth means that teams are being successful financially, and in this economy we all need an inexpensive form of entertainment.  90 minutes of fun for a cheap price, everyone go see a local game ASAP.