A crazy week of MLS action, let's start with the big controversy in Columbus.
Columbus Crew Melt Down
Now normally "melt down" is a bit of an exaggeration, but in this case it really is the best way to describe the situation. After a five minute long argument between Kei Kamara, their best striker, and Federico Higuaín over who got to take the penalty kick to make the game 4-1 in the Crew's favor, Columbus preceded to give up 3 goals to let the Impact tie things up. After the game Kamara said that he doesn't rely on Higuain, the Crew's #10, to provide him any help, instead he relies on the other midfielders. There's a pretty good break down here:
Kamara on PK Incident
Kamara might have a point, Higuain, has only given Kamara 4 assists on his goals, other midfielders for the Crew have given as many or more to Kamara; you'd think a #10 would have more assists on the #9's 25 goals than that. I suspect this is a long festering wound though, Higuain for years was THE man at Columbus, but the Crew didn't see real success until Kamara came in last season, stealing much of the spotlight from the Argentinian. On the other hand, arguing that Higuain cost him the golden boot seems pretty selfish, particularly for an award that is usually a consolation prize (it's pretty rare in MLS for a Golden Boot winner to be on the championship team). Ultimately however, responsibility for this has to fall in Greg Berhalter; one of the few solid bedrock responsibilities you have as a coach is preventing arguments like this one from playing out on the field, and while Berhalter took responsibility for not setting one definite PK taker, he hasn't said much about why he wasn't able to head this off at the pass. After the lousy start the Crew have had to the season and this big dust up, Berhalter's seat should be getting pretty warm, and if I was an owner I'd have some serious questions for the coach.
Whoever you agree with I have to say that I'd much rather see athletes give interview like this than the usual canned and dull responses from athletes. Predictably, many people have come out of the woodwork to criticize Kamara for not "keeping it in the locker room", but what would they have rather heard? Some canned response like "Well we just gotta battle back and fight for each other"? We always say we want more insightful and honest commentary from athletes in interviews, but when they say something we don't like we pile on them and call them entitled or arrogant. Do we want our athletes honest or do we want them to tell us what we want to hear?
Giovani Dos Santos is On Fire
Just in time for the Copa America, Giovani Dos Santos has seemed to find his scoring boots for the LA Galaxy. While he struggled after coming in mid year last year, Dos Santos has now racked up 5 goals in 4 games giving him 6 overall for the season. I said the Galaxy need someone to replace Keane as he ages out, and Dos Santos looks to be the man. The Galaxy still have defensive issues, they gave up 2 goals to a badly outmatched Revolution team at home, but if they can keep scoring then it doesn't really matter.
Vancouver Gets a Big Win
Vancouver beat the Timbers 2-1 at home, getting them some desperately needed points and putting them in the lead for the Cascadia Cup. It seems likely that Vancouver will once again hoist the derby trophy as they have beaten both Portland and Seattle, putting them in the lead. Perhaps more importantly, Vancouvers new designated player, Masato Kudo, finally got his first goal and a game winner. If the Whitecaps can warm up as the summer wears on into the Copa America it's very possible they could take a sizeable lead as few of their players will be on international duty this summer.