Chris Writing Anything

I’ll start off by saying this, in the realm of soccer, I’m not an expert…but hold on! Even if I’m not well versed in European Football, I’ve been an American sports enthusiast all my life. Yes, I know why Americans love their sports.

As I recollect last year, I realize, during my nights spent watching the MLS Season Pass, I could have used a guide. There were so many teams…so many matches. Needless to say, there were really good games, and some…well, let’s just say not every game turns out to be great. Yet, in the MLS, with the level of play increasing, really bad matches are hard to come by.

With all that said, this year, after a constant diet of soccer, I began understanding much, and I was beginning to recognize entertaining teams. Some of these teams, while positioned low in the standings, are more fun than the top dogs. Of course, last year, the Columbus Crew, a goal scoring machine who had captured the MLS Cup, were, admittedly, my favorite ‘go to’ for pure entertainment.

So, today, while I won’t make any predictions, I’ll take a stab at which MLS games would justify two hours of your time. If you’re in the central time zone, the games start at 6:30, and they conclude minutes before midnight.

So, with that said, and a full slate of MLS games scheduled for Saturday, I’ll list a few contests I’m psyched to watch.

So, now that I had just mentioned Columbus, a Six-thirty game, one definitely worth a perusal, would be DC United visiting the Columbus Crew. With talent like Darlington Nagbe, Diego Rossi and Cucho Hernandez, the Crew have tons of potential.

Considering the Crew’s dynamic threats, will DC use their suffocating press, along with their long and talented striker Christian Benteke, and will that reap a few cheap goals? It’ll be under fifty degrees by game time, yet both teams should be well conditioned for such weather. It should be an interesting match.

Another match that has potential, yet, man, I don’t know if I’m totally sold on it, yet, anyways, the New York Red Bulls visiting Cincinnati FC might be fun. So far, even if Cincinnati sits at the Eastern Conference’s top, the Queen City players aren’t my favorite team to watch.

Yet, I do enjoy the Red Bulls, and, with the two combatants only a point apart in the standings, this might be worth a try. Temps, once again, will be on the low side of the fifties, so, with both teams acclimated to those conditions, it should be an evenly contested match.

The rest of the six thirty matches don’t look awful. That includes Charolette versus New England, or, the Canadian showdown, Toronto versus Vancouver, yet, really, the first two games certainly have the most potential.

Saturday’s surefire bet begins at 6:45. The LA Galaxy versus LAFC promises to be an interesting affair. The Galaxy, with the addition of Joseph Paintsil, are simply fun to watch. LAFC, on the other hand, with the loss of Carlos Vela, have been struggling to win games. Yet, with players like Ilie Sanchez and Denis Bouanga, LAFC does NOT have a talent deficiency. So, that game should be fun!

Of the Seven thirty games, I’ll choose Minnesota United hosting Real Salt Lake. Yet, I’m not totally sure about this game. Last Saturday, Minnesota, with their new head coach, seemed out of sync in the offensive third, at least for a giant portion of the game. Yet, so far, the Loons certainly appear to have depth.

Real Salt Lake does look fairly strong, and the two contestants are evenly matched in the standings…so there should be max effort. The temps will be in the forties, and there should be no precipitation. The cool temps will not play to the Loons advantage, earlier this year, Salt Lake played in a blizzard.

Another seven thirty game that has potential, a battle between teams who had rough starts, is Nashville versus Philadelphia. This may actually be a better match than the one I had chosen.

Both Nashville and Philadelphia were in the CONCACAF Champions Cup. That being said, now that they’ve been eliminated, and now that all players have returned from international play, these teams should be much stronger. Once again, even if daytime temps will be mid sixties, the game time conditions will be cool and clear.

And what may be a sleeper , San Jose travels to Austin, Texas. If you look at the standings, these teams look woeful. Yet, last Saturday, in the Texas Darby, Austin looked very entertaining. So, possibly, Austin can notch their second victory, and be relevant in the standings, while hosting San Jose.

Another game worth viewing might be St Louis versus Dallas…I love St Louis, even if they’ve registered low in the standings…yet, what am I talking about?…Even if they’re in tenth place, they’re only a game out of second.

After all of that Saturday night Soccer, and if you desire a Sunday Matinee, Portland will take on SKC. After a fast start, Portland has tumbled. Yet, this team still might come into their own. On the other hand, SKC looks very tough to beat.

So, like I said, I’m no expert. I just spend a crapload of time ingesting any form of soccer. If you want to know the truth, basically, I’m middle aged, hopelessly white and I’m a fairly clueless American…and I certainly love watching soccer. Enjoy Saturday!…whatever you choose to do…

I know, I hadn’t Messi and Miami. That was on purpose. Messi hasn’t played in a while, and there’s certainly more entertainment value in this league. One man shouldn’t draw all the revenue.

Entertainment is the Goal!