SBI MLS Best XI: Week Ten
Just how much better are Western Conference teams playing these days? Consider that only one two Eastern Conference players managed to crack this week's MLS Best XI (so much for that East Coast bias huh?)
Sure, there were arguments for East Coasters Matt Reis, Luciano Emilo and Kheli Dube, but ultimately the West players played key roles in victories, delivering crucial performances as the Western Conference standings begin to take shape.
The seemingly unstoppable tandem of Jorge Flores and Jesse Marsch delivered again, scoring a goal apiece to lead Chivas USA to a third straight win. Real Salt Lake teammates Javier Morales and Robbie Findley did them a bit better, combining for two goals and two assists to help keep RSL unbeaten at home after Saturday's 3-1 win against San Jose.
Here is how the rest of this week's MLS Best XI shook out:
SBI MLS Best XI: Week 10
--------Robbie Findley------Tom McManus-------
Stuart Holden----Javier Morales--------Jorge Flores
---------------------Jesse Marsch---------------------
Carey Talley------------------------------Drew Moor
---------Julius James------Facundo Erpen----------
---------------------Matt Reis---------------------
Honorable mention- Brad Guzan, Dwayne DeRosario, Christian Gomez, Ricardo Clark, Luciano Emilio, Kheli Dube, Jeff Cunningham, Brian Ching.
I put Reis into the Best XI because he did have a pretty amazing game and the Revs would have been blown out rather than earning a point. I originally gave it to Guzan for posting a shutout and making some good saves just a few days after playing a half against England. Definitely deserved consideration but Reis stood on his head vs. D.C.
I was at a loss for defenders for honorable mention so suggestions are welcome.
Feel free to share your thoughts and suggestions on this week's selections below.
Ives Galarcep is an American soccer columnist for ESPNsoccernet.com and creator of SoccerByIves.net.
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Matt Reis should be the 'keeper. He was insane. Flat out best performance I've seen this season . . .
Posted by: Tim Crawford | June 03, 2008 at 03:00 PM
chicago starting XI would beat that XI anyday :P
Posted by: brett | June 03, 2008 at 03:01 PM
Even though Colorado scored 2, I thought Burse was excellent and kept Dallas in the game.
Didn't see Hou - NY, but very glad to hear that Holden played well, the National Team needs wingers in good form.
Morales and Findley were a great duo, makes you wonder why RSL can't put it together more often.
Posted by: eric | June 03, 2008 at 03:03 PM
tim is right, Reis had something like 5 point blank stops int he first half against DC....only thing to keep the Revs in that game
Posted by: brett | June 03, 2008 at 03:03 PM
How about Sean Franklin? He continues to play smart football, and even in a loss I feel he is continuing to grow and will be an amazing centerback in the years to come.
Posted by: Rashid | June 03, 2008 at 03:06 PM
i've found RSL's Olave to be pretty impressive of late.
Posted by: Javier | June 03, 2008 at 03:07 PM
Matt Reis should be GK. Several of the saves he made to earn the draw were world-class, top-drawer goalkeeping.
Posted by: HomeyBoehme | June 03, 2008 at 03:19 PM
Tom McManus is so money.
Posted by: Kevin | June 03, 2008 at 03:21 PM
I second the vote for Olave.
Posted by: ccb1212 | June 03, 2008 at 03:22 PM
Didn't catch the Rapids this week. Has Erpen been playing well? He was always such a liability in DC, a softy who didn't defend. It'd be a real turnaround; this is his second best XI isn't it?
Posted by: NJ Guy Stuck in DC | June 03, 2008 at 03:35 PM
I hate to bash a guy who plays for my team, but Emilio does not deserve an honorable mention. Yes, he put home a rebound for the second week in a row, but he also wasted two other golden opportunities that would have made the difference.
Posted by: JeffM | June 03, 2008 at 03:41 PM
That has got to be the worst looking Best XI list yet. It doesn't look like a team that would win many games. I think the lack of East players has more to do with Chicago and KC having the week off than anything else.
Posted by: Jeffrey | June 03, 2008 at 03:46 PM
Wait...who??
;)
Posted by: kpugs | June 03, 2008 at 03:47 PM
Christian Gomez is my early pick for League MVP Honors. Yes, I'm biased, but the Rapids would be a less than mediocre team without him. Even when he doesn't show up on the stat sheet, he leaves his respective classy mark on the game.
I din't see some of the other middie's here, so can't comment, but I have a hard time not putting C. Gomez in This weeks Starting XI after his performance against Chivas.
Posted by: Eric F | June 03, 2008 at 03:53 PM
Christian Gomez is my early pick for League MVP Honors. Yes, I'm biased, but the Rapids would be a less than mediocre team without him. Even when he doesn't show up on the stat sheet, he leaves his respective classy mark on the game.
I didn't see some of the other middie's listed here, so can't comment onn there inclusion, but I have a hard time not putting C. Gomez in this weeks Starting XI after his performance against Chivas.
Posted by: Eric F | June 03, 2008 at 03:54 PM
Good call Ives. Reis had the best game in nets all season - at least from the 55 or so games I've watched this season.
Posted by: PeteK | June 03, 2008 at 03:56 PM
Ives
It's official now, Sven Goran Erikkson is the new Mexico coach. I'm sure all the news outlets will have something in a couple hours but Justino Compean has just confirmed it as well as Sven, who was present at the press conference.
Posted by: Christian | June 03, 2008 at 04:26 PM
Olave has been great the past two weeks, it is no accident that RSL gave up two goals at Dallas after he came out. With him and Borchers RSL could have a tall and imposing backline tandem.
Posted by: Eddie | June 03, 2008 at 04:31 PM
i love this 11, McManus is a beast! Erpen also was the best defender by far for CO this week, so yea, i got his back this week.
As for CGomez, he is involved in every CO goal, but i feel like his pace is slow for some reason, maybe he's still adjusting to 5280 feet.
oh, and Burse for the Hoops played well even though he gave up 2, his blocks easily kept Dallas in the game.
Good stuff Ives
Posted by: BMer | June 03, 2008 at 04:48 PM
Only game I saw this week was Hou-RB, but I question Stuart Holden's inclusion. I thought he played OK, but I don't think it was the kind of performance to warrant the high honor of Ives best XI. I thought Mullan had more impact on the game as a partner for Ching. But that's just me...
Posted by: Mark | June 03, 2008 at 05:39 PM
Curious that there are only two Eastern Conference players when the Fire have a bye week...
Posted by: notabbott | June 03, 2008 at 06:01 PM
Am I missing something here? Did DeRo get an honorable mention for NOT playing?
Posted by: j1m | June 03, 2008 at 10:44 PM
J1M, DeRosario played on Wednesday and scored a last-minute equalizer against FC Dallas.
Posted by: Ives | June 03, 2008 at 11:26 PM
Rohan Ricketts was a monster this week for Toronto, set up the winner against LA and ran circles around the Galaxy all afternoon.
Posted by: jloome | June 04, 2008 at 12:52 AM
Ives, you realize of course, that the only reason there are not as many Eastern players this week is that the Fire did not play.
Posted by: Don | June 04, 2008 at 09:03 AM
That picture with Morales getting a hernia check has got to be a candidate for you write the caption.
Posted by: GMoney | June 04, 2008 at 09:57 AM
I have to agree with the nomination of Olave fore the past few weeks. He shut down Kenny Cooper really well in the RSL-DAL game a few weeks ago, and then when he got subbed out, the RSL defense fell apart.
This guy's the new Eddie Pope, but maybe even better.
Posted by: ravenrooney | June 04, 2008 at 10:30 AM
Not only did Matt Reis make several fantastic saves, he does it all the time. He's also very good on blocking PKs. Why he never had more then a token look at the Nat level is amazing ... oops, I forgot who's coaching the Nat team. Well, that should change soon so maybe .....
Posted by: zongzap | June 04, 2008 at 12:38 PM