First off, Marc Connolly has a good bunch of random thoughts about the opening MLS weekend. Now, for my additions.
- While I would like three points, or even one point, as much as the next guy, I'm emphatically not worried about the Fire dropping the match to Dallas. They did a lot of little things well, and I'm one of those people that believes that if you take care of the little things, the big things will come around. A few more weeks of playing together, and maybe a couple of lineup changes, and this team is really tough. One concern I have, though, is that this year's "Armarsch" -- the emergent quality of Armas and Marsch in the midfield that bogged us down last season, might be "JimmyJ," in that Jimmy Curtin and CJ Brown together in the back might sacrifice too much speed in a 3-5-2 formation. We'll keep an eye on that.
- That passive offside ruling in the New York-DC match was bullshit. I think there's a proximity factor with "not being involved in the play," in that you absolutely cannot be standing that close to the goalkeeper and not be involved in the play, just by forcing the goalie to think about you. I know how badly FIFA and MLS want to err on the side of the attacker, but this is bad for the game.
- As far as rookies go, Kei Kamara in Columbus and Matt Groenwald looked impressive.
- Your nominees for worst defender of the week are Chris Brown from Real Salt Lake, Taylor Graham from New York, and Rusty Pierce from Columbus. I didn't see the Rapids match, but feel free to nominate someone there. One of the reasons I'm not overly worried about the Fire is I saw a lot of bad defenses over the weekend, and the Fire were pretty much middle of the pack with DC United and FC Dallas. Goals may come in bunches against RSL, Columbus, Colorado and New York.
- Forget the scores, but my right/wrong record on the outcomes for the first week was 3-3. My MFLS team did pretty well -- I'm tied for the lead in my division. The Sporting News Fantasy team is middle of the pack.
- Finally, what is unquestionably the most important issue in MLS right now. What the hell is up with the moustaches on Scott Garlick and Kenny Cutler out in Salt Lake? From the opening whistle, when it was just Garlick, you could chalk it up to eccentricity. When Cutler entered the game, it took on a whole 'nother dimension.