Though the offseason was relatively short, it seemed like an eternity for those of us who were so eagerly awaiting the 2013 season to start. With high-profile departures of the likes of David Beckham, Freddy Montero, Kei Kamara, Roger Espinoza and Brek Shea, along with big moves made by New York and Real Salt Lake, there were new faces in new places and plenty of questions about which teams would be primed for a run at the championship.
While the early returns of this MLS campaign will likely be far removed from what the final results will look like, there's no harm in investigating what the first two weeks of the season have shown and in turn speculating about what's to come.
New England has a chance to surprise in the East. Yes, it's true that New England has only played one game in the first two weeks of the season, but the 1-0 win at Chicago gave us plenty to digest about Jay Heaps' men. Jerry Bengtson made no mistake in finishing off Kelyn Rowe's exquisite ball over the top, and in doing so perhaps allowed Revs fans to salivate at the thought of being able to see him do that for the entirety of this season. Juan Toja, returning to MLS after a few seasons away, didn't have his sharpest performance, but one has to feel that he'll come good once he settles back into the league. In the back, Andrew Farrell showed why he was so coveted out of Louisville by putting in a performance at right back that was beyond his years. Overall, the gritty, tough road win was one that last year's edition probably wouldn't have seen through to completion.
San Jose is still San Jose. It looked as if San Jose was on their way to two losses from two home games, surely unheard of after last season, but that late game magic that they all but patented last season came back and saw them pull out an unlikely win Sunday night against New York. Yes, the Earthquakes are beset by injuries all over the place at the moment, with such pivotal cogs as Marvin Chavez, Steven Lenhart and Alan Gordon out, but maybe that won't matter in the short term. It may not be pretty for Frank Yallop with a few cards missing from the deck, but the belief in the team is still there.
New York is still New York. Last season we came to know the Red Bulls as being just as likely to concede three goals as they were to score three, and despite the addition of Jamison Olave in the back, it looks like little has changed at all. The Red Bulls should easily be on six points from two right now, but as it is, thanks to a second half collapse at Portland and a Roy Miller horror show at San Jose, they instead sit on an unremarkable single point at this juncture. With Thierry Henry coming out with some rather critical assessments of his teammates in recent days as well, one has to wonder what kind of mood exists in the Red Bulls' locker room at the moment; it can't be the best. Mike Petke has an unenviable task of keeping this team and all of its egos together in his first managerial job--welcome to the business, indeed.
Houston has bolted out of the gates. We've probably become rather accustomed to the idea of Houston getting off to average starts to the season before getting hot and being a team nobody wants to face in the postseason, but the script this season is looking to be a bit different. The season opening win at home against D.C. United was comprehensive, and the late win against Santos Laguna in the CONCACAF Champions League was impressive indeed. With Will Bruin a bit more seasoned now after his playoff exploits last season and Oscar Boniek Garcia around for a full season, this Houston team has the potential to be as dynamic as they have ever been under Dominic Kinnear. That probably isn't a prospect the rest of the Eastern Conference wants to deal with.
Maybe Chivas USA isn't as dead in the water as we thought. Following their season opening 3-0 loss against Columbus, I don't think any of us would have claimed the first bit of surprise about the result. After all, Chivas USA had done their best to clear out so many players of non-Hispanic heritage in the off-season, whether proven in MLS or not, and have instead gone with a plethora of unproven players under the guidance of Chelis. This past weekend's second half explosing against FC Dallas was hardly expected, but maybe showed that Chivas USA have some chance to pull off a shock result here and there. The likelihood that this season will be a massive struggle for them is still there, but if that fate does come to pass, at least the players can take some solace in knowing that no one will be there to see it happen.
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