Seattle 2-0 Philadelphia: A quick reaction

Friday, 26 March 10, 09:36 AM · Comments (1)

The 2010 Major League Soccer season has finally dropped, and I don't know if I'll be able to drop five my previews. I'm sorry, but that's just the way it is.

That meaningless drivel aside, MLS is upon us and Philadelphia has now played that first game. Here's a few observations from last night:

*Nowak's puzzling starting lineup. No one could have predicted Danny Mwanga and Michael Orozco starting centrally in the midfield, and Toni Stahl in defense. Mwanga in particular looked out of his depth, uncomfortable with the task of playing out of position. Stahl then proceeded to earn two yellow cards and leave Philadelphia down a man for the second half.

*The turf and rain didn't make things easy. Both sides struggled to come to grips with the conditions, and it's a shame to watch a good match deteriorate because of the carpet out in Seattle. The players did well to adjust, and as the game progressed things smoothed out -- not to mention it was the first game of the year.

*Class of Montero. The young Columbian is easy to hate for his diving and theatrics, but there's no discounting his scoring abilities. While Jordan Harvey deserves credit for keeping Montero onside, he did well to react quickly and essentially put the game out of reach.

*Seattle is better than Philadelphia. Well, duh. That is an obvious sentiment that one can easily conclude after taking in Thursday night's match. Seattle set the bar extremely high and will face the pressure of expectations. The addition of Blaise Nkufo will be huge, particularly after Roger Levesque had a poor game yesterday.

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