MLS review supplement: rising Americans, and a lot more

Each week about this time – quite early on Monday, a second cup of warm, wonderful, understanding coffee at my side – I file my MLS Weekly Review for SI.com. We call it “Five Things to Know” about the just-completed round of MLS matches.

And then, about five minutes later, I’m thinking about all the things I wish I could have included. After all, most rounds involve anywhere from 7-10 matches. There’s always so much to talk about. To edit it down to 1,200 or words, plus the Team of the Week and Power Rankings, really is a toughie. But that’s the job.

Luckily, I have this blog, too. So, here’s a little supplement to the SI.com piece that will go up sometime mid-day Monday:

Our Power Rankings this week are: “Top Americans in MLS yet to get into a match under new national team coach Jurgen Klinsmann:” Here are the first three:

1. Omar Gonzalez, Los Angeles: It would have been shocking two years ago to consider this conversation …

2. Benny Feilhaber, New England: Given the lack of creative thinking from the current crop of midfielders in the U.S. pool, this one surely is a “when” rather than an “if.”  …

3. Charlie Davies, D.C. United: He’s still not back to pre-accident form, but much of the raw ability …

You’ll have to see the piece for the other seven players, and for the full explainer paragraphs. (Yeah, it’s a tease. But SI.com is good to me, so I don’t want to undercut ‘em on my blog.)

Drawing up that list was a little harder than I thought. There were three others I wanted to include. But a Top 13 list is just too goofy. So, again with the “editing” thing. Read on for other three who didn’t make the SI.com story, plus more that I couldn’t squeeze into this week’s effort …

11. Eddie Gaven, Columbus:  A professional since 2003, Gaven has been around so long that we tend to forget he’s still pretty young. The man is just 24. And his all-around, solid two-way contributions from midfield are a big reason the Crew has been so surprisingly hard to beat this year.

12. Justin Braun, Chivas USA: He’s raw and hungry, but remains inconsistent. Perhaps he just needs a little of the Klinsi touch to bring his game up to international level.

13. Heath Pearce, Chivas USA: He’s hurt at the moment, and Pearce hasn’t played left back in MLS for about two seasons. Still, generally, he’s a better player now than when he came back to the States back in late 2009. He still lacks some pace, but Pearce’s defending, crossing and passing from the back is so much better right now than some of the U.S. left back choices.

I also wrote about two fellows who scored massive Round 29 goals against their former clubs. You can’t really beat on the coaches, GMs and technical directors who made these moves. Not too much, anyway, because every MLS club has a few stinkers in their vast registry of transactions. It’s a transient league, and that’s just how the cookie crumbles.

I didn’t have time to get into it, but along those lines I’ve been thinking about Sporting Kansas City lately. Peter Vermes and his side are doing fine, and plenty of personnel decisions have fallen their way. So, good on ‘em. But on the other hand, it deserves pointing out that three figures around MLS are playing huge roles right now – a threesome who left Kansas City for little compensation.

Josh Wolff is a big part of recent success at D.C. United. His health was always an issue, so it’s hard to splatter SKC for that one. Kevin Hartman was let go from K.C., but he’s been nothing short of spectacular for FC Dallas over two campaigns. In my mind, shipping Hartman in favor of Jimmy Nielsen was a booboo.

And finally, Jack Jewsbury is a major reason Portland still has a heartbeat in the MLS playoff race. I don’t personally rate him in my Top Five in the chase for MLS MVP, but some people do. Jewsbury went to Portland for allocation money, so there was some level of compensation there.

Finally, I also wrote about late season runs – specifically, the one Chicago is enjoying right now. Frank Klopas is obviously pulling the right levers at the moment, and the Fire is 5-1-3 over since early August as a result. I didn’t get into it, but there is another side to these late-season surges:

They can create a false sense of security. For some clubs, these late runs that often result in playoff near-misses become evidence that status quo is the way to go. So, the clubs decide to keep a coach or an older player or whatever and press on into the next campaign. After all, it’s the easier course of action, and it doesn’t require admission that bad decisions still litter the ground. But such thinking ignores this fact: a lot of those same players weren’t getting it down over five or six previous months. Finishing strong is something – but it’s not everything.