The Supporters Shield race is heating up as the contenders begin their strides, while the pretenders continue to fall. There are really only a small handful of teams who have been eliminated from the race for the shield thus far. However, only six teams really have a viable shot at winning it in 2014. This will be the 16th year the shield will be awarded, however, 18 previous teams have been recognized as winning the shield. MLS did not begin awarding the Supporters Shield until 1999, however, they added the names of teams with the best MLS records from 1996-1998 on the shield that was awarded in 1999 to the LA Galaxy. The contenders for the 2014 Shield can be divided into three groups: front runners, pace chasers and dark horses.
Front Runners
Seattle Sounders FC – Currently in first place in the West and first place overall, the Sounders currently sit atop the overall table with 51 points. Winners of five of their last seven games, after hitting a small snag in the middle of the summer, Sigi Schmid has his team hitting on all cylinders right now. They currently have the most wins in the league (16) and are the second-highest scoring team in the league (48 goals). They still have a tough road ahead as they host Real Salt Lake this weekend before making a road trip out East to play teams who are fighting for playoff spots in the Philadelphia Union and New York Red Bulls. They also have a game in Frisco against FC Dallas and a home-and-home series to close out the season against the LA Galaxy. While they have looked like the best team in MLS for most of the season, their seven losses proves that they have lacked focus at times, including some embarrassing losses to New England Revolution (5-0) and Vancouver Whitecaps (1-0). The team’s results are astonishing when considering that they lost a few key players during the World Cup and still have been able to keep their top spot. Led by U.S. Men’s National Team Captain Clint Dempsey and a star supporting cast including Obafemi Martins, Osvaldo Alonso, Deandre Yedlin, Chad Marshall, and Lamar Neagle among others, this team has no glaring weaknesses and controls their own destiny on their road to the Supporters Shield.
Los Angeles Galaxy – The highest scoring team in the league currently trails Seattle by one point in the standings, but have shot up the table like a runaway train over the past couple months. The Galaxy own the largest goal differential in the league (+27), the next closest team has +13 (Seattle Sounders FC). After a slow start to the season, by Galaxy standards, the team ran off a stretch of eight straight games unbeaten from late may to late July that got the Galaxy back in the running for the supporters shield. The summer run was launched by Landon Donovan’s snub of the US Men’s national team. US Soccer fans’ loss was the LA Galaxy team’s gain as Donovan scored three goals and one assist in that stretch (nine goals, 15 assists on the season). One of the revelations of the season for the Galaxy has been young striker Gyasi Zardes (15 goals) and the MLS MVP like season of captain Robbie Keane (14 goals, 13 assists) has been inspiring. Currently the Galaxy are on a six game unbeaten streak, having won five in a row before Wednesday’s draw against Montreal. Four of their last seven games are home, however, their 3 road games are at San Jose, Dallas, and Seattle. As long as they take care of their home games and get results in at least two of their three road games, LA fans could be celebrating a fifth Supporters Shield.
Pace Chasers
DC United – The top team in the East has had a resurgent season this year after having the worst season in MLS history a year ago. Their 47 points is good for tops in the East and they trail Seattle by only four points. Unfortunately, Seattle has two games in hand to patch their lead. DC has been a very unassuming team all season as their scoring has been spread around. Fabian Espindola leads the team in goals with nine to match his nine assists, Luis Silva has eight goals and four assists, Chris Rolfe has six goals and six assists and star striker Eddie Johnson only has five goals and two assists, while missing games due to suspensions. The team hasn’t experienced a winning streak of longer than three games all season. What DC has going for them is that of their remaining six games, only one of them is against a team with a current winning record (Sporting KC) and that game is at home. Should Seattle and LA trip up, DC’s schedule provides them with the ability to come from behind and snatch their fifth Supporters Shield.
Real Salt Lake – When RSL began the season on a 12 game unbeaten streak; many wondered whether the team was for real. It took a 4-0 thumping in Seattle for their first loss of the year on May 31 to bring the team back to reality and spinning into a 4 game winless streak. The team currently sits in 4th place in the Supporters Shield race with 46 points (5 points behind leaders Seattle). The team’s combo of US national team players Kyle Beckerman and Nick Rimando have been the key pieces to RSL’s season. But young Ecuadorian forward Joao Plata (11 goals, 5 assists) and 8 year RSL veteran Javier Morales have been important contributors as well, while center back Nat Borchers has been rock solid in the middle of the defense. RSL is still in this race because they have one game against Seattle left, which should help them make up some ground if they can pull off the win in Seattle. They also have games against Western Conference minnows San Jose, Colorado and two against Chivas USA. If RSL pulls off the upset of Seattle tonight, there is a very valid shot at the Supporters Shield for an RSL team that started the season so promising.
Dark Horses
Sporting Kansas City – It would be a real mistake to count the defending MLS champions out of the race for a Supporters Shield. The team sits with 42 points (nine points behind Seattle) and would require quite a meltdown by the top teams in the west for SKC to have a chance in this race. Their remaining schedule will require the team to go on a run against teams in playoff content such as New England, Philadelphia, New York and DC United, the team they trail by five points in the east. The team has the league’s second-leading goalscorer in Dom Dwyer this season (18 goals), while having a strong core of players in US national team players Graham Zusi and Matt Besler, Benny Feilhaber, CJ Sapong, Aurelien Collin, and Seth Sinovic. The mixture of this year’s players, the abilities of manager Peter Vermes and the fact that this core group has won the MLS cup together combine to make SKC a dangerous dark horse for a run at the Supporters Shield. Other teams should ignore at their own discretion.
FC Dallas – As first year FCD head coach Oscar Parejas put it in a Goal.com article, “All the players on this team have contributed to our success equally.” No player on the team has more than nine goals or six assists and certainly no one has played in all 27 of the team’s league games. Defender Matt Hedges has played in 26 team games, the most of any player on the team while 22-year-old Colombian striker Fabian Castillo and second year FCD midfielder, Michel, from Brazil have been pleasant surprises on a team without much star power. The closest player to a star the team has is rookie striker Tesho Akindele who has a lot of ability but still needs more experience. Despite the lack of star power, FCD currently sits with 42 points (nine points behind Seattle), but also sit behind fellow Western Conference foes, LA and RSL. The team blew a great chance of making up ground on the team right above them, RSL, last week by losing to them 2-1. However, they play Seattle at home and have two games against LA Galaxy left to try and make up ground on the top two teams in the Supporters Shield race. If this young FCD team can pull off the unpredictable and get wins in those three games, there is no telling where they may end up in the race for their first ever Supporters Shield.
The race for the Supporters Shield continues this weekend with the following key games:
Friday night:
Chivas USA v. Sporting KC, 7:30 p.m. PST
Seattle Sounders FC v. Real Salt Lake, 7:30 p.m. PST
Saturday:
FC Dallas v. Vancouver Whitecaps, 7:30 p.m. CST
Sunday:
San Jose Earthquakes v. Los Angeles Galaxy, 12 p.m. PST
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