Major League Soccer gave teams, fans, coaches and the like a teaser of sorts on Friday as they announced the dates of each team’s opening home matches. The 2015 season itself will get started on Friday, March 6th as the Los Angeles Galaxy begin defense of their fifth title in team history by welcoming the Chicago Fire to the StubHub Center. The league’s two newest franchises, New York City FC and Orlando City SC, will make their league debuts against one another two days later at the Florida Citrus Bowl in Orlando.
With respect to Columbus Crew SC, the fact that the team is opening the season on the road means we know the identity of their first two opponents, as is the case with pretty much every side who gets started away from home. Saturday, March 7th marks the 2015 opener for Crew SC as the Houston Dynamo beckons at BBVA Compass Stadium. One week later, the Black and Gold return to Crew Stadium for the first home tie of the campaign against Trillium Cup rivals Toronto FC.
It’s a tandem of tussles that, upon considering the form of both teams last year, appear fairly amenable in terms of a possible six point start for second year head coach/sporting director Gregg Berhalter. Houston was never really in playoff contention and we’re all pretty familiar by now about the precipitous nature of Toronto’s collapse late in the season that spelled doom for their postseason hopes. That said, the slate is clean and both the Dynamo and TFC will be looking to put the bad memories of 2014 behind them with a solid start of their own.
For some reason, I was expecting the entire season schedule to be released, and was hoping to rank the five most intriguing games on the schedule. I guess that will come in due time, but for now I can only provide you with some tidbits from what I anticipate will be the storylines from both games. Winter has officially arrived (and you don’t need to remind us northeasterners/midwesterners about that reality) but in a mere three months time it’ll all be over and the 20th season of MLS will officially be in full swing.
On a side note, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that all of this is contingent upon the league and the players agreeing to a new collective bargaining agreement. Let’s hope that both sides come to a mutually beneficial solution for all involved as quickly as possible so that the game can continue to move forward and grow in both the United States and Canada.
Columbus Crew Openers Announced: What to Expect
Saturday, March 7th, 8:30 pm ET: Columbus Crew SC at Houston Dynamo
These two sides met three times in 2014 with both teams tallying a win, loss and a share of the spoils in those matches. The road draw on September 13th was important for Crew SC if anything by the way the team came by it, erasing a 2-0 deficit in a mere ten minutes early in the 2nd half. That theme would be repeated no less than a month later on the road against Philadelphia, when they would not only come back down 2-0, but ended up scoring three goals between the 78th and 82nd minutes to pull off an unprecedented win that would solidify their playoff status.
This becomes an inter-conference match-up in 2015 as Houston moves to the Western Conference along with Sporting Kansas City to make way for OCSC and NYCFC. The Dynamo received a bit of positive momentum from their late season designated player acquisition of DaMarcus Beasley from Mexican side Puebla and he will look to reprise his role at left back for the club, a position he slowly evolved into from the midfield in his time with the USMNT. After trading talented goalkeeper Tally Hall to Orlando City, they quickly moved to shore up the net by bringing in Joe Willis from D.C. United. It will be interesting to see how the battle shapes up between Tyler Deric and Willis for the starting job.
Saturday, March 14th, 7:30 pm ET: Toronto FC at Columbus Crew SC
The Trillium Cup rivalry gets an early start in 2015 when Crew SC and the Reds renew pleasantries in the home opener for the Black and Gold. One of Toronto’s few success stories from the previous campaign was their unblemished mark in this series, winning all three 2014 meetings. You have to think that TFC will be extremely motivated to put the miserable ending to last season behind them with a strong start, but certain circumstances beyond their control might complicate that endeavor.
You see, Toronto’s home ground, BMO Field, is undergoing a significant renovation in part for the 2015 Pan American Games which are coming to Canada’s largest city. When work is completed, capacity will be increased to 30,000, making it the largest soccer specific stadium in MLS. Unfortunately, that won’t happen until May, meaning TFC are essentially soccer refugees until May 10th, when their home opener takes place against ironically the Crew’s opening day opponent Houston. If they can somehow split the possible points in all those early road games, the team has to feel good about the outlook of their season from there on out given all the backloaded home games.
On the field, it’s anticipated after a bit of uncertainty over their future status with the team that DPs Jermain Defoe and Gilberto will return in 2015 along with Michael Bradley, all of whom will look to justify their high price tags. The team has been shoring up their existing roster through various means in the offseason. They acquired former Chivas USA Homegrown player Marco Delgado in the dispersal draft, sent allocation money to NYCFC to bring back midfielder Dan Lovitz who had been taken in the expansion draft, and picked Robbie Findley in stage one of the MLS Re-Entry Draft after Real Salt Lake declined their option on the 29-year-old forward.
I think all three of these acquisitions have the potential to be on the field in Columbus. Pay particular attention to Delgado, who’s a versatile young player capable of holding down the back line yet also able to contribute to the attack in a more midfield role. He played in 20 matches for Chivas USA in 2014, started 12 and tallied two goals and an assist for the Goats. The 19-year-old has also been a regular for United States youth sides at practically all age levels including recently with the U-20s where he’s captained the side for a few matches.
I’ll have more to say on Crew SC’s schedule when it is released in its entirety. Until then, be sure to stay warm, enjoy the holiday season and try not to suffer too much from MLS withdrawal between now and March.
Thank you for reading. Please take a moment to follow me on Twitter – @LWOS_JB3 as well as @LastWordSC.
Support LWOS by following us on Twitter – @LastWordOnSport and @LWOSworld – and “liking” our Facebook page.
Have you tuned into Last Word On Sports Radio? LWOS is pleased to bring you 24/7 sports radio to your PC, laptop, tablet or smartphone. What are you waiting for?
Feel free to discuss this and other footy related articles with thousands at r/football.
